Women are not just victims; they are survivors and leaders on the community-level backlines of peace and stability.

I find it amazing that the only group of people who are not fighting and not killing and not pillaging and not burning and not raping, and the group of people who are mostly — though not exclusively — who are keeping life going in the midst of war, are not included in the negotiating table.

It appears easier to talk about protecting women than it is to fully include women at all decision-making levels in peace talks and post-conflict planning.

Everything is give and take. The solutions are in the middle not in the extremity of the situation.

Unfortunately, violence against women is not the only injustice women face globally; it is one of the many inequalities that impede the full development of socially excluded women globally.

Every woman must own her story; otherwise we are all part of the silence.

Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides.