Many women in Zimbabwe face war in their homes daily and face war with the state when we try to overcome it. Often we find ourselves in combat when all we are actually trying to do is to crawl out of our own small room, says Betty Makoni.
In a rare interview, Graça Machel, the humanitarian campaigner and wife of Nelson Mandela, talks about her lifelong commitment to children's and women's rights.
Several Gender Based Violence (GBV) campaigners, predominately women, have made a commitment to continue the fight by making sure that the Liberian society is free of GBV.
The UN World Health Organization (WHO) has released new guidelines - titled 'Prevention and Treatment of HIV and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections for Sex Workers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries' - recommending, among other things, that countries should work towards decriminalizing sex work.
Kenya’s rights activists are furious that the country’s highest court “violated” women’s constitutional rights by ruling against the implementation of a gender quota in parliament ahead of the 2013 general elections.
Source: IOE
Despite widespread notions that girls and women are increasingly successful and most gender equality issues have been addressed in UK society, "girls face increasing pressures around 'sexualisation' and sexism in their peer groups, at school and in wider society," says Dr Jessica Ringrose, senior lecturer in the sociology of gender and education at the Institute of Education (IOE), London.
Source: Scotsman
ONE of the more difficult questions I found myself being asked when I was a United Nations under-secretary-general, especially when addressing a general audience, was: “What is the single most important thing that can be done to improve the world?”
Campaigns to lower the rate of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) in Sierra Leone are having some impact, but efforts to ban the practice have failed thus far, and despite a push to communicate its health risks, many still believe FGM/C promotes good health and hygiene.
A group of Pygmy women singers from Likouala, in the extreme north of the Republic of Congo, has released a music album, which they and their backer hope will help safeguard the rights of the country’s Baka Pygmies.
It's a country the size of all of western Europe, with enormous mineral riches that enable the artifacts of modern life, from mobile phones and tablets to circuit boards and solar panels. It is also, by many accounts, the worst place to be a woman.
Noting that women have not benefited equally from progress made in achieving the anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a senior United Nations official today highlighted the need for more to be done to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Source: PlanUK
THE announcement today by the United Nations and the Pakistan government of a ‘Malala Fund’ to educate underprivileged girls has been welcomed by child rights organisation Plan International.
Source: UN Radio
27% of all victims of human trafficking officially detected globally between 2007 and 2010 are children, up 7 per cent from the period 2003 to 2006.
That according to the 2012 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons released by the UN Office on drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The Report, which is based on official data supplied by 132 countries, notes that also worrying is the increase in the number of girl victims, who make up two- thirds of all trafficked children. Girls now constitute 15 to 20 per cent of the total number of all detected victims, including adults, whereas boys comprise about 10 per cent.
The vast majority of trafficked persons are women, accounting for 55 to 60 per cent of victims detected globally. However, the total proportion of women and girls together soars to about 75 per cent, with men constituting about 14 per cent of the total of detected victims.
Executive Director of UNODC, Yury Fedotov, commenting on the findings, says “Human trafficking requires a forceful response founded on the assistance and protection for victims, rigorous enforcement by the criminal justice system, a sound migration policy and firm regulation of the labour markets.”
human trafficking victims
A group of United Nations human rights experts today voiced deep concern about Egypt’s draft constitution, and called on its Government to ensure equality, non-discrimination and protection and promotion of women’s rights in the final text.
Policy-makers and survivors convened at United Nations Headquarters in New York today to build consensus and identify common strategies on ending the pandemic of violence against women and girls.
Promoting gender equality and women's empowerment in international development after the 2015 deadline for the Millennium Development Goals is the aim of a two-day meeting which opened in Vienna on Thursday.
Women in Africa’s Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are calling on President Barack Obama to lend resources and influence in putting an end to the brutal violence against women taking place in that country.
In recent months, we have seen just how interconnected global food markets have become. Droughts in North America, Europe and central Asia have led to decreased global grain supplies and high food prices, which in turn have affected the ability of African communities—particularly in food-importing countries—to feed themselves. With 239 million people on the continent undernourished, Africans must take greater ownership over how they get their food.
Source: DailyNation
Egyptians are to start deciding Saturday whether to adopt a new constitution backed by Islamists including President Mohamed Morsi, or reject it as urged by the opposition which fears it will usher in sharia-style laws.
Source: DailyMaverick
"16 Days of Activism For No Violence Against Women and Children" came to an end on Monday, with Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe announcing a new National Council Against Gender Violence. Does a mere two-and-a-bit weeks of talking about violence, and the establishment of yet another council, amount to an effective response against South Africa's gender violence epidemic? By REBECCA DAVIS.