Two weeks after the brutal murder of human rights campaigner Natalia Estemirova in Chechnya, no one has been brought to justice. The renowned activist and journalist was kidnapped on July 15th and then murdered several hours later in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia. Ms. Estemirova was one of few human rights campaigners still active in the current climate of oppression and political intimidation surrounding the counter-insurgency being waged by the Chechen Government against separatists.

A Liberian girl is now under Child Protective Services in Phoenix, Arizona after her family disowned her because of being raped by four boys. Her parents refused to let her back in the house because she “shamed” the family and her honor was now questionable. Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an outspoken anti-rape campaigner reported to CNN, “I think that family is wrong. They should help that child who has been traumatized.”

Jamba Besta is a part of a six-member all-female team of Sudanese women working to clear mines in wake of the north-south war in Sudan. Much to the chagrin of many men who do similar work, one woman explains that the team “support[s] each other against often critical comments that de-mining is work only for a man.”

The Obama administration recently overturned a ruling made by the Bush administration so that battered women can now receive asylum within the US, a country with extremely strict asylum criteria. Although this is a huge step toward global recognition that many women exist in extremely dangerous environments and should be protected, there continues to be stringint eligibility regulations for women seeking asylum.

Ex-C.I.A. Station Chief Andrew Warren has been accused of drugging and raping two women in Algeria in September 2007 and February 2008, respectively. Warren has been dismissed and the Agency has stated that it will “cooperate with law enforcement in this matter.”

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s appeal to Parliament at the end of last month to ban the burqa in France has incited renewed controversy over Muslim women’s veiling. Proponents of the ban argue that the burqa is oppressive and signifies women’s isolation and subservience. However, the reaction of many Muslim women to the proposed ban, as well as that of feminist, human rights and religious groups, has been overwhelmingly against the ban.

In UN Peacekeeping efforts, women continually remain in the minority. It is estimated that only 8% of women comprise UN police forces and just 2% of UN military forces are women. Still, while these numbers may paint a dire picture, the United Nations under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is attacking the issue on a number of different levels.

In a New York Times interview conducted after her attendance of President Obama’s first Congressional address, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses the issue of how the gender of women justices affects the outcome of some of our nation’s most important court decisions. Justice Ginsburg demonstrated the notion that women offer different viewpoints than men, simply because of their different experiences and interests, highlighting the importance of the involvement of women in legislative matters.

Last week, Vice President Joe Biden announced the appointment of Lynn Rosenthal to the newly created White House post of Advisor on Violence against Women. Her role will be to advise the President and Vice President specifically on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault.

A recent article in The New York Times describes the pioneering approach to orphan care taken by the Berega Orphanage in Tanzania. To address some of the problems normally associated with orphaned and vulnerable children, the Berega program provides both child care for orphaned infants and a primary education to the young, rural women recruited to serve as their caregivers.