However, what continually stood out in each account we heard was not simply the brutality inflicted by dictator Charles Taylor and his legion of male warlords, but rather, the significant role that women played in putting an end to the era of conflict. And in fact, two Liberian women -– President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and her compatriot, peace activist Leymah Gbowee -– were recently honored with the Nobel Peace Prize for their hand in helping to end the war and steer the country forward in the years following.

PBS will be exploring the power of Liberia’s women in tonight’s “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” as part of their five-part documentary series,“Women, War & Peace.” Tonight’s episode will recount the story of the Liberian women who took on Taylor and his regime amid an escalating conflict, and won seemingly unattainable peace for the country in 2003. Armed only with white T-shirts and iron clad courage, they were instrumental in putting an end to years of inconceivable violence and helped to put their country back on the slow road to recovery.

Watch the preview above to whet your appetite before tonight’s show. Put it on your calendar or set the DVR, because this is definitely a story you’ll want to hear.

Dadaab, Kenya — On the outskirts of Hagadera, a refugee camp near the town of Dadaab, Somali women and their families are gathered, desperately seeking assistance after fleeing a famine and the worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa region in six decades.

Newly arriving refugees from Somalia are housed in the outskirts of Dadaab. Photo credit: Edward Macharia/ IRC.

I have been working with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) here for nearly a year. Looking around this arid, desolate corner of northwestern Kenya — barely 50 miles from the Somali border — it is hard to imagine that this is where more than 1,000 people a day come to look for help.

Famine has gripped headlines in recent weeks. Yet the story you might not have heard is what I consider the hidden side of this crisis –- violence against women and girls.

Two weeks ago, I sat in a thatch-roofed hut outside Hagadera speaking with a group of Somali women who had just crossed one of the most dangerous borders in the world. Their stories were alarming and disturbingly similar: Women and girls were taken from overcrowded vehicles, then robbed and raped by men with guns. Many were raped by multiple attackers, sometimes in front of their own families. Some “came to the camp naked,” one woman confided.

Each day, my IRC colleagues see a growing number of women and girls seeking help for the attacks they encountered on the road. But there are many more that don’t come forward, either out of shame and fear –- or simply because by the time they reach Dadaab, they are so exhausted and hungry that what happened to them along the way is one of many urgent concerns.

Sadly, Dadaab has not proven to be the safe haven that many women and girls had hoped for. The camps here are buckling under the pressure of a steadily increasing stream of refugees. New arrivals must wait on the outskirts, where aid agencies are trying to stretch their limited funding to meet the enormous needs all around. The result is that Dadaab simply isn’t safe for women and girls. They must walk far to get firewood and water, risking attack just to cook food for their families.

While the famine has been portrayed as a natural disaster, this crisis is not so simple. There is a complex web of conflict and insecurity in the region that has not only subjected millions of people to hunger and disease, but also to violence. And women and girls are facing the biggest risks.

This crisis couldn’t have hit at a worse time. As Congress spent the summer trying to make deeper cuts in spending, there is little funding available to go to an emergency like this. This is unfortunate because we know that with the right attention and resources, easy solutions can be put in place. Aid groups like the IRC can scale up services that help survivors recover and heal. We can construct more water points and latrines so that women and girls don’t need to risk attack in the forest. We can create safe spaces so that women and girls have a place to go for assistance and support.

The United States has been a leader in investing in women and girls, stating loudly and clearly that their needs are of primary importance to our country’s development and security goals. If there is one place where such leadership is needed today, it is in the Horn of Africa. Somali women and girls are counting on it.

For more information about the International Rescue Committee’s work in the Horn of Africa go to our Famine and Drought in the Horn website.

Sinead Murray is the International Rescue Committee’s gender-based violence program manager based in Dadaab, Kenya.

He explains:

As a key component of President Obama’s Global Health Initiative (GHI), which explicitly embraces a woman- and girl-centered approach to health issues, PEPFAR is working to reaffirm and expand its focus on women and girls in the context of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care. This $30 million initiative is one way that we are doing so.

PEPFAR’s increased GBV response will build upon the existing PEPFAR platforms in these three countries, working to increase the reach, coordination, and efficacy of GBV programs. Our hope is that this initiative will move us closer to our goal of sustainable GBV responses by moving small, pilot projects to tailored, coordinated and integrated national responses.

To ensure this, we will strengthen our current partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society in Mozambique, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as other countries in which we work. We will also support comprehensive GBV response packages for victims of violence at health facilities, increase GBV prevention programs to address the underlying causes of violence, and improve linkages with other sectors and addressing policy and address structural barriers. PEPFAR will partner with countries and build synergies both across U.S. Government agencies and other partners that focus on GBV-related development issues, such as education, reproductive health, democracy and governance, and economic growth. As we move to expand the reach of programs to fight gender-based violence, we will strengthen our monitoring and evaluation efforts to ensure that interventions implemented are effective and contribute to the broader global effort.

