Hope may be a rare word in the discourse of realpolitik that frames much official discussion on conflict and security today. It is certainly not counted amongst the quantifiable resources in security or peacebuilding budgets. And yet it is a word that I have heard consistently over the past two da
Professor Maathai, noted activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, presents her message to the third international Nobel Women's Initiative gathering, focusing on ending sexual violence in conflict. (Video)
Anyone who's never been to a big feminist conference doesn't know what they're missing. It's not just the jokes that are constantly flying around the room; it's not just the fact that making space for women to tell their stories is in the DNA of such events
"We can not pluck rape out of war and let the war go on. We must not make war safe for women. It is time to abolish war," - Cora Weiss on the Nobel Women's Initiative conference on ending sexual violence in conflict
Nobel Peace Laureate and honorary member of the Nobel Women's Initiative, Aung San Suu Kyi, sends her support to the 120 women gathering for the Women Forging a New Security: Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict conference. (Video)
A group of us gasped when one tiny mother of five, who looked no older than my 20-year old daughter, lamented, “When I think about my life here, I often feel I’d rather be back in the bush with the Lord’s Resistance Army, at least there I had a community". While we are making some progress in fitf
"I was 12 years old.....my anguish ended when my family left Okinawa after this man had paid me $5 during our last encounter for my ‘services’," Betsy Kawamura
The systematic use of sexual violence along with torture, cruel and degrading treatment – such as the common use of flogging - continue to be one of the major security threats and tools of repression targeting women and communities all over Sudan. Amel Gorani reports on those who are daring to spe
Nairobi Women's Hospital treated more than 300 women who had been gang raped in the aftermath of the contested Presidential election. Speaking from personal experience, Wangu Kanja reports on the challenges these women now face
Security is impossible without people’s freedom to organize and defend their rights, a cornerstone of the exercise of citizenship. History gives us ample evidence of this, say Lydia Alpizar and Masum Momaya
From May 23-25, women activists and scholars from around the world will gather in Quebec at the invitation of the Nobel Women’s Initiative to discuss 'Women Forging a New Security: Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict'. Jenny Morgan and Jessica Horn will be reporting for openDemocracy 50.50
"Egyptian women are lucky in one way. They have witnessed the predicament of Iranian women and seen how the Islamic state has hijacked the Iranian revolution, changed the laws and reversed women’s gains. My advice to Egyptian women is “do not give way to a government that would force you to choose
