In early April, when 14-year-old Amina said her rapist had been arrested and would stand trial, the reporter interviewing her kept silent.

Congolese journalist Jack Kahorha later explained: Someone must have lied to Amina to make her feel safe. When rapists are arrested, he said, they usually get out of jail within a few days.

In Eastern Congo, rape can be an act of war or revenge, or a response to extreme poverty, ignorance and fear.

As Iraqis meet to talk about creating an interim authority to govern their country, they will need to overcome divisive ethnic, religious, tribal and political barriers. Experience elsewhere shows that one sure way to achieve the necessary consensus and compromise is to involve women extensively.

Women entrepreneurs have demanded incentives and tax breaks in the Federal Budget 2011-12, saying that progress can only be achieved by providing equal opportunities to the 52 percent of the population of the country.

Rape and conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are in the news. Like the daily global toll of avoidable death and illness, wars which do not obviously involve Americans, Europeans or Israelis usually struggle to be noticed. However, the DRC media coverage has not been universally welcome.

Human trafficking and rehabilitation of the rescued have emerged as major concerns for the state government. Though Bihar is one of the few states to have prepared an action plan named 'Astitva' to deal with the issue, it largely remains unimplemented.

'Astitva', the state plan of action with a vision of "Trafficking-Free Bihar," was approved by the state cabinet in 2008.

ate-February lifting of the state's emergency powers law hasn't helped the women who keep a weekly vigil in the Algerian capital of Algiers for relatives who disappeared in the country's 1992-2001 civil war.

'We are prevented from demonstrating, we are still under surveillance and each time we try to march police violently shove us around and flood us with vulgarities,' said Amel Boucherf.

As Africa's first woman presidential leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, works for an October 2011 bid for re-election, a groundbreaking initiative affecting 450 Liberian women is now encouraging women throughout Liberia to become leaders for solutions and innovation. Political participation by women, especially in Liberia's parliament, is said to be “much needed” among advocates inside and outside the nation.

A recent Women News Network – WNN interview with Zainab Salbi, Founder and President of Women for Women International, which held its annual fundraiser luncheon in New York City on May 18, reveals how a very simple act, a smile of recognition and respect, can help women survive in war-torn regions.

Somalia is the most dangerous country on earth to be a woman and a “living hell” for those struggling to feed their children amid war and drought, the country's minister for women says.

The daily violence, the constant fear of getting shot or raped, the lack of education and healthcare as well as practices like female genital mutilation make women's lives extremely hard, Maryan Qasim said.