As women in Armenia renew efforts to secure their role in politics, Seda Muradyan examines the challenges they confront, from flowers in place of debate, to systemic corruption. Read the rest of this post...

Events are moving so fast in Nepal that Lily Thapa decided to leave London early. With a Code of Conduct being drawn up between the new government coalition and the Maoist insurgents, as she says, "If they need me and my experience, I will be there!" So far the Maoist negotiators have one woman on their team: the government, none. She is not convinced this will change. But she is campaigning for a seat at the peace table nevertheless, on behalf of the widows and wives of the missing, who make up many of the surviving victims of a conflict which has claimed over thirteen thousand lives in the last decade. Read the rest of this post...

Since the first two years following the invasion of Iraq, when many women attained positions of political power and recognition, Iraqi women have seen a dramatic reversal in their fortunes. For a recent high-level international conference at Wilton Park on women's participation in peace-building and decision-making, Iraq is a crucial case where United Nations Resolution 1325 should be making a difference to women's involvement in security and politics. But Hanaa Edwar Busha, one of the founders of the Iraqi Women's Network (IWN), describes a constant struggle on the ground, from obstruction at the highest political levels to violence and intimidation in the streets. Read the rest of this post...

One of a dozen or so grassroots activists who have flown in to bring firsthand expertise, Sharon Bhagwan-Rolls has travelled twenty hours from Fiji to Sussex for the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office's historic conference on UN Resolution 1325 for women's participation in conflict resolution and decision-making – the first event of its kind the Foreign Office has hosted on gender issues. Currently secretary of Fiji's National Council of Women, Sharon has worked with many organisations over the years, to include women in Fiji's political life and tap their contribution to peace. Read the rest of this post...

Maysoon al-Damluji returned to her homeland for a week in May 2003, and stayed for two and a half years. She tells Rosemary Bechler about why she stayed, and her work with Iraq’s women’s movement. Read the rest of this post...

Rosemary Bechler would like to thank the Foreign Policy Centre and the Barrow Cadbury Trust for a chance to meet Senator Mobina Jaffer and others at the Global Exchange Forum: Understanding Women's Social Capital and spend the day at that interesting event When I met Senator Mobina Jaffer at the Global Exchange Forum, this small-built, demure lady ate her lunch while giving rapid, comprehensive answers to my questions without any sign of strain. Here was a redoubtable multi-tasker, I thought. Born in Uganda, Mobina Jaffer has achieved a string of firsts: she became the first East Indian woman lawyer in British Columbia and in 2001 she was appointed to the Canadian Senate as the first East Indian, first Muslim woman, and the first African. A year later, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien appointed her Chair of the Canadian Committee on Women, Peace and Security. Canada has been a leading nation among the “Friends of 1325”, and Mobina seized the opportunity to initiate a new way of working: Read the rest of this post...

Shortly after 11 September 2001, George Bush urged US citizens to watch Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s film, Kandahar, set in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. Why? Cynthia Weber investigates the president’s and the filmmaker’s visions of Afghanistan and Afghan women. Read the rest of this post...

After monitoring September’s elections in Afghanistan, Emma Bonino remains hopeful about the country’s future, if women can share in it as equal partners. Read the rest of this post...

Adopted in 1979 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) – the most far-reaching international commitment of governments working for gender equality – was the first international human-rights instrument to explicitly define all forms of discrimination against women as fundamental human-rights violations. As of April 2005, 180 states have ratified CEDAW, interpreting their treaty obligations in diverse ways ranging from reluctance to active incorporation. In part one, ‘The birth of gender vision’, Susanne Zwingel told the story of CEDAW’s development and its interpretation by different countries. Read the rest of this post...

Adopted in 1979 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) – the most far-reaching international commitment of governments working for gender equality – was the first international human-rights instrument to explicitly define all forms of discrimination against women as fundamental human-rights violations. As of April 2005, 180 states have ratified CEDAW, interpreting their treaty obligations in diverse ways ranging from reluctance to active incorporation. * * * The birth of a Convention Read the rest of this post...

