Asia

Arab Reform Bulletin (ARB): Since the election of the current parliament in May 2009, relations between the parliament and the government seem to have improved, after many episodes in which the parliament was dissolved. In December, the prime minister agreed to be questioned by the parliament for the first time. Have relations changed and, if so, why?

Back in Najaf, Iraq, Khayzaran and her family lived in a well-kept house. They had two cars and a small orchard. Her children, two girls and three boys, attended school and came home to modest feasts.

In the first part of my research-based article on titled 'Iran: Clerics or pimps', readers must have already learnt about the latest status of women in that country, which is under the totalitarian role of Muslim fanatics, who virtually are turning the country into a hell.

The vicious, McCarthyite attack on the New Israel Fund (Nif), which uses philanthropic funds to foster and support Israeli non-profit, civil society organisations, did not come out of the blue.

In celebration of the International Women's Month this March, the Philippine government has issued Executive Order 865 creating the national steering committee on Women, Peace and Security. EO 865 adopts the National Action Plan of the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UN SCR) 1325 that specifically addresses the impact of war on women, and women's contributions to conflict prevention and sustainable peace.

Both chose the legal profession for their career path, and both are bent on fighting for more rights for the people. But the fortunes of Vietnamese women lawyers Tran Thi Quoc Khan and Le Thi Cong Nhan cannot be more different: One enjoys prominence in the National Assembly, while the other was just recently released from jail.

By Ramesh Nabizada in Parwan

Makai is so engrossed at the clattering sewing machine that she barely notices as visitors enter her new workplace.

Political manifestos are often met with cynicism
and even ridicule, but Sri Lanka's first such manifesto for women is
proving an exception to the rule as rights activists laud its recent
launch.

Put forth by the United National Front (UNF), Sri Lanka's largest
opposition group, the manifesto was released on Mar. 15, ahead of the
April parliamentary poll.

Nahla*, aged 30, from Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, said she was physically and mentally abused for more than 10 years by her husband before being granted a divorce three months ago.

Fear and cultural factors prevented her from seeking help from women's organizations.

A police spokesman Thursday revealed that 63 women were raped in the Indian administered Kashmir by Indian security men from 1996 to 2009.

In a statement issued here, a police spokesman said 38 rape cases by Indian security men were reported in Kashmir from November 2002 to October 2005. "From November 2005 to July 10, 2008 13 rape cases by Indian soldiers were reported," he said.