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What is more important for a country, schools or weapons? A question asked by Malala generated a variety of responses from our readers. Some are of the opinion that the chance to get a good education is vital. Hence a post regarding a five-year-old girl being given in marriage to an adult received many comments.

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Ayushman Chowdhary Because tanks kill people and schools don’t. Tanks are symbols of power and aggression, schools empower and help one to be assertive; tanks bring money, schools cost money… (Facebook, April 25, 2016)

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Hemn Hassan Because they say making tanks help to build schools, but after wars!

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Michelle van Molendorf Profit … the West profits from the misery of the World

For this photo

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Lubna Mirza And yet this world is criticizing Muslims for child marriage. (Facebook, April 25, 2016)

Tina Schrier Well, they do it a lot too and vocally resist all attempts to restrict it. I would add that the marriage in the video was illegal and those involved were arrested. Do arrests happen in Muslim communities where a man who married a 6-year old is revered as “perfect”? (Facebook, April 25, 2016)

Mavra Riaz Atif Who says so?… Of course…a thing as illegal and unethical as child marriage is bashed equally all around the world…be it in a Muslim country or not…how can a sensible person support it??? But then u find senseless ppl all over ….and yes we do NOT need to weigh everything for Muslim and non-Muslim worlds…fortunately both worlds exist on the same planet where all humans have almost same set of codes …coming back to the main point…yes child marriage is a crime and it should be stopped in all parts of the world…irrespective of religion or demography or geography. (Facebook, April 26, 2016)

For this video Five-year-old girl crying during mass child wedding in India

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Maria Cristina Masnata What? She doesn´t help much to improve their condition.

DW – Women Talk Online Thank you Maria Cristina Masnata for your comment. Can you share with us a bit more?

Response from Maria Cristina Masnata: She´s a representative for international monetary organizations who are lenient with those who borrow money accepting extreme payment demands imposing on the labour force, mainly women, a shrinkage of benefits and gains. On the other hand she is tough with those who restrict demands protecting those benefits. She belongs to the hallucinating “leaders” responsible for the present financial chaos. Not a woman to be proud of (Facebook, April 27, 2016)

 For this photo

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Shamil Aslam: Utter and complete lies. We are being radicalized at an alarming pace, and many…far far too many Maldivian men consider the way she is dressed as naked. Women who are not covered from head to toe are now a rare sight! But what can you expect from the daughter of our feared dictator who ruled the country with an iron fist for more than thirty years and still counting in a way. Human rights activist? Women’s rights activist? Absolutely NOT!!! Why would they? They stand to benefit more from having Maldivians slowly slipping back into the stone age. Sad to read this article….. this is what is suggested to her regime by Omnia strategy. Related to Cherie Blair (Tony Blair’s wife)….. whose job is to whitewash the image of dictators of third world countries in international media so they can continue their dirty work unknown to the rest of the world… while the world thinks she is rooting for women’s rights and their regime standing for human rights. All of this when the truth is they are the enemy of democracy and human rights. They have even arrested and labelled our first democratically elected president and replaced him with brother of dictator Maumoon. They pay money to Omnia strategy to cover their tracks and the truth. (WTO blog page, April 29, 2016)

For Dunya Maumoon – Promoting Human Rights and Women’s Rights in the Maldives

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Pamela Ayers I don’t understand women who go on a rant about their cheating husbands; they put up with it. Why would you want someone in your life who always cheats on you? (Facebook, May 1, 2016)

For: A message to you, Jay Z: Beyoncé’s Lemonade is the latest example of pop music as public address

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Fara Rk Every country should have a place like this where women feel free to go and do shopping in a very relaxed mood and a safe place too… (Facebook, April 30, 2016)

For this video: At this market in India, the women have kicked out all of the men…

Author: Marjory Linardy

Editor: Debarati Guha

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WTO RECOMMENDS

Child marriage ‘epidemic’ on the rise in South Asia

Human Rights Watch has urged Bangladesh to scrap a proposed legislation that calls for lowering the legal marriage age of girls to 16. Child marriage rates are very high in South Asia, with Bangladesh topping the list. (From June 26, 2015)

Empowering Girls (Part 1 and 2)

The capacity to bounce back and thrive in the face of adversity is not a natural talent or quality. Rather, it’s the result of a set of skills that can be learned. And this has been demonstrated in the impoverished state of Bihar in northern India. (From January 29, 2016)

Women’s War Wounds Never Really Heal (Part 1 and 2)

For Ameena Sawwan, the survivor of a chemical weapons attack in Syria, it was the Arab Spring that turned out to be the beginning of a nightmare in which she is trapped even today. What started off as peaceful protests against a repressive regime soon gave way to a series of retaliatory attacks by government forces. (From May 8, 2015)