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2/2/2012
"Creating a counter culture to violence: Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML)"

Acid sprayed on two Afghani school girls on their way to school, a 15 year old Pakistani girl found dead, killed by her brother, a son killing his mother for a suspected affair in Uttar Pradesh, these are just a few of the ‘honour killings’ reported by Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) in 2011. ‘Violence is Not Our Culture’ campaign coordinated by Women Living Under Muslim Laws seeks to put an end to violence perpetrated in the name of religion and culture in Muslim countries. With the support of the MDG3 Fund WLUML strengthens women’s individual and collective struggles for equality and their rights, in Muslim contexts where women’s lives are shaped, conditioned or governed by laws and customs said to be derived from Islam. The MDG3 Fund is supporting their work specifically in Afghanistan, Indonesia, Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Senegal and Sudan.

11/1/2012
Update: Iran: Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani could be Hanged in Iran'

An Iranian woman whose sentence of death by stoning for adultery provoked an international outcry could be executed by hanging instead, the country's judicial authorities have indicated.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 44-year-old mother of two, was convicted of conducting an "illicit relationship outside marriage" in 2006 and has since been kept in Tabriz prison in the west of Iran.

5/1/2012
Pakistan: 'An Unforgivable Sin'

The murder of infants, particularly girls, by poverty-stricken parents in Pakistan appears to be on the rise.

Late at night two months ago in a village in Pakistan’s Punjab Province, the parents of a two-day-old infant girl smothered the child, and then buried her tiny body in a distant field, carefully patting down the soil to hide any signs of digging. The mother cries often and says she still has nightmares about the event.

21/12/2011
Egypt: 'Female Protesters Systematically Targeted'

Local human rights watchdogs on Sunday accused the Egyptian military of systematically targeting female political activists, and demanded that Egypt’s military rulers admit to violations committed against demonstrators.

In a joint statement, five human rights organizations accused military rulers of exercising "unprecedented violence against protesters, with the targeting of female activists being a distinctive feature of the proceedings to disperse sit-ins, as depicted in pictures and video clips showing protesters being arrested, beaten, dragged and stripped of their clothes.”

15/12/2011
Afghanistan: 'Afghan TV Challenges Attitudes Towards Domestic Violence'

Afghanistan has been called one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman, and much of that danger lies in the home.

According to the United Nations, more than 87 per cent of all women there suffer from domestic violence.

But now, a radical television show is challenging attitudes to this abuse, inviting women to speak candidly and anonymously about their problems at home.

From Kabul, Tahir Qadiry reports.

Please go to the BBC link below to see the video report.

8/12/2011
Mexico: 'Mexican Women's Rights Activist Shot in Cuidad Juarez'

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico – A group of gunmen shot and wounded a women’s rights activist in this northern Mexican border city, civil society groups said. Norma Andrade, one of the leaders of the May Our Daughters Return Home non-governmental organization was shot several times Friday by a group of armed men while leaving work in Ciudad Juarez, the All Rights for All national network of human rights organizations said in a statement.

7/12/2011
Afghanistan: 'Karzai Orders Release of Rape Victim'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered the release of an Afghan woman imprisoned for adultery after a relative raped her. The move comes after Afghan judicial authorities met to consider the case and proposed a pardon for her on Thursday. CNN is identifying her only as Gulnaz to protect her identity.

6/12/2011
International: 'Rape: a basic tool of militarism'

Women’s groups such as Women in Black have long led the way in challenging the mindsets and structures of patriarchal power and militarism, but men must recognise that they have the primary responsibility to make the changes, says Rebecca Johnson

5/12/2011
Iran: '“Unforgettable Butterflies”, Women's resistance movement of Iran'

The International Day against Violence against Women is observed on the anniversary day of the “Unforgettable Butterflies” of the Dominican Republic, when three sisters, the Mirables, were killed in the struggle against the dictatorship in their country. It was this heartbreaking incident that caused the United Nations to designate one day for publicising opposition to violence against the women the world over. We Iranian women also have many “unforgettable butterflies” in our civil nonviolent resistance Movement, such as Parvaneh Eskandary, Haleh Sahabi, and Neda Agha Soltan, our three generations of Unforgettable Butterflies, who were victims of brutal violence that is blazing more heatedly today.

2/12/2011
Afghanistan: 'Afghan woman to be freed from jail after agreeing to marry rapist'

An Afghan woman jailed for adultery after she was raped by a relative is set to be freed – but only after agreeing to marry the man who attacked her. The case, which has highlighted the plight of Afghan women jailed for so-called moral crimes, was to be the subject of a documentary film funded by the European Union – until diplomats censored it out of fear for the woman's welfare, and for their relations with the Afghan government.