Asia

Human Rights Watch urged Kurdistan's government on Wednesday to ban genital cutting of women and girls, a practice the organization said is widespread and dangerous there, but which they said Kurdish officials had failed to move aggressively to stop.

Bank Melli, one of Iran's biggest retail banks, opened the country's first women-only bank branch on Monday in Mashhad, allowing women to manage their finances without dealing with unrelated men — something likely to appeal to religious families who oppose mingling between the sexes. Under the Islamic legal system imposed after Iran's 1979 revolution, unrelated men and women are forbidden to have intimate contact.

The Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry has expressed optimism that regional governments will step up efforts to encourage gender equality and empower women, amid cries from activists over discriminative bylaws enforced in several regions.

Four female officers from the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force have returned to the country after participating in the 7th Annual Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police Women's Advisory Network (PICP WAN) conference recently held in Samoa.

Between 2006 and 2008, three conflicts devastated parts of Lebanon. As happens everywhere, women suffered most, but they also showed striking resilience in the face of hardship and grief. Four of them speak of how they survived.

“Mechanisms of implementation of gender policy: reality and perspectives” conference will open today in Dushanbe. The event is organized by the “From legal to actual equality” coalition.

Amnesty International has welcomed a decision by the Philippine government to implement a United Nations (UN) Security Council resolution, which aims to ensure the protection of women's rights during armed conflict and post-conflict situations. The Philippine government launched the National Action Plan (NAP) on Women Peace and Security in Quezon City, on Friday, 26 March.

Women of Georgia and South Ossetia are capable to bring their contribution into restoration of trust and peace between Georgians and Ossetians. This is the leitmotif of the two-day meeting of female-activists from Georgia and South Ossetia, which is taking place on June 11 and 12 in Baku, in the office of the Azerbaijani society in defence of women's rights named after Dilyara Alieva.

The head of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) is in Georgia to help female internally displaced persons (IDPs) and meet with women's organizations, RFE/RL's Georgian Service reports.

A significant number of girls and women in Iraqi Kurdistan suffer female genital mutilation (FGM) and its destructive after-effects, Human Rights Watch said today in a new report. The Kurdistan Regional Government should take immediate action to end FGM and develop a long term plan for its eradication, including passing a law to ban the practice, Human Rights Watch said.