The Crosses of JuárezOpen Democracy Ltd.,February 16, 2006. Since 1993 thousands of Mexican women have been systematically abducted, raped, tortured and killed, and those responsible for the crimes have largely remained free. Carlos Reyes-Manzo documents in images and words a terrible and touching situation that shows no sign of abating.
Women Stay Vulnerable to Violence in AfghanistanPakistan News Service, February 13, 2006. After the United States and its allies militarily ousted the Taliban from power in 2002 there was hope that the lot of Afghan women would improve. But now, rapes, murders, forced marriages, family feuds, and abductions by armed men, are driving up crimes against women in Afghanistan.
Zimbabwe Detains Women over Pre-Valentine's MarchReuters, February 14, 2006. Zimbabwe police have arrested more than 400 people, including women with babies strapped to their backs, for marching in annual protests against economic hardship, lawyers and activists said on Tuesday.
Iraq: Activists call on Army, Police to Respect Women's RightsIRIN News, February 8, 2006. NGOs are calling for the protection of women during military raids, accusing both the Iraqi army and police of humiliating female suspects and detainees.
Pakistan Earthquake: 100 Days LaterSurvivors of Pakistan’s devastating earthquake still face dangers and difficulties 100 days after the country’s worst natural disaster, warns Oxfam International today.
Women Get Half Chile Cabinet JobsMs Bachelet, Chile's first female leader, had made a campaign promise to create an equal opportunity government.
Brazil's roofless reclaim the citiesThe Guardian, 23 January, 2006. Support grows for urban coalition that takes over disused buildings for homeless and poor.
Echoes Linger From the First Global Women's Court of AccountabilityIn the first global public hearing of its kind in North America, women survivors of war crimes, witnesses, and peacemakers from Burundi, northern Uganda, Nigeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines came together to testify before a U.S. audience and a distinguished panel of judges.
Africa names judges for new human rights courtReuters, January 22, 2006. African foreign ministers have elected judges to preside over a new human rights court for the continent which legal experts expect will give individuals redress against government abuses, officials said on Sunday.
Women come into own in nations around worldThe Seattle Times, January 22, 2006.
Where trouble and corruption hang in the air, voters increasingly are turning to women to clean up the mess left behind by bad-old-boy networks.
Impasse on Human RightsWashington Post, January 20, 2006. If no action is taken, a pitiful parody of an international human rights commission will convene in Geneva in March under the auspices of the United Nations.
Women in quake-hit Pakistan break old barriersReuters, January 11, 2006. With many men out of work and their families destitute, some women have broken with tradition and found a job. And their menfolk, however reluctantly, have gone along with it.
World census fails to capture women's inequalityReuters, January 18, 2006.
Many developing nations are making economic, health and education decisions without knowing how many girls or boys are born or how many work or die, according to a U.N. report released on Wednesday.
Chile elects first woman presidentThe Guardian Unlimited, January 16, 2006. A former torture victim of General Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, Michelle Bachelet, was elected the first woman president of Chile last night after her rival, Sebastián Piñera, a billionaire, conceded when exit polls showed her taking 53% of the vote in early returns.
Women of Chile, We Did It!OhmyNews, January 17, 2006. Michelle Bachelet is the first woman in Chile (and the fifth in Latin America) to become president. She won the run-off against Sebastian Pinera on Jan. 15 and will take office on March 11.
Tipping Points for WomenThe Monitor's View, January 17, 2006.
Are women really advancing? In Africa, the HIV/AIDS pandemic has set them back, while in India, pregnant women so prefer boys they abort half a million females a year. Yet Monday, Liberia inaugurated Africa's first woman president, while on Sunday, Chile elected the first woman leader in Latin America who didn't rise to power on her husband's reputation.
Photo Exhibit Shows Smiling Afghan WomenGuardian Unlimited, January 13,2006- KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - A photo exhibition in Kabul this week shows something rarely seen in public in Afghanistan: women smiling.
A mother with her daughter at her side stands in her garden, holding a tray of biscuits and looking happily at the camera.
Sudan not fit to chair AU, rights groups sayReuters, 16 January 2006- The African Union's credibility and its ability to tackle disputes on the continent will be severely battered if Sudan President Omar al-Bashir is elected AU chairman, human rights groups said on Monday.
Historic Law Signed by President Bush to Prevent the Abuse of Foreign Women Through International Marriage BrokersWUNRN, January 5,2006- Today, President Bush signed into a law a historic bill that provides foreign women critical information to protect themselves from violent abuse by men they meet through international marriage brokers (IMBs) (commonly referred to as “mail-order bride” agencies).
Despite forceful Security Council moves, atrocities continue in Sudan’s Darfur region – UN reportWUNRN, Dec.29, 2005- Despite a consistent and forceful Security Council response to the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region, reports from there confirm a marked deterioration since September, including an increase in ethnic clashes, destabilizing elements crossing in from Chad and continuing banditry, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report released today.
Women Make Political Gains in 2005ABC News, January 3,2006- The world witnessed a number of major political achievements for women in 2005, from the election of Africa's first female president to the first polls in Saudi Arabia to include women.
Chevron fights rights abuse allegationsSeattlepi, January 1,2006- A young boy holds out a deformed hand. A woman is missing a lower leg that was amputated to remove a tumor. A gaunt middle-aged man lays in a hammock dying of stomach cancer.
Ebadi protests Iran human rights violationsIranMania, January 1,2006- The rights group of Nobel peace laureate Shirin Ebadi protested at "numerous" human rights violations in Iran, including arbitrary arrests and the detention of activists and journalists, AFP reported.
U.N. makes rights panel a priorityThe New York Times, January 1,2006- U.N. officials have decided they must act within weeks to produce an alternative to the United Nations' widely discredited Human Rights Commission if the world body hopes to redeem its credibility this year.
Pakistan: female quake survivors losing propertyIRIN News.ORG- January 3, 2006.
Many women who vacated their homes after the earthquake now find themselves propertyless.
Women's lack of access to justice in Sierra LeoneAmnesty International briefing paper- December 6, 2005. Amnesty International considers the discrimination women suffer and their lack of access to justice in Sierra Leone to be of serious and urgent concern.
2005 — Not a good year for human rightsDaily Times,January 2,2006- ISLAMABAD: Gross violations of human rights were recorded in the year 2005 and a record number of 706 people committed suicide due to adverse circumstances, while 209 women were killed in the name of ‘honour,’ out of a total of 393 women killed in the past year.
Tradition binds African women, despite lawsThe New York Times, January 1,2006- In theory, what happened to 14-year-old Sibongile in this hilly, crowded township outside Durban in November could not happen today - at least, not legally.
