The United States continues to be in the dubious company of six countries that have either refused or are reluctant to ratify the landmark U.N. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Now a coalition of more than 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs), human rights groups and women's organisations is renewing a longstanding demand for U.S. ratification of the treaty.

He brought unprecedented attention to the plight of Soviet Jewry. He stood up to the KGB. He survived nine years in Siberia. He served in Israel's fractious government.

Now, Natan Sharansky is facing his next challenge: finding a solution to the growing battle over women's prayer restrictions at the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.

The conflict in the Eastern DR Congo provinces of North and South Kivu between the Kinshasa government and the M23 movement of mostly mutineers has displaced over 900,000 people, mostly women and children. Women Civil Society Organizations operating in the affected region now want both parties engaged in the Kampala peace talks mediated by Uganda's defense minister Dr.

The unlawful occupation regime attempting to govern Libya without any success has a fake `General National Congress` (GNC) limited to members who by new law must have no relation or support for direct participatory democracy.

In Lebanon's Baabda prison for women, there is no shortage of appalling stories. From false imprisonment to domestic abuse, the women imprisoned share their accounts with Al-Akhbar.

Baabda Prison – It's the lucky prisoners who are assigned to cell number two where Nicole resides and runs the show. The women she selected to share her cell and keep her company appreciate how privileged they are.

The Country Director of Action Aid Liberia, an international women's rights advocate group, has called on the Government of Liberia (GoL) to change the Ministry of Gender and Development. According to Madam Kortu Williams, since the creation of the Ministry by law, it has not fully live up to its statutory mandate.

"Duck down and put your head below the window," says Hamid as we pass a military outpost in southern Laayoune, the capital of Western Sahara, on our way to the family home of dissident activists here.

The Likud-Beytenu list changes tactics • Instead of attacking Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett, it goes after other candidates on his list, saying they are extremists or chauvinists, and that one called for abolishing the Committee on the Status of Women • Habayit Hayehudi: ”We have three women in the top 12 spots. The Likud has only one.”

Several Gender Based Violence (GBV) campaigners, predominately women, have made a commitment to continue the fight by making sure that the Liberian society is free of GBV.

Speaking when she officially launched the 16 Days of Activism, the Executive Director of HOPE, Madam Keturah York Cooper, called on Liberians, especially women, to hold together in the strive to end violence against women and children.

Violence against women remains a reality in the Kurdistan Region, but another scourge remains less well known: Threats of violence -- and murder -- against women's rights activists.