It was just over two years ago that a group of women were brutally murdered in Balochistan. The details have not yet been established, but it seems they were killed by people who had some political clout with the provincial government. The crime was even discussed in the Senate. The story made headlines not so much for the fact of their murder, but because at least some of them were said to have been buried alive. It has not been possible to ascertain the status of the investigation or legal case, if one was ever filed.

By Ayesha Khan

FRIDAY FILE: On the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, AWID revisits struggles and gains for the indivisibility of rights.

By Lejla Medanhodzic

Disability Rights are Human Rights

FRIDAY FILE: A review of the 2010 UN Human Development Report

By Kathambi Kinoti

What is well being? Is it individual or collective wealth, health, and/or political participation? Over the past 20years the United Nations has produced an annual Human Development Report that attempts to measure how far nations have gone in ensuring that their citizens are healthy, safe, politically engaged and equal to each other.

FRIDAY FILE: The Third African Feminist Forum was held in Dakar in towards the end of October 2010. In this Friday File article we offer some reflections on the meeting.

By Kathambi Kinoti

For the past year, Israelis and Palestinians have been participating in a weekly demonstration against the evacuation of Palestinian families from their houses in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Last summer, in the midst of the demonstrations,a feminist debate flared up on the internet following the request of organizers of the "Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity Movement", who asked protesters to come to the demonstrations dressed in a way that respects the values of the Palestinian residents of the neighborhood.

FRIDAY FILE: Since the end of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, there have been tremendous gains for women, particularly on the political front.

By Kathambi Kinoti

Rwandan President Paul Kagame was re-elected into office last September with an overwhelming majority vote of well over 90 percent. Kagame played a central role in putting an end to the horrific events of 1994 that saw between an eighth to a fifth Rwanda’s population massacred in a period of three months.

FRIDAY FILE: Due to the financial and economic crisis, renewed attention has been placed on Financial Transaction Taxes (FTTs), which have been lauded by proponents for both their revenue generating potential and regulatory effects.[1] The crisis – which has disproportionately impacted women – has reversed many development gains of the last 10 years.

FRIDAY FILE: Fifty four years ago, in 1956, Tunisia adopted its Personal Status Code, the most progressive legislation in terms of women’s rights in the Arab world. What provisions of this law safeguard women’s rights and interests within marriage and in the event of divorce? How does the Code promote equality between men and women?

By Massan d’Almeida

Marriage

FRIDAY FILE: How do women fare in this rich nation with a relatively poor women’s rights record?

By Kathambi Kinoti

FRIDAY FILE: How do women fare in the prosperous Mediterranean nation of Cyprus?

By Kathambi Kinoti

Cyprus is a nation with a rich cultural history that stretches back over many centuries.Its modern history has been dominated by the territorial conflict between Turkey and Greece, and it is a unique nation, prosperous in some ways and challenged in others.

Girls and boys have equal access to education, and at higher education institutions,young women outperform men by number and by performance.