Equality continues to be a dream not yet met. Division, degradation, and victimization define the lives of millions.
8 March—International Women's Day—is dedicated to the women of our past, whose voices were heard amidst discrimination, and serves as a vigilant reminder that there is much work to be done.
WOMENS’ DAY: AN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIR
When the United Nations Charter was signed in 1945, it marked the first international agreement acknowledging gender equality as a fundamental human right. In the years that followed no organization has done more to design, promote, and execute the rights of women worldwide.
4 Action Areas: Promotion of legal measures; Mobilization of public opinion and international action; Training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; Direct assistance to disadvantaged groups
In 2010 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) drew increasing attention to the suffering endured by women during armed conflict. Those who have been displaced by war risk sexual violence, discrimination, intimidation, and extreme poverty. Rape is among the most common forms of waging war.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY 2011
2011 marked the 100th commemoration of International Women’s Day. Celebrations were held in more than 100 countries and supported by countless global organizations. Themes include: respect, appreciation, and a commemoration of women’s economic, political, and social accomplishments. It also marked a day drawing attention to the inequality that is present, worldwide.
UNITED STATES
In the United States, President Obama declared the month of March as ‘Women’s History Month’ asking Americans to reflect on the role of women in our nation’s history. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton introduced: “100 Women Initiative: Empowering Women and Girls through International Exchange.”
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
ARU, Ituri Province
An event held every year in Aru. School classes are cancelled, business closed, and thousands of young girls and women parade through the streets. Hosted by the government and attended by UN-MONUSCO, there are speeches, music, and dancing all day long.
Representing Ecole Maternelle: All the teachers, one volunteer mother, two cooks, one secretary, and I took part in the annual parade for International Women’s Day. 
One-year ago, or perhaps even one month ago, if you had told me I would be dancing through the streets of Aru celebrating the past achievements of Congolese women and rightfully demanding more the freedom, justice, and equality that continues to be denied to women here and around the world, I would have never believed you. But there I was surrounded by thousands.
In those moments, I thought of Congo and knew that there were women in the parade alongside me who had been victims of the DRC’s recent conflicts—homelessness, starvation, and rape. (DRC is often referred to in the international community as the rape capital of the world.)
It was absolutely incredible; knowing I can do more than reading and writing of the struggles women face, but I can also take to the streets for what I believe in.
FUTHER REFLECTION:
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
SWIFT JUSTICE IN BUKAVU
More than 50 crimes of rape committed in January by eleven soldiers in the Congolese town of Fizi Centre town reached conclusion. Processed by a mobile gender justice court, the soldiers are serving sentences in the provincial capital, Bukavu.
The mobile court was created by the Rule of Law Initiative of the American Bar Association and the Open Society's Justice Initiative. The trial for Fizi lasted ten days and was attended by hundreds of villagers. Askin of the Open Society’s Justice Initiative states that, “the trial demonstrates that cooperation between local government and justice systems, the U.N., NGOs and donors, prosecution of such crimes is possible even in a region racked by insecurity.”
The army spokesman—Lieutenant Colonl Vianney Kazarama—for Operation Amani, of which the prosecuted soldiers were serving believes success of the trial relays the message of zero-tolerance to perpetrators and is a commitment to villagers and the international community that impunity towards crimes of sexual violence will no longer be tolerated in the DRC.
Wow! Right there in the mix of it when change is happening!
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