Stories
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Following the 7.2 earthquake that struck Haiti on August 14, UN Women Haiti and CARE International, in partnership with the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Women's Rights, the General Directorate of Civil Protection, and the Humanitarian Country Team’s Special Gender Task Force, developed a Rapid Gender Analysis that aims to provide humanitarian actors with recommendations to address the needs of women and girls to ensure their rights and needs are at the...
Helping survivors of violence seek justice through forensic science in the West Bank
Tuesday, January 5, 2021
A vital pillar in the justice and security system, the sole forensic science laboratory in the West Bank seeks justice for survivors of violence. UNODC through the HAYA Joint Programme, is training laboratory technicians to help increase the likelihood of identifying perpetrators of violence and holding them accountable.
Two months on, Beirut’s elderly women are still reeling from the blast
Monday, October 26, 2020
According to a rapid assessment that UN Women and ACTED produced immediately after the August 2020 explosion, elderly women are among the most vulnerable. They are less likely than men to have worked in their life, to have savings or pensions, and are over-represented among Lebanon’s poorest.
After the Beirut blasts, Lebanon urgently needs medical and mental health care
Tuesday, October 6, 2020
One of UN Women’s partner on the ground, the Restart Center, is providing treatment, psychosocial support and distributing medicine to the most vulnerable.
Op-ed: A month after the blast, let's rebuild Beirut as the Arab region's first feminist city
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
While we mourn, we must not romanticise the Beirut we lost. Lebanon before 4 August was one where inequalities were rife and insufficiently addressed
Interview with Motegi Toshimitsu, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs
Thursday, September 3, 2020
The Government of Japan is a vital partner in UN Women’s mission to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women and Japan work together in the areas of humanitarian action; women, peace and security; and preventing violent extremism in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Arab States. In an interview with UN Women, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Motegi Toshimitsu, highlights why realizing gender equality is an important goal for Japan.
Young women and men step up to rebuild Beirut after the blasts
Monday, August 24, 2020
While humanitarian action in Beirut is in full swing after the two explosions that hit the city on 4 August, killing hundreds and displacing more than 300,000 people, even as COVID-19 cases rise, Lebanese youth have taken to the streets, masks on, providing food and assistance to those in need.
“We have been transforming lives. We have been agents of change.”
Monday, August 17, 2020
Around the world, women play critical roles as first responders and leaders when humanitarian crisis occurs. They change and save lives in the hardest to reach places. Yet, their work is consistently under-funded and often unrecognized. As COVID-19 continues to ravage communities, the need to support women and women’s organizations in humanitarian action has become urgent. Through participatory videos, women in Bangladesh, Colombia, Jordan and Uganda share their perspectives.
UN Women and partners provide immediate relief to women and girls impacted by the Beirut blasts
Thursday, August 13, 2020
Reeling from deep economic crisis, COVID-19, and now the blasts, Lebanon needs women at the centre of recovery plans.
Tuesday, June 16, 2020
“When the first storm hit, I knew that this time around it would be a bigger challenge for the women in Satkhira. Between a pandemic and a disaster, we didn’t know what to worry about more. But the starting point in helping these communities is to engage women in the response and planning,” said Shampa Goswami, who leads ‘Prerona Nari Unnayan Sanggathan’ (Prerona), a community-based women’s organization in the Satkhira district in the southern tip of...
Across the Pacific, crisis centres respond to COVID-19 amid natural disasters
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Gender-based violence crisis centres from six countries in the Pacific have faced not only the COVID-19 crisis, but also in some countries, the dual impact of a tropical cyclone. UN Women’s Ending Violence Against Women and Girls programme, through the Pacific Partnership, works in close collaboration with government, civil society organisations, communities and other partners to promote gender equality, prevent violence against women and girls, and increase access to quality response services for survivors, especially during emergencies.
Using technology to assist vulnerable Syrian refugees during COVID-19 lockdown
Tuesday, April 28, 2020
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.
Monday, April 20, 2020
Nicha Nitinavakarn is a police captain working in the Arrival Immigration Bureau at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, where women make up most of the workforce. Her responsibilities include passport check, entry approval and problem-solving for all arrival issues. She is one of the many women who are part of the essential workforce as four billion people around the world are under stay-home orders to curb the spread of COVID-19
Women mobilize to prevent COVID-19 in crowded Rohingya refugee camps
Thursday, April 16, 2020
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.
Monday, April 13, 2020
Dr. Runa Jha is the Chief Pathologist and Director at the National Public Health Laboratory in Nepal, which is linked with 277 government laboratories across the country and is the only lab authorized to conduct COVID-19 testing. Jha, along with 67 team members, is playing a crucial role in the front-line response to COVID-19.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
Dina Smailova, a well-known activist from Kazakhstan, recently spoke to UN Women about the rising reports of domestic violence since the introduction of quarantine measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. With 4 billion people around the world sheltering at home, many women are left in isolation with abusive partners, unable to access life-saving resources and support systems. In some countries, helplines have registered an increase in calls by more than 30 per cent.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The coronavirus is exacerbating pervasive gender inequalities and discrimination facing women in the region.
Thursday, April 9, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic affects everyone, everywhere. But it affects different groups of people differently, deepening existing inequalities. Today we are launching a report that shows how COVID-19 could reverse the limited progress that has been made on gender equality and women’s rights – and recommends ways to put women’s leadership and contributions at the heart of resilience and recovery.
Voices from the front lines of COVID-19
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
UN Women is bringing the voices of women on the front lines of the pandemic. As essential workers, care givers and journalists, here are some s(h)eroes who are out there, every day, protecting and serving their communities.
“Nurses are the real heroes,” says Albanian doctor in the front line of COVID-19 response
Monday, April 6, 2020
Women are playing a key role—often disproportionate to men—in responding to the disease, as frontline healthcare workers, as well as care givers at home. Experience of other disease outbreaks shows that they have the highest risk to be infected. Almost 12 per cent of Albania’s reported cases of coronavirus have been health workers, but no fatalities have been reported yet.