The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently 

According to Human Rights Watch, Afghan women have been denied participation in the last 20 rounds of official peace negotiations. The exclusion of women is explained by some to be the result of women’s limited representation in Afghanistan, where men hold virtually all top positions in government and security institutions.

Violence against women takes many forms and it is a global phenomenon. It is the case, however, that during electoral processes violence against women is generally increased; the reason behind this trend is that the attention that the media pay to elections is often used as an amplifier for propagating the messages of violence. Thus, during the 2011 Nigerian national elections, several reports denounced that female volunteers suffered sexual harassment at polling stations.

More than 100 Kosovar women from all sectors of society traveled to Pristina last week for the fourth annual Week of Women (WoW). The weeklong event, supported by NDI, brings together Kosovar women to hone skills and techniques to help them become more effective leaders in their fields.

Further to the announcement of the  Fund for Gender Equality’s third Call for Proposals, UN Women is pleased to inform that the online grants application system is now open for the proposal submissions. Eligible applicants are invited to enter their applications from today until 5 April 2015.