A hotline that will give Chilean women information they need to self-terminate a pregnancy was launched yesterday by a network of feminist organizations. According to Women on Waves, the hotline will give women information about Misoprostol, a drug available in Chile by prescription to treat gastric ulcers, to safely and effectively induce abortion.

Fiji, a multi-racial, multi-cultural country of 300 islands in the South Pacific, has undergone another coup - the fourth in 22 years. The women of Fiji want their voices to be heard as they work on ways to bring peace back to their country, and they are asking for the United Nations to support their efforts.

The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) described the criminalisation of abortion under any circumstances in Nicaragua as a violation of human rights.

In the wake of the UN Security Council calling for restoration of democracy and fair elections in Fiji, the World YWCA continues to stand in support and solidarity of the women of Fiji. With no judiciary, constitution or elections in sight, the World YWCA has asked four Fijian women leaders to reflect on the situation in their country and share their hopes and fears for the women of Fiji.

Young. Beautiful. Powerful. These were the words to best describe the participants of the Caribbean YWCAs Young Women Leaders Dialogue (YWLD) on violence against women, sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV and AIDS held in Trinidad and Tobago on May 24.

A women's community organisation based in Fiji says its report on women, peace and human security shows a deterioration in the status of women across the Pacific.

The co-ordinator of Femlink Pacific says it'll present the first quarter report for this year to a meeting of regional women's community media networks today.

The meeting brings together peacewomen from Bougainville, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Fiji.

The aberrations of Mexican justice were clearly visible in the cases of rape and torture allegedly committed by soldiers in 2002 against two indigenous women, Inés Fernández and Valentina Rosendo. But their experiences are not exceptional in rural areas of the southern state of Guerrero.

Two women in Southeast Asia are setting the stage for regional change by bravely standing up to ruling governments. Both have received negative court rulings in recent days.

In Venezuela "women have passionately embraced community activism, taking on a more committed and active role, and this is reflected in the increasing female participation in neighbourhood assemblies," Alba Rojas, spokeswoman for a community council in Tacagua, a township that spreads along the Caracas-La Guaira highway, told IPS.

Today, a 16-year-old Peruvian rape survivor who suffered devastating consequences after being denied an abortion filed a human rights petition against her government before the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). The CEDAW Committee monitors states' compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.