Gender Violence

Put Survivors Front and Centre

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Sexual violence is still all too common and continues to threaten peace and security worldwide. How can we do better? Put survivors at the centre.

The Storm is Over, But in Southern Africa, Cyclone Idai Continues to Rage for Women and Girls

By Edinah Masiyiwa
In late March Cyclone Idai carved a path of devastation across Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Malawi.  It was the deadliest cyclone to hit the region in more than a century, others have even referred to it as “Africa’s Hurricane Katrina.” More than 1,000 people were killed. Many more saw their homes, food crops, and even entire villages washed away.

The Time is Now: End Sexual and Gender-Based Violence

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
It’s time to end sexual and gender-based violence once and for all, participants of a two-day conference said.

SENT FOR HOUSE WORK: MANY TRICKED INTO SEX WORK

By Zyma Islam
Little-educated women from remote villages find themselves sold as sex-workers in the Middle East, because neither the government nor recruiting agencies can authenticate foreign employers seeking housemaids.

Does God Hate Women? A Bangladeshi Murder Case

By Jan Lundius
On 6 April, nineteen-year-old Nusrat Jahan Rafi was by a fellow student brought to the roof of their school. She told Nusrat that a friend of hers was beaten up there. Unknown to Nusrat, Moni who was four months pregnant at the time, had earlier bought burqas and gloves for three of the men who were awaiting them on the roof. Another girl, Umma, was already there beckoning Nusrat to come up. However, when Nusrat entered the roof Umma threw her down and tied her legs. The burqa-dressed men surrounded the defenseless Nusrat, demanding her to withdraw accusations of sexual harassment against the schools´headmaster. When Nusrat refused to give in, one of the men held her head down, while another poured kerosene over her and set her on fire.

Unlocking the Power of Women

By Katja Iversen
This June, thousands will flock to Vancouver for a global dialogue on how to accelerate progress for girls and women under the banner of power, progress and change.

Campaign to Whitewash Saudi Arabia’s Image Does Little for Women in the Kingdom

By Uma Mishra-Newbery and Kristina Stockwood
Amid a high-profile public relations campaign to convince the world just how much the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is modernising – highlighted in last year’s lifting of the ban on women driving – Saudi authorities continue their relentless persecution of women human rights defenders.

West Africa’s Fine Line Between Cultural Norms and Child Trafficking

By Issa Sikiti da Silva
On a bus in Cotonou, Benin’s commercial capital, four Nigerian girls aged between 15 and 16 sit closely together as they are about to embark on the last part of their journey to Mali, where they are told that their new husbands, whom they never have met, await them.

Women, Peace and Security: Let’s Turn Words into Action

By Dr. Denis Mukwege
To be able to tackle a problem we must first recognize that it exists. When I first spoke at the United Nations Security Council in 2009, I was asked why the issue of sexual violence was even relevant to peace and security. At that time, it was not generally accepted that rape is in fact a weapon of war. Today, that statement is both widely accepted and central to the international community’s understanding of this crucial issue.

Women and Girls “Preyed on as the Spoils of War”

By Sam Olukoya
“They forcefully took us away and kept us like prisoners,” Lydia Musa, a former Boko Haram captive who was abducted at the age of 14 during an attack on her village in Gwoza, in Nigeria’s north eastern Borno State, tells IPS. Musa and two other underaged girls were captured and forced to marry Boko Haram fighters in spite of their protests that they were too young to marry.

Mobilizing Men as Partners for Women, Peace & Security

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
In the first month of Bangladesh joining the Security Council in January 2000, President Nelson Mandela was in New York to report to the Council in his capacity as the UN-mandated facilitator of the Burundi Peace Process. In an informal setting, he shared with us that his efforts to include women in the peace table were not working as participating men stonewalled.

Latin America Resets Its Strategy against Femicides

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Several initiatives are seeking to strengthen the fight against femicides in Latin America, a region which, despite growing popular mobilisation and pioneering legislation against gender-based murders, still has the world's worst rates in what has been described as a "silent genocide," says U.N. Women.

Myanmar and China’s Bride Trafficking Problem

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Women and girls from Myanmar are increasingly being trafficked as “brides” to China, a human rights group found.

Gang Rape & Murder of 12 Year Old Somali Girl Sparks Fury

By Hawa Aden Mohamed
Aisha Elias Adan was abducted on the evening of February 24th at a market in Israc village, Puntland, Somalia. Her body was carelessly dumped in front of her family home the following morning. A doctor’s report showed that she had been brutally gang-raped.

The Geneva Centre reiterates the importance of fully including women in the labour market and in all spheres of society on the occasion of International Women’s Day

By Geneva Centre
On the occasion of the observance of the 2019 International Women’s Day, the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue reiterated the urgent need to intensify efforts towards achieving gender equality in all spheres of society, eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, and promoting women’s political and economic empowerment.

The Future Women Want: Free of Violence

By Maureen Kangere
Bakera excelled in school. As a girl who grew up in a rural, poor community, she had, against all odds, realized her education goals and was elated to go to the capital city, Kampala where she would now work.

Criminality, School Dropout and Gender Equality

By Jan Lundius
I assume it was the Swedish author Stieg Larsson´s Millenium trilogy (2005-2007) that generated the popularity of Scandinavian Crime Fiction, as well numerous movies and TV-series that followed in its wake. A typical Nordic Noir novel takes place within a gloomy landscape of dreary towns, or a semi-deserted countryside, where under the thin surface of an apparently well-ordered society, murder, misogyny, rape, racism and international crime syndicates are thriving.

Violence Fuels Mobilisation by Women against Brazil’s Anti-Gender Equality Government

By Mario Osava
Crime, a key issue in far-right President Jair Bolsonaro's election in Brazil, has a dimension that is gaining in visibility and could turn against his government: gender violence.

Slavery is Not a Thing of the Past, It Still Exists Today Affecting Millions

By Shannon Scribner
While natural hazards like hurricanes, exacerbated by climate change, are causing people to migrate, it’s conflict, violence and persecution that have forced more than 68.5 million people from their homes today, exposing them to higher risks and increased vulnerability, especially women and children.

UN Accused of Failing to Move Aggressively Against Sexual Abuse

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations, which prides itself with a “zero tolerance” policy on sexual exploitation and abuse, has come under relentless fire for failing to match its words with deeds—specifically in relation to some of the high-profile cases that have jolted the Organization.

Sexual Assault Survivors March to End Gender Violence in India

By Divya Srinivasan
In an historic first, thousands of people participated in a 10,000-kilometre long Dignity March across India to raise awareness about sexual violence, bring an end to stigma faced by survivors, and highlight the barriers women and children face in accessing justice.
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