Asia

At a landmark conference held recently in Ramallah in the occupied Palestinian territory, delegates were told of documented cases of “honour” crimes where women and girls had been poisoned, strangled, shot and forced to commit suicide by arelatives because their alleged behaviours had tarnished the family “honour”.

The United Nations has urged Nepal to end the practice of sending young girls from indigenous families to work in private homes, where they risk being exploited, and to ensure justice for those who have been abused as well as search for those who have gone missing.

The United Nations human rights office in Nepal deplored the brutal murder of a female journalist who was hacked to death in her own home yesterday and called on local authorities to conduct an immediate investigation.

Thousands of young women living in a part of Pakistan once considered the country's most idyllic tourist destination have been prevented from going to school after an order from Taliban forces which have seized control of much of the area.

For many years we have been witnessing women being prevented to participate in the electoral process both as voters and candidates. Shamelessly, despite their cutthroat competition, the religious and so-called liberal parties engaged in this fraud. And the Election Commission of Pakistan has never taken any action against this clear violation of its code of conduct.

As high-profile delegations from Pakistan visit India after the launch of a month-long cross-border signature campaign to press for resumption of dialogue between the two countries and call for peace, IPS interviewed three Pakistani women who are pushing this agenda in their own unorthodox ways.

Women in Bangladesh have taken a significant step towards greater equality, chalking up a parliamentary milestone: nearly 20 percent of seats are to be filled by women.

Seventeen directly elected female parliamentarians took up their seats on 25 January, and 45 more are set to join them soon, meaning 62 women out of 345 will sit in the unicameral legislature.

So we rise in justified rage against the attack on women at a Mangalore pub by yet another gang of self-proclaimed custodians of Indian culture. And the collective fury is working. Several of the attackers have been arrested — including their tilak-sporting, rubbish-spouting leader Pramod Mutalik, a Hindutva activist closely linked to the BJP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena.

Twelve-year-old Amina was so abused by the man in the house where she worked that neighbors called the police and helped save her. Advocates here say the law against child labor is widely broken and abuse of child servants is widespread.

LAHORE, Pakistan (WOMENSENEWS)--Amina Rasheed remembers one incident in particular.