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2008

Nepal: Nepal arrests 560 Tibetan women
May 11, 2008 – (BBC) Nepalese police have arrested some 560 Tibetan women, including many Buddhist nuns, after breaking up demonstrations against China's crackdown in Tibet.

India: Women in governance- ‘Men need to understand the value of partnership’
May 6, 2008 – (OneWorld South Asia) On April 30, hundreds of women representing various organisations gathered at Parliament Street in the Indian capital New Delhi under the umbrella of ‘The Alliance for Women’s Reservation Bill’.

Asia: The Economics of Violence
May 1, 2008 - (The Morung Express) The story looks good till you notice the underbelly of economic growth: unprecedented levels of inequality, violence, epidemics, congested roads, teeming slums, polluted rivers and failing democracies. The story looks good till you begin to hear the stories of dalits, tribals, ethnic minorities, women from the hinterlands of rural deprivation.

Nepal: Combating Violence against Dalit Women of the Terai
April 30, 2008 - (Telegraph Nepal) Even after the restoration of multi-party democracy in Nepal in 1990, there has not been any remarkable change in the socio-economic status of the Terai Dalits. Worse among these people is the condition of the Dalit women, who are triply oppressed by the so-called high caste people, patriarchal social system and the Dalit males. Most of these women are tortured mentally, physically and sometimes even killed on one or the other ground.

Nepal: The human-rights test
April 28, 2008 - (HRW) Nepalis have great hopes for peace after two decades of conflict and bloodshed in the Himalayan nation. In mass demonstrations and riots of 1990, they took to the streets demanding parliamentary democracy. But these aspirations were foiled, and between 1996 and 2006 nearly 13,000 people died as the Maoists embarked upon an armed rebellion to end feudal monarchy and social injustice.

Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka rights activists face growing dangers
April 18, 2008 - (Reuters) In the last year, with a return to war and a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation, Sri Lanka has very slowly managed to grab a few international headlines. But the real-life narratives of the people who fight to draw attention to these headline-making stories remain untold.

Nepal : Women, Dalit Seek Change From Historic Elections in Nepal
April 9, 2008 – (Advocacy Net) Advocates for lower-caste Dalit and women are anxiously awaiting the outcome of tomorrow's election in Nepal, and hoping that a peaceful vote will boost their efforts to end discrimination.

Nepal's Historic Vote Puts Women in Running
April 9, 2008 - (WOMENSENEWS)- Nepal has sealed its borders as it tries to safely forge a new path after 240 years of autocratic monarchial rule, 10 years of a violent Maoist insurgency and two years of a wary stability under an interim government.

Nepal: Nepal's democratic future hinges on Constituent Assembly Poll
April 7, 2008 – (American Chronicle) The essential test of Nepali democracy to be determined by this election is the notion of political choice, in other words: can we cross the democratic hurdle? Can we prove that Nepali leadership consisting of various political parties, not only the Seven Party Alliance, are capable of democratic governance without resorting to periodic andolans like JA-1 and JA-2 or violence which is anathema to the rule of law? Are Nepalis confident enough to determine whom they will be governed by based on a democratic choice, for, by and of the people´s choosing? And, finally, will Nepali people be able to elect honest representatives that can be entrusted to run future governments impartially?

Bhutan: New democracy, old problems
April 7, 2008 – (ISN Security Watch) Though Bhutan held its first general election to phase out absolute monarchy, refugees in exile say it's a farce, writes Sudeshna Sarkar for ISN Security Watch.

Nepal: Women's victory is necessary for new Nepal- Women candidates
April 6, 2008 – (Nepal News) Women candidates affiliated with different political parties have said that a new Nepal is impossible unless there is a victory of women candidates in the CA polls.

PAKISTAN: Landmines ruin lives, leave hundreds dead
April 4, 2008 - (IRIN) Palvasha Ahmed and her two younger sisters know all too well the risks posed by landmines. “Our cousin, Maryum Ahmed, 19, was injured by a landmine nearly a year ago in her village in South Waziristan. She lost her right foot and now goes around on a crutch. No one will marry her,” the 17-year old said in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

India: WA Shishak- Abuse of women rooted in discrimination
April 3, 2008 – (The Imphal Free Press) Violence against women is not accidental but is a weapon of war and the abuse of women in armed conflict is rooted in a global culture of discrimination that denies women equal status with men, said WA Shishak, chairperson of the Manipur Human Rights Commission at the inaugural session of a three-day workshop on `Women’s human rights in armed conflict` held at Hotel Imphal today morning.

BANGLADESH: Government moves to boost women’s rights
April 1, 2008 - (IRIN) The Bangladesh government is pushing ahead with a new National Women’s Development Policy (NWDP), despite criticism from a section of Muslim clerics and some Islamic political parties.

