Participation

“The Security Council takes note of the important role that civil society, including women's organizations, can play in the prevention and resolution of armed conflict, peacebuilding and post-conflict situations,” Ambassador Gert Rosenthal of Guatemala, which held the rotating Council presidency for October, said in a statement read out on behalf of the 15-member body on Wednesday.

The Chief Gender Monitor, Oda Gasinzigwa, has advised a visiting Kenyan delegation, to seek political leadership positions in their country as a way of prioritising gender equality.

Gasinzigwa made the remarks when she received officials from the National Gender and Equality Commission at her office yesterday.

The faces of five men in business suits and one woman in a white head scarf beam under the slogan “Modern Hebron” on campaign banners along the streets of this famously conservative city ahead of local elections scheduled for Saturday. Other banners saying “Hebron Independents” feature 12 less formal photos, including three women, with looks more stern than smiling.

Nancy Sanchez has been working for human rights in Colombia for two decades. In the days after the official launch of the peace process between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas in Norway, Sanchez spoke of her experiences and how the peace talks seem to hold little hope for the people she fights to defend.

Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi spoke to Sophie Claudet last week on the sidelines of the Women's Forum in Deauville, France.

The lack of women's economic and political participation, and lack of women's education, kept Arab countries from developing properly, said US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Melanne Verveer on the sidelines of the Women's Forum in Deauville, France. Then came the Arab Spring and “women were shoulder-to-shoulder with men in the revolutions.”

Many people erroneously view gender as 'women's presence'. Yet, the women's presence is just the beginning, not the end point. For example, it is indeed a landmark that Rwanda has the highest number of women in the national parliament in the world - 56.3 per cent. It sounds politically correct, if you like.

Today, the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) insurgency group meet in Oslo, Norway, to begin deliberations aimed at concluding a 48-year civil war. The Colombian armed conflict has resulted in the estimated deaths of around 100,000 people, forcibly displaced more than 5 million people, and produced as many forced disappearances as the most egregious cases in Latin America.

Week after week, the Sunday papers lead with stomach-turning stories of misspending of taxpayers' money, corruption and political intrigues. But if there is one thing that can terrify the middle-class, it's a headline story that the highly respected Public Protector is under attack. But Thuli Madonsela is no shrinking violet, and she knows exactly how to defend her title as South Africa's anti-corruption super-heroine.

As the dark-grey rain clouds gather and another late afternoon monsoon downpour threatens to unleash itself on the city below, Moon Nay Li is busy preparing the latest report from the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT). It details the plight of more than 90,000 people recently displaced by conflict in northern Burma and their urgent need for aid.