10,000 activists from around the
globe are meeting at the United
Nations this week to review the
world's progress toward
women's equality since the
Beijing conference in the 1995.
Five years since Beijing, U.N.
officials believe that half of the
world's female population
endures some type of domestic
abuse, and the U.N. estimates
that more than 1 million women
are victims of sex trafficking
worldwide. In politics, only 8
governments out of 189 have
met their Beijing commitment to
increase women's participation
in parliamentary positions to 30
percent. However, U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan
and U.S. secretary of state
Madeline Albright addressed the
delegates, saying that the world's
governments have made some
positive strides. "It is no longer
possible, after Beijing, to deny
that women's rights are human
rights," Albright declared today.
"When a woman is raped,
beaten or mutilated, it is not
cultural, it is criminal."
5/22/2013 Immigration Reform Bill Advances In Senate - Last night, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a sweeping immigration reform bill in a bipartisan vote of 13 to 5. . . .
5/22/2013 Afghan Women Arrested for 'Moral Crimes' Increases 50% - A new report by the Human Rights Watch shows that in the past 18 months the number of women in Afghanistan incarcerated for 'moral crimes' has increased from 400 to 600, a 50% growth.
Many of the women imprisoned for moral crimes were arrested running away from forced or abusive marriages and families, even though there is no law against leaving. . . .
5/22/2013 Army Commander Suspended for Adultery Amid Wave of Sexual Assaults - On Tuesday, Brigadier General Bryan T Roberts was suspended from his position as commander of the Fort Jackson, South Carolina training camp which trains approximately 60% of incoming female recruits pending an investigation into allegations of adultery.
Roberts was suspended following allegations of "adultery and a physical altercation." Colonel Christian Kubik, an Army spokesperson for the Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters "We don't have any evidence of any sexual assault. . . .
