Sexual crimes against women are underreported due to the stigma attached to it. And not many women rape survivors muster the courage to tell their story. But Liz Carl from Kentucky, United States was not only raped when she was 17, she became pregnant as a result of the assault. Now a university student [...]
UNAIDS, the United Nations agency dealing with HIV and AIDS, has welcomed the news that a child who was born with the HIV virus now appears to have been "functionally cured". According to researchers, the mother who was living with HIV, prematurely gave birth to the baby in July 2010 in the state of Mississippi [...]
An estimated 6 million people across Southern Africa are at risk of disease and malnutrition as a result of severe food shortages. The warning comes from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) which says the food crisis in the region has been largely underreported in the global media. Jessica Sallabank, [...]
Violence against women does not only fracture families but also impedes development. That's what the Executive Director of UN Women, Michelle Bachelet, told reporters on Monday at the start of this year's session of the Commission on the Status of Women. The head of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of [...]
A UN report says that female human rights defenders and journalists in Tunisia are more at risk since the revolution in 2011 of being killed, or faced with death threats, physical and verbal attacks, and judicial harassment. Margaret Sekaggya, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, presented the report to the Human [...]
The Commission on the Status of Women opened its 57th session at United Nations headquarters on Monday with the priority theme the "Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls". Gerry Adams reports. Duration: 2’45″
Women with disabilities are at a higher risk of being victims of domestic violence, according to the United Nations independent expert on violence against women. Rashida Manjoo spoke at the start of the two-week session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York on Monday. She told the Commission that women [...]
Ending violence against women is a matter of life and death, says United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson. Mr. Eliasson spoke in New York on Monday at the start of the 57th session of the Commission on the Status of Women under the theme "Elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and [...]
The UN nuclear watchdog agency cannot conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is for peaceful purposes, and it is still unable to gain access to the Parchin military site. That's what Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the agency's Board of Governors in Vienna, on Monday. He said [...]
The hidden weapon against hunger is the improvement of women's rights, says the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Oliver de Schutter says with men frequently moving away from the farm in search of work, the "feminization of agriculture" is one very important characteristic of the agrarian transition over the past few years. [...]
A UN report says that Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories not only violate international law and worsen the living conditions of Palestinians under occupation, but also deprive Israeli nationals of resources that could be used for adequate housing within the internationally recognized boundaries of their own country. Raquel Rolnik, Special Rapporteur on [...]
Families in Mali risk financial ruin when expectant mothers need a Caesarean section to guarantee safe delivery, despite recent measures to make this life-saving procedure accessible and free at point-of-care, according to a study published this month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization. Mali's experience is relevant to the many countries that are [...]
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Joint Special Representative for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi have stressed the necessity of unity of the international community in efforts to encourage a political solution to the Syrian crisis. In a statement following a meeting in Switzerland on the weekend, "both expressed deep frustration at the failure of the international community [...]
