A global policy-making body, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to the promotion of gender equality and the advancement of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

Reporters Without Borders welcomes blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad's release late yesterday under an amnesty announced on 21 January for around 2,000 civilians who had been convicted by military courts during the past year. Sanad, who had been detained for 10 months on a charge of insulting the armed forces, was freed from Cairo's Tora prison late in the afternoon.

Chico Whitaker, January 2012

The "future of the WSF"- less of its events and most of the process born from it - is a recurring theme in World Social Forums. From 2004 in all its editions there are at least a workshop to debate it. It seems to become more afflicting as time passes, organizers become tired, the number of participants in world events and meetings of its International Council decreases, the interest of large organizations and movements diminishes.

The first Arab Woman March under the slogan Sawa Sawa (together) is to take place in Beirut on Thursday, February 2nd. The march will start at the Four Seasons Hotel, heading towards the Serail in downtown Beirut, where participants will hand over a list of their demands to Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.

A survey of the history of the Palestinian women's movement since the beginning of the previous century illustrates clearly the permanent intersection between feminism and the national agenda. The feminist agenda was expressed through several means such as charitable societies in which women were widely involved.

Towards the beginning of the ninth decade, a feminist identity emerged based on gender equity. The new trend in the women's movement was interpreted through the newly-adopted strategies of women organizations as they started to build an independent Palestinian state following the Oslo Accords. The strategies applied by the women's movement reflected the deep understanding of global feminism concepts expressed in the plan of the 1995 Beijing Conference. These strategies include the following: