Commentary / World Aug 29, 2017

Islamic dress codes and liberal democracy

by Ramesh Thakur

Branding calls to ban the burqa as Islamophobic is an illiberal attempt to shut down legitimate public policy debate.

Asia Pacific / Politics May 26, 2016

Philippine commission says Duterte's rape joke violated law on women's rights, is told to shut up

The Philippine Commission on Human Rights said Wednesday the country's presumptive president-elect violated a law protecting women's rights by making a rape joke during the election campaign. The commission said in a statement on its website that it found the "words and actions" of Mayor ...

World / Politics Sep 28, 2015

Beijing calls Clinton 'biased' on Chinese women's issues

A Chinese government official said Monday that Hillary Clinton was "biased" on women's issues in China, while a newspaper compared the presidential hopeful to Donald Trump for her tweet saying it was "shameless" for China's president to preside over a U.N. conference on gender ...

World / Social Issues Sep 28, 2015

At U.N., Xi boasts women's rights but critics quick to note China's jailing of female activists

China's President Xi Jinping told the United Nations on Sunday that all Chinese women have the opportunity to excel, touting his government's record on women's rights as the United States slammed Beijing and others for jailing women for their views. China and U.N. Secretary-General Ban ...

Asia Pacific / Social Issues Apr 14, 2015

Beijing conditionally frees five female rights activists

Chinese authorities released five women's rights campaigners Monday whose detentions sparked an international outcry and underscored the government's tight restrictions on independent social activism, lawyers said. Lawyer Liang Xiaojun said the five were let go after more than a month in detention under a form ...

National Sep 16, 2014

Yemeni journalist devoted to bringing democracy, women's rights to her country

by Mizuho Aoki

Japan is an ideal model for countries racked by conflict and poverty because of how it resurrected itself from the devastation of war and achieved peace, the first Arab woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize says. "For us, Japan is the model that we ...

National / Politics Sep 29, 2013

U.N. agency hails Abe's speech on aiding women

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is praised by the head of the U.N. agency promoting women's rights for his speech last week but faces criticism from Time magazine.