Kristen Cordell is a former Analyst for the RAND Corporation in Washington DC, where she specialized in Gender and Nation Building. She currently works as a consultant on Sexual Violence and Security Sector Reform for MONUC in Kinshasa.
Kristen Cordell reflects on the countrywide effort in Liberia to stop sexual exploitation by UN peacekeepers.
Last month the UN Security Council unanimously approved Resolution 1888, reaffirming the UNs commitment
In her second report from Liberia Kristen Cordell looks at the impact of the all female Indian police unit working in Monrovia.
The deployment of female peacekeepers has recently become
Kristen Cordell, at the end of her first visit to the CSW, sees little hope for progress without research being taken more seriously, an end to bureaucratic divides, a pooling of resources and real collaboration between NGO's and the UN.
Kristen Cordell hopes that the new UN database on Sexual Violence will reduce the turf wars between the UN agencies dealing with Gender, and underpin the research and analysis which is key to promoting women's rights
Kirsten Cordell reports on the debate about the impact of the financial crisis on women. "I was abroad when the global finical crisis struck and thus keenly aware of its reverberating and devastating effects. I assumed the news for financing gender equitable programming would prove equally bleak."
"Send me your female troops, your police, your civilian personnel and your senior diplomats and I will ensure that they are all considered; that qualified candidates are rostered; and