After the US killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1, the organization Women for Afghan Women reported an eerie quiet in Kabul, the capital of strife-torn Afghanistan.
Women's rights groups have this week celebrated the approval of several legal amendments by the parliamentary committee on justice and the parliamentary budget committee that would bring the country closer to legal gender equality if passed by Parliament.
It is the malaria season in Khan Neshin, the wild south of Helmand, just 50 miles from the border with Pakistan.
Mosquitoes thrive in the fetid pools along the river. In the dry fields the last of the poppy harvest is being gathered - and this year it's a bumper crop.
As Afghanistan looks to a future without U.S. troops, the Kabul government says reconciling with the Taliban is critical to making peace after nearly 10 years of war. Some human rights activists are concerned that reconciliation could lead to a return of the repressive conditions they suffered during Taliban rule.
Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger ruled on Wednesday that Katsav, who was convicted of rape and sexual harassment, and sentenced to seven years in prison by the Tel Aviv District Court, is not a flight risk nor does he present a danger to the public.
The gang-rape of Mukhtaran Mai launched a nine-year court battle that concluded with a verdict by the Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitting all but one of the accused. Her case illustrates how both the formal and informal systems of justice share the same hostility to women who defy social norms and demand justice in cases of rape, says Ayesha khan.
Punjab province saw a 21 per cent leap in officially recorded crimes against women in February 2011, compared to January 2011, according to Free and Fair Election Network's (Fafen) collection of officially documented criminal cases in 69 districts across Pakistan.
These crimes against women include honour killings, sexual harassment, compelling a woman to marry, rape and offenses related to marriage law.
Women supporters of the Iranian Green Movement - June 2009
While the Iranian authorities have effectively quashed all overt political organization for women's rights, today women are the most dynamic group in Iranian opposition politics.
Much attention has been focused on the process of radicalisation of young men in the areas of Pakistan that border Afghanistan. Peshawar, the town near the border between the two countries, is infamous for being the centre of a vibrant industry and trade in homemade guns.