Nepal: Himalayan Women Get Set For the Fray
April 1, 2008 – (Asia Sentinel) Nepal’s shaky new democracy treats women candidates gingerly. Nepal goes to the polls next weekend to determine whether the country will continue with a 250-year-old monarchy or become a federal republic, with Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas becoming part of the electoral process after almost 16 years of strife and as many as 13,000 people killed.

Bhutan: In Bhutan, Tibetan refugees yearn to join protests
April 1, 2008 - (Reuters) In a remote corner of the Himalayas, a small Tibetan refugee community felt helpless as it watched protests erupt all over the world against Chinese rule in their homeland. For in the tiny Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, ethnically, culturally and linguistically close to its giant northern neighbour Tibet, demonstrations are not allowed. Young Tibetans were even reluctant to give their names for fear of trouble.

South Asia: "WE CAN" Campaign on Violence Against Women
March 31, 2008 – (WUNRN) The six-year, six-country, South Asian Campaign to End All Violence against Women - or the 'WE CAN" campaign - aims to deal with violence women endure daily, both within their homes and in the larger society in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.

Nepal: Nepal police break up Tibet protests, 284 held
March 31, 2008 - (Reuters) Nepali police beat pro-Tibet protesters with sticks in Kathmandu on Monday and detained more than 280 people for demonstrating against China, police and officials said, hinting at a bigger crackdown on protesters.

Pakistan: Refugees Fear Return to Afghanistan
March 27, 2008 - (IPS) A veiled Afghan woman in a sky-blue burqa, her baby in her arms, waits in front of the camp of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to register. She identifies herself as Raeesa Bibi. Originally from Jalalabad, on the road from Kabul to Peshawar, she does not want to return to her country. "My husband died of cancer three years ago," the 39-year-old said. "I work in the houses of local people who feed my three children and meet other requirements."

Sri Lanka: Newly resettled IDPs dream of life without war
March 26, 2008 - (IRIN) “A year ago I was either living my life in a bunker or running from shell fire,” Nalathambi Shanthi, a 23-year-old woman from Vakarai, said. “Today, I am living in a house but still unemployed.”

Kashmir: Negotiating the Boundaries of Gender, Nationhood, and Community
March 24, 2008 – (Kashmir Watch) What are the traditional freedoms and prerogatives of Kashmiri women in the land of a spiritual luminary like Lalla-Ded? Over the years, tremendous political and social turmoil has been generated in the state by the forces of religious fundamentalism and by an exclusionary nationalism that seeks to erode the cultural syncretism that is part of the ethos of Kashmir. These forces are responsible for the shutting down of dissenters who voice cultural critique, repression of women, political anarchy, economic deprivation, lack of infrastructure, and mass displacements that have been occasioned by these events

SRI LANKA: Election begins to solidify government control
March 20, 2008 - (IRIN) The presence of armed TMVP cadres proved unnerving to most civilians, despite the peaceful ballot. “We want reassurances that we will not be harmed, that we can live in peace,” said Vellappaddi Sellamma, 56, from Ichchanthivu village in Batticaloa district, 300km from Colombo, the capital. “We want our children to live without fear.”

SRI LANKA: Spreading the news to IDPs
March 17, 2008 - (IRIN) People receiving emergency relief rarely know exactly what is available for them, or how to access it. For many people escaping violence in Sri Lanka's war zones and stuck in camps, information on basic services or job and education opportunities could be vital.

Kashmir: What Difference Do Women Make?
March 15, 2008 – (Kashmir Watch) Kashmiri scholar, journalist and former civil servant Ather Zia details the range of ways in which women participate in politics in the disputed region of Kashmir in India. Through profiles of various women activists, she shows that although women differ ideologically and in their political actions, they nevertheless participate increasingly in shaping Kashmir’s future.

South Asia: Global symposium on conflict begins in Delhi
March 13, 2008 - (IANS) A global seminar on conflict transformation will begin here Friday that will bring around 40 scholars from around the world to speak on peace building, particularly in the context of South Asia. Discussants from Northern Ireland, South Africa, the US, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and around India will participate in the three-day symposium “Dialogic Explorations: Texts and Contexts”, at Hotel Ashok here.

NEPAL: IDPS BEING NEGLECTED BY GOVERNMENT, SAY AID WORKERS
March 12, 2008 - (IRIN) Local and international aid agencies struggling to get internally displaced persons (IDPs) back to their homes are concerned about an alleged lack of government interest in their plight.

NEPAL: Rural poor pin hopes for better life on 10 April elections
March 10, 2008 - (IRIN) After witnessing so much violence over the past 11 years in Nepal, Laxmi Motari, aged 60, was beginning to lose hope of ever improving her impoverished life. “But now I am quite hopeful that things will change for the better,” she said, explaining that the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections on 10 April could restore lasting peace.

