Only 8 percent of peace talks have included women at any level.

Growing up under Saddam's rule, I witnessed many injustices occurring everyday in my country and yet I could not do anything to prevent them.

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

Passionately enjoy life!

My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.

I firmly believe today that the only way to stop violence against women is to speak out and refused to be silenced.

Working with women survivors of war has taught me that we need to listen to women's perspectives on war in order to understand how to effectively rebuild a country, a community and a family.