LIBYA: Hundreds of Women Raped by Gaddafi Militia

At first, the responses to the questionnaire about the trauma of the war in Libya were predictable, if tragic: 10,000 people suffering post-traumatic stress, 4,000 children with psychological problems. Then came the unexpected: 259 women said they had been raped by militiamen loyal to Muammar Gaddafi.

NEPAL: Nepal's Women Have a Voice in Politics but no one is Listening

After two years of intense wrangling and political deadlock, the extended deadline for passing Nepal's new constitution is looming, with a decision expected on 28 May.

LEBANON: Protesters Come out Against Gender Violence

Pressure mounted on Lebanese authorities to adopt laws banning gender-based violence Sunday as several hundred demonstrators took to the streets of Beirut.

Calling for the speedy adoption of a draft law criminalizing domestic violence that is currently under discussing in committee, around 400 activists from 51 different civil society groups marched from the Interior Ministry in Sanayeh to Riad al-Solh Square in downtown Beirut.

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: "Butcher of Bosnia": Inhumanity of a War Criminal

Ratko Mladic, the Serbian General wanted for war crimes including the killing of over 8,000 men and boys around the town of Srebrenica during the Bosnian conflict was finally captured after 16 years on the run. United Nations General, Ban Ki -moon described the arrest by Serbian commando units as “a historic day for international justice”.

INTERNATIONAL: Wallstrom Making Progress in Fight Against Rape in Conflict

The Libya conflict has also included an element of war that former Commissioner, Margot Wallstrom is dedicated to fighting against; the rape of women as part of conflict. She described the evidence from two Libyan soldiers who had been ordered into a house, where the occupants had been shot in the legs to disable them, and the young women were taken upstairs where an estimated 20 soldiers raped them.

IRAQ/UGANDA: Ugandan Women Tricked into Domestic Slavery in Iraq

The BBC has the first detailed accounts of how Ugandan women ended up in domestic slavery in Iraq, and the extraordinary story of their rescue.

A Kampala company called Uganda Veterans Development Ltd was recruiting women to work for high wages in shops in US Army bases in Iraq.

She signed up, along with 146 other Ugandan women.

INTERNATIONAL: Landmines data. Rape data

How many rapes are too many in war? Of course, one violent sexual attack on a woman is one too many. A single incident could be a war crime....

And yet, gathering data to document the prevalence of this crime in the Congo and Colombia, in Afghanistan and Burma, and now in Ivory Coast and Libya, by our own countries' militaries, is critical to understanding the scale and scope of these atrocities.

INTERNATIONAL: The Security Sector: An Awkward Space for Engagement

Alongside powerful arguments against militarism, we are hearing an increasingly significant voice from within the security sector, including women in uniform, working on ways to improve the security sector's own understanding and response to issues of women's rights and security. Jessica Horn reports on the debates at the Nobel Women's Initiative conference.
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INTERNATIONAL/LIBERIA: 'UN Peacekeeping Missions Should Have More Women'

The UN peacekeeping missions should have more women to increase trust with the local populace, said Poonam Gupta, head of the Indian women's police unit in Liberia.

"Women by nature are non-threatening which gives an advantage," Commander Gupta said, speaking from Liberia, on the occasion of the International Day for Peacekeepers being marked on Saturday.

PAKISTAN: Impunity for Rape, Abduction and Forced Conversion of Women

The Masihi Foundation of Pakistan reports that two Christian girls of the Punjab region of Pakistan were abducted, raped and forced to convert to Islam. The human rights advocacy group reported that the two sisters, Rebbecca Masih and Saima Masih, were kidnapped in Jhung the district of Faisalabad by a gang of Muslim men.

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