The UK Home Office Minister with responsibility for equality, Lynne Featherstone, is scheduled to arrive in the Capital for a three-day visit on Monday.

Issuing a press release here in Kathmandu on Sunday, the British Embassy in Nepal informed about her visit and said that it will be focused on how Nepal is tackling violence against women and other forms of discrimination.

Three months ago, a Libyan woman burst into a hotel in Tripoli and told foreign journalists she'd been gang-raped by Colonel Gaddafi's soldiers. TV crews filmed distressing scenes as Iman al-Obeidi was dragged away by Libyan security forces, despite attempts by reporters to prevent her abduction.

The controversial death of Dr. Ms. Haleh Sahabi is coming under international scrutiny as the U.S. State Department, The Foreign Office (FCO) in the UK and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) issue statements on human rights abuse in Iran and the need for transparency.

As Canada prepares to pull out its military troops from Kandahar after a long and difficult run in southern Afghanistan, where 156 Canadian soldiers have lost their lives since 2002, it is not only time to reflect on the sacrifices made and the gains achieved by the Canadian presence in this war-torn nation, but also to focus on creating momentum for durable peace and justice which includes the consolidation of democratic ideals and gender equ

When sex ratio statistics from the 2010 Census were made public, many Kashmiris were shocked. But not Hameeda (name changed). The 54-year-old nurse working at Srinagar's only maternity hospital, Lalla Ded, knew that the girl child was fast becoming an unwanted species in Kashmiri households.

The head of the United Nation entity tasked with promoting gender equality today reiterated that economic empowerment of women, political participation, ending gender-based violence and raising women's involvement in post-conflict peacebuilding are the priorities of the body.

A top UN official today said she is ''keeping an eye'' on Kashmir where some individual cases of sexual violence have been reported.

"We have some sort of spread reports more from individuals than a consistent reporting other than from the UN entities (in Kashmir)," Margot Wallstrom, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, told PTI.

The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has written two separate letters to the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan and voiced its concern and dissatisfaction for not including any women members of Parliament among the 14 recently appointed Ministers and Ministers of State.

Even with regards to the capabilities of Nepali working women, many of them have apparently found that their capability is put into question simply because they're women.

“If you're a woman, and even if you're professionally capable, many assume you work in an incompetent manner or are too feeble for work,” says Kreepa Shrestha, proprietor of Supply Support, a company that deals in promotional goods.

Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi and four human rights organizations have jointly called on the UN Human Rights Council and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to more actively defend human rights in Iran, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.