Millions of women and young girls across the globe continue to be denied their rights to equal and fair access to education and healthcare and many are faced with gender-based violence such a female genital mutilation (FGM)/female circumcision, child marriage, child trafficking, honor killings, female infantcide, domestic violence and other gender inequality and sexually-based human rights abuses every day. […]
Documentary exposes Pakistan gender biases A documentary film screened at the Sundance Film Festival chronicles the fallout in Pakistan after a 13-year-old girl, gang-raped by four men, took her attackers to court and was nearly put to death by village elders. The case of Kainat Soomro reveals gender biases in the country that make laws […]
Recent concerns have sparked as child marriages spike among Syrian refugees in Jordan. Difficult conditions in Jordan have many parents pushing to have their daughters married at an earlier age. The issue has created a concern among many international aid organizations that the rise in child marriage has been brought on as a sort of coping […]
Child marriages spike among Syrian refugees The young teenage daughters of Syrian refugees in Jordan are increasingly being married to older Syrian men — against the laws of both countries — as a form of financial and other security against a backdrop of conflict and instability. “We’re concerned about early marriages — using that as […]
Throughout the four years of covering the war in Bosnia, we male correspondents secretly feared for our female colleagues. We shared all the dangers and challenges except for one — sexual assault. That was a war where bounties were put out for some reporters and rapes camps inflicted horror for local women; as they told […]
Just in time for the weekend, here’s a round-up of some articles and podcasts to keep you informed. Do you have any suggestions? Please post them in the comments!
Few links to human rights stories that other people have been following: Rape in the DRC Cassandra Clifford over at the FPB Children Blog has posted story highlighting the seemingly never-ending crisis concerning rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Although this issue has gained more attention recently, her coverage illustrates how much further […]
While the debate over the current ban against openly gay service members in the US military continues in Washington, there is another story about the consequences of breaking barriers in the military that is also getting attention: the ongoing prevalence of sexual violence against women in the military. The BBC carried an interesting story this […]
On July 14, the prosecution wrapped up its case against Thomas Lubanga, the first ever accused brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Lubanga, the alleged leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), and its military wing the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération de Congo (FPLC), has been charged with enlisting and conscripting child soldiers between […]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has found Tharcisse Renzaho, former prefect of Kigali-Ville and Colonel of the Rwandan Armed Forces, guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 1994 genocide of approximately 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda; he was acquitted of complicity to commit genocide. He has […]