The 2010 Annual Ministerial Review, held during the High-level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), unfolded in New York from 28 June to 2 July 2010 and went into high gear on Gender issues by focusing on the theme, "Implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments in regard to gender equality and empowerment of women".

The Women's League of Burma (WLB) welcomes the decisive decision from the Obama Administration on August 18, calling for a Commission of Inquiry on Burma.

The US joined the growing number of countries refusing to turn a blind eye any longer and called for the establishment of an inquiry into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Burma.

She had just been married when Japanese soldiers brought her to a tent camp in Yogyakarta and raped her every day for months.

“Black paint from my bridal makeup was still on my forehead when I was raped for the first time. I trembled with fear, curled up on my sleeping mat and cried terribly. But it was to no avail. They kept coming and I was afraid that they would shoot me to death,” said Sanikem, who was born in 1926.

A Palestinian man was recently convicted of rape by an Israeli court after he had sex with a Jewish woman who believed he was also Jewish.

The court said in its ruling that the man committed "rape by deception" because the woman would never have consented to sex had she known he was Muslim. Focusing not on the specific religion of the offender, but on the nature of free choice itself, the three judge panel wrote:

With a date now set for elections in Burma, the 40 parties that have been approved to run are out on the campaign trail. A brief look at candidate lists however shows a conspicuous lack of women in Burmese politics, a sign of a sexually conservative society and heightened male chauvinism, says Cho Cho Kyaw Nyein.

There's no mistaking a new consciousness is on the rise when it comes to women's empowerment.
Challenges once marginalized as 'women's issues' are moving into the global mainstream, especially with the world's attention focused on economic recovery and development.

The UN recently reaffirmed its commitment to increasing women's participation in peacebuilding and conflict-resolution with specific targets set for the organization's police force: By 2014 the UN hopes to double the number of women serving globally as UN police officers (UNPOL). In response to the UN's call, Bangladesh plans to send an additional 10,000 female officers.

Fifty years ago, 17 African countries threw off the brutal and degrading yoke of colonialism. The 50th anniversary of African national liberation is an opportunity to critically reflect on the past five decades in post-colonial Africa, which began with luminous hope but have been marred by a leitmotif of grinding disappointment and failure.

A Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) employee at the T. Don Hutto immigration detention facility in Taylor, TX today was charged with sexually abusing numerous female immigration detainees.

The violence in Osh, Kyrgyzstan has caused me great pain. Atrocities committed against Uzbeks, Russians, Tartars, and some Kyrgyz, such as those recounted in Fergana.ru, reflect the cruelty of what occurred. While lack of information is the reality inside Uzbekistan, even people around the world do not have full information about what has happened.