Over the past week Libya's interim prime minister Abdel Rahim al-Keib has made numerous statements about human rights, at times announcing high priority to the protection of rights in his administration, at others hinting that some Libyan citizens (notably women) shouldn't expect too much.

When post-revolution Egypt holds presidential elections next year, Buthaina Kamel is set to become the first woman in the country's modern history to run for the highest office. Although she knows her chances of winning are slim to none, she says she's doing it out of principle.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a joint subcommittee hearing on Wednesday on Women and the Arab Spring. The issue of the U.S. failure to ratify CEDAW, the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women was raised several times. Senator Barbara Boxer (CA), who co-chaired the hearing, and Melanne Verveer, U.S.

The hostilities between the Burmese military and ethnic Kachin get worse every day and the abuses are much worse than reported by the news media based outside the country.

Women should voice demands about their rights during the popular uprisings sweeping the Arab world to avoid being short-changed by post-revolutionary governments, Iranian Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi said.

Afghan women activists are at risk of being sidelined at a key international conference on Afghanistan's future scheduled for December 5, 2011, in Germany, Human Rights Watch said today.

Over these past weeks, Australia and Mexico have announced opening greater roles for women in their armed forces. Why had this breakthrough not been considered earlier? And why had many countries not seen it as a possibility? The simple answer lies in the stereotype of gender roles.

More than 18 months since the earthquake struck Haiti in January 2010, women and girls living in makeshift camps remain vulnerable to sexual violence.

IRIN's latest film follows a survivor of rape, Shirley Christoff, as she attempts to rebuild her life in a rundown informal settlement in Port-au-Prince. Christoff, together with thousands of other women, lives in constant fear for her safety.

After dropping out of school in the sixth grade to help her mother, Fartun Abdi Hashi, 22, was given a second chance at earning an income with a sanitary pads project.

Hashi's family arrived at the Doro camp for the internally displaced in Galkayo, central Somalia, when she was 12. She enrolled at the Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development (GECPD) after dropping out of school in 2006 to help provide for her siblings.

DR Congo: As Electoral Campaign Starts, Congolese and International NGOs Call for Urgent Measures to Prevent Escalating Violence

Contested election could lead to widespread violence, warns a coalition of 41 NGOs