TO END SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CONFLICT, WOMEN MUST BE AGENTS OF CHANGE

Demonstrators attend a protest against rape and violence against women in Brasilia, Brazil, May 29. Sunday marks an international day aimed at ending sexual violence in conflict.UESLEI MARCELINO/REUTERS

For the past year I have visited conflict zones from Afghanistan to Somalia, Lebanon, Liberia and South Sudan. In each of these countries it has been the human stories that stick with me, both those related to sexual- and gender-based violence and those of courageous women and men committed to promoting peace and development.

Sunday is the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict. This date will mark an occasion for the international community to increase accountability, raise awareness, and demonstrate its resolve to address this crime. The UN’s grim estimate is that roughly 35 percent of women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives—this figure is even higher in conflict zones. This compels us to work together, in partnership, because the challenges we face today in relation to the systemic and widespread use of sexual violence in conflict are extraordinary.

All forms of violence, but perhaps sexual violence more than most, have a negative impact on both the individual and society. While more men and boys are killed in direct conflict-related violence, women and girls are more exposed to conflict-related sexual violence. Widespread sexual violence during and after conflicts undermines the chances for sustainable peace and security whereas women’s empowerment enhances it. We now know that when women are part of the process, peace negotiations are more successful and peace is more sustainable.

We are not alone. The Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies initiative was launched by Sweden and the U.K. with the aim of building a truly global coalition to prevent gender-based violence. Today, more than 50 partners have joined. We are particularly keen to see states from the south join us to share experiences and knowledge on this subject.

But political consensus now needs to be turned into consistent action. Of the 1,168 peace agreements signed between 1990 and 2013, less than a fifth refers to women or gender. While over 100 countries around the world now have specific laws aimed at tackling violence against women, this kind of protection and recourse simply isn’t available to the millions of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict zones. The international community must support conflict-affected states in filling that void.

To this end, we must shift the focus from women as victims, to women as agents of change, and strengthen the link between women’s economic empowerment, women’s political participation, and the full enjoyment of their human rights. This will mean transforming institutions, and changing norms and behavior.

There is also a final, overarching challenge: engaging with men and boys. Violence against women is not a women’s issue. Engaging men in the fight against sexual violence is key. Men and boys can be drivers of change. They need to be involved and take responsibility. Although the Democratic Republic of Congo is perhaps better known for its many cases of conflict-related sexual violence, it is in fact home to many successful strategies for engaging men in preventing violent male behavior, including as group education and mentorship programmes for ex-combatants and military officers. These programmes focus on positive masculinities as a strategy to initiate a change of behavior. I am proud to say that Sweden supports this work.

The International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding, led by the g7+ group of fragile and conflict affected states, the donor community and civil society is now putting gender equality issues at the forefront of its peacebuilding efforts. In our “New Deal” initiative and on the ground in conflict-affected states we are seeing this bear fruit. In Togo, for instance, where gender rights groups were specifically brought in by the government to take part in the country’s post conflict fragility assessment—a key part of the New Deal process.

As co-chair of the International Dialogue, I am proud to say that our Stockholm Declaration from May this year has made a strong commitment to U.N. Security Council resolutions on women, peace and security. The importance of women’s participation and partnership with women’s organizations must now be on top of our agenda.

How Instagram Thrived To 500 Million Users While Others Struggle To Grow

Instagram now has half a billion users. How did the photo-sharing app outpace Twitter and keep us so addicted?

I hope this isn’t too personal, but I need to fess up about something: I have an addiction. It’s nothing life-threatening or even all that serious, but I realized recently just how long it’s been going on. For nearly six years, my brain has routinely been flooded with hits of dopamine from a daily habit that I just can’t seem to kick. My drug of choice? This is kind of embarrassing. But it’s Instagram.

Now, lest I be accused of making light of the devastation caused by real-life, physical addiction to drugs or alcohol, hear me out: Social apps might not be deadly, but they certainly are addictive. They’re designed that way. And the scientific evidence that social media activates the brain’s pleasure circuitrymuch like real drugs do just keeps piling up like a mound of cocaine at a rich frat kid’s birthday party. Here in the age of ubiquitous smartphones, we each have our mindless vices of choice. For me, Instagram just happens to be the most rewarding one.

As it turns out, I’m not alone. Today, Instagram announced that it now has 500 million monthly active users. Of all those people sharing and scrolling through each other’s photos, a full 300 million of them use the app every day. That’s only 10 million less than the number of people who use Twitter every month. On average, Instagram users upload more than 95 million photos and videos every day. And we’re loving it: Collectively, we tap the "like" button on Instagram 4.2 billion times per day. We’re hooked.

While some social networks struggle to keep their user growth climbing after the initial buzz has worn off (see: Twitter and Foursquare), Instagram has had no trouble at all. In fact, the app’s user base has actually doubled in the last two years.

So what is it about Instagram that keeps reeling in tens of millions of people and ensuring that so many of us keep scrolling and tapping? Some of the reasons are obvious: Instagram’s expansion from iOS to other mobile platforms like Android and Windows Phone certainly helped push these numbers up. Heck, even the continued growth in smartphone ownership in general probably has a natural trickle-down effect (especially as Instagram retains enviably high rankings in the app stores, allowing its popularity to feed off of itself).