Pakistan: City celebrates Int’l Women’s Day as ‘Benazir Day’
March 9, 2008 – (Daily Times) The Women’s Action Forum (WAF) held a press conference at the Lahore Press Club to pay tribute to all Pakistani women who had struggled for equal rights, peace, justice and dignity both in the past and the present.

Bangladesh: Burmese refugee marks Women's Day
March 9, 2008 – (Kaladan Press Network) Teknaf, Bangladesh: Burmese refugees in Nayapara camp marked International Women's day on March 8, with pleas for greater rights and equality for half the region's population. The theme of this year's Women's Day was "Investing in Women and Girls," said a Refugee Master from the camp.

PAKISTAN: Women Push For Political Space In Patriarchy
March 7, 2008 - (IPS) Saeeda Anwar is a 38-year-old Pakistani schoolteacher. She works in a school here in the capital of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP), but she is not allowed to exercise her franchise.

INDIA: THE WORLD'S GREATEST, UNTAPPED ALTERNATIVE RESOURCE: WOMEN
March 6, 2008 - (National Catholic Reporter) More than 450 women from more than 45 countries have come to Jaipur, India, to make a difference, to unmask the woeful absence of the other half of the human race in the resolution of the greatest issues facing the human condition -- to be the launching ground for another kind of reflection -- on the human condition, to raise the ideas of the invisible in clear cadence, and loud voice -- to give this eagle wings!

NEPAL: Fire-affected Bhutanese refugees face hardship
March 5, 2008 - (IRIN) About 8,000 Bhutanese refugees are struggling to cope after the fire which destroyed most of their homes at Goldhap camp in eastern Nepal on 2 March.

PAKISTAN: NGOs close down operations after four die in Mansehra attack
February 28, 2008 - (IRIN) Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Mansehra, about 80km north of Islamabad, have suspended their work, wary of a potential security threat after an attack on the office of the UK-based Plan International left four dead.

Pakistan: Polling Lauded But Women Remain Wary
February 28, 2008 - (WOMENSENEWS) Following Pakistan's sweeping public repudiation of President Pervez Musharraf in its Feb. 18 election, more women will be included in decision-making as a new government forms to replace a military rule that served as a staunch U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.

Pakistan: Some Pakistan Women Warded Off Voting
February 18, 2008 - (The Associated Press) Despite the historic elevation to the premiership in the 1990s by Bhutto, who was assassinated in December, women still have little political clout in Pakistan. In the ethnic Pashtun belt bordering Afghanistan, things are going from bad to worse.

Pakistan: gender violence equated to terrorism
February 15, 2008 – (IndUS Business Journal) In Pakistan, violence against women and girls is a way of life. It is so ingrained into the national culture that under Pakistani law, a woman may be jailed simply for being seen in public with a man who is not her husband.

South Asia: RIGHTS: Widows Face a Life of Quiet Destitution
February 12, 2008 - (IPS) Widows are stigmitised by society not only in India, but across the globe. Worldwide, every day, about 100 million widows and their children are ostracised, exploited, and harassed by the societies they live in, according to the Loomba Trust, an international charity based in Britain that aims to educate the children of poor widows throughout India.

SOUTH ASIA: MIGRANT SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE EAST; RIGHT BEARING CITIZENS?
February 4, 2008 - (Refugee Watch Online) South Asia, home to almost 2 billion people, comprises of seven countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Maldives. The status and conditions of women in all the countries is not at par with men in society, with the exception of Sri Lanka and Maldives where the social indicators are better than the rest of the subcontinent.

NEPAL: Girls sold by parents for domestic labour
February 3, 2008 - (IRIN) Punita Chaudhary was barely eight when her impoverished parents sold her for US$50 to a local middleman who worked as an agent finding domestic servants for families in Kathmandu and other Nepalese cities.

India: Caste Difference Contributes to Violence Against Dalit Women
January 28, 2008 - (Women living under muslim law) "Madhya Pradesh has perhaps the highest number of gang rapes in the India. Shockingly, in the last 1,300 days — from Dec 7, 2003 to June 30, 2007 – 1,217 gang rapes were reported in the state as per the Madhya Pradesh State Assembly records." (Women's News Network)

South asia: SAARC to focus on six areas to end violence against women
January 19, 2008 - (India eNews) The sixth South Asia regional ministerial conference, which ended here Saturday, identified six priority areas for the next two years to tackle gender inequality and violence against women. The representatives of the eight South Asian Association for Regional cooperation (SAARC) countries deliberated on a range of issues related to the condition of women for three days here at the meeting hosted by India's Ministry of Women and Child Development and Unifem, the UN fund for women

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