PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – As Haiti’s economy teeters on the brink of collapse and essential services crumble, residents of the capital Port-au-Prince are caught in a horrifying crossfire of surging gang violence, with rising accounts of murders, kidnappings, rape and forced displacement. Access to the few health centres and hospitals that are still functioning has become […]
Taking Stock of 20 Years of Western Promises to Stand by Afghan women Girls are banned from secondary education in the vast majority of Afghanistan’s provinces. Women are banned from most employment. Women in universities face harsh new restrictions. Many female teachers have been dismissed. The policy of requiring a mahram, a male family member chaperone, to accompany any woman […]
analysis By Awino Okech William Ruto has been declared the winner of Kenya’s presidential election. The final outcome, however, remains in the balance following a challenge from his main competitor, Raila Odinga. As president, Ruto would be charged with defending the 2010 constitution. It overhauled the governing framework of the country by devolving power to […]
The Kenyan 2022 General Elections represents a great step forward for women’s representation, albeit an incremental one. We have seen that a lot of women, both those who won and those who lost, have come forward to show that despite many decades where women have been despised in regards to political leadership, they can also […]
‘More women for more development’ is one of the inspiring mottos used by women’s organizations in São Tomé and Príncipe in their battle for more space in country politics. The dream of many women came true on 28 July when the National Assembly of São Tomé and Príncipe approved a long debated Political Parity Law […]
By Lisa Schlein The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, praised Liberia for removing gender discrimination from its nationality law, granting women the same right as men to pass their nationality to their children. With the stroke of a pen, Liberian President George Weah amended the country’s Aliens and Nationality Law on August 5, removing the primary […]
The international community must dramatically increase efforts to urge the de facto authorities in Afghanistan to adhere to basic human rights principles, a group of UN independent rights experts said on Friday, 12th August 2022. “The future is immensely bleak for Afghans if more is not done by the international community to ensure the Taliban […]
A year of Taliban rule in Afghanistan has led to a deterioration in the lives of women and girls, affecting all aspects of their human rights, three UN agencies reported on Monday 15th August 2022. Ms. Bahous outlined how the Taliban’s “meticulously constructed policies of inequality” have set Afghanistan apart from the rest of the […]
Human trafficking is a horrific crime and “an all-out assault on people’s rights, safety and dignity,” Secretary-General António Guterres said on Friday, the eve of World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. “Tragically, it is also a problem that is growing worse – especially for women and girls, who represent the majority of detected trafficked persons […]
The UN’s sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, has announced the ten winners of its first ever Joint Innovation Challenge; a cutting edge competition to provide funding for social enterprises with innovative solutions that advance the empowerment of women and girls worldwide. The challenge was financed by UNFPA’s Equalizer Accelerator Fund, and implemented in cooperation with the World Intellectual […]
