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PrefaceBy Jimmy Carter, Former U.S. PresidentAfter World War II, the nations of the worldgathered together to form the United Nations inan effort to prevent the kinds of wars and massiveviolations of human rights that devastated so muchof the world during the first part of the century. TheU.N. charter asserted that only self-defense in case ofimminent attack would justify a decision to go to war.Those same governments also created the UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The declarationwas an affirmation that all people are equal in allaspects of life and have a right to mobilize with othersin order to make this promise come true within theirown societies. In the decades since, the UDHR andother treaties derived from its principles have servedas a global bill of rights, spurring many to press forgreater freedom, but this struggle is long and subjectto setbacks.The most notable disappointment in this struggleis that women and girls, half of the world’s population,are often not regarded in their society as fullpeople, with rights equal to men and boys. Some ofthe historic human rights movements, therefore, didnot include a focus on the rights of women but rathersidelined this question because of a larger politicalstruggle. This was true in the U.S. civil rights movement,in the South African anti-apartheid movement,and, more recently, during the Arab Awakening. Weknow also that war and other forms of violence affectwomen in horrific ways long after the bullets stopflying and that resorting to war instead of diplomacyconveys a message to society that violence is anacceptable way to solve difficult problems. The globalprevalence of domestic violence and sexual assault,accompanied by weak government responses, showsthat society too readily accepts these abuses as aTom EnglandParticipants gathered for the 2013 Human Rights Defenders Forum.The Carter Center 3