African women from more than 12 countries in the region will from today meet in Harare and deliberate on ways to accelerate implementation of international commitments for the advancement of gender equality and economic empowerment.

It is critical to prevent conflict-related sexual violence before it happens, a top United Nations official stressed today, stating that the problem warrants continuous consideration by the Security Council as it deals with fighting in countries such as Libya, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Wednesday on Arab women to take advantage of the wind of change blowing in the Middle East and North Africa region to claim their rights.

The figures tell an old and cruel story: the systematic elimination of girls in India. In the 2001 census, the sex ratio — the number of girls to every 1,000 boys — was 927 in the 0-6 age group. Preliminary data from the 2011 census show that the imbalance has worsened, to 914 girls for every 1,000 boys.

Cases of domestic violence against women and their children saw an increase of 91% in 2010 compared to 2009 figures, according to the 2010 Annual Human Rights Report.

The data, released by the US State Department, showed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported 9,225 cases of domestic violence against women and their children from January through November 2010.

Those who use rape as a weapon of war in volatile regions across the world must be punished, says the United Nations, but activists say the global body must also end impunity of its own peacekeepers who are guilty of such crimes.

A group of women in Saudi Arabia has launched a website to campaign for the participation of women in municipal elections.

The initiative, called 'Baladi', has so far attracted over 2,000 members and, according to organisers, the campaign is independently run by women with support from different parts of the Kingdom, the Arab News report said.

Biserka Vukasinovic has a strong homing instinct, honed from her experience as a refugee twice over, a returnee and an internally displaced person. Every time she lost her home, she found a way back.

One impact of two decades of war is that women now make up over 60 percent of the eight million people of South Sudan, says the Government of Southern Sudan's Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Welfare.

And while women fought alongside men during the conflict with the north, or helped the effort in other ways, after the ceasefire, many women feel they did not get the same recognition or respect as men.

It is critical to prevent conflict-related sexual violence before it happens, a top United Nations official stressed today, stating that the problem warrants continuous consideration by the Security Council as it deals with fighting in countries such as Libya, Côte d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).