Women

Photo: Major General Lucky Irabor, Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff. Credit: Twitter/@BashirAhmaad

Nigerian Military Performed "Forcible Abortions on Thousands"

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — U.S. security assistance and cooperation programs with Nigeria are facing a review after an investigation by a Reuters news team found evidence of a secret illegal abortion program carried out by the Nigerian military during its war against an insurgency in the largely Muslim northeast since at least 2013.

It was estimated that thousands of illegal abortions were carried out by soldiers in the belief that the women had been kidnapped and raped by the militants.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 28 December 2022

Photo: Women salvage usable materials from damaged parts of Al-Hatab Square in the old quarter of Aleppo, northern Syria, February 2017. Photo: EPA/Youssef Badawi

How Syrian Women Navigate Security Risks to Mediate Local Conflicts

A UN Women Feature

NEW YORK (IDN) — For over a decade, Syria’s protracted conflict has taken countless lives, displaced millions in and outside the country and left much of its infrastructure in tatters. International mediation efforts to end the conflict have largely stalled, in part because the local dynamics that help fuel the crisis are often overlooked by formal mediators. This makes mediation efforts that seek to resolve inter- and intra-community conflict and address local concerns vital to advance formal peacemaking efforts led by national actors.

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 22 October 2022

UN Report Highlights Women's Mediation Efforts in Four Arab Countries

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — Though largely excluded from formal mediation roles, women across conflict-affected countries in the Arab region have been instrumental in diffusing tensions and mediating conflicts in their own communities.

UN Women’s new report, “Women's Participation in Local Mediation: Lessons from Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen”, highlights the diverse mediation roles women have played to resolve conflict and restore social cohesion in their communities.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 22 October 2022

Photo: Veterans at the annual meeting in Abomey in 1908. Wikimedia Commons.

New Film Highlights World’s Only Female Army in the Kingdom of Dahomey

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — The only documented female army in modern history was that of the Kingdom of Dahomey—now southern Benin—which, by the 1800s, had thousands of female troops.

In September, a film version that portrays the lives of these warrior women will be seen in cinemas around the country. In the meantime, a trailer of the film can be seen on YouTube. It features Viola Davis and Hero Fiennes.