Amnesty International called on Iranian authorities to protect all detainees and prisoners from harassment and degrading treatment, after nine female political prisoners—including some deemed "prisoners of conscience" by Amnesty—started a hunger strike Nov. 1 in response to alleged abuse by prison guards. The women, all held in Tehran's Evin Prison, include activists and journalists.

On November 11, 2012 we attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at Old City Hall in Toronto as an Afghan anti-war presence. Some sections of the conservative media have inaccurately portrayed our identity, action and purpose. We are Afghan-Canadian women peace activists with a voice that can stand for itself. We have a message which cannot be silenced by such tactics to censor and demonize us.

The president of Medecins Sans Frontieres pressed Papua New Guinea's new government to address its epidemic levels of sexual and domestic violence Thursday, calling it a "humanitarian crisis".

Unni Karunakara was in the impoverished Pacific nation to visit MSF projects targeting family and sexual violence and met with officials from Prime Minister Peter O'Neill's new government to urge action on the pervasive issue.

A grouping of women living with HIV/Aids has asked parliament to criminalise marital rape as a new report reveals prevailing violent sexual life is fueling the pandemic.

However, lawmakers have said the subject is controversial and has urged the lobbyists to first conduct a nationwide campaign on the matter.

For three decades the scars branded onto Kim Khem's arms have been a reminder of the sexual torture she saw under the Khmer Rouge. Now, aged 80, she is finally breaking her silence on the horrors of the past.

A leading campaigner against sexual violence in conflict has called for economists to calculate the global cost of the scourge which she said was probably “the most ignored of war crimes”.

Margot Wallstrom, who has spearheaded U.N. efforts to tackle the use of rape in conflict, said that as cynical as it might sound the issue would be taken far more seriously if a price tag were put on it.

“What about the women who were raped who were depending on Dr. Mukwege's support?” pleads Faida Mutula, an expectant mother living in Eastern Congo's South Kivu province.

The defense ministries of Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) are focusing on improving women's involvement in the military through a unique project to achieve greater gender equality.

Late October, a new government was approved by the newly elected Georgian parliament. Many analysts call this a historical election – for the first time ever Georgia experienced a peaceful transition of power. And three of the key positions within the government went to women.

Though only 25, Cassandra Basnett has already made a significant impact for good on the world.

The Saskatoon woman does mission work in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, and has established schools, initiated micro-enterprises so women can support their families, and established a ministry to rescue and rehabilitate young women in Kenyan brothels.