Women

With more than four million internally displaced Colombians- an average of more than a quarter of a million people annually in recent years- and almost half a million more forced to flee across national borders in search of safety, Colombia now ranks just behind Sudan in the numbers of people displaced by the conflict.  Women, youth, Afro-Colombians, and indigenous communities have been disproportionately affected by the conflict and by the displacement it causes.

Sudan faces challenges on many fronts, among them an ongoing conflict in Darfur, a fragile Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the north and south that ended decades of civil war, and upcoming nationwide elections at every level of government in 2010 (the first elections since 1986).  The US Institute of Peace is engaging all of these issues in an effort to help build a more stable Sudan. 

Women are an important part of the peacebuilding equation. Too often they are excluded or marginalized in the peace process. Limiting or excluding women in the peacebuilding process not only leaves a critical resource untapped but also hinders a society's recovery. Admission fee is required.

The Asia Foundation will release findings from its fifth public opinion poll, "Afghanistan in 2009: A Survey of the Afghan People," the most comprehensive survey conducted in all 34 of Afghanistan’s provinces.

The political and socio-cultural position of women in Afghanistan is in transition, particularly in the urban areas of the country. Advances have been made to include women in peacebuilding efforts, as noted by the recently adopted Constitution that grants equal rights for men and women, and as more and more women engage in entrepreneurial activities.

USIP's Maria Jessop-Mandel writes about the Institute's recent human rights workshop, "Putting Human Rights Values into Action," for Iraqi professors held in Beirut, Lebanon. The program explored three human rights-related themes specific to the Iraqi context -- children’s rights, women's equality and academic freedom -- and ways these professors could more effectively teach human rights in their classrooms, and ultimately learn from each other's experiences.