Without a doubt—despite plenty of naysaying at the time—Facebook’s $1 billion acquisition of Instagram in 2012 has been a huge boon for growth: Not only does it enjoy a tighter integration with the world’s largest social network (boosting Instagram’s exposure among Facebook’s 1 billion daily active users), but being owned by Facebook means a huge expansion in resources. At the time of its acquisition, Instagram only had 13 employees. Today, a much larger team of engineers, designers, and product specialists are able to help the app keep scaling. In 2014, engineers quietly migrated all of Instagram’s content from Amazon’s cloud hosting to Facebook’s own data centers, allowing the growing photo app to piggyback on technical infrastructure designed to support billions of users, countless features and, most importantly, rapid continuous scale.

Even something as simple as user experience research—something in which Facebook is very well versed—can have a significant impact on the usability and performance of an app like Instagram, thereby preventing a knee-jerk exodus of frustrated users to other, more responsive apps.

Seemingly small details can make a big difference. In a recent meeting with members of Instagram’s Android development team in New York City, I was told that the service’s Android app takes up about as much space on one’s phone as it did when the app first debuted, despite a litany of new features being added. That may sound mundane, but it’s important: An app with a smaller footprint can fit on more phones, including less sophisticated ones or devices with smaller storage space. Things like this can make a bit difference, especially in regions of the world where not everyone is carrying around an iPhone 6s with 64 gigabytes of storage. Notably, 80% of Instagram’s user base resides outside the United States.

Despite being gobbled up by a publicly traded tech giant, Instagram’s mission and focus didn’t change much. Certainly, the product wasn’t butchered as many feared would happen at the time of the acquisition. And while some changes have proven controversial—many weren’t thrilled when Instagram added advertisements or axed Foursquare’s place database for its location tags—a great deal of Instagram’s success is owed to the fact that Facebook simply did not screw it up. That may sound like a no-brainer, but it happens: Foursquare’s 2014 decision to split its location-based social app into two apps sparked a steep decline in usage from which the company is still recovering.

That isn’t to say that Instagram hasn’t changed. In addition to an evolving list of photo filters (and, to a keen eye, an obvious change in how they affect images), Instagram has added support for video, smarter photo discovery features, and more full-fledged photo-editing capabilities, to name a few things. They’ve also launched stand-alone apps like Hyperlapse for time lapse videos, Boomerang for short, looped animations, and Layout for piecing together collages of photos. Breaking these features into their own apps may seem like an odd product choice—it clearly trickles down from Facebook’s DNA—but it also keeps the core Instagram app lightweight and snappy to use.

Of course, a social app isn’t a social app without its community. Instagram has become home to many of those: First, photographers. Then foodies, fashionistas, celebrities of various stripes, and—perhaps just as importantly—an army of millennials hell-bent on oversharing their every mirror selfie. Bizarrely enough, some of these teenage selfie-snappers have become minor celebrities in their own right. Indeed, Instagram’s growth is surprising in light of an evolving social media landscape: Why, for instance, hasn’t Snapchat replaced Instagram among younger users, or at least eaten into Instagram’s usage numbers? Why did Flickr never pose a threat? With Facebook (photo-sharing capabilities and all) being the social network of choice for over 1 billion people, why do so many bother with a separate app for photos?

Whatever the reasons for Instagram’s counterintuitive success, it appears to be here to stay. But who knows? Maybe it will look very different a year from now. In the meantime, I’ll be over here, snapping my cat, picking just the right filterand waiting for the likes to roll in. Who knows why? I just can’t get enough of it.

Google marks concrete dates for Nexus device update life cycle.

Google added concrete dates to when Nexus devices will stop receiving Android version updates. For example, the Nexus 5X and 6P are slated to no longer receive Android version updates after September 2017.

Google’s Nexus devices typically have an update life cycle of 2 years. After that, you’ll have to say goodbye to receiving the latest and greatest features in future Android updates — unless you buy the newest Nexus phone. Although full updates end after two years, it has been unclear how long security updates continue, and the whole process of figuring out when your device will be cut off is confusing. Luckily, Google is finally making things clear as crystal.

If you head over to this support page for Nexus devices and their update cycles, you’ll find concrete dates listed for Nexus devices on when they’ll stop receiving Android software updates. The company has never given firm dates before, so this is a welcome change. Google’s most recent Nexus phones — the 5X and the 6P — will stop getting Android version updates after September 2017. That means those devices will likely receive Android O, and nothing after that.

Related: Deal alert! Get the Google Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X for $50 off right now

Android version updates, like the upcoming Android N, come “for at least two years from when the device became available on the Google Store.” Keep in mind that Google simply can’t offer “guaranteed version updates” after these dates, so it doesn’t completely rule out future updates for these devices.

Security updates thankfully last a little longer at “3 years from availability or 18 months from when the Google Store last sold the device.”

So the 2014 Nexus 9 tablet will no longer get Android version updates after October this year, but will continue to get security updates until the fall of 2017. The Nexus 5 stopped getting support last October, which is why it’s not slated to get Android N. Oddly, the 2014 Nexus 6 is not listed in this device roundup, but we have reached out to Google to clarify. The Nexus 6 should continue receiving updates until the end of this year.

Two Nexus devices are rumored to come with Android N later this year, and reports suggest Huawei is slated to manufacture them — a solid choice given the success and general praise of the Nexus 6P