Asia

An ambitious new Morocco campaign launched by a women's rights organization has argued that the veiling of young girls in the country is a form of “child abuse.”

The Center for Women's Equality announced the new campaign, with the slogan “So that girls won't live in eternal darkness” with the goal of battling against the forcing of young girls between three- and 10-years-old to veil.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke out for the rights of Afghan women during a global forum on the war-torn country in Tokyo, Sunday, July 7, where the international community pledged billions in development aid to Afghanistan.

Clinton also revealed the United States has designated Afghanistan a major non-Nato ally giving it new privileges to access U.S. military supplies and loans for equipment.

Allegations that a member of Kyrgyzstan's KGB-successor agency organized the brutal rape of his wife have outraged women's rights activists in Bishkek. But what rights defenders call an ordinary crime is having an extraordinary effect because of the victim's response: she pressed charges.

The Bangladeshi government is attempting to register birth data online to combat high levels of child marriage. On 8 June in Bangladesh's western Khustia District, local media reported that 15-year-old Iva Parvin was to be married off by parents hiding her age, but local officials challenged the marriage and demanded proof that she had reached the legal marrying age of 18.

Despite the placing on Pakistan's statute books of tougher laws against the practice of `swara' or the “giving away” of a woman to a rival party to settle a dispute, the tradition continues.

It was the onset of winter, still in the early stages of a bloody civil war, and Aziza Saidova couldn't imagine things getting any worse.

The situation in northern Lebanon has made a turn for the worse during the last couple of weeks, after several outbreaks of violence in connection with the civil war in Syria. In the Lebanese city of Tripoli, the military presence has increased and there are significantly more weapons in circulation. But there are also people trying to stop the violence.

When rich countries like the U.S., Japan, and NATO nations get together periodically to discuss the future of development funding for Afghanistan, who represents the interests of women and children who actually live there? Mostly men.

Papua New Guinea enters its second week of elections, but with the only female MP in PNG retiring, there are fears no woman will be elected in her place.

Of the more than 3000 candidate, only 135 are women, a PNG record.

But outgoing Opposition Leader Dame Carol Kidu, argues that while women have equal opportunity to run, a lack of access to funding means they don't have equal opportunity to win.

The Women's League of Burma (WLB) told a Burmese government peacemaking delegation on Thursday in Bangkok that it wanted to hold a nationwide women's convention to discuss peace and reforms and the role of women in development.

WLB General-Secretary Tin Tin Nyo said a convention was needed to explore ways to bring more Burmese women into the peacemaking and reconciliation efforts of the country.