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The report lays out the global picture revealing a systematic pattern of abuse repeating itself in conflicts all over the world from Colombia, Iraq, Sudan, Chechnya, Nepal to Afghanistan and in 30 other ongoing conflicts. Despite promises, treaties and legal mechanisms, governments have failed to protect women and girls from violence.

"Women and girls are not just killed, they are raped, sexually attacked, mutilated and humiliated. Custom, culture and religion have built an image of women as bearing the 'honour' of their communities. Disparaging a woman's sexuality and destroying her physical integrity have become a means by which to terrorize, demean and 'defeat' entire communities, as well as to punish, intimidate and humiliate women," said Irene Khan.

On top of this it is women and children who are forced to flee their homes. It is women who care for the sick and injured and it is women who have to collect food and water - tasks and situations that put them at further risk of abuse.

Despite the impact of conflict on women and girls, they are still excluded from the peace negotiation tables. Often it is the men who initiated the war who take decisions on how peace should be built and introduced.

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Women have made a difference in the peace negotiations to which they have gained access.

- In Northern Ireland, women's groups spent a decade building the trust between Protestants and Roman Catholics that was the foundation for the ultimate agreements.
- In Southeastern Europe, women from Kosovo's new Assembly have banded together across party lines to form a women's caucus - a non-partisan effort in a community traumatized by conflict and ethnic strife.
- In Somalia women presented themselves as a ‘sixth clan’ that reached beyond ethnicity to a “vision of gender equality”. The women ultimately helped create a National Charter that guaranteed women 25 seats in the 245-member Transitional National Assembly (TNA), and protected the human rights of women, children, and minorities.
- In Nicaragua and the Philippines, women became leaders at times of national fatigue or reaction, symbolizing healing and reconciliation.

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I hope especially that people will read Khan's bio, as individually linked. There have been some strange stereotypes afoot on babble in recent days; that bio should challenge a few of them, as, of course, this report in full should as well.

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Often it is the men who initiated the war who take decisions on how peace should be built and introduced.

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