Participation

The Zambia National Women's Lobby (ZNWL) says there is need to create an enabling environment that promotes the participation and representation of women in decision making processes of the country.

Women from South East Asia and Pacific countries will meet in Fiji to discuss issues relating to managing home environment, food security and disaster management, the Fijian government announced Tuesday.

Civil society activists in India are hopeful the government led by Nawaz Sharif will work towards improving ties with India, said Delhi Policy Group, Director General Dr Randha Kumar, on Monday. The DPG is a think tank in India.

North Darfur has announced its total commitment to empowering rural women through microfinance programmes as an ideal way of expanding production in the state.

Two ladies, one in red, the other in blue — that two iconic early images of Turkey's uprising flashed around the world were of women now seems no coincidence. Of the tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters who daily throng Istanbul's occupied central square — now on Day 12 — about half are female.

The assistant secretary general of the UN, Lakshmi Puri, made remarks on the need for women around the world to address some of the core issues relating to gender equality.

Ms Puri said there were three main areas she thought needed attention.

"Ending violence against women and girls must be a priority. From sexual violence to intimate partner shooting in the US and elsewhere," Ms Puri said.

Several UN experts on Wednesday criticised Iran's decision to bar women from running in upcoming elections, saying the move violated international law.

The end of Moammar Gadhafi's 40-year rule in 2011 was a watershed moment for women, said a new report from Human Rights Watch. Women's rights are at contention as the country begins to draft a new constitution following four decades of dictatorship.

The Libyan revolution was an "earthquake" to the cultural status of women in Libya, according to Human Rights Watch.

The violence committed against women and girls by men is a global scourge. And it is only one of the barriers to women and girls attaining their full human rights and achieving their potential.

In so many places around the world, the access of women and girls to economic and political participation and to basic reproductive health measures is blocked by outdated systems and structures controlled by men.

“No Justice? No Peace!” Never has this chant, which I have heard so often at anti-war rallies, felt so real to me as during the last few months observing the ongoing peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas. The talks began in October of last year in Oslo, Norway and have continued in Havana ever since. “No Justice?