News

20/5/2013

Afghanistan: Parliament fails to pass divisive women's law

Afghanistan's parliament failed to pass a law on Saturday banning violence against women, a severe blow to progress made in women's rights in the conservative Muslim country since the Islamist Taliban was toppled over a decade ago.

15/5/2013

Death of renowned Islamic scholar, Asghar Ali Engineer.

It is with great sadness that we report the loss of renowned Islamic scholar and supporter of women’s rights, Asghar Ali Engineer.

13/5/2013

Morocco: Women battle against domestic abuse

Countless Moroccan women, continue to face abuse and sexual violence at the hands of their husbands. About 6 million women in Morocco are victims of violence, or around one in three. Morocco’s Social Development Minister Bassima Hakkaoui, the only female minister in the country, said last week that she would try to push forward a law protecting women that has been stuck in Parliament for 8 years.

13/5/2013

Bangladesh: Islamists Demand that Bangladesh's Women Stay at Home

Members of Hifazat-e Islam, a radical Islamist party in Bangladesh, attacked female journalists on assignment as the group marched in the country's capital to demand strict Islamic law, including a ban on free mixing of the sexes and punishment of “atheists and blasphemous bloggers”.

13/5/2013

Afghanistan: Woman killed for “dishonouring” family

The woman, who has two children, was shot dead on Monday 22 April by her father in front of a crowd of about 300 people in the village of Kookchaheel, in the Aabkamari district of Badghis province in north-western Afghanistan.

9/5/2013

Egypt Risks Drifting Further Away from Human Rights Ideals

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday urged the Egyptian Government to take steps to ensure that the current version of a draft law on civil society organizations is laid open to careful examination by Egyptian and international human rights experts, and, based on their advice, is brought into line with international standards, before it is adopted by the Shura Council.

9/5/2013

Pakistan's once-ridiculed transgender community fight elections for first time

Naina Lal, 28, is one of a handful of candidates from Pakistan's "transgender" community standing in national and provincial elections on Saturday. Known as "hijra", a catch-all term for transexuals, hermaphrodites and transvestites but usually indicating someone born male identifying as a woman, they have faced discrimination and ridicule for centuries. Living apart, they have traditionally earned a living as dancers, circus performers, sex workers and beggars.

1/5/2013

Death of Justice Verma, the judge who helped toughen up Rape Laws in India

It is with deep regret that we hear the passing away of Justice Verma, a remarkable judge who headed a committee post the brutal rape and killing of the student in India.

1/5/2013

Senegal: WELDD West Africa Feminist Leadership Workshop

Bustling Senegal set the scene for passionate debate, robust reflection, slam poetry and much laughter this April at the first West Africa transformative feminist leadership workshop - brought together by our Women’s Empowerment and Leadership Development for Democratization programme (WELDD). An impressive group of emerging female leaders from Mali, Niger and Senegal came together for five intense days of capacity building, awareness-raising and strategizing under the blazing Dakar sun.

30/4/2013

Kuwait: Female Arab scientists urge defence of women's rights

A conference of female Arab scientists has called on policymakers and science organisations to help them network within and between countries and safeguard hard-won women's rights, which they see as under threat in the wake of the Arab Spring.