Ariet Ojulu is the Head of the Women, Children, and Youth Affairs Office in Itang Woreda, Ethiopia, a district neighboring three refugee camps hosting refugees predominantly from South Sudan.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept through Ethiopia, the country’s already high unemployment rate increased and travel restrictions obstructed safe migration pathways for thousands of Ethiopians. In a desperate attempt to provide for their families, many turned to people smugglers who promised jobs. For Amen Kifle, her journey ended with three months of imprisonment in a foreign country before she was deported back home.

Morocco has restructured the national police force to better support women survivors, like Layla Bennani, and to prevent violence against women.

As we celebrate International Day of the Girl Child, we hear from some of the participants of the African Girls Can Code Initiative as they share what they learned on this journey, and how they are using their newfound skills to benefit their communities.

Christina Bilous is a Roma civic activist. She is also leader of a self-help group in the community of Toretsk, near the front line in the conflict-affected Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. As an active community member, Bilous heads up the Roma non-governmental organization, Sumnakuno Petalo, advocating for the rights of Roma women and girls.

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds, a judge in Trinidad and Tobago, is a champion for gender-sensitive adjudication, raising awareness and sharing her knowledge around the world. She talks about how support at home and mentorship from other judges played a crucial role in her success.

Bernadette Gomina is a Member of Parliament for the administrative division of Bayanga, in the south of the Central African Republic (CAR) and one of two women elected in the first round of the 2020–2021 legislative elections in the country. She details the challenges that women leaders face and how the Forum of Women Parliamentarians has helped spark change.

[Joint Press Release] The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Canada and UN Women jointly launched today a 5-year programme to expand and strengthen women’s leadership and participation in conflict prevention, resolution and recovery in South-East Asia.

The world in lockdown has created a ‘profound shock to our societies and economies, and women are at the heart of care and response efforts underway[1]. Primarily as caregivers, women are not just sustaining families, but also serving as front-line responders, mainly in the health and service sector.

Simret Tesfaye is nurse at the Association for Women's Sanctuary and Development, a non-profit organization in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which manages six shelters for survivors of gender-based violence. Currently, she is working at the Transitional Shelter that opened in April 2020 with support from UN Women.

“Women’s organizations on the front lines of the COVID-19 response continue to adapt and provide vital services for survivors, even in the face of unprecedented challenges. As violence against women rises, the services offered by women’s organizations must be included in governments’ COVID-19 response packages,” said Aldijana Sisic, Chief of the UN Trust Fund.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and the social distancing measures, UN Women is providing urgent support, information and essential services to more than 5,700 Syrian refugees in Za’atari and Azraq refugee camps.

To prevent an added humanitarian crisis in the already-vulnerable Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 24 Rohingya volunteers are working with UN Women to mobilize their communities and raise awareness on COVID-19.

In a joint op-ed, UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and President of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Sahle-Work Zewde call to support African women in taking their rightful place in the next chapter of the continent and building a future where women and girls can live out their lives freely, in purpose and happiness.

Investigating child rights violations in armed conflict was the topic discussed by experts at an event at the UN Headquarters in New York on 30 January, organized by UN Women and Justice Rapid Response, and co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Canada and Sierra Leone to the United Nations.

UN Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is on a joint visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 15 to 19 October, together with the President of Finland, Sauli Niinistö. This will be the Executive Director’s first official country visit to Ethiopia, and the first official visit to Africa for President Niinistö.

Natalia Slavinskaia, 42, is a community mobilizer from Komysh-Zorya, a small village in the conflict-affected Zaporizhzhia region, south-east Ukraine.

HeForShe, the UN Women solidarity movement for gender equality, is embarking on its third #GetFree University Tour and this year, with a focus on engaging students in Canada to take action for a gender equal world.

At the Women Deliver 2019 Global Conference in Vancouver, Canada, from 3 to 6 June, UN Women is joining forces with women’s rights activists, governments and next generations of changemakers, to accelerate progress towards gender equality.

The Republic of Guinea adopted on 2 May, a Law on Parity that says women must make fifty per cent of the candidate lists for elective positions.