People admire creativity of Rohingya refugee women at Dhaka art fair

Date: Monday, July 22, 2019

The Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, which UN Women co-chairs, organized the Rohingya Women’s Art Exhibition and Handicrafts Fair in Dhaka on 20 June to celebrate World Refugee Day. The hundreds of visitors admired items the women made, including clothing, patterns, wall hangings, art work, photos and decorations. Some gathered information on how to buy them.

In Bangladesh, a lawyer-activist helps Rohingya survivors of violence

Date: Monday, July 22, 2019

Lawyer and human rights activist Razia Sultana has strived to ease the plight of the Rohingya, advocating for their cause in international forums and helping them cope with trauma in refugee camps in Bangladesh. “We do not live a normal life,” she said in an interview with UN Women late last year. “The camps in Cox’s Bazar are crowded and we cannot leave freely. We are stateless persons. We are not even Bangladeshis. We have no address -- This life is not for anyone.”

Using AI in accessing justice for survivors of violence

Date: Monday, June 3, 2019

To provide much-needed information to survivors, Lieutenant Colonel Mekhiyanont turned to Artificial Intelligence, or AI, in short. She started developing a chat bot that would offer a “holistic approach to help victims from the beginning to the end” of the justice process. MySis Bot is a chat bot that can provide 24/7 information services for survivors of violence. A woman facing domestic violence can for instance, message MySis Bot via Facebook Messenger and it will immediately respond with information about how to report to the police.

Take Five: “Government alone cannot ensure effective implementation of laws and policies”

Date: Thursday, May 30, 2019

Nepal’s transition from a unitary to a federal system has paved the way for the formulation of legal and policy reform, as well as restructuring and the establishment of mechanisms and organizations. We are still in the process of transferring funds and deploying civil servants to the sub-national levels. We believe that the new system of governance will be more effective for ensuring inclusion. The government will now benefit by having elected representatives and government officials at the sub-national levels where they can work in close proximity with the community.

‘REACH’ Mobile Service Delivery – Taking Stock for Future

Date: Thursday, May 23, 2019

Seventeen communities in the Kingdom of Tonga have benefitted from the Rights, Empowerment and Cohesion (REACH) community outreach program that reaches those farthest behind.

UN Women and Thailand Institute of Justice strengthen partnership to ensure female victims can get justice

Date: Friday, April 19, 2019

UN Women signed an agreement today with the Thailand Institute of Justice (TIJ) to strengthen their partnership to help women and girls who have experienced abuse and violence secure legal protection and justice. The partnership will focus on joint activities based on United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 for gender equality, Goal 16 for peace, justice and security and Goal 17 for building sustainable partnerships. Countries worldwide including Thailand have agreed to try to achieve these and other goals by 2030.

Meet the women pushing for equal representation in Solomon Islands provinces

Date: Friday, March 8, 2019

The list of things women shouldn’t do according to Solomon Islands’ culture is long: no wearing shorts, no lingering eye contact with men, no sitting near your brothers and no speaking up, among them. The rules are nuanced and vary by province and tribe. But overall, cultural predispositions across the country leave women without the same level of respect and representation as men.

Passage of the Bangsamoro Organic Law promises new hope for women in Southern Philippines

Date: Friday, February 22, 2019

Following decades of struggle for peace in southern Philippines, the Bangsamoro Organic Law was ratified in July 2018. The law creates a new political entity to replace the existing autonomous region, which is home to 13 ethno-linguistic groups in Mindanao. On 22 February 2019, the transitional authority took their oath of office, swearing in the new government’s Chief Minister, Cabinet and Parliament...

Activists battle multiple kinds of discrimination to secure right to citizenship in Myanmar

Date: Friday, February 15, 2019

To strengthen joint action on nationality rights, UN Women and UNHCR convened key women’s civil society organizations (CSOs), gender equality networks and women’s empowerment advocates from across Myanmar, representing diverse states, ethnicities, religions, transgendered persons, sex workers, networks of women living with HIV and women with disabilities, philanthropists, faith-based leaders and celebrities. Participants came...

Press release: Samoa Launches its National Inquiry into Family Violence Report

Date: Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Family violence sits behind a veil of silence which allows it to continue to menace the lives of our people especially the most vulnerable among us. This is according to the National Inquiry into Family Violence Report 2018 released today with support from the UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO) along with UNDP, Asia Pacific Forum for National Human Rights Institutions (APF) and the Commonwealth Secretariat.