Bangladesh's rights leaders have joined in the call of the neighbouring India for an end to crimes against women.

The December 16 gang rape of a medical student in New Delhi triggered violent public protests over attitude towards women in the country and raised a unanimous demand that actions be taken to strengthen laws against sexual violence.

In the wake of several recent rape incidents, a group of lawyers in Bangladesh yesterday demanded formulation of a new law to set up speedy trial tribunals for expeditious trial of rape cases.

Terming rape a "social disease", they also emphasised building awareness and social movement against sexual harassment and repression of women.

Sixty-six Christian churches have been burnt down in Kachin state since the conflict erupted in June 2011, according to the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT), a figure that is backed by Myitkyina-based Kachin Baptist Convention.

Speaking at a seminar at Chiang Mai University on Friday, Julia Marip of KWAT said that the burning of churches by Myanmar government forces amounts to religious persecution.

Sri Lanka's security forces have used rape to torture and extract confessions from suspected Tamil separatists almost four years after the country's civil war ended, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday.

At least 13 women, including teenagers, have been subjected to prolonged rape by Burmese security forces in a remote village in the western state of Arakan. Human rights groups have warned that the incident threatens to trigger further violence in a region where several waves of ethno-religious rioting since June last year have killed more than 1,000 people.

By John Baimba Sesay (Press Attaché in China)

PESHAWAR, 7 January 2013 (IRIN) - There was no warning when gunmen killed seven aid workers with local NGO Support With Working Solution (SWWS) in the Swabi District of Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Province on 1 January.

Nhem Sreyda feels fortunate that she is still able to see after being doused with acid by her ex-husband in 2012. "I am lucky that my body can still work, my eyes can still see," the 32-year-old told IRIN.

Since 9/11, it has sometimes seemed as if the world has become consumed by battles with Islamist terrorists. From Iraq to Afghanistan, via Mali and Algeria, commentators have long argued that we are witness to a clash of civilisations.

A senior U.N. official called on both sides of the conflict in Syria to put an end to all forms of sexual violence.

In a statement, the special representative of the secretary-general on sexual violence in conflict, Zainab Hawa Bangura, also called for the release of all abducted women and children, the United Nations said in a release Friday.