The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) invites you to participate in online discussions on the Critical Areas of Concern as a contribution to the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 1-12 March, 2010.

The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) invites you to participate in online discussions on the Critical Areas of Concern as a contribution to the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 1-12 March, 2010.

What specific and unique contributions do women make throughout the security sector? How can military, police, and policy communities enable their participation? How can troops not only protect women from sexual and other violence, but acknowledge and engage them as critical resources to fulfilling mission mandates?

The Commission on the Status of Women will undertake a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Emphasis will be placed on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the Millennium Development Goals.

The Campus of Excellence and Ashoka's Changemakers have launched a new competition for preventing violence against women. Under this competition, women's associations, education groups or grassroots-based NGOs implementing most innovative solution around the world for raising awareness and taking action against gender-based violence will be selected for grant support.

Since 1947, World YWCA Day has been celebrated annually on April 24 and is an opportunity for YWCAs around the world to commemorate the history of this special movement. Each year the celebration has a different theme and programme that enables members to act locally for a common global goal and on April 24, 2010, the World YWCA will continue to focus on ‘Women Creating a Safe World.'

Gender-based violence is a pervasive public health and human rights issue throughout the world. While international declarations and frameworks with recommendations on how to deal with perpetrators of gender-based violence exist, they are, by themselves, not adequate to change people's attitudes and practices, which in many communities are reinforced by gender norms and power relations.

The Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) invites you to participate in online discussions on the Critical Areas of Concern as a contribution to the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action at the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women from 1-12 March, 2010.

Under the leadership of women Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and their partner organization, the Women's League of Burma, the Nobel Women's Initiative is planning an International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women in Burma. The Tribunal is a women-directed and women-centered justice and advocacy initiative.