This article was originally published by Global Post. A 16-year-old boy from a small village in the Khyber Agency near Peshawar answered the Taliban’s call and the militants set about grooming him to be a suicide bomber. He underwent a rigorous indoctrination and was trained to “accept martyrdom,” to borrow the language used by the […]
This article was originally published by The Boston Globe. Last month in Lahore, Pakistan, a court ordered the noses and ears of two brothers cut off after they were convicted of doing the same thing to Fazeelat Bibi, a 21 year-old woman who had declined a marriage proposal from one of them. Although few believe […]
This article, co-authored by Swanee Hunt and Cristina Posa, was originally published by Foreign Policy. It was August 2003 in the Iraqi city of Najaf — long before the holy city’s takeover by Muslim cleric Moktada al-Sadr — and U.S. Marine Lt. Col. Christopher Conlin faced a dilemma. Arriving at a swearing-in ceremony for Nidal […]
This article was originally published by Inter Press Service. The international community must act immediately to resolve the political and humanitarian crises facing Sudan, said a panel of leading Sudan experts at a briefing here Tuesday, and ensure that any peace process formally include women’s input. “We were heartened by the Qatar process, and the […]
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe. As the world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, one gathering in particular testified to the resilience of the human spirit. Some 800 guests assembled in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia on the coast of West Africa, for the International Colloquium on Women’s Empowerment, Leadership […]
This article, co-authored by Swanee Hunt and Sheila B. Lalwani, was originally published by Huffington Post. A few days ago, the United Nations released its latest report on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the international commitment to prevent genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. The report comes at a good time: President Obama is […]
This article was originally published by The Huffington Post. The 2003 Rwandan Constitution included a quota providing for 30% reserved seats for women in all decision making bodies. In 2008 women filled the 30% quota and then gained another 26% of the seats in the legislature via the political party ballot, for a total of […]
This article was originally published by Huffington Post. Although the importance of women in national security is impossible to quantify, anecdotes like Team Lioness suggest that perhaps women bring an additional perspective to a situation — one that sees the extra value in social networks and relationships, one that empathizes with the human need to […]
This article was originally published by Foreign Policy. This morning, I attended the 2nd Annual International Woman of Courage Awards, presented by Condoleezza Rice and Undersecretary of State Paula Dobriansky in honor of Saturday’s International Women’s Day. Out of the 95 women worldwide who received the honor, eight were invited to personally accept the award […]
This article was originally published by The Boston Globe. Swanee Hunt moderates a discussion at Harvard tonight called “Engendering Peace: Security Through an Inclusive Lens.” The panel will feature women working for peace who hail from Colombia, Haiti, Israel, Palestine, Liberia, and Afghanistan. Hunt also her own opinions on the topic. She’s not only the […]
