NEWSWOMEN'S RIGHTS

The big news at the United Nations today is US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to the UN Security Council.

But the real story, which the mainstream media is likely to miss, is that Clinton is there today to mark the tenth anniversary of what’s known in the shorthand as “1325”, a Security Council resolution passed in 2000 that demanded a greater role for women in post-conflict peacebuilding.

Resolution 1325 was a watershed. It urged the greater involvement of women at the United Nations and in the domestic processes of member states, and highlighted the need for better gender balance on UN operations, including peacekeeping.

That might sound like empty diplo-speak, but one of the problems of responding to rape in the early days of the Darfur crisis was that most of the African Union peacekeepers were men.  Women survivors simply couldn't talk to the troops.

You thought you’d listened to them all – the stories, the witnesses, the gruesome accounts. But just when you thought they were over, they pop up once more, reminding us that in conflict zones, women still get the lower end of the deal.

A new study by the International AIDS Society explores the effects of mass rape on HIV in conflict situations. As one might expect, the study found that women and girls suffer extensively in war-ridden zones and face a major risk of contracting HIV and passing it on to their communities.

The study found that in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Sudan, Somalia and Sierra Leone, mass rapes could cause five new HIV infections per 100,000 women or girls each year. The number is even higher in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. The study also revealed that survivors of rape might spread the disease to their partners or their offspring due to the lack of knowledge or proper post-rape care.

Monrovia, Liberia - In post-conflict Liberia, everything’s a challenge.

The roads are a mess. Running water and electricity are unreliable and there’s little in the way of economic opportunity. That’s you’re usual list of post-conflict conundrums, but Liberia is beset by another problem of epidemic proportions: rape.

There were approximately 200 rapes reported in Monrovia last year, according to local law officials. Those cases will end up in 'Court E,' a unique experiment in post-conflict gender justice. The court's prosecutor runs a special unit on sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), which supports rape survivors and their families by facilitating access to medical services and offering psychological support for the survivor and her family. The unit also helps the survivor prepare for her day in court.

Earlier this week, fellow blogger Andrew Green wrote about the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting -- an initiative that is increasingly focusing on women and girls as the key to poverty relief. From domestic violence to cleaner burning cook stoves, females are taking center stage in development agendas.

Making women and girls the center of a development initiative is impressive, but it  isn't groundbreaking. Gender inequality has long been recognized as a significant cause of underdevelopment and poverty. Of the 1 billion people living in poverty, 70 percent are women and girls. Strengthening women's rights and investing in girls' futures can dramatically impact economic progress, education, and health. So far, most of the focus of women-centered development has taken place within the rural landscape: getting girls into schools, spreading HIV/AIDS education to remote areas, expanding micro-credit to agricultural groups, etc. But a new report from Plan International reminds us that the landscapes of gender-based inequality and injustice are changing.

Each year, Plan releases an annual report through their Because I Am a Girl campaign -- each report spotlighting a specific theme in the relation to the state of the world's girls.  This year, the "Digital and Urban Frontiers: Girls in a Changing Landscape"  (PDF) highlights the impact of  two of the fastest growing arenas on adolescent girls around the world. As Plan points out, the digital world and the urban environment present a conflicting dynamic of both opportunity and danger.