The African Union (AU) has said special attention would be given to the issue of women and children in armed conflicts in Africa this year.

The International Peace Day was marked Friday at the AU Headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, bringing together representatives from AU member states, regional and international organizations as well as civil society organizations,

Ambassador Swanee Hunt, chair of The Institute for Inclusive Security, announced the Institute's Commitment to Action in support of women, peace, and security at the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Annual Meeting.

Activists attending the public hearings on the controversial Traditional Courts Bill in Parliament were shocked yesterday when women were told debate and comment on the Bill were not welcome.

Before last year, Naziha Arebi hardly knew her Libyan family. The 28-year-old filmmaker was born in the genteel English seaside town of Hastings to a Libyan father and British mother. “When I first arrived, I covered my hair,” she says pointing to her shock of brown curls. “But now I wear it uncovered. I decided that if I am going to live and work here, I have to be more me.”

Nawal Al Saadawi has been at the lead of the fight for rights for women for decades, and like many here was exhilarated when women and men united in Tahrir Square to lead protests against dictator Hosni Mubarak.

But more than a year after Mubarak's ouster, not much has changed for women, she laments.

"Things didn't improve for women, and we are going backward," said Nawal, 81, an author and activist.

After conducting research in five main Afghan provinces – Kabul, Badakhshan, Nangarhar, Balkh, Herat – the group found that women have not been involved in the decision-making processes of the High Peace Council at the provincial and their role is only representative.

Globally, 139 constitutions include guarantees of gender equality, 125 countries outlaw domestic violence. Yet the rule of law often rules women out, and the implementation of laws lag behind.

On 24th September, on the occasion of the High-level Meeting on the Rule of Law, the Governments of Finland and South Africa, along with UN Women, will host a high level event focusing on women's access to justice. The Presidents of Finland, Mr. Sauli Niinistö and South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma and Under Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, will co-host the event.

“By 30 September the camp will be empty,” Minister of Resettlement Gunaratne Weerakoon told IRIN in Colombo, noting that the final group of 1,185 IDPs would be resettled in their places of origin next week.

Violence against females is the most widely reported violent crime in the West African country of Liberia, affecting hundreds of thousands of women and girls, says a new report from the Small Arms Survey.

Such violence has been used as a weapon of war throughout Liberia's tumultuous recent history.