When a landmark U.N. conference on women adopted a "platform for action" in Beijing in 1995, member states were urged to commit themselves to revoke all existing laws in their statute books that discriminate on the basis of sex.

Fifteen years after a United Nations conference on population vowed to put gender equality and reproductive rights at the centre of development, the number of maternal deaths from childbirth – “a staggering toll of more than half a million women each year” – has not changed, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last month chaired a session of the United Nations Security Council during which the 15-member Council unanimously adopted landmark resolution 1888, which aims to protect women and children from horrific violence in armed conflict and post-conflict situations.

A senior United Nations official today welcomed a recent landmark agreement with the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) to strengthen police units in peacekeeping missions around the world, and called on Member States to contribute more women officers to those operations.

After three years of debate, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on September 14th that will lead to the creation of a stronger unified women's rights and gender equality entity led by an Under Secretary General.

The United Nations Security Council on 30 September unanimously adopted Resolution 1888 mandating the Secretary General to appoint a Special Representative on women, peace and security.

On September 30, 2009 the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. Sam Cook, Project Director of PeaceWomen, a project of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, spoke with AWID about Resolution 1888 and its implications.

AWID: Why is resolution 1888 so important?

This fall, after years of advocacy, the UN General Assembly adopted a historic resolution to create a strong women's agency. To be headed by an undersecretary general—the third highest-ranking UN officer, after the secretary general and his deputy—the new unit will consolidate the work of four existing bodies.

More than 100 experts from women's organizations, UN agencies and government ministries from many countries meet in Oslo this week with the aim to create international standards on how to implement UN resolutions on women, peace and security.

What if funding was given directly to women survivors of HIV/AIDS, violence against women and conflict? A two year project undertaken by Isis-WICCE and the Urgent Action Fund-Africa seeks to answer this question.