This article was originally published by Common Ground News Service. While it’s encouraging that two women—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni—were key players in the Annapolis conference last week, the fact that women are central in the negotiations will only have an impact if the subsequent talks are structured to […]
This article was originally published by The Washington Times. Negotiations around Darfur get underway this week. To succeed mediators must build on past successes and learn from past mistakes. Otherwise, Sudan will risk a return to broader conflict. A few key lessons should guide the way that the United Nations and African Union handle the […]
This article was originally published by The New York Times. Last month in Sudan I worked with Darfuri women leaders to prepare for peace negotiations set to take place in Libya later this month. They defined priorities and next steps, and committed to continued collaboration and communication. Although they represented a wide variety of ethnicities […]
This article was originally published by The Christian Science Monitor. Last month, an unknown group killed 10 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur. Some think whoever did it was trying to get an upper hand at the peace talks scheduled to begin this week. The attack calls into question the approach often used to resolve conflict.As […]
This article was originally published by Voice of America. During the civil war that raged for 14 years in Liberia until a peace agreement between rebels and government forces was sealed in 2003, the country’s education system crumbled to the point of non-existence. Most young people were forced to abandon their classrooms to participate in […]
This article was originally published by Voice of America. “We can’t forget our past, because its taste is still bitter in our mouths,” says Leymah Gbowee, one of Liberia’s most prominent human rights activists, who remains at the forefront of efforts to ensure that women occupy increasingly prominent positions in her society. Gbowee is the […]
This article was originally published by NPR. The United States Senate is calling for Iran to release detained scholar Haleh Esfandiari immediately. Esfandiari is being held in Iran on suspicion of espionage. The scholar’s daughter, Haleh Bakhash, speaks openly about her mother. She’s joined by Carla Koppell of the Institute for Inclusive Security. Together, they […]
This article was originally published by The Christian Science Monitor. On Sunday, millions of French men and women will determine whether a woman should become their president. Socialist Ségolène Royal is running against conservative Nicolas Sarkozy. Should she win, both France and Germany, two of the major countries in Europe, would be presided over by […]
This article was originally published in Critical Half. While the development community has shifted toward a gender and development (GAD) paradigm that emphasizes relations between women and men, rather than focusing on women alone, GAD programs often fall short of truly including men. However, a 2006 legislative campaign by Rwandan female parliamentarians, in which they […]
This article was originally published by San Francisco Chronicle. Worldwide, at least 81 journalists were killed in 2006 — the highest annual toll in more than a decade — and murder was the leading cause of death, according to two organizations that promote freedom of the press, Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect […]
