The statistics relating to the world's socially and economically-distressed women are staggering.

The United Nations launched a new effort today to expand its partnership with the private sector and philanthropies in the battle for complete gender equality and the empowerment of women, not only as a necessary human right but as economic common sense as well.

A coalition of over 300 international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is "outraged" that an impending decision to create a new women's entity at the United Nations is being postponed once again.

The scourge of violence against women has worsened as a result of the global financial downturn over the past year, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said today as she urged some of the world's richest countries to lead the way in turning the many international pledges to support women and girls into concrete results.

The preparations for the 10th anniversary of the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security are starting, but critics say there is not much to celebrate.

After more than three years of political foot-dragging, the 192-member General Assembly adopted a historic resolution Monday aimed at creating a new U.N. agency for women.

Yesterday the UN's 192 member states unanimously passed a resolution establishing a new UN agency for women, giving Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon authority to immediately appoint an Under Secretary-General to lead it. This is a truly memorable moment.

On the second day of the 7th Meeting of the International Network of Women Against Militarism Conference, delegates presented reports on the steps taken by organizations in their areas to promote peace and human rights.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) today welcomed the creation of a new single UN body to promote women's rights, noting that more than 60 per cent of people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa are female, as are three out of four young people.

While the UN spent years debating, untold thousands of girls and women around the world have suffered ruined bodies and ruined lives.