Gender

New Report Investigates Violence Against Women and Girls Through Surrogacy, Sparks Global Dialogue

By Jennifer Xin-Tsu Lin Levine
A United Nations report calling for the global abolition of surrogacy has sparked intense debate among experts, with critics arguing that blanket bans could harm the very women the policy aims to protect.

Gender Equality: The Key to Peace, Prosperity, and Sustainability

By S. Mona Sinha
On Monday, three decades on from the historic Fourth World Conference on Women, the General Assembly meets to discuss recommitting to, resourcing, and accelerating the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action – an historic agreement which mapped the path to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls.

Inside Africa’s Big Bet on Youth to Feed the Continent and Who’s Actually Getting Funded

By Chemtai Kirui
Winnie Wambui leans forward on the panel stage, microphone in hand, scanning the room until she spots a raised hand.

Why Collective Healing is Central to Peacebuilding

By Sania Farooqui
Wars and oppression leave behind not just rubble and graves. They leave behind invisible wounds, profound trauma carried by survivors. And most often, women carry the largest burden. They are targeted not only because of their gender, but because surviving and leading threaten structures based on patriarchy and domination.

UN Warns of Escalating Humanitarian Emergency in Haiti As Armed Gang Violence and Aid Deepen Crisis

By Oritro Karim
In recent months, the humanitarian crisis in Haiti has taken a considerable turn for the worse, with armed gangs continuing to exert dominance over nearly 90 percent of the capital, Port-Au-Prince. Rising violence, the collapse of essential services for millions, and severe cuts to humanitarian funding have left the international community struggling to provide immediate relief and find a sustainable, long-term solution.

Experts Launch a Climate and Health Curriculum for African Negotiators Ahead of COP30

By Farai Shawn Matiashe
Despite climate change being a health risk multiplier, health is often underrepresented in climate negotiation processes. Experts attribute this to a lack of funding by the African governments and a lack of capacity building among climate negotiators.

Banks Embed Climate Risk, Gender and Sustainability in Finance Products

By Robert Kibet
As climate shocks intensify across East Africa, from failed rains in Kenya’s arid north to devastating floods in Tanzania’s coastal belt, the region’s banks are emerging as unlikely but powerful players in the resilience race.

No Progress Without Women’s Freedom

In recent weeks, the walls of the Afghan capital have been plastered with slogans about women's hijab: “Unveiling is a sign of ignorance”; “Hijab is a father's honour and the pride of Muslims”.

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.
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