Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today stressed that efforts to restore peace and stability in Africa's Great Lakes region will not come to fruition unless the scourge of sexual violence is completely eradicated and justice systems are strengthened to end impunity.

Secretary Clinton will deliver two major speeches in the coming days on Women, Peace and Security.

At 7:30pm on December 16, at the International Crisis Group's annual In Pursuit of Peace Award Dinner, the Secretary will lay out the case for the critical role women play in making peace and achieving lasting security.

When the bazooka ruled in 2003 and only the opinions of Liberian warlords and a beleaguered head of state mattered to the world community, Leymah Gbowee and seven immortal others rose to project the power of peace through non-violence.

Rape as a tool of war is uncomfortable subject matter. Not only are the stories of women in conflict unpalatable to watch on screen but they run the risk of resurrecting dormant trauma for the victims. Angelina Jolie's directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the stories of women in the breakup of Yugoslavia, particularly Muslim women forced into rape camps and the Sarajevo siege.

It was never meant to last 20 years.

Jadaliyya: What made you write this article?

Today, one-third of company owners and top managers in Bulgaria are women. According to the (male) minister of economy, women under 30 years old make up about half of those positions. In the last five years, two women - who are also the two Bulgarian EU Commissioners - have been the most popular politicians in the country.

Women's rights champions are not prepared to let the dust settle on the Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness that ended in this South Korean port city on Dec. 1 with the customary nod towards gender equality and empowerment.

Inspector Dwamena Akenten, Station Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service in the Western Region at the weekend disclosed that persons who are convicted on rape charges would be sentence for between five and twenty-five years.

He said for defilement cases the sentence ranged between seven years and 25 years imprisonment.

Imagine a world where women living directly with the realities of war help build the peace. Jacqueline O'Neill says three major events this month show that vision--and the ideals of "inclusive security"--gaining hold.