sexual violence against women

• September 15, 2021

For more than two decades, sexual violence against women in Somalia has become more pervasive as the country has been torn by civil conflict and state collapse. However, after an alarming 80 percent increase in the number of confirmed cases of sexual violence from 2019 to 2020, the United Nations is calling for urgent …

Africa, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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TAKE A LOOK

Tunisia Acts on Violence Against Women, With Help From UN Women

Barbara Crossette

• August 6, 2017

• Prodded by Tunisian advocacy organizations and assisted by international legal experts, the Tunisian parliament passed a law in late July not only to curb violence against women but also to introduce measures to protect them and provide help to those who have suffered abuse. It is the first such law passed by Tunisian …

Africa, Gender Violence, Poverty, Take a Look, US Foreign Relations

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TOPIC: WOMEN

Building a Case for Prosecuting the Genocide of Yazidi Women

Barbara Crossette

• August 1, 2017

As the Islamic State’s self-proclaimed caliphate in Iraq crumbles, assessments begin to emerge of the damage left in its wake by its cultural nihilism and harsh sectarian absolutism designed to remake an Arab society. The human costs have been high in Iraq — in deaths, maiming, displacement and the enslavement of girls and women. …

Gender Violence, Middle East, Responsibility to Protect, Security Council, Terrorism, Women

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A New Campaign, #EveryHourMatters, Urges Instant Post-Rape Care

Lori Silberman Brauner

• March 28, 2016

Maureen Phiri, a young girl from a poor family in Malawi, was only 11 years old when she was raped by the man who had hired her to do housework for him and his wife. Not only did Maureen continue to experience sexual abuse from the man she worked for, he left her with another …

Gender Violence, Health and Population, UN Agencies, UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

In Kurdistan and Beyond, Honor Killings Remind Women They Are Worthless

Johanna Higgs and Liga Rudzite

• May 6, 2014

KURDISTAN, Iraq — For many women in Kurdistan, life is anything but honorable. We have come to this autonomous region in northern Iraq as social anthropologists to research violence against women — particularly, honor killings — by interviewing local experts, including United Nations personnel. We were told by a Kurdish man here that women …

Gender Violence, WORLDVIEWS

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UN WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2014

A Kenyan Says US Policy Could Advance Women’s Rights Everywhere

Barbara Crossette

• March 27, 2014

Can a bill languishing in the United States Congress make a difference to half the people of a country more than 7,500 miles away? Yes, said Wangechi Wachira-Moegi, the executive director of an organization in Nairobi, Kenya, that works to bring justice to women in the courts and open opportunities for them in political …

Gender Violence, Women

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Congolese Rebel Leader Faces Broad Charges of Sex Crimes

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 13, 2014

The first step to possibly try Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese warlord born in Rwanda, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, began recently at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Ntaganda, who turned himself in to the court last year by going to the United States Embassy in Rwanda, allegedly committed the crimes …

Africa, Child Soldiers, Gender Violence, ICC, International Justice, Women

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A Rape Accusation in Northern Mali and the UN’s Awkward Response

Dulcie Leimbach

• January 28, 2014

Now that Gao, a remote but critical outpost in northern Mali, has become a hub of military personnel — Mali Army, French troops and UN peacekeepers — to fend off terrorist incursions, it is also a simmering spot for sexual assaults and intimidation of women who live there. These acts are committed in the …

Africa, Gender Violence, Human Rights, Women

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Unraveling Sexual Violence in Costa Rica and Throughout Latin America

Ryan Villarreal

• January 8, 2014

For the past three decades, Costa Rica has carried out progressive steps to reduce violence against women, a major inhibitor of human and economic development in the country and throughout Latin America. While the issue has garnered more attention among the general public in recent years, it remains intertwined in the fabric of Latin …

Gender Violence, Latin America, UN Agencies, Women

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In Cambodia, Silent Reactions to Sexual Violence May Be the Norm

Clothilde Le Coz

• December 4, 2013

PHNOM PENH — Kunthear Laut, a 33-year-old Cambodian woman, is a child of marital rape and a victim of two rapes as well as three attempts and at least five years of incest from her uncle. “A woman has to obey a man; otherwise he uses violence,” she said in an interview with PassBlue …

Asia, Gender Violence, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

War Crimes Against Women and Girls Must Be Prosecuted

Navi Pillay

• November 4, 2013

There is now overwhelming evidence that conflicts exacerbate pre-existing gender discrimination and put women and girls at heightened risk of sexual, physical and psychological violence. One appalling example of this evidence is the report recently to the Human Rights Council by the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, which highlights the threat and …

Gender Violence, WORLDVIEWS

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Signs of Transformation From the ‘Pink Ghetto of Gender’

Dulcie Leimbach

• October 31, 2013

One question about women’s rights that may never go away is how to ensure that women are represented fairly in large organizations, like the United Nations. For now, work on “gender mainstreaming” may suffice by concentrating on small steps as opposed to devising wholesale solutions. As one expert has described the process, it is …

Gender Violence, International Justice, Peace and Security, Women

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For Many Latin American Women, Abuse Never Lets Up

Barbara Crossette

• August 19, 2013

Latin American and Caribbean nations have pulled ahead of most other developing regions on numerous measures of economic growth and human progress in recent years. The region has one of the world’s lowest poverty levels; hunger has been reduced to under 5 percent of the regional population; primary school enrollment rivals that of rich …

Health and Population, Human Rights, Latin America, Women

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WORLDVIEWS

Congo Court Reparations Elude Sexual Violence Victims

Randi Aho, Kathryn Bowman and Delaney Simon

• July 15, 2013

At the United Nations Security Council’s ministerial meeting on securing peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rest of the Great Lakes region on July 25, to be presided over by United States Secretary of State John Kerry, we will likely be reminded that Congo, often referred to as the “rape …

Gender Violence, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Congolese Women Grow More Demanding of Local Governments

Mavic Cabrera-Balleza

• June 7, 2013

A global women’s organization with wide experience in peace-building recently brought together scores of prominent women from six African nations to take well-defined steps for dealing with the root causes of the persistent sexual violence occurring in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Declaring that peace in eastern Congo could bring peace to the entire Great Lakes area …