Gender

50 Years On: Lebanon’s Civil War, Feminist Peacebuilding, and the Fight Against Silence

By Sania Farooqui
This year marks half a century since the start of Lebanon’s civil war in 1975 - a conflict that lasted 15 years, killed over 150,000 lives, and resulted in as many as 17,000 missing. Decades later, the legacy of that war is still everywhere: in the silence of classrooms without history books, in families who never knew what happened to their missing loved ones, and in violence made mundane in all parts of society.

UN Mobilizes Amid Cascading Earthquakes in Eastern Afghanistan, Aiming to ‘Build Back Better’

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
United Nations aid organizations are rallying after a series of earthquakes and powerful aftershocks wreaked unprecedented havoc across eastern Afghanistan—particularly in the mountainous provinces of Kunar and Nangarhar.

Afghan Women to the International Community: Real Action, Not Mere Sympathy or Words of Condemnation

This year marks the fourth anniversary of the Taliban retaking power in Afghanistan. All these years have been one long nightmare for  the women of Afghanistan, the ones who have borne the brunt of oppression – arguably the worst of its kind anywhere in the world.

From Matriarchy to Victims: An Ongoing Story of Indigenous Women in Canada

By Randa El Ozeir
If European colonialism had never happened in Canada, matriarchy would still have been strong in Indigenous culture.

‘Who Will Take the Mic at the United Nations When Doing so Might Cost Them Their Freedom?’

By CIVICUS

 
CIVICUS discusses civil society’s challenges in engaging with United Nations (UN) processes with an activist from a Salvadoran queer-led organisation who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

The Right to Care: A Feminist Legal Victory That Could Change the Americas

By Inés M. Pousadela
On 7 August, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delivered a groundbreaking decision that could transform women’s lives across the Americas. For the first time in international law, an international tribunal recognised care as an autonomous human right. Advisory Opinion 31/25, issued in response to a request from Argentina, elevates care – long invisible and relegated to the private sphere – to the level of a universal enforceable entitlement.

Hypertension and Diabetes Grows Among India’s Poor Communities

By Rina Mukherji
Generally thought to be diseases of the wealthier classes, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension and diabetes are on the rise among India’s underprivileged working classes in semi-urban and rural sprawls.

Sexual Violence Against Women, Children in War ‘Strategic’ and Growing

By Naomi Myint Breuer
Sexual violence against women and children during wars should not be considered collateral damage. "It is strategy, it is systematic, and it is used more and more," Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations (UN) Christina Markus Lassen said.

‘The Surge in Executions Shouldn’t Be Mistaken for Strength – It’s a Desperate Act of a Collapsing Dictatorship’

By CIVICUS

  CIVICUS speaks about the Iranian regime’s execution of political prisoners with Safora Sadidi, a human rights activist with the Women’s Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Safora lost her father and six family members to the theocratic regime, and has dedicated over two decades to the Iranian Resistance’s international efforts.

Aid Funding Crisis Means Parliamentarians’ Visionary Leadership Even More Crucial

By Cecilia Russell
As funding for sexual and reproductive health rights was on a “cliff edge,” parliamentarians now needed to play a “visionary” leadership role because “financing strong, resilient health systems for all their people rests with governments,” said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Director General of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF).

Zanzibar’s Blue Economy Offers Hope Amid Rising Seas and Gender Inequity

By Kizito Makoye
At dawn on the white-sand shores of Jambiani, 45-year-old Saada Juma braces herself against the pull of the tide, wrangling ropes laced with seaweed. Her hands, hardened by decades of labor, move instinctively as she secures her aquatic crop.

UNICEF to Deliver 1.4 million Cholera Vaccines to Sudan Amid Supply Chain Breakdowns

By Maximilian Malawista
In Tawila, North Darfur State in Sudan, more than 1,180 cholera cases, including 300 cases in children, and at least 20 deaths have been reported since the first case was detected on June 21. Tawila has absorbed 500,000 internally displaced people who are escaping violence, many of them fleeing about seventy kilometers from the state capital of Al Fasher, making this rapid surge in cases a major health concern amidst worsening hygiene, medical, and food supply chain deteriorations.

Sexual Exploitation & Abuse at UN Reveals “Significant Underreporting”

By Thalif Deen
A system-wide UN survey of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), described as “grave violations of human rights”, has revealed that in 2024, there were 675 allegations reported. A UN message to staffers last week says this is “widely believed” to be “significant underreporting” because the real numbers may be much higher.

Accountability on Trial: UN’s Unabated SEA Crisis Erodes Trust in World Body’s Leadership

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury
After taking oath of office in December 2016 as Secretary-General, Mr. Antonio Guterres described the eradication of sexual offenses by UN peacekeeping and all other UN personnel as the first item on his reform agenda.

UN Report Uncovers “Systematic Torture” in Myanmar

By Oritro Karim
Myanmar’s security situation has deteriorated significantly, with the nation still reeling from the devastating earthquake in March last year, and continued military offensives driven by the ongoing civil war. In 2025, the humanitarian crisis reached a critical turning point, with the United Nations (UN) underscoring a litany of severe human rights abuses inflicted on civilians by the military and armed groups.

UN Security Council Confronts South Sudan’s ‘Compounding Crises’

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
The UN Security Council convened today (August 18) to discuss South Sudan and the "interlinked challenges of climate change and conflict" affecting the region.

Sexual Health Rights: Contradictions in East African Laws, Policies

By Wambi Michael
Sarah Namukisa nearly missed her final year exams earlier this year. She was subjected to a mandatory pregnancy test—the 25-year-old student at the Medical Laboratory Training School in Jinja was then expelled because she was pregnant.

The Hidden Backbone of Maternal Health: Asia’s Midwifery Gap

By Shreya Komar
Asia-Pacific’s midwives are a healthcare lifeline capable of delivering nearly 90 percent of essential maternal and newborn services. Yet the region grapples with severe shortages, underinvestment, and systemic neglect.

From the Margins to the Courts: St Lucia Joins Caribbean Fight to Dismantle Anti-LGBTQI+ Colonial Laws

By Inés M. Pousadela
When Kenita Placide co-founded United and Strong, St Lucia’s first LGBTQI+ organisation in 2001, death threats were routine. Over the years, several friends were murdered for being gay. But 24 years on, Kenita’s Caribbean island nation has become the latest to overturn a colonial legacy that criminalised LGBTQI+ people.

Women in Sudan are Starving Faster than Men; Female-Headed Households Suffer

By Maximilian Malawista
The food crisis in Sudan is starving more day by day, yet it is affecting women and girls at double the rate compared to men in the same areas. New findings from UN-Women reveal that female-headed households (FHHs) are three times more likely to be food insecure than ones led by men.

Women From Landlocked Developing Countries Set Sights on Open Horizons

By Joyce Chimbi
“Progress towards gender equality and equity remains uneven and far too slow. One in four women in landlocked developing countries (LLDCs) live in extreme poverty, and this is nearly 75 million women,” said Rabab Fatima, Secretary-General of the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries or LLDC3 ongoing in Awaza, Turkmenistan.
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