Asia

Iraq is in the middle of a crisis again. In the past year alone, the UN estimates that 8,868 people, including 7,818 civilians, have been killed in violent attacks across the country. Which makes it important to hear what the Iraqi activist and author Haifa Zangana has to say.

Violent crime against women in Afghanistan hit record levels and became increasingly brutal in 2013, the head of the country's human rights commission said this weekend — a sign that hard won rights are being rolled back as foreign troops prepare to withdraw.

A proper democracy cannot be established without the participation of women. Such is the message of Syrian women's rights activists who concluded a two-day conference in Geneva on Monday to demand equal involvement in their country's peace-building process, which has so far mostly included men.

ZAHLEH, LEBANON — Fear, confusion and a lack of information are preventing many Syrian refugees in Lebanon from knowing where to turn for aid.

With a constant surge of refugees now fighting the bitter winter cold, humanitarian organizations are struggling to find ways to reach them with the information they need to survive — and are recruiting some refugees to help out.

Aside from ushering in hitherto unprecedented changes, the Arab Spring also brought to the fore an unsaid aspect — that the situation of women in Arab countries is more or less the same. In Tunisia, Egypt and Syria, or in some other countries that saw revolutions, the women do not differ from each other.

Afghanistan has its first female police chief after appointing an officer with 25 years experience to head a district of the capital Kabul.
Officials said Colonel Jamila Bayaz would run one of the city's most important police stations in a move that they hope will pave the way for more women to rise through the ranks.

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Conference of Syrian women, convened by UN Women and Netherlands, ends with strong recommendations for upcoming peace talks

Violence against women in Afghanistan reached record levels in 2013, according to the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan (AIHRC). Figures released last month show that the six-month period between March and September 2013 witnessed a 25 percent increase in recorded attacks.

Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned about the anonymous threats that Noorul Wahab, a journalist who covers the districts of Charsadda and Mardan in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the Daily Express newspaper, has been getting for the past two days.

The voice of Syrian women must be heard in all efforts to resolve the civil war that is tearing their country apart, a United Nations-sponsored conference declared today, stressing that women's participation is vital in shaping a peaceful future for the strife-wracked Middle Eastern nation.