General Women, Peace and Security

In an effort to help law enforcement agencies in southern Africa respond to gender-based violence effectively, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said today that it has launched a handbook and a training curriculum to improve the capacity of national police forces in the region to combat the problem.

After nearly three decades of staggering progress for gender equality in the workplace, the classroom and in households, nothing significant has happened since the mid-1990s, says Stanford Sociology Professor Paula England.

“Civil society can and should monitor and evaluate the implementation of the resolution on the national level as well as the consistency with which the Security Council applies the language of 1325 in country or conflict-specific Council Resolutions. ” This was the statement made by former UN Under-Secretary General Ambassador Anwarul K.

Indonesian women are largely unfamiliar with the Millennium Development Goals despite being a key target demographic, hence hurting the government's chances of achieving the campaign's objectives, experts say.

The MDGs that specifically target women include reducing the maternal and infant mortality rates, ensuring universal primary education for girls and providing decent employment for women and men alike.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has pledged anew to help the new administration conduct programs that uplift the rights of women and children in Mindanao.

A memorandum of agreement was recently signed by Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) Secretary Luwalhati Antonino and UNICEF Country representative Vanessa Tobin, witnessed no less than President Benigno Aquino III himself.

Yesterday morning, while John Boehner was leading the House of Representatives in what David Corn called the "weaponizing" of the Constitution, I stood in front of the Capitol with Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NJ), Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and other leaders of women's rights organizations to talk about what's missing from that document.

"The United States has made empowering women and girls a cornerstone of our foreign policy," said U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "because women's equality is not just a moral issue, it's not just a humanitarian issue, it is not just a fairness issue; it is a security issue."

Eleven African governments have pledged to ensure an effective regional mechanism to address sexual violence against women and children in a regional event sponsored by UNDP.

A WOMEN's activist has called for the even distribution of resources in a bid to meet goals outlined by the United Nations Women's agency.

Fiji Women's Crisis Centre co-ordinator Shamima Ali said most funding for programs directed at empowering women was spent on consultants instead of projects.

A new UN agency dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women became operational on January 1st, 2011. This is a historical step forward that will consolidate and escalate UN efforts to achieve gender equality and promote women's rights worldwide, guiding Member States towards an agreement on international standards for gender equality, and helping to ensure those standards are implemented.