Nobel Women's Initiative

A staggering number of women around the world will experience rape or other violence in their lifetimes. The UN Secretary General says 1 out of every 3. That is one billion women.  Imagine One Billion Women Rising to end the violence! And a billion men rising with us.  

   

Organizations and individuals around the world have been working long and hard to stop rape and gender violence in conflict.  The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, spearheaded by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, is bringing them together to develop and carry out coordinated plans of action to help end this wanton scourge.

An unprecedented number of women ran in the latest elections in Guatemala, which wrapped up on Sunday. The list of nine candidates for president included Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Mayan activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum.

"We are the voice of the thousands of silenced people, who have no room (in the system) and who only take orders," said Menchú Tum. She emphasized the fact that she is a woman, specifically an indigenous candidate, in a country that is “‘machista,’ racist and excludes people."

An all-women team of cluster bomb searchers has been breaking new ground and gender barriers in Lebanon’s still dangerous south. 

The country’s only all female team - once local teachers, nurses and housewives - was set up by de-mining NGO Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) to clear areas littered with unexploded cluster bombs dropped by the Israeli military in the 2006 July War. 

A staggering number of women around the world will experience rape or other violence in their lifetimes. The UN Secretary General says 1 out of every 3. That is one billion women.  Imagine One Billion Women Rising to end the violence! And a billion men rising with us.  

   

Organizations and individuals around the world have been working long and hard to stop rape and gender violence in conflict.  The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, spearheaded by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, is bringing them together to develop and carry out coordinated plans of action to help end this wanton scourge.

Archbishop Tutu and the Dalai Lama call on President to build clean energy legacy

OTTAWA (September 7, 2011) -  Nine distinguished recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize have written to President Obama, urging him to reject the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline, saying his decision offers "a critical moment" to make good on his pledge to create a clean energy economy.

"We urge you to say no" to the pipeline and "turn your attention back to supporting renewable sources of energy and clean transportation solutions," says the letter (Download PDF), sent today. "This will be your legacy to Americans and the global community: energy that sustains the lives and livelihoods of future generations."  Read the full text of the letter below.

The Nobel Women's Initiative has called on the President of Azerbaijan to immediately stop the forced evictions and illegal demolitions of private property in the city of Baku. This comes after the demolition of the home of colleague Leyla Yunus, a staunch defender of human rights. Her house was home to the Institute for Peace and Democracy, the Azerbaijani Campaign to Ban Landmines, and the Women's Crisis Centre.  All of their documents and equipment were destroyed in the demolition.

Stand in solidarity with the women human rights defenders in Burma by supporting their campaign for a United Nations General Assembly resolution establishing a Commission of Inquiry on possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. UN member states will meet this September at the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly, where ongoing human rights violations within Burma will be discussed.