From the official statement:

Gender-based violence is a world-wide pandemic that poses significant health and human rights concerns to vulnerable populations. GBV directly fosters the spread of HIV/AIDS, and limits women and girls’ ability to negotiate sexual practices, to disclose HIV status, and to access services due to fear of GBV. PEPFAR’s increased GBV response will build upon the existing platforms in these three countries and their experience with GBV and HIV activities to increase the reach, coordination, and efficacy of GBV programs in these nations.

To pursue this intensified approach, PEPFAR will strengthen its current partnerships with governments, non-governmental organizations and civil society to scale up GBV work in the three countries. PEPFAR will support comprehensive GBV response packages for victims of violence at select health facilities, increase GBV prevention programs to address the underlying causes of violence, and improve linkages with other sectors and addressing policy and structural barriers. PEPFAR will also look for synergies with U.S. Government agencies and other partners that already focus on GBV-related development issues, such as education, reproductive health, democracy and governance, and economic growth.

Along with increased GBV interventions, this initiative will support countries to enhance monitoring and evaluation of GBV programs in order to help assess progress toward program goals and improve the effectiveness of GBV responses.

We’ll have more on this soon.

UNICEF outlines what they’ve been doing on this front, and provides some background in the full piece:

In the aftermath of earthquake, UNICEF staff members have met with nearly a dozen groups in south–eastern Haiti, working to create an effective referral system for survivors of violence. Small plastic–coated referral cards, printed in Haitian Creole, instruct victims on where to go for medical care and support. The cards were developed by UNICEF, in collaboration with the Haitian Government, the International Rescue Committee, and UNFPA.

A girl braids a woman’s hair outside rows of makeshift shelters for Haitians displaced by the earthquake. Overcrowded conditions in homes and camps are increasing the danger of gender-based violence.

“Information is key,” says Ms. Maternowska, “and placing that information in the hands of a survivor can save her life. The referral cards we’ve developed provide information on how and where to access essential medications to prevent pregnancy and HIV. And of course, the provision of timely information gives survivors access to full medical treatment, psycho-social support and justice.”

In partnership with NGOs and other UN agencies, UNICEF supports the Haitian Government’s push to include gender-based violence services as part of a comprehensive approach to women’s and girls’ health. Plans to develop dedicated health centers for women and girls are currently in the works in the areas hardest-hit by the earthquake—including Port–au–Prince, Leogane and Jacmel.

The partners’ goal is to expand these services to even the most remote corners of Haiti, including Anse–a–Pitre.

Senator Cardin:

Violence against women ranges from gang rape to domestic violence and from acid burnings to so-called honor killings. It also includes sexual violence as a tool of war, such as what is now occurring on a vast scale in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It has become a serious public health epidemic and a barrier to solving global problems such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. It devastates the lives of millions of women and girls, and it knows no national or cultural barriers.

Women who are abused frequently die or face serious injury and are at much greater risk of dying in pregnancy, having children who die in childhood, and of contracting HIV/AIDS.

What most people don’t realize is that violence against women is also a major cause of poverty. Typically, women are much more likely to be among the world’s poorest, living on a dollar a day or less. Violence reduces their standard of living by preventing them from accessing education or earning the income they need to lift their families out of poverty. In turn, poverty often prevents them from fleeing, perpetuating a vicious cycle that keeps millions of women from making better lives for themselves and their families.

In Nicaragua, for example, a study found that children of female victims of violence left school an average of four years earlier than other children. In India, it has been found that women who experienced even a single incident of violence lost an average of seven working days.

Key line: “Our response to violence against women must include men and women working together to elevate the problem beyond “a domestic matter,” and beyond a “women’s issue.” Ending violence against women around the world is a human rights issue…” (Emphasis mine).

You can read her full post here. Some background on the IVAWA here.

Every day around the world, a war is waged against women and girls. Approximately one out of every three women globally has been beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Violence against women includes abuse by spouses or partners in the home, rape as a weapon during times of war, dowry-related deaths and forced prostitution. This abuse is a global health crisis, an egregious human rights violation, and a moral outrage that knows no geographic or cultural barriers.

But what many people don’t realize is that violence against women is also a major cause of poverty. Violence keeps women from getting an education. Violence keeps women from earning an income to help lift themselves and their families out of poverty (research has shown that economic opportunity empowers women to escape abusive situations).

Today, Senator Kerry (D-MA), Senator Snowe (R-ME), Senator Boxer (D-CA), Senator Collins (R-ME), Congressman Delahunt (D-MA), Congressman Poe (R-TX), Congresswoman Janice Schakowsky (D-IL) and others will reintroduce the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA). IVAWA is the most comprehensive piece of legislation addressing violence against women and girls worldwide. This bipartisan bill would support proven best practices for reducing gender-based violence. It would expand our government’s ability to prevent violence against women caught in conflict, support grassroots organizations already working to effectively combat violence in their communities, and would make it globally known that the U.S. is committed to ending violence against women and girls.

