BEIRUT, Lebanon: The United Nations called on Arab nations on Wednesday to calculate the economic cost of violence against women, in a bid to promote policy reform in a region where the issue is a taboo.
Only a handful of Arab states have laws that specifically tackle violence against women — be it marital rape, honor killings or incest, said the group, which was led by the UN’s agency on women.
“Many countries in the Arab region still see violence against women and deal with it as a private issue and not a public issue,” said Mehrinaz Elawady of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA).
“Costing (the) violence would help the government and the state understand that ... it is not only affecting the abused woman, it is also affecting the entire economy,” the director of ESCWA’s Center for Women told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Egypt used a model recommended by the UN to estimate in 2015 that gender-based violence cost it 2.17 billion Egyptian pounds ($123 million) a year.
There is no data on the scale of violence against women in the Arab world.
The World Health Organization says 37 percent of women in the Eastern Mediterranean, which includes many Arab states, have been physically or sexually abused by their husband or boyfriend.
Some Middle Eastern countries are stepping up their protection of women.
Tunisia ended a law in July that allowed a rapist to escape punishment if he married his victim.
“There is change that is happening,” said Mohammad Naciri, UN Women’s regional director for Arab States.
“But we are just at the beginning.”
Traditional beliefs, whereby women are seen as wives and mothers with a limited life outside the home, need to change to make it easier for them to work, he said.
Conflict in the troubled region also contributes to poverty and violence in the home, as families are less able to move around freely or work.
“Eliminating violence is the right thing to do,” he said.
“What we need to say to our audience, which is the policy makers in the region, is that it is also the smart thing to do.” ($1 = 17.6100 Egyptian pounds) (Reporting by Heba Kanso @hebakanso, Editing by Katy Migiro and Lyndsay Griffiths. Please credit Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights, and climate change. Visit www.trust.org)
Violence against women hurts Arab economies, UN says
Violence against women hurts Arab economies, UN says
US condemns RSF drone attack on World Food Programme convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan
WASHINGTON: The US has condemned a drone attack on a World Food Programme (WFP) convoy in Sudan’s North Kordofan state that killed one person and injured three others.
“The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others,” US Senior Adviser for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos wrote on X.
“Destroying food intended for people in need and killing humanitarian workers is sickening,” the US envoy wrote.
“The Trump Administration has zero tolerance for this destruction of life and of U.S.-funded assistance; we demand accountability and extend our condolences to all those affected by these inexcusable events and terrible war,” he added.
The United States condemns the recent drone attack on a World Food Program convoy in North Kordofan transporting food to famine-stricken people which killed one and wounded many others. This follows an attack earlier this week in Blue Nile state that injured a @WFP staff member.…
— U.S. Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs (@US_SrAdvisorAF) February 6, 2026
Since April 2023, the conflict between Sudan’s army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and which the UN has described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
An alert issued by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), confirmed famine conditions in El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, about 800 kilometers to the east.
The IPC said that 20 more areas in Sudan’s Darfur and neighboring Kordofan were at risk of famine.
The Sudan Doctors Network said the convoy was struck by RSF drones in the Allah Karim area as it headed toward displaced people in El-Obeid, the state capital, Anadolu Agency reported.
The network described the attack as a “clear violation of international humanitarian law,” warning that it undermines efforts to deliver life-saving aid to civilians amid worsening humanitarian conditions across the country.
There was no immediate comment from the rebel group.
Of Sudan’s 18 states, the RSF controls all five states in the western Darfur region, except for parts of North Darfur that remain under army control. The army holds most areas of the remaining 13 states across the south, north, east and center of the country, including the capital, Khartoum.
The conflict between the army and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023, has killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
