The head of a Bougainville women's NGO says it's preparing to talk to those involved in the build-up of arms in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province, including the leader of the militant Mekamui Defence Force.

This comes after Bougainville's president, John Momis, said it may be necessary to have peacekeepers return if violence and lawlessness continue in the south of the main island.

The United Nations Children's Fund or UNICEF has warned that the gender gap in student enrolments in Papua New Guinea schools is widening.

The Post-Courier newspaper says an education workshop on gender and education is being held in Port Moresby until May 13.

Speaking at the workshop, UNICEF country representative Bertrand Desmoulins said Papua New Guinea has made some progress in girls' education.

The official spearheading United Nations efforts to combat the scourge of sexual violence committed during war has welcomed today's start of a trial in Germany of two Rwandans accused of ordering massacres and mass rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Chief electoral officer Pansy Tlakula called on Friday for a quota system to improve women's representation in the public and private sector.

She said the Independent Electoral Commission was not happy with the number of women candidates in local government elections to be held on May 18.

"The male/female split is not pleasing at all," Tlakula told a business breakfast in Johannesburg.

South African law enforcement officials today said a new task force will be formed to address crimes against homosexuals after the gang rape and murder of a young woman believed to have been a victim of "corrective rape," or men attacking lesbians to "turn them straight" and punish the women for being gay.

Syrian security forces on Saturday arrested two veteran opposition figures and a group of female protesters as part of a crackdown on pro-democracy campaigners, rights groups said.

The reports came as the Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said security forces had killed at least 560 civilians since protests started just over six week ago.

Currently, more women in Kurdistan are seeking primary, secondary and higher education, creating a more educated female workforce.

It was in this dusty village that Mukhtaran Mai, then an illiterate Pakistani villager, was gang-raped by up to 14 men on the orders of a village council in 2002. Her infraction? Her brother had allegedly committed adultery with the daughter of an opposing clan's feudal lord.

It's also where she set up a women's welfare organization, a women's shelter, and three of the best schools in the area a year after her ordeal.

Tunisia's ruling that men and women must feature in equal numbers as candidates in July polls is an Arab world first that builds on this year's revolt and allays fears of conservative influence, observers say.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders will say there is an "urgent need" for a comprehensive approach to the transnational crime, according to the draft communique which was seen by AFP on Friday.