Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: On International Women&rsquo;s Day, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised &ldquo;Nari Shakti&rdquo; (Women Power), and official communications emphasized &ldquo;women-led development.&rdquo; However, data from India reveals a more unequal reality. This year&#39;s theme is &ldquo;Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls,&rdquo; but for millions of Indian women, these rights are not fully realized in their everyday lives.&nbsp;The latest official crime data from India shows that violence against women remains widespread. The country recorded 445,256 crimes against women in 2022, or roughly 51 cases every hour, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.&nbsp; The largest category was cruelty by husbands or relatives, underlining how gender inequality is often most visible inside the home, not just in public spaces. The story of Kajal Sharma, the 27-year-old female SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) commando, beaten to death by her husband in January, is one of the most recent unfortunate cases of this, which got highlighted at the national level. Another form of violence against women, which takes us back to the dark ages, is female infanticide. Since the BJP came to power, official statistics have either not been reported at all or have been grossly misrepresented.&nbsp; In 2015, India&#39;s Ministry of Women and Child Development stated that approximately 2,000 girls are killed every day in the country, but the National Crime Records Bureau reported only 100 deaths due to infanticide per year.&nbsp; There are reports of entire villages in India that have no women across generations. The government, however, chooses to keep mum over the matter and gaslight with slogans like &ldquo;Nari Shakti.&rdquo; The inequality also runs through the economy and politics. In 2025, the World Economic Forum said India shows especially weak performance in women&rsquo;s economic participation and political empowerment.&nbsp;India&rsquo;s own labor survey points in the same direction. The Periodic Labor Force Survey 2023-24 reported female labor-force participation at 35.6%, far below the male rate of 77.5%. Meanwhile, the World Bank&rsquo;s &quot;Women, Business and the Law 2024&quot; report gave India a score of 74.4 out of 100, with poor marks on pay and parenthood-related protections.&nbsp;So on a day of celebration and official praise, the irony is hard to miss: India speaks the language of women&rsquo;s empowerment, but the numbers still show women fighting for safety, equal opportunity, and full rights.

India

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised 'Women Power' on International Women’s Day, data on violence, low female workforce participation, weak legal protections, and persistent inequality show that millions of women in India still lack safety, equality, and full rights.

On International Women’s Day, India’s gender reality tells another story

BAGHDAD: Prizewinning Iraqi women&#39;s rights activist Yanar Mohammed was shot dead on Monday in Baghdad, her organization said. &quot;At 09:00 am (0600 GMT), two gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on her outside her residence,&quot; the Organization of Women&#39;s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) announced. Mohammed was seriously injured, &quot;and despite being taken to the hospital and efforts to save her, she succumbed to her wounds&quot;. OWFI urged the authorities to track down the perpetrators. Mohammed co-founded OWFI in 2003 to provide protection to women victims of violence. In 2016, she was awarded Norway&#39;s Rafto Prize for human rights for her efforts to help minorities and women subjected to sexual abuse in Iraq. The Rafto Foundation said it was &quot;deeply shocked by this brutal attack on one of the most courageous human rights defenders of our time&quot;. &quot;The assassination represents not only an attack on Yanar Mohammed as a person, but also on the fundamental values she dedicated her life to defending: women&#39;s freedom, democracy, and universal human rights,&quot; the foundation added. Killings, attempted murders and abductions have targeted many activists in Iraq, including prominent academic Hisham al-Hashemi, who was shot near his home in July 2020.

Middle East

Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq urges authorities to track down the perpetrators; Rafto Foundation said it was "deeply shocked by this brutal attack on one of the most courageous human rights defenders of our time."

Iraqi women's rights activist shot dead in Baghdad

ISLAMABAD: The Taliban government in Afghanistan has instituted a &ldquo;systematic and institutionalized campaign aimed at erasing Afghan women and girls, including through a plethora of restrictive edicts,&rdquo; United Nations experts said in a <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2026/01/treaty-crimes-against-humanity-states-must-give-afghan-women-central-voice" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">press release</a>&nbsp;on Monday.&nbsp; &ldquo;The de facto authorities have banned girls from education beyond grade 6, severely restricted women&rsquo;s right to work, and effectively criminalized their presence in public life,&rdquo; the press release said.&nbsp; The Taliban government has moved backwards when it comes to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/taliban-detains-woman-journalist-in-northern-afghanistan" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">rights</a>&nbsp;for women ever since it came to power in 2021. The government has ratified laws that restrict&nbsp;women&#39;s access to education,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-calls-on-taliban-to-lift-ban-on-afghan-women-in-its-offices" target="_blank">public-sector</a>&nbsp;jobs, and even amusement parks.&nbsp; According to a press release issued by the UN, states must ensure the meaningful participation of Afghan women leaders and gender justice activists in the imminent negotiations on the new treaty.&nbsp; &ldquo;For the treaty on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity to be a transformative instrument of justice, it cannot be drafted in a vacuum,&rdquo; the experts said.&nbsp; The experts included five members from the Working Group on discrimination against women and girls, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett. The experts, according to the press release, said that the treaty&#39;s legitimacy would depend on whether it &ldquo;enables the meaningful participation of those who are living under the very atrocities the treaty seeks to address and prevent.&rdquo; &ldquo;States must therefore stand in solidarity with Afghan women, girls, and others targeted based on their gender by ensuring their meaningful inclusion, and with serious consideration of the lived realities on the ground in Afghanistan,&rdquo; it said. Separately, in a post on X, former Afghan parliamentarian Fawzia Koofi welcomed the statement from the UN experts, urging the &ldquo;UN sixth committee to ensure women, especially survivors, are heard and included in every step of the negotiation process on the convention on crimes against humanity.&rdquo; According to the press release, experts urged the member states to heed the calls of Afghan women and other activists &ldquo;to include the crime of gender apartheid within the new treaty.&rdquo; They said that Afghanistan stood as one of the &ldquo;clearest and most urgent examples of why inclusive survivor participation is indispensable.&rdquo; &ldquo;The voices of Afghan women in civil society are not merely testimonies; they are authoritative sources and primary experts on the oppression they face,&rdquo; they said, adding that their participation was essential to &ldquo;ensuring that international law evolves to address the realities of the atrocities unfolding today.&rdquo; They called on states to ensure the &ldquo;codification of gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, and uphold gender-responsive provisions throughout the treaty.&rdquo; &ldquo;At the same time, we urge states to strengthen other modes of support for Afghan women, girls, and gender-diverse persons, including through actively preventing normalization of the Taliban de facto regime, establishing safe, legal and long-term immigration pathways and providing sustained funding for women-led civil society,&rdquo; UN experts said. &ldquo;Naming gender apartheid is a necessary step toward dismantling it,&rdquo; they added. &ldquo;We must stand in solidarity with those on the front lines by providing a legal name for their lived reality, ensuring the international community can hold perpetrators accountable for the totality of their crimes,&rdquo; the press release concluded.

