Asia

While presiding over a meeting of civil society organisations' representatives on Thursday, NCWS Chairperson Anis Haroon urged people from all walks of life and age groups to join their counterparts across the globe by launching the campaign in Karachi on Dec 2.

Police statistics and assessments by non-government organisations (NGOs) working to establish women's rights show that there is in an increasing trend in VAW.

This information was shared at a ‘group discussion on women police' which was organised by a non-governmental organization, Individualland Pakistan (ILP), in collaboration with Royal Norwegian Embassy on Tuesday.

The NGO said fear and lack of awareness discouraged women complainants from visiting police stations in the cities like Karachi and Peshawar.

As the dark-grey rain clouds gather and another late afternoon monsoon downpour threatens to unleash itself on the city below, Moon Nay Li is busy preparing the latest report from the Kachin Women's Association of Thailand (KWAT). It details the plight of more than 90,000 people recently displaced by conflict in northern Burma and their urgent need for aid.

The draft proposal of a new constitution for Egypt, has caused fiery protests from civil society and women's organizations in the country. Last week several hundred people demonstrated in Cairo against the absence of women in the process and against the new Article 36, stating that women's equal rights should be ensured ”without violation of the rules of Islamic jurisprudence”.

In addition to the 123 heads of state who will meet for the Sept. 25-Oct. 1 annual gathering of U.N. members starting here today, hundreds of activists and observers will also be on hand to hold their own parallel discussions and forums.

Nearly two years after the start of Arab Spring uprisings, Arab women are facing the reality that toppling dictators was only the beginning of their fight for freedom and equality. Barbara Slavin reports from a recent conference, during which a group of young Arab women activists discussed and debated these challenges.

Egyptians have finally spoken out regarding the attacks by Salafist Islamist preacher Abdullah Badr against female Egyptian artists.

Human rights activists in Iran are subjected to beatings with batons, mock hangings, rape, sleep deprivation, and threats that family members will be raped or killed, a U.N. rights investigator said in a report released on Thursday.

The aid plans were launched earlier this year by Norway, the World Bank, European Union, United Kingdom, United Nations and Australia.

Norway's ambassador refutes that notion and says the funds goal is a lasting peace, according to an article on the Voice of America website on Thursday.