“Where are you?” – Israeli hostage families urge women’s groups to speak up
Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters Choking back tears and shaking with anger, families and supporters of Israeli women and girls held captive by Hamas in Gaza lashed out at global women’s rights groups on Monday, asking why they have not spoken up for their loved ones. A woman reacts, as people gather in front of the […]
Ukraine rights group tells top UN body that rape used as weapon of war
United Nations Reuters The United Nations is increasingly hearing accounts of rape and sexual violence in Ukraine, a senior UN official told the Security Council on Monday, as a Ukrainian human rights group accused Russian troops of using rape as a weapon of war. Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada-Ukraine, said her organisation’s emergency hotlines had received […]
Afghanistan needs you, Red Cross tells other aid groups; UN official says women live in “incredible fear”
Reuters The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross appealed on Wednesday to other humanitarian organisations to return to Afghanistan and for the World Bank to unlock funds to support the tottering healthcare system. Peter Maurer made the comments in a briefing with reporters at the end of a four-day trip to Afghanistan […]
Women work the COVID frontline but lack a voice, poll shows
Bogota, Colombia Thomson Reuters Foundation Seven in 10 workers on the frontline of the pandemic are female yet women are left out of many COVID-19 response and recovery plans, according to a global survey published on Thursday. The survey, by New York-based women’s rights advocacy group Women Deliver and Paris-based research organization Focus 2030, gathered […]
Women call for end to domestic violence after lockdowns bring more attacks
Istanbul, Turkey/Rome, Italy Reuters Women around the world on Wednesday marked International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, highlighting how lockdowns due to the pandemic had left many trapped with their abusers and exposed to greater danger. The United Nations said that since the outbreak of COVID-19, all types of violence against women […]
Most countries failing to address women’s needs during pandemic – UN
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation Only one in eight countries worldwide have brought in measures to specifically protect women from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a database of government responses to COVID-19 launched by two UN agencies on Monday. The crisis offers a chance to reshape societies for a fairer future, but […]
Beirut blast adds to women’s money and health worries in Lebanon
Amman, Jordan Thomson Reuters Foundation Almost six weeks after the Beirut port blast nearly blinded her in one eye, Kawthar Halabi has been unable to return to work as she is still having fragments of glass picked out of her flesh. After eight days in hospital, more than 50 stitches, eye surgery and with lingering […]
Hitting women hard, pandemic makes gender poverty gap wider – UN
Bogota, Colombia Thomson Reuters Foundation The coronavirus pandemic will widen the poverty gap between women and men, pushing 47 million more women and girls into impoverished lives by next year, and undoing progress made in recent decades, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Worldwide more women than men will be made poor by the economic […]
Paperwork not patrols: South-East Asian policewomen face career obstacles
Bangkok, Thailand Thomson Reuters Foundation Female police officers in South-East Asia are rarely allowed out on patrol and instead given administrative roles that hold back their careers, the United Nations and international police organisation Interpol said last week. Women account for between six to 20 per cent of police officers in the 10-member Association of […]
From job bans to child marriage, countries told to scrap sexist laws
London, UK Thomson Reuters Foundation From parts of the United States where child marriage remains legal to Russia, where women are banned from a host of jobs, almost every country has broken long-standing promises to eradicate discriminatory laws, legal experts said on Monday. Rights group Equality Now urged all governments to review their laws as […]