Afghanistan

The Taliban government has moved backwards when it comes to rights for women ever since they came into power in 2021; the government has ratified laws that restrict women from accessing education, public sector jobs, and even going to amusement parks. 

Taliban govt ran ‘systematic, institutionalized campaign’ to erase Afghan women: UN experts 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Human Rights Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday reaffirmed the government&rsquo;s zero-tolerance policy on violence against women, stressing strengthened national protections and continued international commitments, according to a press release issued by the Press Information Department. Speaking at a national event marking the global 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts, the minister said Pakistan remained committed &ldquo;to ending all forms of violence against women and girls, particularly the growing threat of digital violence.&rdquo; Tarar said that while Pakistan&rsquo;s rapid digital transformation had created opportunities in education, innovation, and public participation, it had also given rise to new forms of abuse, including cyberstalking, impersonation, harassment, deepfake manipulation, extortion, and hate speech. &ldquo;Digital violence is real, and its impact is profound,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Women and girls across all sectors, from universities and workplaces to politics and media, encounter online abuse every day.&quot; &ldquo;Many hesitate to participate publicly due to fear, stigma, or complex reporting systems. This must change, and we are committed to changing it.&rdquo; The minister underscored the government&rsquo;s zero-tolerance approach, citing key reforms, including the Protection Against Harassment of Women at the Workplace (Amendment) Act 2022, the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021, the Enforcement of Women&rsquo;s Property Rights Act 2020, and the Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act 2018. He also highlighted support systems, including the National Commission on the Status of Women, the Family Protection Center, and the 1099 Helpline. Tarar noted ongoing collaboration with technology companies, including Meta, to improve online safety tools, enhance reporting mechanisms, and strengthen protections for women and children against harmful content. He said progress was underway on the National Strategy on Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence and the National Policy on Ending Violence Against Women, which aim to create a comprehensive, survivor-centered framework for prevention, protection, and accountability.

Culture

Human Rights Minister Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar, citing UN commitments, reaffirms Pakistan’s zero-tolerance stance on all violence against women, highlighting digital threats, legal reforms, and support mechanisms.


Pakistan, UN stress zero-tolerance against violence toward women

Every 10 minutes last year, a woman somewhere in the world was killed by a person close to her, the United Nations said on Monday as it decried a lack of progress in the battle against femicide. Some 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2024, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and UN Women said in a report released to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Nov. 25. The report said 60% of women killed around the world were murdered by partners or relatives, such as fathers, uncles, mothers, and brothers. For comparison, 11% of male murder victims were killed by someone close to them. The 50,000 figure &mdash; based on data from 117 countries &mdash; breaks down to 137 women per day, or around one woman every 10 minutes, the report said. The total is slightly lower than the figure reported in 2023, though it does not indicate an actual decrease, according to the report, as it stems largely from differences in data availability across countries. Femicide continues to claim tens of thousands of lives of women and girls each year, with no sign of improvement, and the &quot;home continues to be the most dangerous place for women and girls in terms of the risk of homicide,&quot; the study said. No region of the world went without femicide cases, but Africa again had the largest number last year with around 22,000, the report said. &quot;Femicides don&#39;t happen in isolation. They often sit on a continuum of violence that can start with controlling behavior, threats, and harassment &mdash; including online,&quot; Sarah Hendricks, Director of UN Women&#39;s Policy Division, said in a statement. The report said technological development has exacerbated some kinds of violence against women and girls and created others, such as non-consensual image-sharing, doxxing, and deep fake videos. &quot;We need the implementation of laws that recognize how violence manifests across the lives of women and girls, both online and offline, and hold perpetrators to account well before it turns deadly,&quot; said Hendricks.

Americas

Report says 60% of women killed around the world are murdered by partners or relatives such as fathers, uncles, mothers and brothers; no region of the world without femicide cases.

Articles tagged with "Violence against Women"

On International Women’s Day, India’s gender reality tells another story

Iraqi women's rights activist shot dead in Baghdad

Taliban govt ran ‘systematic, institutionalized campaign’ to erase Afghan women: UN experts

Pakistan, UN stress zero-tolerance against violence toward women

One woman killed by someone close every 10 minutes: UN