Women's Rights in the News

A small group of women in colorful shirts, jeans and skirts stands in a circle, singing and clapping. Some are smiling. All are dancing, shaking their bodies to the sound of their voices strong and loud.

The Consultative Group has submitted its report on candidates for appointment at the 15th session of the Human Rights Council and the updated Public List as at 31 July 2010 is now available. In view of the low response rate to date, the Secretariat has sent a final reminder to candidates who have not responded to the earlier request.

Unable to support themselves or their households, thousands of Iraqi women have been preyed on by sex traffickers.

Kristin Palitza interviews labour and gender expert Grischelda Hartman

When she gets up in the morning, Ghadeer Malek, a young Palestinian feminist activist, checks her Facebook page to keep up on new developments and messages linked to her work.

News that Malawi’s November local government elections are to be postponed yet again has hit female candidates hard – and mostly in their pockets. And it could mean that the country will have less female candidates to vote for when they finally go to the polls.

LAHORE, 25 August 2010 (IRIN) - During the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, charitable food hand-outs normally allow many of the poorest to eat the occasional decent meal, but this year things appear to be different because of the floods

A lesbian minister who officiated at a number of same-sex weddings during the period in which they were legal in California, is to go before a Presbyterian court this Thursday charged with going against her denomination's constitution.

A Roman Catholic adoption charity's appeal to be allowed to discriminate against gay people wanting it to place children with them has been rejected.

A Bangladesh court has ruled that people cannot be forced to wear skull caps, veils or other religious clothing in workplaces, schools and colleges.

Lower Manhattan mosque part of 'Americanization' of Islam, Daisy Khan says

NAIROBI, Aug 6 (IPS) - A day after Kenyans voted to accept a new constitution, women across the country speak about their hopes and expectations.

The case of Elizabeth Chazima could stand for the story of millions of women in Kenya who have been robbed of their financial contributions to matrimonial assets.

Malaysia's first women Islamic court judges will both be up and running in their new roles later this week after Shariah legal authorities empowered them with the same authority as their male colleagues, an official said.

Costa Rica's Sala Constitucional (Constitutional Court) has blocked the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones (TSE) - electoral tribunal - from including from the December municipal elections process a referendum that would have let voters decide if same-sex civil unions should be allowed in Costa Rica.

Mexico's Supreme Court voted Monday to uphold a Mexico City law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples.

The Taliban in Afghanistan has publicly stoned to death a man and a woman over an alleged love affair, government officials said.

International researchers and activists gathered in Yogyakarta to network and develop better strategies to advocate sexual rights.

Eleven days after The Indian Express reported that a 24-year-old teacher of West Bengal’s first Muslim university had not been able to hold classes for more than three months because she refused to heed the student union’s diktat to wear a burqa, Sirin Middya has won her battle

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani accuses authorities in Tehran of lying about charges in attempt to execute her in secret

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong transsexual has launched a landmark court challenge to win the right to marry her boyfriend after city officials blocked the move, a report said Sunday.

Mohammad Mostafaie, a human rights defender and lawyer of Sakineh Ashtiani, the woman whose sentence to death by stoning in Iran in June received worldwide public attention, has been arrested and detained by Turkish authorities.

Rights groups say woman's life in danger after man flees village

Thousands of Israelis marched calmly Thursday in Jerusalem's longest gay pride parade despite opposition from anti-gay demonstrators.

Scantily-clad mannequins and pictures of underwear models are to disappear from clothes shops in the Gaza Strip after officials announced new rules.

The Indian government should urgently investigate and prosecute those responsible for the recent spurt in reported "honor" killings - Human Rights Watch.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated a new policy on Tuesday to encourage population growth, dismissing Iran's decades of internationally-acclaimed family planning as ungodly and a Western import.

BEIRUT, Jul 22 (IPS) - The 'Maryam', an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about 50 aid workers, including some U.S. nuns keen to deliver aid to the long-suffering women and children of Gaza.

Since the opening plenary for the International AIDS Conference (IAC) on Sunday, July 18th, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) has been a vocal and visible presence at the conference.

Witness statements by rape victims, vetted by a team of international lawyers, suggest the ruling ZANU-PF unleashed “sexual terror” against women who supported the Movement for Democratic Change

Some British Asian gay Muslims are embracing a new identity, based as much on race and religion as on sexual orientation with a number trying to do it with the help of their local imams.

VIENNA, 20 July 2010 (PlusNews) - The HIV prevention world is abuzz with excitement following news of the first clinical evidence that a vaginal gel - known as a microbicide - can help to prevent sexual transmission of HIV infection.

Spanish lawmakers will debate barring burqas in public, joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that the body-covering garments are degrading to women, the leading opposition party said Sunday.

Long list of those awaiting execution by stoning

President Hugo Chavez has ordered a review of Venezuela's ties with the Vatican amid tensions between his government and the country's bishops.

Making a woman a priest is as sinful as abusing a child, the Roman Catholic Church declared yesterday.