Participation

Gender inequality was the topic of discussion by a group of panelist during the launch of the “World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development.”

The panel discussion on the theme, “Towards Gender Equality in the Pacific” was held at the University of the South Pacific's Laucala Campus in Suva.

The Executive Director of Ark Foundation, Mrs. Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, has called on young women in the country to add their voices to the crusade for peace and security for the 2012 elections.

Women constitute 51% of Sierra Leone's population, yet only 16 out of 112 elected parliamentarians are women. Furthermore, even though 12 parliamentary seats are reserved for Paramount Chiefs, women hardly occupy these seats.

To gain field-based knowledge on how gender-based violence (GBV) should be taken into account in future peace processes, CMI and its partner WANEP (West Africa Network for Peacebuilding) organised consultations at the end of February in three Liberian counties (Lofa, Bong, Nimba). These workshops were attended by over ninety women who shared their stories and views on gender-based violence in peace- and wartime Liberia.

It has been close to eight months since the Republic of South Sudan became independent. The process of state and nation-building is well underway. On 7 March, South Sudan's President, Salva Kiir, issued four decrees announcing 90 ambassadors to be deployed throughout the world in various diplomatic and foreign services posts. Presidential Decree No. 18/2012, [1] No. 19/2012, [2] No. 20/2012, [3]and No.

At the end of her official country mission to Papua New Guinea, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Ms. Rashida Manjoo, delivered the following statement:

A 155-strong peace-keeping contingent will flew to Haiti yesterday from the Villamor Air Base as part of the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) commitment to the United Nations (UN) Stabilization Mission in Haiti (Minustah).

The all-Navy 15th Philippine Contingent to Haiti (PCH), led by Marine Col. Arthur Biyo, is composed of 12 officers and 143 enlisted personnel, including 10 female-soldiers.

The signing ceremony in Belgrade this Thursday officially launched a project dubbed “Support for Gender Mainstreaming in Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans”, Serbian Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac said.

Šutanovac said that today women have an important role in the armed forces, providing a new quality and capacity in response to security challenges and global threats.

As the public relations officer of the All Political Parties Women Association, APPWA Gertrude Karimu stated last week that the gender equality draft bill is ready and would be given to the Government Printing Department for printing and gazetting through the Attorney-General's office latest Monday 12, some women have urged stakeholders to allow gender equality in Sierra Leone.

In a first in Algerian politics, an all-women list of candidates has been formed to run in the country's forthcoming general elections. The slate was put together by a group of women from Tiaret, and will be competing for the state's seats in the national parliament at the vote in May, which is being contested by dozens of rival lists.