World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk

Boris Johnson hosts his LBC phone-in: Politics live blog
Stock markets slide again as Nikkei tumbles 4.2% - business live
Castaway José Salvador Alvarenga's story backed by authorities and fishermen
Egypt's attack on the media gives little cause for hope | Sarah Carr
First look at Amanda Knox drama Face of an Angel
Syrian government to attend Geneva peace talks
German minister calls for sanctions threat against Ukraine
Chris Brown jail bid turned down
BP's Deepwater Horizon bill rises $200m as profits fall
Chinese navy squadron completes Indian Ocean exercises
Reserve Bank of Australia holds interest rates steady
Yemen bus bomb kills two
Afghanistan’s ambassador calls for delay of asylum seeker’s deportation
Syria chemical weapons handed over by March, says Russia
Minnesota Stadium Demoliton Continues - video
ABC hires vocal critic from Murdoch press to be media manager
Barnaby Joyce in Coalition tug-of-war as Nationals press on drought package
Manus Island design report
Township Yogi project – in pictures
Women's rights country by country - interactive
Pakistan urged to ban Arab sheikhs from hunting endangered birds
Women's rights around the globe: behind the data | Liz Ford
Why 2014 is a key year for women's rights and gender equality | Liz Ford
Australian accused of violent rampage on flight charged in Vancouver
Manus Island: leaked report reveals hazards of processing centre expansion

Boris Johnson hosts his LBC phone-in: Politics live blog

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:39 AM PST

Andrew Sparrow's rolling coverage of all the day's political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson hosting his LBC phone-in, William Hague making a Commons statement on the Amritsar massacre and George Osborne being questioned by the Lords economic affairs committee

Andrew Sparrow

Stock markets slide again as Nikkei tumbles 4.2% - business live

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:29 AM PST

Fears over emerging markets, the US economy, and the prospect of another debt ceiling battle in Washington all hit shares hard in Asia

Graeme Wearden

Castaway José Salvador Alvarenga's story backed by authorities and fishermen

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:19 AM PST

José Salvador Alvarenga's boat was reported missing from Mexican port in late 2012, supporting claim of 13-month sea ordeal

Jo Tuckman

Egypt's attack on the media gives little cause for hope | Sarah Carr

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:19 AM PST

Journalists who challenge the state's narrative and anyone involved in political activism are fast becoming the enemy

Egypt is in the middle of a massive crackdown primarily targeting members of the Muslim Brotherhood and anyone associated with it. Interior ministry buildings in Cairo and other areas of Egypt have been targeted by bombers on numerous occasions over the past six months. The most deadly of these attacks, on 24 December, killed 16 people.

The Egyptian government has responded by declaring the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation. But, as has been demonstrated in the western nations since 2001, wars on terror are unruly beasts. In the name of fighting terrorism and re-establishing stability, Egypt has arrested thousands (one local non-governmental organisation puts the figure at more than 20,000) and sought recourse to legislation that has effectively killed off public displays of political opposition.

A major front in this war on terror has been opened against the media. On 29 January it became clear that 20 journalists, including four foreigners, were facing charges of joining or aiding a terrorist group and spreading false news. Two of these foreigners, Egyptian-Canadian producer Mohamed Fahmy and Australian journalist Peter Greste, were arrested at the end of December while working for al-Jazeera English. They joined al-Jazeera Arabic journalists including 25-year-old Abdullah al-Shamy in detention. Al Shamy was arrested in August 2013 and is currently on hunger strike in protest at his incarceration.

Greste has written two letters from jail, desperately trying to make the authorities understand that he is caught in "a political struggle that is not my own". Greste, incidentally, is being held on the same wing as activist Alaa Abd el Fattah, arrested in December on charges related to a protest held in violation of a new law that criminalises political gatherings of more than 10 people held without the police's permission.

Unlike Greste, Abd el Fattah has been at the forefront of political activism for a decade – this is very much his struggle – but in a letter from his cell to his sisters he said his imprisonment is serving no purpose: "it is not resistance and there is no revolution".

If the authorities and some of the domestic media are to be believed, Egypt's foreign press corps are all secret members of the Brotherhood, creating Islamist anarchy and mischief on behalf of al-Jazeera (now deemed a Brotherhood mouthpiece and banned from operating in Egypt).

I grew up in the UK and didn't know what Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams' voice sounded like until 1994 because Margaret Thatcher decided that a voice ban, imposed in 1988, would "deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity". The Egyptian government wants to do the same thing to the Brotherhood, which it declared a terrorist organisation after the December bombing, but the bungling way in which it is going about it threatens to silence the media as a whole.

