The wind hollers, whipping up dust that scratches at our faces. As I fumble with my notebook, a thorny branch of the drought-resistant Mathenge tree hits me in the face and Yaroy Sirat Muhammed, with an infant in her arm, immediately reaches out to hold the wayward stem so that it doesn't happen again.

I thank her sheepishly and urge her not to bother, but she does not let it go.

They answered an ad promising lucrative work as au pairs in Amman, but found themselves caught up in the web of sex trafficking between Israel and Jordan.

Israeli border guards late Wednesday detected something was not quite right about three nervous women crossing the Allenby Bridge from Jordan. They told a story of being nurses who wanted to tour Jerusalem, but soon burst into tears.

Is justice necessary for the empowerment of women? Does it enhance their position in society? The report, Progress of World's Women (2011-2012): In Pursuit of Justice produced by the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) released this week, suggests that the answer is a yes.

In the maternity ward at a hospital on the Hagadera refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, women refugees lay on beds nursing newborns or waiting to give birth.

Katlum Mohammed, 22-years-old, has just arrived at the camp from central Somalia. She lays on her side, nine months pregnant with her first child.

Seventeen years ago last Sunday, the Rwandan genocide came to a bloody end. In one of the of the most horrifying 100 days in human history, inter-ethnic tensions stoked by political propaganda escalated into full-scale civil war between two tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Over the span of 100 days, more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Kosovo is a source, destination and transit country for trafficking of women and children, a recently released US State Department report said. Although the government has made some effort to combat human trafficking, it has failed to comply with minimum standards, while serious institutional gaps remain, the report concludes.

On 9 July 2011 the world witnessed the birth of a nation — South Sudan, Africa's 54th country. In an interview with UN Women, South Sudan's Minister of Gender, Child and Social Welfare Agnes Lasuba weighs in on the country's independence and what it means for women.

What does South Sudan's independence mean for women?

The UN General Assembly in September may prove to be an important step on the road to a Palestinian state. Given the US position, there is now no chance of Security Council recognition of Palestine. However, recognition by General Assembly members – while changing nothing on the ground – could provide critical support for Palestinian claims to statehood.

Nura Koleji rubs her toe in the ochre dust, hugs her knees to her stomach, and keeps her eyes firmly downcast – until we hit on the one topic she is bubbling to talk about. It is not how she fled her village of Lanya when AK47-wielding soldiers arrived from the north during the Sudanese civil war.