Britain will give £18.5 million to Afghanistan to help more Afghan women take part in the presidential election next April, the government said in a statement on Tuesday.

Women in Syria are increasingly the targets of violent abuse and torture by government forces and armed groups.

Some 6,000 women have been raped since the start of the conflict in March 2011, the Euro Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) says.

A spokeswoman for the group said these women were then socially stigmatised, and often forced to flee their homes.

Monday, November 25, is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The U.N. says gender-based violence is a serious violation of human rights and increases the risk of HIV infection.

The Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS – UNAIDS – says every hour 50 young women become newly infected with HIV. Many of those infections are related to violence.

Women's activists in Bali are calling for female representation at the upcoming legislative election to push more women-friendly agendas and policies, such as reproductive health and household economy
empowerment.

I wished for death to take me away, because my husband oppressed me,” recalls Berancille Mukabandora, who today is the Vice-president of an association that fights gender-based violence in the Gakenke District, in northern Rwanda. She sits authoritatively at a table with several men from a cooperative.

Indian police Sunday questioned witnesses in a sexual assault inquiry involving one of the country's most prominent journalists, marking a significant shift under way here in long-held attitudes about women's rights.

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has teamed up once again with the Monyati Initiative, an Abu Dhabi based non-profit social development organisation, to empower underprivileged women in Kashmir, Pakistan.

Women in Syria have been raped in detention, used as human shields during military operations and kidnapped to pressure and humiliate family members, a new report said on Monday.

All UK partners delivering humanitarian aid to the Philippines are now required to assess the risk of violence against women and girls and address their needs in their operations as part of a £21.6m government package to tackle sexual violence in emergency situations.