Persistent discrimination has prohibited women from garnering a greater role in the design and implementation of the peace process. The Programme's gender policy, introduced in September 2011, seeks to ensure women's participation in decision-making at the strategic/political level through the High Peace Council (reconciliation) and at the operational level through gender-mainstreaming in local peace processes (reintegration).

Long-term funding by the Australian government has been underpinned by a clear commitment from the heads of Pacific states to exercise their leadership in supporting gender equality.

This has the potential to be a huge step forward.

Hopefully this Forum meeting will be a defining moment when real progress can be initiated.

They were only 14 years old, cousins from a small town in central Mexico, when a fun trip to the local fair turned into a nightmare of drugs and forced prostitution.

As Maria and Lupe - CNN has changed their names to protect their identities - were waiting by the highway for their early evening bus home, they say a semi-tractor trailer stopped right in front of them and two men got out.

Women and girls in Iraq's Kurdistan region continue to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) because the local government is failing to enforce a law banning the practice, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.

The provision against FGM was part of a 2011 landmark law - the Family Violence Law - to tackle violence against women in the autonomous region in northern Iraq.

Women and girls continue to be the worst affected by Syria's conflict, but their suffering rarely makes the headlines. Among the men who have died in the conflict, many will be honoured as martyrs. Those who have survived suffering at the hands of the regime will return to their homes as heroes.

The new normal in Syria's civil war involves mass killings, torture and sexual violence, the United Nations said Monday.

Scores of people were reported dead in the latest reports of fighting between rebels and government forces in several cities, including Aleppo, where an embedded journalist revealed her view inside a recent street battle.

Findings of the Assessment of Gender-based Violence in Syria include violence against women and girls, rape, kidnapping, killings, exploitation, trafficking, sexual abuse and domestic violence

Even though a critical mass of women have ascended to leadership positions in scarce skills sectors such as the judiciary, there are lingering challenges that still need to be addressed, says Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela.

While recent attention has focused on the absurd remarks U.S. Senate candidate from Missouri, Todd Akin, made about “legitimate rape,” it is easy to miss one of the most under-reported stories of the summer. On August 10, 2012 President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order on preventing gender-based violence globally. This order was also accompanied by the release of a U.S.

The intention to set up Civil Society Advisory Groups for UN Women at the global, regional and national levels was announced earlier this year at the 56th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, as a way to ensure strong, effective civil society engagement with the organization.