Early marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM) are widely practiced in impoverished Mali where together they constitute the single biggest threat to the human rights of young girls, according to aid organisations.
One medical charity has treated 500 victims of sexual violence in Darfur in four months and this is just a fraction of such attacks in the Sudanese province, according to a senior U.N. official.
Seven murders at this time have been documented since the beginning of this year against Palestinian women in various areas of the West Bank and Gaza on the basis of what is called ‘family honour’.
The Pakistan government has lifted a foreign travel ban on the victim of a high profile gang rape, Mukhtar Mai. But Ms Mai has told the BBC that her passport has been confiscated so the move is meaningless.
