Gender Violence

Protect Women’s Rights, Especially in a Time of Equality Backlash, Say Activists

By Naureen Hossain
Discriminatory laws and the absence of legal protections impact more than 2.5 billion women and girls worldwide in various ways. Legal reform is paramount to securing gender equality, and the world cannot afford to roll back on decades of progress in women’s rights.

Intersectional Feminist Leadership Needed to Realise Global Goals

By Jesselina Rana
In its 80-year history the UN has never once been led by a woman. As the international community convenes for the 2025 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) to review progress on gender equality and other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), this remains a fundamental hypocrisy at the heart of global governance. How can an institution that has systematically excluded women from its highest office credibly champion gender justice worldwide?

#KeepHopeAlive Through Education

By Yasmine Sherif
On the first International Day of Hope, we are all responsible to #KeepHopeAlive for the children impacted by the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Perhaps the strongest responsibilities lie with those entrusted to lead the world and make the right moral and legal choices. This is especially so today, when we have led the world into an abyss of excruciating pain for nearly a quarter of a billion innocent children now suffering brutal conflicts and violence, forced displacement and punishing climate disasters – without quality education.

Conflict, Climate Change Push Migrants in Yemen to Return to Their Home Countries

By Juliana White
Yemen's humanitarian crisis, driven by conflict, economic collapse and climate shocks, leaves migrants desperate to return to their home countries.

Escalating Gang Violence in Haiti Threatens to Override State Control

By Oritro Karim
Over the month of June, the security situation in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to coordinate brutal attacks, seizing more territory, and obstructing critical humanitarian aid deliveries. In the past week, new waves of hostilities were reported in the nation’s Centre Department, which has elicited concern from humanitarian organizations that gang influence could soon completely overpower state control.

Sudanese Refugees and IDPs Disproportionately Affected By Crisis

By Oritro Karim
Since the wake of the Sudanese Civil War in 2023, Sudan has faced a dire humanitarian crisis that has been marked by extreme violence, widespread civilian displacement, and an overwhelming lack of basic services in relation to the massive scale of needs. The latest reports from a host of United Nations (UN) organizations shed light on the rapid deterioration of living conditions for Sudanese internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.

Multi-Year Drought Gives Birth to Extremist Violence, Girls Most Vulnerable

By Manipadma Jena
While droughts creep in stealthily, their impacts are often more devastating and far-reaching than any other disaster. Inter-community conflict, extremist violence, and violence and injustice against vulnerable girls and women happen at the intersection of climate-induced droughts and drought-impoverished communities.

Women and War: Victims of Violence and Voices of Peace

By Juliana White
In 2023, approximately 612 million women and girls lived within 50 kilometers of a conflict zone, more than 50 percent higher than a decade ago. During war, they disproportionately suffer from gender-based and sexual violence.

‘In the Face of Funding Cuts, Civil Society Has Taken a Leading Role in the Humanitarian Response’

By CIVICUS

 
CIVICUS discusses the closure of offices of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Mexico with members of Integral Human Rights In Action (DHIA), a Mexican civil society organisation (CSO) that promotes and defends human rights in contexts of mobility.

Women Protestors Targeted, Insulted on Georgian Anti-Government Rallies

By Ed Holt
Having attended hundreds of anti-government protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, Gvantsa Kalandadze is no stranger to police intimidation and violence.

Noor Mukadam Got Justice, But Why Does Pakistan’s Legal System Fail Its Women?

By Zofeen Ebrahim
“It’s brought me some closure,” said Shafaq Zaidi, a school friend of Noor Mukadam, reacting to the Supreme Court’s May 20 verdict upholding both the life sentence and death penalty for Noor’s killer, Zahir Jaffer.

