AFGHANISTAN: Karzai Calls For Amendment of Afghan Law Decried as Dangerous to Women

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday withheld his signature and instead asked for revisions to a new law that rights activists had widely denounced as an obstacle to prosecuting crimes of violence against women.

COLOMBIA: UK takes Campaign to Stop War-zone Rape to Colombia

Britain's foreign minister William Hague has urged world leaders to make tackling and rape in armed conflicts a top global priority.

Speaking in Bogota on Monday at an event to raise awareness about sexual violence in , British Hague said “global attitudes to these crimes” must change and more efforts must be focused on prosecuting those responsible.

SOMALIA: Women Shouldn't Live in Fear of Rape

Somalia's new cabinet should urgently adopt meaningful reforms to confront rampant sexual violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Over the past year, women and girls endured high levels of rape and sexual abuse, including by government soldiers, in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu.

SOUTH AFRICA: Women on the front lines

The South African National Defence Force is the only military in Africa, and one of a few in the world that deploys female soldiers to fight at the sharp end.

Before you believe we've overcome the notion that boys are stronger than girls, the vast majority of women who serve still only expect support roles; they have limited combat duties and are under-represented in leadership positions.

LIBYA: Women's "It Will Be Our Constitution" Campaign Launched with 50,000 SMS Messages

The German ambassador Christian Much launched the women's “it will be our constitution” campaign by sending the first of 50,000 SMS messages at an event in Tripoli yesterday.

INDIA: 'Policy-Implementation Must for Women's Empowerment'

Women's empowerment is possible only if state administrators implement the policies framed by the central government, K.G. Balakrishnan, National Human Rights Commission chairperson said Tuesday.

"Though the policies framed by the central government aims at empowering women, the delay and sometimes the non-implementation of the policies in states becomes a barrier in their empowerment," he said.

LEBANON: Refugee Women Contend With Domestic Abuse, Sexual Exploitation


BEIRUT — Palestinian women in Lebanon who are long-term refugees understand the problems faced by women who have fled the Syrian civil war - they share similar hardships and also contend with domestic abuse as well as sexual exploitation.

CANADA:National News: NDP Works to End Violence Against Aboriginal Women

The NDP is joining forces with the Native Women's Association of Canada (NWAC) to urge the Conservative government to finally take action to end violence against Aboriginal women.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Bougainville Women Say They Were Excluded From The Reconciliation Ceremony

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea Peter O'Neil has completed his historic state visit to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

And while Mr O'Neil has extended the olive branch, the women of Bougainville are angry they weren't included in the reconciliation ceremony involving the Prime Minister and local leaders.

CAMBODIA: Pictured: Cambodian Land Mine Victims Wounded by One of the 6 Million Hidden Devices Waiting to be Detonated are Nursed Back to Health

They are victims of a conflict which ended decades ago.
But daily suffering is still a fact of life for tens of thousands of wounded men and women in Cambodia, struck down by the countless land mines which lay dormant under its soil.

These images, taken this week in a rehabilitation centre in Kampong Cham, one of the largest cities in the country, show some of the nation's 25,000 amputees being helped through their injuries.

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