UN Security Council Passes Women, Peace And Security Resolution
On October 31, 2000, the United Nations (UN) Security Council unanimously passed a resolution on Women, Peace and Security. The resolution calls for gender sensitivity in all UN missions and for equal participation for women in conflict and peace negotiations. The resolution reconfirms that women and children are those most adversely affected by armed conflict, including those living as refugees and internally displaced persons. It also calls for special measures to be taken to protect women and girls from gender-based violence and other forms of violence in situations of armed conflict.
Women throughout the world have been subjected to gross violations of their human rights during armed conflict. Women living in Afghanistan are faced with a brutal system of gender apartheid by the Taliban. Thousands of women and girls in Sierra Leone are victims of a systematic assault by rebels who had sought to overthrow the west african nation’s government. Human rights workers compare the atrocities to the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, where women were targeted, captured, ganged raped and forced into sexual servitude and “rape camps”. In August of this year, eleven (11) Bosnian women testified in a U.S. civil trial against Serb leader Radovan Karadzic alleging that he ordered the rape, torture, forced prostitution, kidnapping, and murder of Croats and Muslims. East Timorese women also allege that women in West Timor refugee camps were held as sex slaves.
Media Resources: IWTC Women’s Global Net, BBC News 10 November 2000, Feminist Global News Wire
6/18/2013 Supreme Court Strikes Down Proof of Citizenship Voter Requirements - On Monday, the United States Supreme Court struck down an Arizona law requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship before being allowed register to vote.
In an opinion written [PDF] by Justice Antonin Scalia, the Court ruled that the Arizona statute violated the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, also known as the "Motor Voter Law") of 1993, which created a federal form that individuals can mail in to register to vote in federal elections. . . .
6/18/2013 Pakistani Women's University Bus, Hospital Bombed - A bus for a women's university in Pakistan and the hospital that treated victims from the blast were bombed on Saturday, killing 14 students and 24 others at the hospital.
The bus was transporting female students and teachers from Sardar Bahadur Khan Women's University in Quetta, located in the southwestern part of Pakistan. . . .
6/18/2013 Taliban Attack In Afghan Capital As NATO Transfers Power - Yesterday, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) transferred responsibility for the country's security forces to the Afghan government after a bomb blast targeting a political official left three civilians dead in Kabul. . . .
