/tiprpt/2011/index.htm], emphasized the extent of human trafficking (800,000 people – the majority of which are women – are trafficked annually) and the 2011 report “State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, 2011” by the Minority Rights Group International [ http://www.minorityrights.org] has catalogued the rights of indigenous women, who suffer discrimination and abuse.
 A good example of this is the willingness of the Karzai government to negotiate with the Taliban despite their horrific treatment of women.
 Mark Neocleous persuasively demonstrate that national security stemmed from Roosevelt’s conception of economic security and the havoc caused by the Depression, which is why economic and national security need to be interlinked especially when viewed through a securitization paradigm. Neocleous shows the link Mark Neocleous, “From Social Security to National Security on the Fabrication of Economic Order,” Security Dialogue, Vol. 37, No. 3 (2006), pp. 363-384.
 Rebel forces rape women and girls as a retaliatory tool, as for example for the Nianga ethnic group, which constitutes the majority of the population in some parts of the region “it would be better to die than to be a victim of rape committed by FDLR or their allies, as rape constitutes the worst human humiliation.” (Women’s Voices, January 2011) Conversely, there is evidence of Congolese soldiers also engaging in mass rapes. In addition to being used as “tools of war,” women are also raped because there is no security, allowing the men to engage in such activities with impunity.
 The case of Shahnaz Bibi is indicative of the plight of women in rural Pakistan. Bibi was dragged by six men from her home because her son was accused of having sexual relations with a married woman. She was forced to walk naked around the village without a single person helping her (none of the villagers even reported the incident to the police). Due to her ordeal, Bibi cannot return to the village. (BBC News, June 21, 2011)
 The Indian novelist Kishwar Desai, author of award-winning novel Witness the Night has written that she came across cases where newborn female babies were discarded – thrown out to be gnawed by rats, while others were drowned or given fatal drugs (Sydney Morning Herald, June 19, 2011). The Minority Rights Group International has claimed that Dalit (untouchable) women face rape and custodial torture by virtue of their caste.
 According to The Washington Post, J. Alexander Their director of USAID’s Office of Afghanistan and Pakistan Affairs, when asked as to why USAID changed its $140 million land reform program in Afghanistan, which was supposed to promote women’s rights through helping them attain land rights occurred because “The women’s issue is one where we need hardheaded realism. There are things we can do, and do well. But if we become unrealistic and overfocused . . . we get ourselves in trouble.” The Post added that a senior official noted that “Gender issues are going to have to take a back seat to other priorities,”. Rajiv Chandrasekaran, “In Afghanistan, U.S. Shifts Strategy on Women’s Rights as it Eyes Wider Priorities,” The Washington Post, March 6, 2011. [ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/05/AR2011030504233.html]
 The African Development Bank in its June 2011 meeting recognized that women entrepreneurs demanded $19 billion dollars in loans, leading Caleb Fundanga, the governor of Zambia’s Central Bank saw the failure to support women entrepreneurs as a missed opportunity for his country and others. (The Guardian, June 14, 2011)
 For a critique of the “girl effect” see for example, Anna Carella’s blog (January 4, 2011) in AID WATCH http://aidwatchers.com/2011/01/so-now-we-have-to-save-ourselves-and-the-world-too-a-critique-of-%E2%80%9Cthe-girl-effect%E2%80%9D/