Women Under Siege is a fascinating new initiative of the Women's Media Center that focuses on rape and sexual violence used as tools of control in instances of war, conflict, and genocide throughout the world.

Swapo's Women's Council (SPWC) has to continue the search for solutions to the challenges facing women and girls in Namibia.

This was the message of President Hifikepunye Pohamba when he officially opened the Central Committee Meeting of the SPWC in Windhoek on Saturday.

The challenges the President was referring to include violence against women, rape, murder, rampant teenage pregnancies and HIV infections.

MARY FITZGERALD

The Irish Times

When Reporters Sans Frontières last year advised media outlets against sending women journalists to Egypt because of the risk of assault, reaction was swift – and outraged.

IT IS widely accepted that strategies aimed at ending violence against women have to focus on perpetrators and survivors. Gender-based violence - domestic violence and rape - is largely aimed at women because they are women. The fact that they disproportionately affect women more than men has led to a recognition by the constitutional court that such violence is a form of gender discrimination.

As tentative steps are made towards peace talks between the United States and Taliban insurgents, Afghan women are worried about a possible return of the hardline Islamists to the capital Kabul.

What do we know about women caught up in conflicts?

That they're often subjected to rape, abduction and sexual violence. That just to collect water, they sometimes take desperate measures which expose them to even more danger - like aligning themselves to one of the warring factions.

It's been documented again and again that women suffer disproportionately to men in times of conflict.

Women's Action Forum (WAF), the vanguard of women's rights in Pakistan, Sunday demanded the government to resolve the Balochistan issue in accordance with aspirations and rights of the people of Balochistan.

It has been one year since a wave of political change set Egypt on a challenging but promising path to reform. Yet, while women played a crucial role in bringing the transition about, many feel that they are yet to fully benefit from it.