Sudan

A video recording has shown the Sudanese police, in the presence of a judge, brutally whipping a woman suspected of performing an "indecent act."

Kidnapped women are being exchanged in the city of Kirkuk, Iraq.

In the last eight months, there have been 232 cases of violence against women and children in Yemen.

In January, people in Southern Sudan are due to vote in a referendum on independence.

The option to secede was part of a peace deal signed in 2005 which ended decades of civil war between the north and the south.

Southern Sudan faces immense challenges - the war prevented development from taking place and there are very few job opportunities in the south.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa, but over half of the population lives in poverty. A simple food processing project is unlocking women's potential, transforming their economic and social status in a traditional valued country.

On 7 September 2009 amid international media attention, a Sudanese court decided not to sentence journalist, Lubna Hussein, to flogging for wearing trousers in public.

Instead a fine was imposed. One year on from that decision the authorities continue to use laws which flagrantly discriminate against women.

Testimonies at the congressional hearing on sexual violence in the Congo held on May 19, 2009 before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Subcommittee on African Affairs and the new Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Womens Issues.

Women in South Sudan have faced double oppression—as Southerners, they have faced violence from the North, and they are struggling for equality within their own community as Southerners.

To see the video, please klick on the link: http://www.motionbox.com/videos/7c99d9b51915e8c6f4

This letter to the Sudanese National Assembly was about the representation of women on the Referendum Commission.

The Urgent Call for Peace was issued in January 2010. This was the statement they presented in Doha.