The domestic media has, with a few notable exceptions, taken its lead from the street and strongly backed the state's version of events; it had declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation months before.

The more circumspect, pesky foreign press, meanwhile, have been less co-operative. For a long time the quarrel was over nomenclature, and the authorities took umbrage over the use of the word coup.

What they fail to realise is that even if Morsi was removed with mass public backing, as he was, and even if Egypt is being targeted by terrorists, there is something decidedly dodgy about talking about the greatest constitution in Egyptian history and a new era for democracy while simultaneously hissing at the media through gritted teeth to stay on message.

The latest instalment of this was a garbled press release from the State Information Service, which said the state upholds complete freedom (for journalists with permits) and then segued into a vaguely worded ramble about how Egyptian law does not criminalise "mere contact or foreknowledge of any accused criminal or a person imprisoned in a pending case" as this does not constitute an offence "except if there is a sort of assisting [sic] or inciting or as a result of prior agreement".

Cumulatively, and amid the continuing mass arrests and detentions, these incidents have had a chilling effect on the media. Journalists must now contend with both the threat of being shot, or detained, or attacked by enterprising members of the general public who have it rammed down their throats – by local media – that al-Jazeera and foreign journalists are out to spread chaos in Egypt.

What is most frightening, however, is that both private and public media have chosen to abdicate their duty to question the state's narrative and hold officials to account. The other side of the story, criticism of events since 30 June, rarely appears on the pages of the local press, whether out of a misguided sense of patriotism or because of the red lines that have re-established themselves following a brief hiatus after 2011.

The 30 June revolution, its advocates say, saved Egypt from the Muslim Brotherhood's religious totalitarianism. The question now is whether it has replaced it with something just as bad.

Sarah Carr

First look at Amanda Knox drama Face of an Angel

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:15 AM PST

Michael Winterbottom's drama is a fictionalisation of the Amanda Knox case, starring Daniel Brühl, Kate Beckinsale and Cara Delevingne

Reading on mobile? Click here for video

The first footage from Michael Winterbottom's film Face of an Angel, a drama inspired by the Amanda Knox case, has been premiered on Variety's website.

The film is a fictional tale heavily based on the case in Italy, in which Amanda Knox and her boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were accused of sexually assaulting and murdering British student Meredith Kercher – Knox was convicted and served four years of her jail term, acquitted, and again found guilty in a retrial last week.

The book Angel Face: Sex, Murder and the Inside Story of Amanda Knox by the American journalist Barbie Latza Nadeau was a key inspiration for the film. It stars Daniel Brühl as a filmmaker who travels to Italy to research a film adaptation of the book with its author, played by Kate Beckinsale. He becomes embroiled in the sensational case, and strikes up a relationship with a British student, played by model Cara Delevingne.

The film, co-produced by BBC Films, is still in post-production, but will soon be shopped around the European Film Market in Berlin which begins later this week. The prolific Winterbottom is also set to release his sequel to Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon's gastronomic tour The Trip, which premiered at Sundance last month.

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

Syrian government to attend Geneva peace talks

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:04 AM PST

Russian minister says there is 'no doubt' delegation will attend as Syria says all chemical weapons will be removed by March

The Syrian government will attend the next round of peace talks in Geneva, Russia's deputy foreign minister has announced ahead of talks in Moscow between Russian officials and the Syrian opposition leader, Ahmad Jarba, on Tuesday.

"We have no doubt that the government delegation will take part in the second round of international talks in Geneva," Mikhail Bogdanov told reporters.

A Russian minister also announced that Syria would complete its removal of toxic agents from the country by 1 March.

"Yesterday, the Syrians announced that the removal of a large shipment of chemical substances is planned in February. They are ready to complete this process by 1 March," Gennady Gatilov told the state-run Russian news agency RIA.

The operation to dispose of Syria's chemical stockpile under a deal brokered by Russia and the US is far behind schedule and a deadline for sending all toxic agents out of Syria this week is predicted to be missed.

American officials have accused Damascus of dragging its feet and John Kerry, the US secretary of state, last Friday asked his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, to put pressure on Bashar al-Assad's government to speed up the operation.

Russia, Assad's most powerful backer during a nearly three-year-old civil conflict in Syria, has said western concerns are overblown and rejected accusations that the delays were deliberate, citing security and logistical issues.

"As for timing, in principle everything is going OK," Sergei Ryabkov, another deputy foreign minister, was quoted as saying. "There really are difficulties linked to the need to provide security for this operation."

