Women

In November 2022, RFE/RL photographer Serhiy Nuzhnenko photographed the Bakhmut field hospital where Rykhlitska worked, helping a constant stream of injured Ukrainian soldiers. © Serhiy Nuzhnenko RFE/RL

The Fight Continues

Billions around the world embody the power and potential of change, but the struggle remains long.

8 Mar 23

Kenya: Women Bearing the Brunt of Climate Change

An ongoing drought has served to amplify historic gender inequalities in arid areas of the country.

8 Mar 23

A woman holds her child in the remote village of Burog, in Bamban, Tarlac province, Philippines. © Ezra Acayan/Getty Images

Philippines: Single Mothers Continue to Fight Stigma

The notion of family is still strongly influenced by rigid norms in this conservative nation.

8 Mar 23

A view of Badara village, in Nagorny Karabakh’s Askeran district, about 25km from Stepanakert, where HALO Trust teams conduct clearance activities. Since 2000, the British NGO has cleared nearly 500 minefields in the South Caucasus region. Since late 2020, however, mines are no longer the only danger. The 44-day war Armenia and Azerbaijan fought for the control of the region has left roads, yards, and houses strewn with deadly explosives like cluster munitions. Clearance activities now focus on removing © Siranush Sargsyan

Nagorny Karabakh’s Female Deminers

The region has the highest per capita rate in the world of accidents due to unexploded ordnance.

8 Mar 23

Georgia and Armenia are two of the few countries where commercial surrogacy is legal, allowing a woman to be paid to carry someone else’s genetic child through IVF and embryo-transfer. © Gvantsa Seturidze

Surrogacy on the Rise in the South Caucasus

As the practice thrives, experts warn that oversight is crucial to ensure protection and prevent exploitation.

8 Mar 23

(L to R) Natalia Tsoi, boxing referee from Kazakstan; Farida Abdueva, Muay Thai fighter from Kyrgyzstan; Shoira Zulkaynarova, boxer from Tajikistan; Aziza Yakubova, boxer from Uzbekistan. © Courtesy of N. Tsoi, F. Abdueva, S. Zulkaynarova and A. Yakubova.

Central Asia: Fighting, Inside and Outside the Ring

Women who dream of taking on combat disciplines have to first defy conservative traditions.

8 Mar 23

In many liberated Ukrainian villages police have discovered buildings that appear to have been used by Russian soldiers as prisons and suspected torture chambers. © Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Torture in the Chernihiv Region

Case brought over brutal detention and abuse of local man randomly shot at and imprisoned.

22 Feb 23

An aerial view of artillery craters scarring the landscape next to a destroyed house on October 24, 2022 in Sulyhivka, Kharkiv oblast, Ukraine. © Carl Court/Getty Images

Environmental Damage as a War Crime

Despite widespread destruction, prosecuting Russia will come with many challenges.

21 Feb 23

Bohdan Oleksandrovych Lukavenko, a senior investigator of special importance cases of the administration of the of Kharkiv oblast, dusts for fingerprints on items found in a building used as a local headquarters by Russian occupying forces in Vyshneve, Ukraine. © Carl Court/Getty Images

Ukraine: International Support for War Crimes Investigations

Aid efforts extend from legal expertise to practical assistance in crime scene investigation.

14 Feb 23

In a telephone conversation intercepted by the Ukrainian security service, Olga Bykovska was heard apparently giving her 28-year-old husband Roman Bykovskyi permission to commit sexual assault. © Olga Bykovska/VK

“Go Ahead and Rape Ukrainian Women”

Soldier’s wife accused of inciting her husband to commit sexual violence.

14 Feb 23

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Women

The Fight Continues

Kenya: Women Bearing the Brunt of Climate Change

Philippines: Single Mothers Continue to Fight Stigma

Nagorny Karabakh’s Female Deminers

Surrogacy on the Rise in the South Caucasus

Central Asia: Fighting, Inside and Outside the Ring

Torture in the Chernihiv Region

Environmental Damage as a War Crime

Ukraine: International Support for War Crimes Investigations

“Go Ahead and Rape Ukrainian Women”

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