Addressing a meeting of the Community of Democracies in Krakow, Poland, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke of the importance of robust, non-governmental civic organizations to prosperous, democratic societies: "Citizens," she said, "must be free to come together to advocate and agitate, to remind those entrusted with governance that they derive their authority from the governed."

A woman who fled Iran after alleging that she had been raped in detention during its post-election upheaval has reported being physically attacked by Iranian agents while seeking refuge in Turkey.

LAST week, 19 emerging young women leaders completed the YWCA's Rise Up! Leadership Program, which ran from the 29th June – 2nd July at the EU Non State Actor's Building in China Town. The workshop was the first of many to be run on a regular basis by the Solomon Islands YWCA with the aim of building the capacity of young Solomon Islands women to create positive social change in their communities.

THE Solomon Islands Democratic Party (SIDP) strongly wants to see women in parliament, according to party executive Mathew Wale.
Speaking in a media forum organised by the Media Association of Solomon Islands (MASI) on Sunday, Mr Wale said there are many ways women can be given a chance to be in parliament.

“One way was through the scrapped proposal to reserve 10 temporary seats for women,” Mr Wale said.

A WOMAN who has given her life to teaching the country's children with disabilities has had her work recognised yesterday.

Catherine Anilafa, headmistress of the Red Cross Handicapped Centre in Honiara, was the recipient of the United States sponsored 2010 International Women of Courage Award.

She became the fourth local woman to be given the award since its introduction four years ago.

Something that gets lost in all the coverage of the Haiti earthquake is how people on the ground organize in the face of adversity. Rape and violence against women has become increasingly widespread in the tent camps across Haiti. While Haitian police and UN forces have done little, women on the ground are organizing to protect themselves. We spoke with Malia Villard Appolon, of coordinator of KOFAVIV, the committee of women for survival.

FORTY-TWO victims have been confirmed to give their stories to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's (TRC) third provincial hearing in Gizo, Western province next week. TRC Communication Officer, Dykes Angiki said 16 of them come from Choiseul, including two women.

He said the other 26 are from Western Province.

Mr Angiki said the victims are already in Gizo for the hearing.

The UN voted unanimously Friday to create a new office on women to be called the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), which will begin operating officially in January 2011.

“Women's rights are human rights,” Hillary Clinton declared at the United Nations Fourth Conference on Women in 1995. As President Barack Obama's “good war” in Afghanistan goes bad and negotiations with the Taliban increasingly seem likely, there has never been a greater need to recall these words.

A woman is killed every two hours in Brazil and this average puts the country in 12th place among nations registering the most violent deaths of women, a study has said. Most of the victims are killed by relatives, husbands, boyfriends, former partners or men they rejected, the 2010 Map of Violence study said Tuesday.