General Women, Peace and Security

Liberia's national police force (LNP) has begun an intensive recruitment program across the country aimed at women. The effort is part of the government's Poverty Reduction Strategy, which calls for women to make up 20 percent of the police, the army, and other security forces by the end of 2013.

Women from South East Asia and Pacific countries will meet in Fiji to discuss issues relating to managing home environment, food security and disaster management, the Fijian government announced Tuesday.

Civil society activists in India are hopeful the government led by Nawaz Sharif will work towards improving ties with India, said Delhi Policy Group, Director General Dr Randha Kumar, on Monday. The DPG is a think tank in India.

Of nearly 75,000 prisoners in jails in Pakistan, around 1,100 are women, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

The misery of the women prisoners is that their families no longer care for them or stay in contact with them to pursue their cases due to social stigma, says an official of the top watchdog.

An independent United Nations human rights expert has stressed the need to hold States accountable not only for investigating acts of violence against women but also for failing to prevent such violence.

North Darfur has announced its total commitment to empowering rural women through microfinance programmes as an ideal way of expanding production in the state.

Two ladies, one in red, the other in blue — that two iconic early images of Turkey's uprising flashed around the world were of women now seems no coincidence. Of the tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters who daily throng Istanbul's occupied central square — now on Day 12 — about half are female.

Female authors and books on women's issues have a hard time finding publishers and buyers in the Kurdistan Region, writers and publishers complain.

“Even if you have a very important book ready, a book that tackles an important women's issue, when you try to get permission to publish you run into a load of difficulties,” says Fawzi Manmi, whose book is currently on bookstands.

NCP MP Supriya Sule along with her other colleagues will launch a campaign to make rural women financially stronger. The drive to empower woman will kick start from Nashik on June 11.

The assistant secretary general of the UN, Lakshmi Puri, made remarks on the need for women around the world to address some of the core issues relating to gender equality.

Ms Puri said there were three main areas she thought needed attention.

"Ending violence against women and girls must be a priority. From sexual violence to intimate partner shooting in the US and elsewhere," Ms Puri said.