To run as a political candidate in Iraq demands courage and determination – even more so for a woman.

Fourteen candidates, including one woman, were murdered in the run-up to local elections held in April – the first elections to be run by the Iraqis themselves without any international help since 2003.

Maryam Abdulla, 31, was recently elected to the regional council in Kut, southern Iraq. She is proud of her success and pleased that training from UN Women helped her achieve more votes than predicted.

15 May 2013, Brussels – At the international donors’ conference for Mali, taking place in Brussels today, co-chaired by the European Union and France, Malian women will present recommendations calling for greater participation by women in the conflict resolution and rebuilding of the economy.

Saran Keïta Diakité is a lawyer in Mali and President of the Malian branch of the NGO Working Group on Women Peace and Security (Réseau Paix et Sécurité des Femmes de l’Espace CEDEAO). As the Donor Conference on Mali starts in Brussels, in her own words she speaks about the atrocities occurring in her country, which has been plagued by political instability and the proliferation of armed groups that have uprooted more than 415,000 people since a military coup d’état in March 2012.

More than 50 government, civil society, academic and United Nations experts came together for a meeting coordinated by the African Union (AU) in partnership with UN Women from 24 to 26 April in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to review key frameworks and initiatives on maternal and newborn child health and recommend actions for reduction of maternal and child deaths in Africa.

“As a woman of Zimbabwe, I personally wanted a Constitution that is fit for me,” said Zimbabwe’s Deputy Minister of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development and Member of Parliament, Jessie Majome, who participated in Zimbabwe’s Constitution-making process as part of the Select Committee of Parliament that facilitated the process.

UN Women calls for greater participation of women to achieve peace in Sahel and urge world leaders to protect and advance women’s rights

“In Mali as well as in the Sahel, women are among the most affected by the crisis. They are also those with the strongest understanding of conflict dynamics. But yet, we remain confined at home and excluded from decision-making,” said Aiziza Mint Kadra, former Deputy Mayor of the historical city of Timbuktu in Mali as she shared her story with regional and international experts.

Brussels, 9 April 2013—Some 40 women from the Sahel met today to underline the crucial contributions women from the region are making to economic recovery, political stability and conflict prevention, and to explore ways to enhance their role in these areas.

« L’essentiel de mon travail consiste à pratiquer des accouchements. Dans notre centre médical, on assiste en moyenne à 120 accouchements par mois, parmi lesquels on compte deux ou trois décès. Nous faisons cependant tout notre possible pour éviter qu’une telle situation ne se produise. » déclare Fatmata Condé, qui poursuit ses études de sage-femme dans la localité de Donka en Guinée. Elle a été formée par ONU Femmes à la prise en charge des complications liées à la violence, durant la grossesse et l’accouchement.

Kabul, 1st April— Recently several cases of “Honour Killings” have been reported by the media and Afghan Women’s Network (AWN) recorded three cases of such killings across the country during the month of March. This includes a young girl buried alive by her brother and father in Kishim district of Badakhshan Province. In Heart Province a 14 year-old girl was killed when she rejected to marry her fiancé and in another case a brother killed his married sister as she insisted to join her husband in Iran. In Jawzjan Province a husband beheaded his wife.