UN Gender Focus

Being a woman and a human rights defender in Pakistan is “risky” a young activist who founded a non-profit called “Aware Girls” with her sister when she was just fifteen.

Saba Ismail grew up in the conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan before “violent religious extremism” became an international buzzword.

She grew up in an environment where martyrs were celebrated as heroes and people believed in using violence to defend their religion.

South Sudan at “tipping point” warns woman activist

Violence against women is “pervasive” in the Asia-Pacific region despite laws to prevent it, according to a senior official from the United Nations gender agency, UN Women.

Many countries in the region have found it difficult to implement laws due to impunity for the perpetrators of crimes.

UN Women is working with the authorities in those countries to enforce legislation.

Julia Dean has been speaking to UN Women’s Deputy Regional Director Anna-Karin Jatfors who is based in Thailand.

Duration: 5'14"

Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, some girls living in displacement camps resorted to trading sex in order to meet their basic needs.

This is one example of how natural disasters have a disproportionate effect on women, according to the UN’s gender entity, UN Women.

As Haiti emerges from the wreckage of Hurricane Matthew, which hit two weeks ago, the agency is working to make sure women’s voices are included in the response.

New Urban Agenda guarantees rights of women and girls

The rights of women and girls to enjoy full equality, living in safe and sustainable cities, are “guaranteed” under the New Urban Agenda adopted this week at the UN’s Habitat III conference.

That’s according to Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Lakshmi Puri, who has been attending the global summit in Quito, Ecuador, designed to rethink how we live in towns and cities.

One young woman from the United States has been telling the UN what it takes in her view, to become a civic leader.

Hariella Lawson, 17, says that the key is being open to any opportunities that may arise.

The New Jersey native was at UN headquarters in New York, talking about how girls can put themselves at the centre of public and government affairs.

According to UN Women, only 22% of parliamentarians around the world are women.

There are only ten serving as Head of State, and only nine leading their national governments.

Disparity in household chores shows need for more investment in girls: UNICEF

An 18-year old Indian woman who was trafficked as a child says her personal experience motivated her to fight for the rights of other young girls.

Anoyara Khatun from a village in West Bengal, India recently spoke about her advocacy work at the UN in New York.

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), despite the fact that more than 90 per cent of countries have laws which criminalise trafficking, there has been an increase in the number of young girls being sold across borders.

Priyanka Shankar has been speaking to Ms Khatun about her work.

Detainees on Pacific island “completely without hope”