Asia

The United Nations Secretary-General's campaign "UNiTE to End Violence Against Women" got off to a powerful start in the Asian and Pacific region, with a high-profile event held at the United Nations Conference Centre on 25 November and attended by HRH Princess Bajrakitiyabha and HE Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of Thailand.

In the frame of his visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan to participate in Astana OSCE Summit, UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon is going to hold a meeting with the group of women-peace activists from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan who are also the members of regional initiative “Women for peace and security in Central Asia, the Ferghana Valley region”.

The custom of bride kidnapping, which began with rival clans stealing and forcing marriage on each others' women, has grown into a large social problem in Kyrgyzstan over the past 50 years.

Some young men in this Central Asian state take to heart the well-known Kyrgyz saying, “A good marriage starts with tears.”

Cambodian women are increasingly finding work as domestic labour in Malaysia. But in their rush to employment, some are finding little protection from abuse at work. Like many developing countries, Cambodia is trying to find ways to protect its migrant workers.

A team of oxen pulls a cart into the rice fields in northern Cambodia, where a rural way of life means few opportunities for work.

Following the recent eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi on October 26, the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA) has provided critical medical and other assistance to tens of thousands of pregnant women who are among the 340,000 people uprooted from their homes.

IT IS an irony, a painful one, that peacemakers who seek to broker a swift end to conflict and a lasting and enduring peace are often at the receiving end of violence and threats.

Women leaders rallied behind Secretary Teresita Deles of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) as they gathered to launch WE Act 1325 on November 17, 2010, at Miriam College, Quezon City.

In a press release distributed by Myra Tambor, Executive Director of a woman's group in Samar called Katungod han Samareña Foundation (KSFI), it said that the movement has four objectives.

The Taliban movement is harassing, threatening and killing local women who are working as professionals for the Afghan government or as leaders of women's networks in the province of Helmand (teachers, headmasters, police, health workers and leaders of women's groups/centres). Sometimes threats and violence have been imposed on their husbands too.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has provided critical medical and other assistance to tens of thousands of pregnant women, who are among the 340,000 people uprooted by the recent eruptions of Indonesia's Mount Merapi.

UNFPA has provided medical supplies to four districts in the affected areas in Central Java, and is giving technical assistance in delivering reproductive health services.

Nine years after the overthrow of the Taliban, the women of Afghanistan continue to fight for basic human rights. Sima Samar, chair of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, knows exactly what the stakes are.