The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women kicked off 16 Days of Activism, an international campaign to end gender-based violence.

Palestinian women leaders called for re-evaluating the role of the UN in the Palestine cause and its ability to abide by the essence of its charter that stipulates among other things saving generations from wars and maintain world peace and security.

Santo Domingo, Dom. Rep. November 2010.

Graphic footage on YouTube showing a Sudanese woman being lashed have led to shocked reactions among Sudanese expats and emigrés.

Shukria Barakzai is a prominent Afghan lawmaker and journalist who has campaigned for media freedom and women's rights in Afghanistan in recent decades. As a journalist, she launched Aina-e-Zan, a newspaper for women's rights, and founded the Afghan Women Journalists Association. During the 1990s, Barakzai stood as a voice of dissent in Afghanistan against the fundamentalist policies of the Taliban regime.

The United Nations says traditional women's rights are being violated across Afghanistan, urging the country's leadership to enforce a recently enacted law aimed at protecting women. U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan has released the finding of its report in Kabul on the eve of International Human Rights Day.

UNAMID, in collaboration with the South Darfur Legislature and the State Committee for Combating Violence Against Women, organized today a workshop in Nyala on "Strengthening the Protection of Women through Legislation."

Sexual violence became a way of life in Liberia during its civil wars, with everyone -- women, men, babies -- victimized. Led by a feminist president, the country begins the healing process.

Recent elections in East and Southern Africa have left fewer women in politics, placing countries at risk of not meeting equality targets, the United Nations (UN) said on Wednesday.

"Elections in the region have shown regression with regard to women's representation in parliament," UN Development Programme director Bo Asplund told a conference of women in politics in Johannesburg.

Move needs effort by both the government and the ordinary citizen.

WOMEN rarely wage wars. Yet, they often suffer the most from the consequences.

There are more than 40 million internally displaced people (IDPs) around the world, living either within their own coutries or as refugees in another country. About half are women and children.