Women

Afghan women have come a long way since the dark days of the Taliban regime. Yet a key obstacle to this progress continues to be high levels of violence against women. The legal system has failed to protect women when it comes to some of the most common crimes against them.

Women’s rights have been high up on the agenda of the international community since the start of its intervention more than 13 years ago. How successful has it been? Where do Afghan women stand in 2014 – and where will they be in just a few years time?

Although there are more than 52 million domestic workers world-wide, including more than 21 million in Asia Pacific, only a small minority are covered by general labour laws

An audit of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the United States on programs designed to benefit Afghan women found the success of the efforts cannot be comprehensively assessed because the U.S. agencies involved could not track their spending

The goal of reducing gender inequalities in political representation has been elusive in many different kinds of political systems, even though women have made substantial progress in other areas, such as education, employment and healthcare.

On Sunday 7 December 2014, the first day of Human Rights Week 2014 began under the title of “Women’s political participation and safeguarding achievements”

On 3 and 4 December 2014, the governments of the UK and Afghanistan will co-host the London Development Conference on Afghanistan, inviting government representatives from around the world to discuss the current situation in Afghanistan

Nine years before an Afghan girl named Soheila was born, her half brother Aminullah eloped with a woman who had been betrothed to his cousin, an event that led to years of violent feuding between two sides of their family in Nuristan.

Women’s rights have been held up as one of the most tangible gains of the international intervention in Afghanistan. Yet, despite 13 years of promises from the international community that women’s rights are a high priority, these gains remain fragile and are at an increasing risk of erosion.

We, sixty women representing thirteen countries spanning the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, together with our colleagues from Europe and North America, gathered together in Turkey at the Third Annual Forum on Women’s Rights, Peace and Security have one word to share with the world: Enough.