Taking an active part in politics in Bolivia can be a hazardous undertaking. Hundreds of reports of violence against women participating in politics attest to the risk. And while attacks go unpunished, a bill designed to protect the rights of women occupying public office has spent almost a decade in Congress waiting to be approved.

The official version of Chilean history renders women's political participation "invisible" and relegates them to a secondary or anecdotal role, says journalist Cherie Zalaquett, author of a new book, "Chilenas en armas" (Chilean Women in Arms).

For tourists and other visitors, Cuzco has a special fascination as the ancient capital of the Inca empire. But social scientists know it as one of the areas in the world with the highest rates of violence against women.

Ten years ago, a group of Cuzco women decided to take an organised stand against all forms of gender-based violence, focusing on encouraging other women to report their abuse and get help.

On 30 October 2009, women human rights defenders Ms Patricia Orozco, Ms Lorna Norori and Ms Ana Eveling Orozco, were subject to police harassment and detention in the city of León. Patricia Orozco is a journalist and leader of el Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres de Nicaragua – MAM (the Nicaraguan Women's Autonomous Movement), a social and political NGO which works for democracy and equality. She was ill-treated upon arrest.

With the possible participation of three high-profile women candidates in Brazil's 2010 presidential elections, the irruption of gender issues in the campaign in Latin America's largest democracy seems inevitable.

This unprecedented scenario will be a great opportunity for gender advocates to further key issues, including greater participation of women in politics and a platform that guarantees women's rights.

Gender-based violence and sexual abuse are serious public security problems in Central America, and Nicaragua is no exception, according to reports by United Nations agencies and women's organisations.

Latin America and the Caribbean is a dangerous place for women. More than 50 percent of the women on the continent have been victims of some form of violence. In commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, UN-INSTRAW is launching a media kit on violence against women and human security in the region as well as a new study about gender and security sector reform in the Dominican Republic.

This country was selected due to the growing violence against women, with the aim to give this issue more attention and thus facilitate the processes leading to its eradication.

"The press will change when they cease to report exclusively from a masculine point of view," Peru's deputy Minister for Women, Norma Añaños, told participants at an international seminar for journalists on "Women at Work, Women as Leaders", held in the Peruvian capital.

Some 708 women were killed in Guatemala in 2009, based on Interior Ministry figures released on Saturday.

According to official figures, murders of women last year were less than in 2008, when 773 women died violent deaths in this Central American country.

Most crimes against women have gone unpunished despite the existence, since April 2008, of a specific law against femicide.