In Egypt, domestic abuse is not a crime. When a woman is beaten by her husband, the authorities are seldom called. Hospital trauma centers see the extreme cases of internal bleeding and broken bones. Otherwise, it's only when marital violence shifts into child abuse that many women seek out help.

The first time I heard the term Women Human Rights Defender (WHRD) it was a bit of revelation to me. It was at an international conference held by the Association for Women in Development (AWID) on women transforming economic power. A group of women from across the globe were gathered in a workshop convened by Jenni Williams of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WoZA) to discuss strategies to protect themselves from state violence.

The problem of forced marriage remains little known and well hidden in the United States, but experts say it is growing, particularly, but not only, in immigrant communities.

The Department of Interior and Local Government enjoined all local governments to conduct activities towards ending violence against women.

This is in line with the observance of the 18-day Campaign to End Violence Against Women which started November 25 to December 12.

The Commissioner of Yei County in South Sudan's Central Equatoria State, Juma David Augustine, said on Tuesday that his administration will "not relent" in fighting all forms of violence against women and children.

Campaigners against female circumcision have scored a major victory with the approval by a United Nations committee of a resolution calling for a global ban on female genital mutilation (FGM).

The resolution, adopted by consensus by the UN general assembly's human rights committee, calls the practice harmful and a serious threat to the psychological, sexual and reproductive health of women and girls.

A 22-member Women's Interest Group on November 22 presented a communiqué calling on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to take certain actions to empower Liberian women.

On Sunday November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, the start of the annual 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign was launched in Sudan, Radio Dabanga has learned.

Six of the women who planned to study at (EMU) in the summer of 2012 in the brand-new Women's Peacebuilding Leadership Program were unable to enter the United States. So program director Janice Jenner and professors Jayne Docherty and Gloria Rhodes took the program to Somaliland to reach the excluded women in the fall of 2012.

The UN Women Executive Director, Michelle Bachelet has called on governments to employ effective means to fight violence against women and girls.

In her message to mark the annual International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women that is marked on November 25, Bachelet said governments need to demonstrate more efforts and commitment to curb the violence.