Since the "Northern Triangle" of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala emerged as the main corridor for US-bound drugs, it has become one of the deadliest places in the world to be a woman, and the killings show little sign of abating.

The best places for women to live in Latin America and the Caribbean are Barbados and Cuba, according to a May report from Save the Children that looked at a variety of health, education, economic and political factors. The worst are Guatemala and Haiti.

Convicted Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, but he will have six years knocked off his sentence for the time he has already served in detention in The Hague.

On June 22, the Law on Violence Against Women entered into force in Nicaragua, with the approval of its rules of procedure five months after the bill passed in the National Assembly. It carries a penalty of 25-30 years of jail time for a man who kills a woman with whom he had a relationship, including current or former romantic partners, family members, or friends.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a powerful plea on Sunday for the rights of women in Afghanistan, using a global forum to insist that they must be part of the country's future growth.

Her comments came as a horrific video emerged showing the public execution of a 22-year-old woman accused of adultery, amid fears that recent gains for women are under threat as Nato troops leave and Kabul seeks peace with the Taliban.

Taking part in the liberation struggle did not necessarily require one to be part of the army or fighting with weapons only. Jane Muberanyana did not hold a weapon from late 1990 when she started training to be a cadre for the Rwanda Patriotic Front till the end of the struggle, yet her contribution, along with that of many others, was critical.

In the past two decades, experts monitoring the international arms trade recorded more than 500 violations of United Nations arms embargoes. Just two have resulted in trials and convictions.

Negotiations are (nearly) underway at UN headquarters in New York over a proposed Arms Trade Treaty. I say “nearly” because the official start of the negotiations were delayed this morning when the Arab League supported a motion to let Palestine participate as a full UN member state. When that happened, the USA and others walked out.

South African Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who will be vying for the position of African Union (AU) Commission chairperson next week, says she is ready to take up the post and thinks a change is needed within the African bloc.

Ahead of July, when final negotiations will be held at the UN on the ATT initiative, several civil society groups and state parties (1) have called for the inclusion of gender in an ATT: to refer explicitly to gender-based violence in the Treaty text; and to ensure women's participation in the field of arms control more broadly.