News stories by Cléo Fatoorehchi, page 2

Two weeks after an attack by Iraqi security forces against Camp Ashraf, a base for Iranian exiles, killed 34 people and left over 300 injured, international and humanitarian law experts have urged the U.N. to conduct an impartial investigation regarding the role of Prime Minister Nouri Al- Maliki, as well as Iran and the United States, in the massacre.

When Malika, 21, fled her parents' house in the U.S. state of Virginia three years ago to escape a forced marriage in Iran, she did not expect to end up homeless and living in shelters.

Some 14 months after Haiti's earthquake, activists say there is an ongoing epidemic of rape and gender-based violence (GBV) in the country's more than 1,000 squalid displaced persons camps, where nearly a million people are still awaiting permanent housing.

A college student who derailed a federal auction of oil and gas leases to protest drilling near national parks in the western U.S. state of Utah, as well as the larger issue of reliance on fossil fuels, has reignited debate over the legitimacy of civil disobedience in addressing profound global problems like climate change.

When disaster strikes, the initial humanitarian response tends to focus on basic commodities like food and shelter. But as the crisis or conflict drags on, other critical needs often go unmet — such as prenatal care for pregnant women, and emergency contraception for victims of sexual assault.

In their 2010 book 'Half the Sky', Pulitzer Prize-winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn write about a disturbing but not uncommon problem in Southern Africa - male teachers who trade good grades for sex with students.

The momentous events of Tahrir Square, Egypt also signify a huge step forward for gender equality in the region, women's rights activists said Friday.

While 'fundamentalism' has become something of a buzzword in the past few years, particularly in the West in connection with Islam, it in fact exists in every region and religion, and has a set of common characteristics, say activists who have studied the question for years.

As conflict continues to rage in Afghanistan, the U.S. Congress is gearing up to debate a bill that could support the country's long-oppressed women in their struggle to achieve gender equality, even in the years after the U.S. military occupation ends.

Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are seeking to eliminate the federal family planning programme and cut funding from Planned Parenthood, one of the country's leading providers of reproductive health care to low-income women.