As the diplomatic effort continued in foreign capitals, 18 people including five children were killed in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo in a series of air strikes on Monday, activists said.

Air raids hit the districts of Hanano, Qadi Askar and Mouwasalat, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The group, which monitors the conflict through a network of activists on the ground, said helicopters dropped crude bombs – barrels packed with explosives, fuel and scraps of metal – on neighbourhoods.

German minister calls for sanctions threat against Ukraine

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:03 AM PST

Social Democrat's comments contradict chancellor Angela Merkel, who last week ruled out imminent sanctions

The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, has said sanctions should be used as a threat against Ukraine's government unless it finds a political solution to its long-running dispute with the opposition.

The Social Democrat minister's comments strike a different tone from the line taken so far by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who last week ruled out imminent sanctions.

"I think we must now show sanctions as a threat," Steinmeier told Germany's ARD television in an interview late on Monday, adding that Germany had to be ready to act if the situation did not improve.

Ukraine has been hit by more than two months of unrest following a decision by President Viktor Yanukovich not to pursue trade and other deals with the European Union. Ukraine is now in a tug-of war between Russia and the west.

The US and EU are in preliminary discussions about possible financial assistance for Ukraine once a new government is formed, a state department spokeswoman said on Monday.

Opposition leader and heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko visited New York earlier this week, he said, to draw attention to the political crisis in the former Soviet republic.

"I just want to spread the word and say what is going on in the Ukraine and point out that we do have an issue that unfortunately could become a civil war, and much more people could die," Klitschko told the Associated Press in an interview on Monday. "And we could lose another country, the Ukraine, to dictatorship."

The only way out, said Klitschko – who is set to defend his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles against Australian challenger Alex Leapai in Oberhausen, Germany, on 26 April – is for the government to resign and for early parliamentary elections to be held.

"I'm worried for the safety of everybody, including my brother," Klitschko said. "This is not a joke. It's serious. It's about life and death."

He added: "It's critical, and the situation can change in the blink of an eye."

Chris Brown jail bid turned down

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 01:02 AM PST

Los Angeles judge rules that R&B singer should stay at treatment facility for substance abuse and anger management

A judge in Los Angeles has turned down prosecutors' motion to jail R&B singer Chris Brown because of his arrest last year on an assault charge in Washington.

Los Angeles superior court Judge James R Brandlin said Brown should stay at a treatment facility for substance abuse and anger management because he was doing well in the court-ordered programme and it gave him an "adequate safety net".

Brandlin sentenced Brown to 90 days in the treatment programme in November following his arrest for assault in October in Washington, where he allegedly punched and broke the nose of a man who was trying to have a picture taken with him.

Brandlin also revoked Brown's probation from his 2009 assault on then-girlfriend and singer Rihanna on the eve of the Grammy Awards.

Brown, 24, has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanour assault in the Washington case and rejected a plea deal that would have reduced the charge to a simple assault.

The singer had his probation from the Rihanna assault extended last year after prosecutors alleged he cut corners on community service.

BP's Deepwater Horizon bill rises $200m as profits fall

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:45 AM PST

Latest update on the continuing costs of the Macondo blowout comes as the oil company reports a fall in quarterly and yearly profits

BP has been forced to set aside a further $200m for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, bringing the bill so far to $42.7bn.

The final figure could be far higher, however, as the latest tally does not take account of additional provisions for economic loss claims from a further legal settlement it has made, the group said. BP is also waiting for a final US court decision over whether it was considered grossly negligent for the Deepwater Horizon accident.

That could add over $20bn to the final bill because it would bring cash penalties under the Clean Water Act.

The latest update on the continuing costs of the Macondo blowout from 2010 came with the fourth quarter operating results for 2013.

Exploration write-offs, weaker refining margins and the impact of a huge divestment programme pushed the final quarter result – on an underlying cost basis, the one oil companies most commonly use – down to $2.8bn, compared with $3.9bn for the same period of 2012.

Full year profits on the same basis were down to $13.4bn for 2013 compared with $17.1bn for 2012.

The figures, considerably better than those released last week by Shell, were helped by a $1bn income boost from its new holding in Russia's Rosneft plus some strong oil and gas production in the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

BP has rewarded shareholders with a fourth quarter dividend of 9.5 cents per share, 5.6% higher than the one handed out in same period last year.

Bob Dudley, the BP chief executive, said he was pleased with the results: "BP delivered strong operating performance throughout 2013, with increased asset reliability and major project delivery in both our Upstream and Downstream businesses. These achievements underpin our financial targets for 2014 and lay the foundation for continued growth in sustainable free cash flow."

