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The participation of four women refugee athletes in this year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro shines light to the flight of refugee women and girls around the world. Women and girls make up nearly 50% of any refugee, internally displaced or stateless population, this according to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), the UN’s refugee agency. In January 2016, the UN refugee agency reported that women and children refugees make up 55% of those arriving by sea to […]

This year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is expected to have 45% female participation. Even as the number of female athletes has improved, the number of women in leadership roles in international sports organizations remains wanting. The “2016 International Sports Report Card on Women in Leadership Roles” released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida showed the following dire statistics: Only 5.7% of International Federation presidents, 12.2% of the vice […]

A total of 93 United Nations (UN) member states have expressed their commitment to close the gender equality gap as of the last week of July 2016, this according to UN Women. The UN member states that expressed their commitment towards gender equality include Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria and Burundi. In a statement delivered during the “Global Leader’s Meeting on Gender Equality […]

In 1945 the UN Charter became the first international document to inscribe the rights of men and women as part of fundamental human rights. This is the reason why the UN today has a clear legal mandate to actively promote the rights of women, a mandate that UN Women was established to realize and protect. Who are we to honor for the specific references to women’s rights in the Charter? Ask even specialists how gender equality came about, and the […]

At just 37 years old, lawyer Virginia Raggi has taken up the helm of one of the world’s oldest cities and pledged to fix its most enduring issues. Raggi – who turns 38 next month – will also become the youngest mayor in Rome’s history. Raggi grew up in the central quarter of Rome’s San Giovanni and studied law at the Roma Tre University before joining local neighbourhood boards. Raggi is married to radio director Andrea Severini (who reportedly introduced […]

Marriage can wait: Syrian teen in Jordan sets sights on starry career Hind Bakri, a teenage Syrian refugee, dreams of becoming an astrophysicist despite economic and social pressures on her to marry. ZARQA, Jordan – As a teenager obsessed with science, Hind Bakri grew up scouring NASA’swebsite, reading about everything from exoplanets to black holes. It was there Bakri found an online questionnaire for astrophysicists interested in NASA scholarships. Seeing nothing to deter her, Bakri filled it out and clicked […]

An 18-year-old Pakistani schoolteacher died Wednesday from injuries after her body was set on fire for refusing a marriage proposal, police said. The perpetrators beat Maria Abbasi, then drenched her in petrol and set her body ablaze before leaving her for dead. Maria was at home baby-sitting her 5-year-old sister while her family went to a funeral in a nearby town. The horror of what had happened set in Monday night when her family returned home to the village of […]

(CNN) The leader of a Pakistani Islamic council has proposed a bill that allows husbands to “lightly beat” their wives as a form of discipline. In the 75-page proposal, Mohammad Khan Sheerani suggests a light beating is acceptable should the need arise to punish a woman. The proposal bans forceful beating, saying only a small stick is necessary to instill fear. The Council of Islamic Ideology is a powerful constitutional body that advises the Pakistani legislature whether laws are in […]