Asia

Papua New Guinea's new opposition leader, Belden Namah says his group will support a bill to have more women elected to parliament.

The bill proposing 22 reserved seats for women is now before Parliament for debate and approval.

Mr Namah told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat program he supports the bill.

The Social Welfare Ministry and the Fiji Women's Crisis Center conducted a weeklong training for the people of Vunaniu village in Serua Tikina to create awareness on Zero Tolerance Violence Free Community.

The civil war ended two years ago this month, but for war-affected women—widows, mothers, daughters, and former rebels— the struggle to survive rages on.

Nearly one-third of families that have returned to the former conflict zone in the north are headed by women single-handedly trying to make ends meet, said a recent study by the Sri Lankan government and the United Nations office here.

May 17 will be a historic day in the annals of Sri Lanka's legal sphere when Supreme Court Judge Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake will become Sri Lanka's first woman chief justice.

Ameneh Bahrami has been waiting a long time for the justice she seeks. In 2004, while she was returning home from work, a man named Majid Movahedi threw a bucketful of acid into her face, leaving her blinded and also horribly disfigured.

Elected female representatives from the local government on Sunday demanded the reservation of one third of the ward of Union Parishad and Pourashava for women which would be selected from every three wards by rotation every year.

Women Constituent Assembly Members' Group and Joint Women Struggle Coordination Committee have warned of obstructing the House business until and unless the 33 percent participation of women in every apparatus of the state is guaranteed.

The Committee meeting today has decided to raise their voice both inside and outside the Parliament until the demand is addressed.

The Amnesty International (AI), in its annual report for 2010, said progress made by Nepal in upholding human rights is dismal. Repeated cases of violence and impunity have hoisted the milieu of insecurity in Nepal, it was reported. In the report launched here on Friday by the AI-Nepal, the rights watchdog states powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights.

Farah Hatim 24, D/o Hatim Gill ( Late) is a student nurse at the Sheikh Zaid Medical College in Rahim Yar Khan in the South Punjab region of Pakistan. Employed at the Orthopedic ward,on 8 May 2011 at around 7am, Farah Hatim left to report for duty; she was allegedly kidnapped by Zeehan Iliyas from Jinnah Park near the Sheikh Zahid Medical College.

Appreciating the leadership role of Dr Fehmida Mirza, for undertaking numerous initiatives towards the protection and empowerment of women, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that she is a role model for women of many countries particularly in her region.