In the last decade, an estimated 15,000 women across the globe have been accused of abducting their own children. They are all foreigners who tried to relocate with their children — oftentimes back to their home countries — but the other parent disagreed. Not all countries criminalize abduction, but the repercussions for the child’s custody are far-reaching.

The global attention of the #MeToo movement prompted the aid sector to acknowledge its own #AidToo crisis, but, half a decade later, the spotlight has dimmed, and sadly, the aid sector has seen minimal substantive changes.

After nearly two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the unchecked exploitation of Ukrainian women abroad — who are still displaced in different European countries, as well as internally, in Ukraine — is poised to create a crisis of sexual abuse and sex trafficking.

In most present-day Igbo communities, caste ranking is a core concern for both families and couples.

A Colombian peace court is opening a new legal case that could bring justice for the first time to thousands of victims of gender-based crimes committed by the FARC and the military during decades of bitter conflict.

The risk of intimate partner violence is consistently higher among women living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa than among those living without it — even for pregnant women, who are often first informed of their status during prenatal screenings.

The Taliban's decrees over the past two years have resulted in the severe marginalization of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society, which they exploit to gain attention on the global stage.

At long last, same-sex marriage could soon be recognized under Indian law. As of April 18 of this year, a total of 18 petitions have now been introduced to the high court to legalize same-sex marriage.

In October, the United Nations Committee Against Torture issued a final decision in Elizabeth Coppin v. Ireland that once again dashed hopes of justice for survivors of one of Ireland’s worst regimes of torture and abuse.

While abuse and discrimination against women and persons with disabilities is punishable by law in Malawi, in a patriarchal culture with a pronounced belief in the existence of witchcraft, men are at liberty to abandon their families on the basis of disability alone.

While India is one of the few countries yet to criminalize marital rape, the high court recently ruled that victims of marital rape are entitled to a safe and legal abortion, establishing in Indian law that non-consensual sex can and does exist among married partners.

Women Under Siege spoke with American anti-war activist Jody Williams, Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkol Karman, and Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee about their trip with Nobel Women's Initiative to Ukraine, the stories they heard there, and how Ukrainian women are fighting for peace in their country.

On August 15, as India was celebrating the 75th anniversary of its independence, 11 men convicted of gang-raping a Muslim woman in 2002 were granted premature release from their life sentences.

After a scathing experience in one of India's top media houses, Meena Kotwal, a Dalit journalist, founded The Mooknayak, an independent online media outlet that reports on caste oppression and systemic violence against marginalized communities across India.

Caught in the throes of overlapping social and economic crises, women in Venezuela there have almost no resources to protect themselves or their children from harm. Violence against women and girls — including incest — remains prevalent, and invisible, throughout the country.

Survivors of brutal violence by Islamic State militants played a central role in advocating for reparations from the Iraqi government that failed to protect them, and though they question its ability to implement a reparations program, they have little choice but to hope.