To help make IVAWA a priority, please send a message to your Representative and Senators at www.WomenThrive.org/ivawa and ask them to co-sponsor IVAWA. To find out more information about IVAWA, or to read about other ways to get involved, visit www.WomenThrive.org/ivawatools.

- Mckenzie Lock, Women Thrive Worldwide

MAKAMBA PROVINCE, BURUNDI – For Céline Mpitabakana and her husband, Jean, saving enough money to buy a small plot of land was always a fond but distant dream. In 1993, the couple had been forced to flee their home in Makamba Province in southern Burundi as civil war engulfed the country.

After 14 years living as refugees in neighboring Tanzania, in 2007, Céline, Jean and their six children, returned home, settling in a fishing village nestled on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Like everywhere in Burundi, the memories of crisis and turmoil remained fresh. All told, more than 200,000 people were killed and one million people displaced during Burundi’s 16-year long conflict that officially ended only this year

The Mpitabakana family faced the prospect of starting their lives over with little more than what they had brought back with them from exile. Then Céline heard about a unique project sponsored by the International Rescue Committee: a local village savings and loan association designed to offer low interest loans to members of the community. Each week members of the association gather together and agree to set aside small sums of money which are then used to make loans to members. The low percentage interest payments help the group build capital in the form of shares that are paid out after one year.
Céline initially joined her local association hoping to earn enough money to support her children. She came away with much more.

She used her “share-out” from the fund to buy the small patch of land she and her husband had always dreamed about. With the money left over she opened a small store where she sells bananas, flour and fish.

At the same time, Céline and her husband took part in discussions sponsored by the association that encouraged the couple to share more equally in household decisions and work.

“My husband started asking me more questions and now he listens to what I have to say,” Céline said. “Before he just did what he liked and wasted money on beer, which made him fight with me. Now, we make decisions together.”

Tamah Murfet, who manages the IRC’s program in Burundi, said that not only did the associations support women’s economic empowerment they also played a crucial role in encouraging women to take a bigger role in decision making.

The associations also create a strong sense of community. Members meet in each other’s homes, check in when someone misses a meeting, and contribute to an emergency fund in case someone needs extra help.

A village savings and loan association in Nyanza-Lac. Photo by Nadine Ntahuba/IRC.

For Céline, being part of an association helped ease the feelings of alienation and hopelessness she felt when she first returned home. “Now all our children are in school and our souls are calm.”

To learn more about the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence and the International Rescue Committee’s work, visit theIRC.org/endviolence.

A crowd of people lined the hall of the Rayburn House Office Building on Wednesday to attend a hearing hosted by Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA) and Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight. With testimony from Rep. Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Ambassador of Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer, Founder of Breakthrough Mallika Dutt, former Rep. Linda Smith and Actress and UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman, the hearing discussed the International Violence against Women Act (IVAWA), an effort to bring violence against women to the forefront of American foreign policy.

Each panelist provided a unique perspective on the issue, but all agreed on one principle: violence against women should be a priority for U.S. foreign policy. Schakowsky began the hearing with a grim message: over the course of their lifetimes, at least one in three women around the world has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused. Delahunt continued, emphasizing that violence against women is not merely a woman’s issue or a problem for the developing world, but a concern for everyone. Verveer agreed. She stressed that everyone must act now “to eliminate this worldwide scourge.” Dutt remarked that we must include youth in order to make lasting change. Kidman echoed her fellow participants, adding that violence against women knows no borders and needs support at the highest levels of leadership.

Women in conflict particularly face unimaginable brutality. Quoting Major General Patrick Cammaert, former UN Peacekeeping Operation Commander in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Delahunt remarked that it is now more dangerous to be a woman than it is to be a soldier in conflict: in the DRC alone, 1,100 rapes are reported each month. Schakowsky reiterated this sad fact, adding that rape has become a systematic weapon of war. However, ending violence against women is more than a moral issue, said the panelists: doing so is in our own national interest and the interest of nations around the world. According to Delahunt, it is also a national security issue. Girls’ education, he explained, has proven to be an effective tool against extremism and terrorism.

Schakowsky remarked that violence against women also prevents them from actively participating in their communities, thus depriving societies of their important contributions. Verveer explained that there cannot be vibrant civil society, good governance or economic prosperity if half of the population is left out. The goals set by the international community will not be met without the voices of women, Kidman concluded.

The overarching message was clear: violence against women cannot be relegated to the margins of foreign policy. Check out ONE partner Women Thrive Worldwide for more information on IVAWA and how you can get involved.

Also, check out this clip from CNN on the hearing and Nicole Kidman’s participation in this important movement.

-Jen Fraser and Pooja Gupta