Asia

An expert in post-conflict peace building who is studying the Solomon Islands peace and reconciliation process says telling the truth can re-traumatise its victims.

Dr Karen Brouneus of the University of Otago in New Zealand says its especially true for women who experience sexual violence. Her study of the Solomon Islands experience will examine the effect on people's attitudes to trust, coexistence, peace and security.

‘Girls are forced to get married by their families at an early age, because once she goes to university and graduates, then her reputation is down the drain. She becomes expired,' explained Intisar Al-Maylie, branch head of the Iraqi Women League in the Najaf province, to a group of women at an Erbil conference.

Scores of Iraqi women forced into marriages with Al-Qaeda fighters following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 are seeking government help to rebuild their lives and provide for their children, RFE/RL's Radio Free Iraq (RFI) reports.

Over 60 individuals have arrived in the Tajik capital Dushanbe to participate in a conference on women's empowerment in Central Asia, the Tajik news agency AsiaPlus reported on Monday.

The two-day conference, which is jointly hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), opened on Monday.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire was denied entry to Israel on Tuesday morning and detained at the country's Ben Gurion International Airport.

Maguire, an Irish peace activist and a co-founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative, was traveling to Israel and the West Bank with a delegation to learn about the efforts of Jewish and Arab women working for peace and co-existence.

Delegates from Asian countries gathered in Jakarta on Wednesday to discuss how best to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

On the International Day of Peace, the United Nations Development fund for Woman (UNIFEM) organized a press conference at Hotel Betsy on September 21. The Belgian Senator Madam Dominique Tilmans along with the representatives of the Armenian and Azerbaijan woman NGOs discussed ways of peacefully resolving the Karabakh conflict.

Lalitha* was 23, from Petiva Pullumalai, deep in Sri Lanka's eastern interior, when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) came for her.

At the time, each family living under LTTE control was required to provide a child to the separatist forces fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for three decades. Lalitha joined up to spare her younger sister.

Bangladesh, with two women leaders dominating the country's political scene both as Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, has called for women empowerment and recruitment of women in senior positions of the United Nations.