Women informal cross border traders negotiate a minefield ranging from bus drivers, customs officials and dangerous and unfamiliar environments. Credit:Trevor Davies/IPS

By Ignatius Banda

BULAWAYO, Mar 1, 2010 (IPS) – From the rickety old buses that miraculously make long cross-border journeys to the frustrating red tape at the border post, from fending off sexual advances from bus crews and customs officials to losing goods worth thousands of dollars, 28-year-old Irene Moyo has seen it all.
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Khayzaran's baskets supplement doles from the UNHCR that keep her family going. Credit:Hanan Tabbara/IPS

By Hanan Tabbara*

AMMAN, Feb 28, 2010 (IPS) – Back in Najaf, Iraq, Khayzaran and her family lived in a well-kept house. They had two cars and a small orchard. Her children, two girls and three boys, attended school and came home to modest feasts.
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By Emilio Godoy

SANTA MARÍA RAYÓN, Mexico, Feb 28, 2010 (IPS) – The lives of many rural women and children in Mexico are changing, and the country’s high deforestation rate could be reduced, as inexpensive fuel-efficient cook stoves are being distributed by non-governmental organisations with corporate and government support.
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UNFPA Executive Director THORAYA OBAID. Credit: UN Photo/Marco Castro

Thalif Deen interviews UNFPA Executive Director THORAYA OBAID

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 28, 2010 (IPS) – When the 45-member U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) holds a two-week session beginning Monday, one of the lingering issues that will come up is the success – or failure – in the implementation of the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on gender empowerment.
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