With her father sitting nearby, 16-year-old Jenan Merza struggled to explain why she was lying in bed recovering from a gunshot wound.

Jenan Merza, 16, forced to wed a cousin, shot herself.

“I didn't know the gun was loaded,” she said, resting under a red-and-gold blanket in a stark room with a bare concrete floor.

Watch Euronews' video report on Hanaa Edwar

With insecurity and economic hardship, Iraqis are still paying the price of years of oppression and war. And women carry a heavy burden. Hanaa Edwar, a human rights activist, has never stopped fighting for women's rights.

Windhoek — About 100 people, of whom 56 were men, held a peaceful march to protest violence perpetrated against women and children under the theme 'men for healthy relationships' on Saturday.

The march started at the UN Plaza in Katutura where men, women and children gathered to show they do not condone violence committed specifically against women and children.

The President of the General Assembly, H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, is hosting a Special Cultural Event in the GA Hall on Wednesday, June 6th, featuring the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra (QPO), with the aim of promoting UN Women and specifically boosting support for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

Zimbabwean women involved in politics and civil society have warned against holding elections without creating a peaceful environment for free and fair polls. They argue that it will have disastrous consequences for them and expose the vulnerable girl child to gross human rights violations including harassment, rape and displacement.

A new report has revealed disturbing facts; Rwandan women occupy few leadership positions, contrary to the common belief that Rwanda has a fairly high number of women leaders.

The findings, from a survey by the Gender Monitoring Office (GMO), indicate that more men are holding far more leadership positions, compared to women in various sectors in governance, and also dominate in both agriculture and business.

After four years of intense work, the 601-member Constituent Assembly (CA) missed a May 27 deadline to adopt a new constitution with political parties failing to agree on restructuring the country into a federation of states based on ethnic lines.

International Security Assistance Force commander U.S. Marine Gen. John R. Allen and NATO's senior civilian representative to Afghanistan Simon Gass hosted a roundtable discussion at ISAF Headquarters, June 3, inviting female members of the Afghan Parliament, members of the High Peace Council, and prominent members of civil society.

Elda Vilmeney had a business selling Coca-Cola in bulk on Third Avenue in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. But the 7.0 earthquake destroyed much of Haiti in January 2010, and she hasn't been able to economically recover in the more than two years since the disaster.

Increased militarization in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala has created more insecurity, especially for women, a report spearheaded by two Nobel laureates found.