Asia

International Women's Day is celebrated each year on March eighth. Groups around the world use this day to honor the progress of women. They also use the day to call attention to the social, political and economic problems facing women and girls. Among the issues are forced marriage, sexual abuse, poverty and a lack of education.

Shelley Anderson is an old colleague with an inspiring track record in gender work. We see things very much alike. As she suggests in her article Vital peace constituencies a hidden war is being waged against women: a war on many fronts, expressed as beatings, rapes (whether marital or otherwise), ‘honour killings' and other murders.

Addressing the Commission on the Status of Women's fifty-fourth session this afternoon, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro said the General Assembly's proposal to create a United Nations body for gender issues was an historic opportunity to give women a stronger voice in global governance and policymaking.

Male leaders fail to break the Mideast impasse. Enter women from Israel and the Palestinian territories working together. And… it would have been nice to say they succeeded where the men failed.

They didn't. The women have been ahead of the times, in speaking of solutions others thought unmentionable once, but now increasingly accept. And yet, peace seems more difficult than ever.

Despite the remarkable progress of women in many professions, politics is not one of them. Indeed, around the world, women have been conspicuous by their absence in decision and policy making in government.

Violence against women and girls is a virulent form of abuse and discrimination that transcends race, class and national identity. It takes many forms and may be physical, sexual, psychological and economic, but all are usually interrelated as they trigger complex feedback effects. Other specific types of violence, such as trafficking in women and girls, often occurs across national boundaries.

Momentum is building to eliminate the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights abuse in the world—violence against women. Studies show that 70 per cent of women experience some form of physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Everywhere, communities, civil society and governments are mobilizing to end practices that harm the health, dignity, security and autonomy of women and negatively impact society as a whole.

More Afghan women are choosing suicide to escape the violence and brutality of their daily lives, says a new human-rights report prepared by Canada's Foreign Affairs Department.

The 2008 annual assessment paints a grim picture of a country where violence against women and girls is common, despite rising public awareness among Afghans and international condemnation.

At the end of September 2009, two sharply contrasting events coincided: the United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton introduced resolution 1888 at the United Nations Security Council on 30 September which, like resolution 1820 passed the previous year, condemns conflict-related sexual violence and aims to equip the UN with measures to prevent it and to address impunity.