Asia

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Wednesday on Arab women to take advantage of the wind of change blowing in the Middle East and North Africa region to claim their rights.

The figures tell an old and cruel story: the systematic elimination of girls in India. In the 2001 census, the sex ratio — the number of girls to every 1,000 boys — was 927 in the 0-6 age group. Preliminary data from the 2011 census show that the imbalance has worsened, to 914 girls for every 1,000 boys.

Cases of domestic violence against women and their children saw an increase of 91% in 2010 compared to 2009 figures, according to the 2010 Annual Human Rights Report.

The data, released by the US State Department, showed that the Philippine National Police (PNP) reported 9,225 cases of domestic violence against women and their children from January through November 2010.

A group of women in Saudi Arabia has launched a website to campaign for the participation of women in municipal elections.

The initiative, called 'Baladi', has so far attracted over 2,000 members and, according to organisers, the campaign is independently run by women with support from different parts of the Kingdom, the Arab News report said.

The president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society heard many questions about her country from Nova Scotia students this week.

The majority were about the future women face in Afghanistan, Fatima Gailani said Thursday.

Back in 1960, Sri Lanka made headlines across the globe when it became the first country to elect a female leader. This could have been the start of a promising future for Sri Lankan women in politics. Instead it became painfully obvious that Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her daughter after her were only able to reach such a position through their family connections.

The crisis engulfing the Middle East and North Africa shows that greater citizen participation and better governance are crucial for economic development and the World Bank will do more to emphasize both, says World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.

On 20 March, the day before the Mother's Day holiday in Lebanon, 30,000 people of all ages took the streets of Beirut chanting slogans and demanding the abolition of the country's confessional system. This was the latest in a series of demonstrations that began on 27 February with 3,000 young people committed to demonstrating each Sunday for a secular Lebanon that guarantees equal rights for all its citizens.

Glued simultaneously to the TV, Blackberry, laptop, and my own windows, I watched Arab politics come back to life just a few short weeks ago. As someone who has devoted her life to promoting women's human rights and political participation, I continue to rejoice at the role women are playing in the ongoing revolutions spreading across the Arab world.

Foreign ministers of 43 countries have agreed on a regional framework to fight human trafficking in the Asia-Pacific region.

The framework was a significant step even though it was non-binding, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, because it took into consideration the interests of the victims' countries of origin, transit and destination, the Jakarta Globe newspaper reported.