It's the Americas' largest reunion. Happening every three years, the Summit of the Americas brings together the heads-of-state of the region to talk about pressing concerns. Over the weekend in Cartagena, Colombia, the theme will be "Connecting the Americas: Partners for Prosperity," but some of the liveliest debates are likely to focus on discussions around decriminalization of personal drug use. Proponents of the plan suggest it will decrease the high levels of violence in some of the countries in the region.

A lot of important issues didn't make the agenda. This is reasonable. It is a two-day summit to address the most-pressing concerns of the region in a room filled with dozens of presidents and prime ministers. Can you imagine? Reaching even small conclusions is surely a challenge. But, in a year in which violence in the region will be at the top of all discussions, it's telling that once again another type of violence that may affect as much as 25 percent of the population hasn't made the cut.

Gender-based violence plagues countries in the region, including Colombia, the host, as well as the United States, which plans to send almost 700 people in its delegation. This type of violence even permeates the communities in and around the conference center where the summit will be held. Several weeks ago, I was in Cartagena speaking with women who have suffered unspeakable acts of violence mere miles from where the region's heads of state will gather in lavish style.

While the violence against women and girls in their homes does not on its face seem to have the same destabilizing effect on democracies, it would be wrong for governments to think it's not an issue worthy of discussion at these types of high-level regional gatherings.

The World Bank has found that gender-based violence has a negative economic impact on countries in the region, limiting women's contributions to social and economic development. The result can be a massive drain on economies in the Americas. The World Health Organization, summarizing various studies, found that violence against women and girls accounts for a 1.6 percent loss of GDP in Nicaragua and a 2 percent loss in Chile. It costs the U.S. almost $13 billion annually.

Other studies have found that gender-based violence is a major cause of ill health among women and girls, from complications during pregnancy to depression to physical disability. This health impact acts, according to the World Bank, as "an impediment to the accumulation of human capital." In other words, it prevents many women and girls in the Americas from investing in their own development, through education or other means, preventing them from better participating in the economy. The take away: gender-based violence prevents some poor women in the Americas from lifting themselves out of poverty.

The Saudi sports minister and head of the Saudi National Olympic Committee confirmed on April 4, 2012, that Saudi Arabia will not support women in practicing sports. Prince Nawwaf al-Faisal said: “Female sports activity has not existed [in the kingdom] and there is no move thereto in this regard.”

“At present, we are not embracing any female Saudi participation in the Olympics or other international championships,” Prince Nawwaf continued.

“If the International Olympic Committee was looking for an official affirmation of Saudi discrimination against women in sports, the minister in charge just gave it,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is impossible to square Saudi discrimination against women with the noble values of the Olympic Charter.”

Speaking at a press conference in Jeddah that concluded a meeting of Arab youth and sports ministers, the prince claimed that the demand for women’s participation in the Olympics and other international championships came from Saudi women living abroad, and that his organizations would not officially support that demand, but would instead cooperate with those women to ensure their participation “occurred in the appropriate framework and comported with Islamic law.” The prince said he was in constant contact with the Saudi mufti and religious scholars to insure nothing “infringed upon the Muslim woman.”

In a February report, “’Steps of the Devil’: Denial of Women's and Girls' Rights to Sport in Saudi Arabia,” Human Rights Watch documented the systematic discrimination against women in sports in Saudi Arabia, including their exclusion from the 153 sports clubs regulated by Nawwaf’s ministry, the Saudi National Olympic Committee (NOC), and the 29 national sporting federations, which are also overseen by Nawwaf in his capacity as head of the NOC.

Human Rights Watch urged the IOC to put Saudi discrimination against women in sport on the agenda of its next executive board meeting in Quebec on May 23.

The United Nations' newest agency -- UN Women -- takes an ambitious and sometimes startling look at gender equality and women's rights around the world with its first-ever report.

The 2011 Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice report is "a global survey of women's access to justice -- looking both at legislation passed by governments and the steps taken (or not taken) to implement those laws," according to the Guardian. "The report highlights the practical barriers that women—particularly the poorest and most excluded—face,” says former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet in the report’s introduction.

Among the report's more intriguing findings: at a staggering 51 percent, Rwanda has the highest share of women in parliament, while within their nation's manufacturing industry, Qatari women earn substantially more than men. On the flip side, 127 countries do not explicitly criminalize rape within marriage, while 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not a crime.

View more information and details from the full report here.
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