Lawmakers Work to Build Women’s Representation in Politics and the Workplace

By Cecilia Russell
Jelena Pekić, MP of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (House of People) and Deputy Speaker of the Canton Sarajevo Assembly, Lana Prlić, MP of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (House of Representatives) and Marina Riđić, Assistant Representative, UNFPA Bosnia and Herzegovina, spoke to IPS ahead of the Study Tour on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

HeForShe Campaign Tackles ‘Sex for Fish’ Abuse Malawi’s Lakeshore Communities

By Benson Kunchezera
Women in fishing communities in Malawi's lakeshore districts of Nkhotakota and Mangochi are frequently targets of sexual exploitation for fish, a practice commonly known as 'sex for fish.' A recent report by the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has unearthed disturbing accounts of women being coerced into transactional sex to access fish from male boat owners, exposing a widespread violation of their rights.

Armed Gangs Expand Their Control in the Centre Department of Haiti

By Oritro Karim
Following a series of brutal altercations in the communes of Mirebalais and Saut d’Eau in Haiti back in late March, local gangs have taken over both communes, spurring heightened displacement and insecurity. This is indicative of the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Haiti as these armed gangs expand their control beyond Port-au-Prince.

Lawyer-Turned-Activist Bhuwan Ribhu Honored for Leading a Campaign to End Child Marriage

By Stella Paul
Bhuwan Ribhu didn’t plan to become a child rights activist. But when he saw how many children in India were being trafficked, abused, and forced into marriage, he knew he couldn’t stay silent.

‘The International Response Should Follow the Principle of ‘Nothing about Us, Without Us’’

By CIVICUS
CIVICUS speaks with Ukrainian gender rights activist Maryna Rudenko about the gendered impacts of the war in Ukraine and the importance of including women in peacebuilding efforts. Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has profoundly impacted on women and girls. Many have been displaced and are struggling with poverty and unemployment. Those who’ve stayed endure daily missile attacks, damaged infrastructure, lack of basic services and sexual violence from Russian forces if they live in occupied territories. Women activists, caregivers and journalists are particularly vulnerable. The international community must increase support to ensure justice for victims and women’s inclusion in peace efforts.

The Disappeared: Mexico’s Industrial-Scale Human Rights Crisis

By Inés M. Pousadela
They found shoes, hundreds of them, scattered across the dirt floor of an extermination camp in Jalisco state. These abandoned shoes, once belonging to someone’s child, parent or spouse, stand as silent witnesses to Mexico’s deepest national trauma. Alongside charred human remains and makeshift crematoria meant to erase all evidence of humanity, they tell the story of a crisis that has reached industrial-scale proportions.

UN Warns of an Imminent Collapse in Haiti

By Oritro Karim
As gang violence in Haiti continues to target civilians and critical infrastructures, humanitarian organizations and the Haitian National Police (HNP) have found it increasingly difficult to manage the growing scale of needs. The United Nations (UN) and its partners fear that Haiti will approach a nationwide collapse due to numerous shortfalls in funding, a widespread lack of essential resources, and rampant insecurity.

Rohingya Refugees Are Not Safe in Bangladesh or Myanmar

By Oritro Karim
On April 4, it was confirmed by Myanmar authorities that there were approximately 180,000 Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh that are eligible to return. Following numerous cuts in funding as a result of President Donald Trump’s reduction of USAID, as well as the increasingly volatile humanitarian crisis in Myanmar, it is uncertain if repatriation will best serve Rohingya refugee communities.

Trapped by Tradition: The Widows of Ukerewe and the Ritual They Cannot Escape

By Kizito Makoye
The night after her husband was laid to rest, 24-year-old Vivian Magesa sat in the dimly lit brick-walled house, surrounded by women from her late husband’s family. She had spent the past few days in mourning, wrapped in a white shroud, her head shaved as custom dictated. But as the hushed voices of her in-laws filled the room, Magesa realized her grief was far from over.

The Toll of Mental Health in Conflict Areas

By Oritro Karim
Over the past two decades, conversations surrounding mental wellness have entered the cultural consciousness in the western world. Despite this, these topics receive far less media exposure in the Global South, particularly in areas that have been entrenched in warfare, where the onset of harmful mental health conditions are prevalent.
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