Asia

Palestinian officials and international personalities have hailed the support extended by HH Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, Chairperson of the General Women's Union and of the Family Development Foundation, to build a Rehabilitation Centre for people with disabilities in the city of Hebron in the West Bank.

Bahrain hosted a ceremony to appoint the Rev. Catherine Dawkins as the first female priest in the Middle East. A vote by members of the Anglican dioceses of Egypt, Jerusalem, North Africa and the Gulf confirmed her appointment.

Today the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights is releasing a very disturbing report, Sexual Predators and Serial Rapists Run Wild at Wal-Mart Supplier in Jordan, which documents in great detail and in the workers' own words, how scores of young Sri Lankan women sewing clothing for Wal-Mart and Hanes have suffered routine sexual abuse and repeated rapes, and in some cases even torture.

Married off at 12 years old to an abusive husband more than four times her age, Maryam wanted to join Afghanistan's police force to help others avoid an all-too-familiar plight in a country where women's voices often go unheard.

A mother of three, Maryam is one of the women who make up less than one percent of Afghanistan's National Police. They wear knee-length olive green skirts over thick trousers with navy hijabs.

The demand for women's education is on upswing in Pakistan where even parents in rural areas are motivated to send their wards for quality education despite meagre sources of income. Ms.

Despite laws prohibiting it, forced labor to pay debts are very common in Pakistan. A report by the U.S. Government in 2009 describes the Asian country as a source, transit and destination of the traffic of men, women and children into forced labor and sexual exploitation.

Twenty-five women were rescued by the Zamboanga sea-based anti-human trafficking task force in two separate operations last Monday.

Acting on a tip from an informant, authorities first rescued nine women who were being kept in a safe house in Barangay Rio Hondo.

The women were to be brought to Malaysia to work, even without the proper travel documents.

The Sri Lankan government has released all the former female combatants of the defeated terror organization, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and they are with their families now, a senior diplomat said.