Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – Around 23.5 percent of the female population aged between 15 and 19 years in Burkina Faso are either married or live in common-law relationship, according to a report released Wednesday by the country's Ministry of Social Action and National Solidarity. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Education advocate and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Ms. Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday in Washington, DC, urged the American government to commit additional political and financial resources to further support free and safe education for all girls around the world. Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – The Burkinabe capital, Ouagadougou, will on 23 June host a national training workshop for women on gender and elections, according to a communiqué issued here by ECOWAS. Full text...

Johannesburg, South Africa (PANA) – Actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has urged African leaders to join a global campaign to fight the scourge of violence against women on the continent. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Despite considerable advances made in the global response to the Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (PANA) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) unveiled on Monday the first-ever Gender Equality Index for Africa, aimed at informing policies to transform economies and to propel governments to adopt an ambitious agenda for making gender equality a reality throughout the continent. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Marking the International Day of Families on Friday, UN Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) on Monday called for greater social protection for women and children as the UN draws up a new development agenda, citing alarming statistics, including that some 800 women die in child birth every day and only 28 per cent of employed women receive cash benefits during their maternity leave. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - A new report released on Monday by the UN entity for gender Full text...

Port-Louis, Mauritius (PANA) – Mauritian Gender Equality Minister Mrs Aurore Perraud on Tuesday signed the COMESA Social Charter that is meant to boost economic, social and cultural development whilst adopting a human rights-based approach where women have their rights to participate in all spheres of development. Full text...

Lusaka, Zambia (PANA) - Zambia's Local Government Service Commission (LGSC) said Monday it has made a deliberate policy to balance the gender proportion in decision making positions in local authorities in line with the Southern African Development Community (SADC) protocol on gender. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - As the great moral issue of our time, sexual violence in conflict is used to terrorise, displace and subjugate victims, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Zainab Bangura, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Ms. Zainab Bangura, has said those who use rape as a weapon of war are becoming increasingly brutal and ruthless. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Tanzania should take steps to revise or repeal laws, customs and practices that discriminate against women, a UN Committee said on Wednesday after considering the case of two widows who were prevented from inheriting their late husbands’ property and were left homeless. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (PANA) – The International Organization for Migration (IOM), with funding from the Italian Development Cooperation has launched the “MIDA Women Somalia II” project. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Aminata Manneh, a coordinator of Thing Young Women (TYW), went missing since Tuesday, after she exposed a police officer beating a school girl in the streets, according to family sources. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, Ms. Lakshmi Puri has Full text...

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – A senior official of the African Union Commission (AUC) has welcomed the announcement by Niger that it plans to host the First African Girls’ Summit on Ending Child Marriage in Africa in Niamey from 26 – 27 November 2015. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Ms. Phumzile-Mlambo-Ngcuka, UN Executive Director, has called on Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Senior UN official, governments and civil society representatives on Saturday highlighted the positive actions of women in planning and decision-making to make their communities safer before, during and after disasters strike. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Participants taking part at a event on the fringes of the 59th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women on Wednesday underlined the importance of making cultural changes in societies to eradicate the scourge of gender-based violence, with particular focus on engaging men and boys in national efforts to tackle the problem. Full text...

New York, US PANA) - Mr. Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), a UN partner organization, on Wednesday in New York, said women's equal participation in decision making in all sectors of society is a must. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says although businesses were not part of the discussions at the historic Beijing Women’s Conference 20 years ago, it is now clear that achieving gender equality will require the concerted efforts of the private sector. Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The African Development Bank’s Women’s Network (AfDBWN) has named a Chadian girl, Jeanne Dina Kitoko, 17, as the first recipient of its Women’s Scholarship Fund (WSF), according to a statement posted on the organization’s website on Tuesday. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - As the UN Commission on the Status of Women opened its 59th session at UN headquarters in New York, some delegates are calling for a revival of the "Spirit of Beijing" to tackle problems that have persisted since the adoption in 1995 of the landmark Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action on gender equality and women's empowerment. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN has adopted a political declaration reaffirming commitment to the outcome of the historic 1995 Beijing women’s conference in China. Full text...

Khartoum, Sudan (PANA) - Marking the International Women’s Day, celebrated globally on 8 March, hundreds of women, men and children, internally-displaced persons, the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations took part in the festivities which began with a solidarity march through Fashir town, North Darfur state of Western Sudan. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The US government has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving gender Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Sunday reaffirmed its Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - US President Barack Obama on Sunday reiterated American government's commitment to closing the gap between men and women, saying "the gap between women’s inherent value and how many of them are treated every day is one of the great injustices of our time." Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Marking the International Women's Day on Sunday, senior UN officials Full text...

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) – A report by UN Women, published on the occasion of the celebrations marking the 20th anniversary of the fourth World Women Conference of Beijing, has revealed that violence against women and girls is a major social problem in Senegal. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN International Labour Organization (ILO) says 20 years after governments pledged more equality for women at a global conference in Beijing, China, they continue to suffer widespread discrimination, more especially mothers. Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (PANA) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Red Crescent have called for more efforts to protect and support women and girls exposed to multiple forms of violence linked to the conflict in Syria and who badly need essential health services. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Executive Director, UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, says the past 20 years has seen haltering progress on women’s rights issues and, in some areas, outright stagnation and regression. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - Despite great strides in the advancement of gender parity, women still lag behind men across an array of critical areas, from political representation and wage equality to education, the UN said on Friday as it kicks off its annual observance of International Women’s Day. Full text...

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire (PANA) - A network of ministers and women leaders on the environment has been launched in Cairo, Egypt, according to the communique of the African Ministers' Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - The UN Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) says the percentage of women in the world who are members of parliament has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, but political action is needed to overcome the slow pace of progress to equality. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (PANA) - Representative of UN women Marie Goretti Nduwayo and the chairwoman of the caucus of Ivorian female parliamentarians Sarra Fadika-Sako have signed a partnership pact worth 60 million CFAF (US$100,000). Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said important progress has been made regarding gender equality over the past two decades, but it has been slow and uneven, saying that more action is needed to redress the situation. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) is spearheading the development of a policy that will help address barriers hindering the participation of women in energy access in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region, the Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire-based finance house said Wednesday. Full text...

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire (PANA) - The UN committee for eradication of discrimination against women (CEDEF) will on 17 Feb. examine the situation of human rights in Gabon, according to a statement from the UN High Commission for Human Rights. Full text...

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – The Swiss government has given 944 million CFAF to Burkina Faso to enable the African country finance its action plan for a national gender programme, said the Burkinabe ministry of Female promotion. Full text...

New York, US (PANA) - On the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation, marked every year on 6 February, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday called on health workers around the world to eliminate a "deeply harmful" practice. Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The United Nations resident coordinator in Gambia, Ms Ade Mamonyane Lekoetje and European Union Chargée d'Affaires, Ms Agnès Guillaud, have called on the world to put an end to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Full text...

Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The global media campaign to end Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by the British newspaper, The Guardian, was launched in The Gambia on Sunday, in collaboration with UNFPA The Gambia, as well as NGOs Think Young Women (TYW) and Save Hand for Girls (SHFG). Full text...

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The African Development Bank (AfDB) Special Envoy on Gender (SEOG), Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, has expressed confidence that if given the necessary support, African women have all it takes to serve as agents of change for the continent’s growth. Full text...

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (PANA) - In marking 2015 as the year of women's empowerment and development, Africa should take its continental programme of gender equality and women's empowerment to a higher level, African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma told the AU leaders gathered in Addis Ababa for their 24th Ordinary Summit. Full text...