UN Resolution 1325 on women and peace-building presents a complex challenge for the international community. It identifies two distinct groups of women with a role to play in peace-building and reconstruction: those on the ground in areas of insecurity and those in global discussions on security issues, in positions of influence and who are peace-builders from the outside. “Fighting violent conflict – an online conversation.” To join in the discussion on issues surrounding resolution 1325, see OpenDemocracy’s “women making a difference” blog Read the rest of this post...

Women from around the world are meeting at the UN in New York to lobby for the full implementation of UN SCR 1325. Our Women Making a Difference bloggers make their proposals for the UN and EU. Read the rest of this post...

Sexual violence is not merely a “by-product” but an integral and widespread part of conflict. Nicola Dahrendorf reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo, on a major humanitarian challenge. Read the rest of this post...

In 1999, International Alert with the support of over 200 organisations worldwide, launched a global campaign – Women Building Peace: From the Village Council to the Negotiating Table – to raise international awareness and secure a resolution from the UN Security Council highlighting women’s peace-building roles and contributions. Through the joint efforts of NGOs, UNIFEM and supporting member states, the push for the adoption of UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security succeeded in October 2000. Rosemary Bechler talks to International Alert’s Senior Policy Advisor, Nicola Johnston-Coeterier. * * * openDemocracy: Why is UN Resolution 1325 worth working on? Read the rest of this post...

Five years ago, two important events occurred. The UN Security Council adopted resolution 1325, demanding that member states increase the representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management and resolution of conflict. And the European Parliament (EP) adopted a resolution on the participation of women in peaceful conflict resolution, demanding that member states include at least 40% women in all reconciliation, peace-keeping, peace-enforcement, peace-building and conflict preventive posts – including fact-finding and observer missions.  Read the rest of this post...

Can women make a difference to peace and security? Yes, if the rhetoric about including women is translated into reality. Before suggesting how, I must make three qualifications. First, I am Australian and have worked in Northern Ireland during 1990, from 1994-1999 and since 2004. Personally, it is not possible to live in a divided society that is inherently violent and where patriarchal attitudes and values pervade everyday living (despite progressive equality legislation) without feeling committed to working toward change. Yet in a place where identity markers define both exclusion and inclusion, it is not easy to work as an ‘inside-outsider’, living in the culture, aware of its limitations and possibilities, yet always being conscious of being different in a culture where diversity is not yet celebrated. Read the rest of this post...

As one of the sponsors of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, I am glad openDemocracy is taking the fifth anniversary of its adoption to assess its value, examine how well it has been implemented and discuss its implications for the role women must come to play in the national sphere and in global society. The UN Security Council is not responsible for social issues. It is strictly responsible only for matters of international peace and security. As the UN’s most effective and most politically active intergovernmental institution, it both has enormous influence and raises hackles in various places. In introducing a wide-ranging text on gender issues, we were taking something of a risk. But the events of the 1990s produced volumes of evidence of the suffering caused to women and families by the breakdown of law and order, especially in the developing world, and pointed to the potential of women in resolving conflict and in turning round social and economic chaos. There were intakes of breath from the more traditional corners of the UN when they saw what we were attempting, but the UK Mission, bolstered by a gender issues expert from the UK’s Department for International Development, gained invaluable support from Security Council colleagues such as Canada and the Netherlands; and the United States and France also came on board to strengthen the work.  Read the rest of this post...

Why are women absent and warlords present when conflict-torn societies sit down for talks and rebuilding after war? Lesley Abdela charts the progress of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and calls for more action to involve women in politics. Read the rest of this post...

History will undoubtedly reveal that the quest for gender equality and justice was one of the defining events of the twentieth century. Beginning with struggles for women’s suffrage in the early decades, the women’s movement for equality generated sufficient impact that by the end of the century, the majority of the world’s nations had pledged to eradicate gender discrimination through instruments such as the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Platform for Action and the UN’s Security Council Resolution 1325. Read the rest of this post...