Last weekend, Saudi security forces encircled and arrested a small group of women who were protesting the long-term detention of relatives without charges on suspicion of terrorism, and the event has touched off nearly a week of unrest in the Saudi town of Buraida.

“The rebels were just at the corner and watching me,” recalls one young Malian girl. “When I came out, they forced me in their vehicle and chained my two arms. They were four in the vehicle and they took me to a dark area. Three other girls were also there. They raped us during two nights and each time they came in groups of three, four and sometimes five.”

One of the distinguishing features of American foreign policy is its claim of moral authority in the field of human rights. Our politicians regularly cite America as a beacon of freedom and as a champion of the cause of human dignity across the globe. Yet, in at least one important instance, America lags behind.

“Our women have been beaten, raped, whipped, forced into polygamous marriages, and who knows what else. They have lost their dignity, but what is man's dignity without that of women?” These are the words of Sophie*, a displaced woman living in Bamako, the country's capital, but originally from Timbuktu in the north of Mali.

... The women (several of whom had been appointed to the highest level of the MEK hierarchy – the Leadership Council which directly serves Massoud Rajavi and his wife, Maryam), described a bizarre process of preparation for their sexual encounter with Rajavi which was facilitated by and presided over by Maryam Rajavi, who, they said, procured specific women from the membership for Massoud's use.

During the Balkan war of the early 90s I traveled to Croatia and Bosnia to meet refugees forced from their homes and left at the mercy of any country that would take them in. Surprisingly, they were just like me: middleclass women with homes and professions and families and dreams. Except they had just lost everything.

There were more than thirty participants representing various ministries, departments, agencies and civil society organisations. As they converged on the conference room of Ajuji Hotel in Apo District of Abuja, they exchanged pleasantries and sat chatting before the event started.

She was a 23-year-old physical therapy student who boarded a bus in Delhi last month. Six men locked the door, and savagely raped her for hours, including with a metal rod. They dumped her naked in the street, and after bravely fighting for her life, she died last weekend. Across India, people are responding in massive protests to say enough is enough. In India a woman is raped every 22 minutes, and few see justice.

Liberian women from across Liberia have decried the practices of early marriage and Sexual Gender Base Violence in the country.

Though, the women are tirelessly in search to finding a lasting solution to the practices of SGBV and early marriage, they have ended a three day consultative national stakeholder forum with several Liberian women forming part of the initiative.

Due to recent media attention painting a negative picture on certain incidents related to women's rights issues in Libya which are undermining the progress that has been made in this area, I would like to highlight some positive progress.

This progress that has been made has not only been in the visible changes, but also the changes achieved in mentality and the importance of women's inclusion in decision-making.