When a woman is raped, police turn to scientific evidence — semen, blood and tissue samples — to identify her attacker. The evidence is collected through a medical exam of the victim, who is not supposed to pay for this crime-solving process.
History was made a little over two weeks ago when Vice President Joe Biden announced the appointment of the first ever advisor on ‘Violence against Women”. Lynn Rosenthal will bring her wealth of experience and advise the president and vice president on the safety and protection of women against domestic abuse.
The head of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today expressed her deep concern over reports that a Saudi Arabian court has ruled that the marriage of an eight-year-old girl is legally binding. “Irrespective of circumstances or the legal framework, the marriage of a child is a violation of that child’s rights,” UNICEF Executive Director Anne M. Veneman stressed in a statement.
US First Lady Michelle Obama, visited the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington, north London earlier today. In speaking to the students, she said that they had “very much” in common with her, given her own upbringing. “I am an example of what is possible when girls from the very beginning of their lives are loved and nurtured by people around them”, Mrs. Obama said.
A decline in trade resulting from shrinking global markets may cost many women in developing countries their jobs, the head of the United Nations agency that promotes commerce to fight poverty warned today.
Deeply rooted discrimination against women in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres weakens society as a whole, the United Nations human rights chief said on the occasion of International Women’s Day. Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that the negative effects of discrimination are magnified by conflict, as well as natural or man-made disasters, such as the current economic crisis.
The global economic crisis will plunge a further 22 million women into unemployment and make decent work for women increasingly more difficult to find in 2009, predicted a new United Nations report issued today.
Empowering women economically boosts both gender equality and wealth of the nations. This entails enabling the women to have the capacity to control income and other key economic resources like land and animals. Accessing credit is the major constraint on women’s ability to earn income. The Microfinance sector is now taking the African women back to their role of being involved in the economy as they were in dire need of other income generating activities to supplement their small farms which barely fed them. It is estimated that women comprise 74% of the 19.3 million of the world’s poorest people now being served by microfinance institutions.
Governments must give women a key role in making decisions aimed at resolving the current global economic crisis, which is likely have a serious impact on the full realization of gender equality, a United Nations committee warned today.
According to the UN Children’s Fund, rape has been used as a weapon of war in DRC and an estimated 200,000 women and girls have been assaulted over the past 12 years. While sexual violence is rampant and prevalent throughout Congolese society, the area that has been most affected has been the eastern part of the country, particularly the Kivu region.
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