More than 50 per cent of female parliamentarians belong to the cleric-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which won the election in a landslide with just over half the seats. It has called the implementation of Sharia “non-negotiable”.
Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) Calls for Action for 28 May: the International Day of Action for Women's Health. This years Call for Action focuses on violence against women (VAW) as a global health emergency.
Women and girls who have fled ethnic cleansing in Darfur are being raped and subjected to sexual violence around the camps where they have sought refuge, Human Rights Watch said.
L'amendement relevant de 15 à 18 ans l'âge légal du mariage des femmes, adopté le 29 mars par le Sénat et qui doit être prochainement examiné par l'Assemblée nationale, a eu le mérite de ramener l'attention sur le phénomène des mariages forcés.
Since early 2003, the people of Darfur have endured a vicious campaign of violence. Rape against women, children and men has sadly been a constant factor in this violence throughout this campaign of terror.
Extremists have shot women activists in the streets and killed them in private. Other threats are more insidious—and may be growing. Article by Babak Dehghanpisheh, Eve Conant and Rod Nordland.
Hamas has mounted a desperate damage-limitation exercise after one of its units shot dead a 20-year-old Palestinian woman for "immoral behaviour" as she enjoyed a day out with her future husband.
Canada is pulling out of a conference it was helping to sponsor on promoting business links with Iran. The move follows new allegations that Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi was tortured and possibly raped before dying in Iranian custody in 2003.
On March 31st the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1593, referring the situation in Darfur, Sudan, to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Four states, the USA, Algeria, China and Brasil abstained from voting on the resolution.
Saudi Arabia's top religious authority has banned the practice of forcing women to marry against their will. Grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said forced marriage was against Islamic law and those responsible for it should be jailed.
