In patriarchal societies and traditionalist cultures, where men have power over women and play the dominating role in society, women are burdened with maintaining and protecting the family’s honor. . In such cultures, virginity is of particular importance and its existence is measure of women's chastity and families pride themselves on this. According to traditional customs and beliefs and misconceptions regarding the anatomy of the female body, a woman is considered a virgin

Seventeen years into its life as a modern democracy, Afghanistan continues to struggle against terrorism and insurgency. In the first half of 2018, UNAMA reported 5 ,122 civilian casualties, and considerably higher death rates as compared to previous years. In this context, the proposition of handing over the country’s defense to private firms is fraught with serious potential risk. Past experience in Afghanistan shows that the strategy of privatizing the security of the co

The constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka and rapidly unfolding events there raise two important concerns from the point of view of peace and security. The democratic track record of this country is now marred by the President’s decisions to dismiss the Prime Minister and appoint his replacement, and then proroguing Parliament to prevent a test of strength. What is the future of the post-war transitional justice and reconciliation, unfolding very slowly but more or less surely,