Asia

Women have never acted as mere spectators to history, but far too often revolutionary change has shoved them aside, improving conditions for men, and leaving them — even those who fought in the revolutions — abandoned by the wayside. Not this time, at least not if a new wave of internet savvy women have their way.

An eight-year-old Pakistani girl was kidnapped by Islamist militants who forced her to wear a suicide vest to attack security forces, police said on Monday.

Police produced the girl, identified as Sohana Javaid, before a news conference broadcast on Pakistani television channels.

The girl recalled how she was kidnapped from her hometown of Peshawar and brought to the Lower Dir district in the northwest.

The European Union's ambassador to Lebanon Friday joined the rising chorus of voices denouncing the lack of female representation in the new Cabinet.

“The fact that I can only refer to him or his, is really disheartening,” Angelina Eichhorst, told The Daily Star Friday in an interview at EU headquarters in Beirut.

Efforts to free thousands of enslaved girls in Nepal and get them into school need more funding and less government bureaucracy, activists say.

Since the year 2000, more than 11,000 Kamlaris, girls committed to indentured servitude by their parents, have been rescued. But without financial support, those freed remain impoverished and some say they are forced to consider returning to work as Kamlaris.

There is no peace process in the war-torn country right now, even as troop withdrawals approach. Gayle Lemmon Tzemach reports from Washington, where Afghan women aired their fears and offered solutions.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today announced the launch of a literacy and life skills training programme for 6,000 unemployed youth and women in Iraq.

The programme will help 25 local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the Iraqi education ministry to establish community learning centers throughout the country, UNESCO said in a press statement.

As the first Muslim woman to be appointed to head the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Azizah al-Hibri, a Lebanese-American lawyer and prominent human rights activist, has an uphill battle in front of her.

17th Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Item 6: Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Plenary on Burma/Myanmar
Oral Statement Delivered by Ms. Mariana Duarte on Behalf of
Conectas Direitos Humanos

By July, President Obama plans to decide how many troops to pull out of Afghanistan in the first initial US withdrawal. While a host of factors are in play, a big one comes from Afghan women.

Many of them fear that a possible US rush to the exits or a peace deal made in desperation could result in the return of Taliban rule and their medieval treatment of women and girls.