Elizabeth Simbiwa Sogbo-Tortu of Sierra Leone should have been an easy choice for candidacy in the recent election for Niminyama’s Paramount Chief position: she is from this village, is an elder and comes from a long family line of chiefs in the region. However, her bid for the position has been banned due to traditionalist views in Northern Sierra Leone that discriminate against women.

December of 2009 marks the 61st anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption of the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” in 1948. Each year on December 10th the international community organizes a global Human Rights Day that serves to commemorate the monumental declaration as well as to address current human rights issues. This year’s Human Rights Day will primarily focus on the issues pertaining to the universal topic of discrimination.

Amnesty International recommends that the government of Tajikistan introduce laws and services to combat domestic violence in the nation. Violence against women is common in Central Asia, where many societies are patriarchal. In Tajikistan, the poorest former Soviet Republic, women have limited rights and employment opportunities.

On Wednesday, November 25 the International Crisis Group convened to discuss the corruption surrounding Afghanistan’s 2009 elections, as well as the many reforms needed to regain stability within the Afghani government. One Crisis Group Senior Analyst maintained that Karzai’s reinstatement as president under Afghanistan’s severely flawed electoral process, “’ handed the Taliban a huge public relations victory’”.

Despite the many struggles and setbacks women all over the world continue to face in the fight for gender equality, countries in the Maghreb region of North Africa have made significant strides on the path towards a gender equal society. A major factor that sets the Maghreb region apart from other Arab regions is its willingness, “…to reinterpret Islam in modern social contexts…which secure women’s rights without compromising Islamic values.”

Significant concessions were made to anti-abortion representatives and constituencies in the version of the health care reform bill passed through the House, including stipulations prohibiting coverage for abortions through a public option plan, and more controversially, through private insurance plans subsidized with government funds, leading The New York Times to call the bill “the biggest victory in years”[1] for abortion opponents.