Gender Violence

UN Commemorates International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

By Rangita de Silva de Alwis
“From the tuk tuk drivers in Cambodia… to the school children in South Africa, women and men and girls and boys are taking a stand to prevent violence against women,” says Executive Director of UN Women and Under Secretary General Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Teenage Pregnancy in Kenya: A Crisis of Health, Education and Opportunity

By Siddharth Chatterjee
That almost one in five Kenyan teenage girls is a mother represents not only a huge cost to the health sector, but also a betrayal of potential on a shocking scale.

Q&A: Creating a Safe Space for Survivors of Sexual Exploitation in the Aid Sector

By Wambi Michael
How to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in the aid sector is a question that has come to the forefront in the past year as allegations have been made against various global organisations, including the United Nations.

Sex Offender Registry is Not Enough to Curb Sexual Violence Against Women

By Elsa D'Silva and Quratulain Fatima
India recently launched a sex offender registry to deter sex offenders from perpetrating crimes against women and children by indicating that the government is keeping track of them. The personal details of 440,000 sex offenders who have been convicted for various crimes like “eve-teasing”, child sexual abuse, rape and gang rape will be registered in this database and accessible to law enforcement.

EU & UN Join Mexico to Eradicate Violence against Women & Girls

By Antonio Molpeceres and Klaus Rudischhauser
Violence against women and girls is one of the most serious, globally widespread, deep-rooted and normalized human rights violations. The statistics are shocking: at least one in three women worldwide has suffered physical or sexual violence, usually by a family member or an intimate partner.

Ethiopian Domestic Workers Battle for Survival in Saudi Arabia

By Rabiya Jaffery
Marjani F, 44, spent 8 years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital working as domestic help. “My husband was killed by the military after being accused of organizing a protest. I have four children and there was no way I could pay the bills staying there,” she says.

The Plight of Women & Young People in the Rohingya Refugee Crisis

By Asa Torkelsson
August 25, 2018 marked one year since violence erupted in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, triggering the massive Rohingya exodus to neighbouring Bangladesh. As the crisis continues with no immediate end in sight, it is crucial to expand and sustain health and life skills services for Rohingya women, girls and youth to locate opportunities amid challenges.

Damning U.N. Report Outlines Crimes Against Rohingya As Children Suffer from Trauma One Year Later

By Farid Ahmed
At 12, Mohammed* is an orphan. He watched his parents being killed by Myanmar government soldiers a year ago. And he is one of an estimated half a million Rohingya children who have survived and been witness to what the United Nations has called genocide.

Rohingya Refugees Left in Limbo One Year On

By Jan Egeland
Aid funding for refugee relief is running out while conditions are still not in place for the safe return of over 700,000 people forced to flee Myanmar to neighbouring Bangladesh after violence broke out one year ago.

Paid Leave In New Zealand For Victims of Domestic Violence Praised Globally

By Carmen Arroyo
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the developing world. Recent legislation there that gives victims of domestic violence 10 days of paid leave, without having to present any documentation in support, has been praised across the globe.

Save the Children Warns Untraceable Minors in Italy May be Trafficked

By Maged Srour
Thousands of migrant minors placed in reception facilities upon arrival in Italy, as a first step in identification and later relocation into other structures for asylum seekers, are untraceable and feared trafficked.

States Must Treat Refugees & Migrants as Rights Holders & Prevent Trafficking & Exploitation

By Maria Grazia Giammarinaro
States around the world must act now to strengthen their efforts to prevent and combat trafficking in human beings, including by ensuring that victims and potential victims are considered and treated as rights holders.Many people who fall prey to traffickers are migrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, who have decided to leave their country for various reasons, such as conflict, natural disaster, persecution or extreme poverty.

Latin American Migrants Targeted by Trafficking Networks

By Fabiana Frayssinet
The rescue earlier this month of 12 Venezuelan and three Colombian women from a prostitution network that recruits migrants in Peru is an example of the complex web where migration and human trafficking often involve victims of forced labour and sexual exploitation.

Age Appropriate Sexuality Education for Youth Key to National Progress

By Dr. Josephine Kibaru-Mbae and Siddharth Chatterjee
Fifty years ago at the International Conference on Human Rights, family planning was affirmed to be a human right. It is therefore apt that the theme for this year’s World Population Day is a loud reminder of this fundamental right.

Savagery of Rapes of Minors

By Geetika Dang, Vani S. Kulkarni and Raghav Gaiha
Rapes of minors surged from 16 per day in 2001 to 46 per day in 2016. As if this was not horrendous enough, their savagery adds to it.In 2016, 43.3% of the total female rape victims were minors. Around 13% of the minor female victims were of age 11 and below. The deceased victim in the Kathua rape case from a nomadic Muslim community was barely eight years old. Her crumpled body was found in a blood-smeared dress in January, 2018. A group of Hindu men lured her into a forest, kidnapped her, drugged her, locked her in a Hindu temple, gang-raped her and then strangled her.

EU Urged to Ban Early & Forced Child Marriages

By Rangita de Silva de Alwis
Something historic was initiated at the European Development Days (EDD) in early June: the EDD placed women and girls at the forefront of Sustainable Development. Since its inception in 2006, EDD has become a barometer for ideas in global development.

America First or America Alone?

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
The United States’ move to withdraw from the Human Rights Council will have “reverberations” throughout the world in years to come, say human rights groups.This week, the U.S. announced its intention to withdraw from the 47-member Human Rights Council, accusing it of bias against Israel.

Kenya Can End the Moral Indignity of Child Labour

By Jacqueline Mogeni and Siddharth Chatterjee
On 12 June every year is the World Day Against Child Labour. In the world's poorest countries, around one in four children are engaged in work that is potentially harmful to their health.

“A Map and Plan”: When Greener Pastures End in a Blazing Desert

By Mbom Sixtus
“Sometimes when I’m alone, I still get flashes of the grisly images I saw in the desert. I feared I was going to die out there. The people transporting us were ready to get rid of any of us where necessary,” Njoya Danialo recalled as he narrated the ordeal he endured traveling through the Sahara in search of greener pastures.

Zimbabwe’s Long Road to Gender Parity

By Ignatius Banda
Zimbabwe goes to the polls in July for the first general election since the departure of Robert Mugabe, and the jockeying over who will represent the country’s major political parties is in full throttle.

We Need a Gender Shift to save Our Girls from the Jaws of Extremism

By Ambassador Amina Mohamed and Siddharth Chatterjee
Consider this. Boko Haram, the ISIS-affiliated insurgent group has sent 80 women to their deaths in 2017 alone.The majority of suicide bombers used by terror group Boko Haram to kill innocent victims are women and children, US study reveals.
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