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The conflict in Myanmar, also known as Burma, is considered as one of the world’s longest-running conflicts. The conflict started when Myanmar’s ethnic groups took up arms in a struggle for self-determination or greater autonomy soon after the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1948. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the current Myanmar conflict has internally displaced 120,000 people in Rakhine State and 100,000 people in Kachin State. The UN humanitarian […]

Women have shouldered the brunt of the violent conflict in Syria. Virtually half of the Syrian internally displaced and refugees are women. Amidst the chaos brought about by the five-year-old conflict, Syrian women have risen in the local level as: Negotiators for securing local-level ceasefires and release of prisoners Distributors and monitors of humanitarian aid Organizers of safe spaces for women and children Documenters of human rights abuses In the article called “Leveraging leadership among Syrian women—a strong constituency for […]

The United Nations has welcomed the decision of the Council of State, France’s highest administrative court, in overturning a French town’s ban on burkini. The Council of State, in its ruling, found that the burkini ban by the French town of Villeneuve-Loubet violated religious freedom and freedom of movement. France’s highest administrative court also found that public officials who enacted the ban had failed to prove that the burkini posed a threat to the public. While the Villeneuve-Loubet’s ban does […]

The photograph of Omran Daqneesh, the five-year-old boy sitting in an ambulance chair with his face and body covered in dust and blood after being rescued from an airstrike, reminds the world yet again of the horrors faced by victims of the ongoing war in Syria. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) describes the ongoing war in Syria as “one of the most complex and dynamic humanitarian crises in the world today.” The Syrian war, […]

Africa has more women in leadership positions in both private and public sectors than the average worldwide, this according to the latest report by McKinsey & Company. African Women’s Participation in the Public Sector In the report called “Women Matter Africa,” McKinsey & Company showed the following rise of the number of African women in leadership positions in the public sector: From 2000 to 2014, the share of women parliamentarians almost doubled to reach 24%. In terms of women’s representation […]

They do not belong to any national team. They have no national flag to march behind. But this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, four women refugees are given a chance to live their Olympic dreams. Yusra Mardini from Syria, Anjaline Nadai Lohalith and Rose Nathike Lokonyen from South Sudan, and Yolande Bukasa Mabik from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, together with six male refugees, made history as the first-ever members of the Refugee Olympic Team. The Executive […]

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that 65.3 million individuals were forcibly displaced worldwide in 2015 as a result of conflict, persecution, generalized violence or human rights violations. The number of forcibly displaced globally, according to UNHCR, is the highest since the aftermath of World War II. If the total global population of forcibly displaced people were a country, they would be the 21st largest in the world – bigger than the entire population of the United […]

Before 1945, Austria was the only state to have elected a woman to the role of Speaker of Parliament. As of 1 June 2016, the number of women Speakers of Parliament reached an all-time high at 49, this according to the report of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). The 49 women Speakers of Parliament represent 17.7% of the total number of 277 posts of Presiding Officers or Speakers of Parliament worldwide. Globally, there are 193 parliaments, 77 of which are bicameral. […]