BP had been forecast by analysts to produce profits of $2.7bn in the fourth quarter, 32% lower than the same period last year. Shell saw a 71% dive in earnings and a profit warning while BG, another rival, also issued a profit warning.

But BP has continued to struggle to rid itself of the legacy from the Deepwater Horizon accident in which 11 oil workers died and miles of beaches were despoiled.

Only last week the US Department of Justice turned the pressure up against it by saying it should remained barred from winning new contracts in the Gulf of Mexico. The company had still not demonstrated it was a "responsible" contractor, according to the DoJ, while a court in New Orleans continue to decide whether or not it acted with "gross negligence".

Earlier this month BP failed to overturn judicial approval of a compensation settlement it reached in 2012.

But BP said on Tuesday that 2013 was the best year for oil and gas finds in almost 10 years. The company also recently announced it had won permission to drill in environmentally sensitive waters off Greenland, though it will not act as operator.

Terry Macalister

Chinese navy squadron completes Indian Ocean exercises

Posted: 04 Feb 2014 12:06 AM PST

Exercises included China's largest amphibious landing ship and show the growing reach of Beijing's seagoing forces

A three-ship Chinese navy squadron has concluded exercises in the Indian Ocean and has sailed on to the western Pacific, showing the growing reach of Beijing's seagoing forces.

State broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday that the squadron includes China's largest amphibious landing ship – the Changbaishan – along with a pair of destroyers. It said they reached the Indian Ocean on 29 January and carried out a series of counter-piracy, search and rescue and damage control drills.

Although not directly targeted at India, the exercises underscore China's rivalry with its fellow Asian giant.

China has been systematically developing a navy with a global reach, sending ships to join anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia and taking part in joint exercises in the Mediterranean and elsewhere.

Reserve Bank of Australia holds interest rates steady

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:58 PM PST

The decision was widely expected in the wake of last month's surprise jump in the consumer price index

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates on hold at an all-time low of 2.5% at its first board meeting of the year on Tuesday.

The decision was widely expected in the wake of last month's surprise jump in the consumer price index, which took the annual rate of inflation to a two-year high.

The RBA governor, Glenn Stevens, said monetary policy was appropriately set to foster sustainable growth in demand and keep inflation within the bank's 2% to 3% target band.

"On present indications the most prudent course is likely to be a period of stability in interest rates," Stevens said in a statement.

The bank still expects economic growth to remain below trend for a time yet and unemployment to rise further before it peaks.

Stevens said while inflation proved higher than expected just three months ago, the annual rate of 2.7% over 2013 was consistent with inflation remaining in the target band over the next two years.

He attributed the rise to a quicker than expected price response to a lower exchange rate.

The RBA will release its updated economic forecasts in its quarterly statement on monetary policy on Friday.

The National Retail Association chief executive, Trevor Evans, is concerned that if the RBA lifts rates too soon it would reverse all the gains made in retailing in recent months, saying the sector is still a long way from growth levels that preceded the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

"Retailers need stability and certainty, which can only be achieved by a steady hand on interest rates," Evans said in a statement.

Retail sales figures for the crucial December period will be released on Thursday.

The Australian National Retailers Association's chief executive, Margy Osmond, said it would be a report card on how strongly the sector ended the year.

"There's no doubt retailers benefited from increasing consumer and business confidence in the second half of 2013," she said.

John Kolenda, managing director at mortgage provider 1300HomeLoan, agreed consumers also needed stability.

"Keeping official rates on hold for at least another six months would be a good recipe for the Australian economy," he said.

Pitcher Partners Investment Advisory partner Sue Dahn said raising interest rates when unemployment was expected to increase would be "most unorthodox".

"A tough May budget could continue to have adverse impacts on the employment front," she said.

Finance minister Mathias Cormann said the May budget would be the next instalment of the government's commitment to repair the nation's finances.
"We have inherited a budget in very bad shape," he told reporters in Canberra.

Yemen bus bomb kills two

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:43 PM PST

Attack on bus carrying troops in the capital Sanaa leaves at least two soldiers dead and several wounded

An explosion has struck a military bus in the Yemeni capital, killing at least two soldiers.

Security officials say the blast in Sanaa on Tuesday morning also wounded at least 10 other troops. It hit as the bus was passing through the Dar Silm district, taking soldiers to work.

The officials say they are investigating whether the explosion was caused by a bomb hidden on the bus, a roadside device or a suicide bomber.

Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, is plagued by an al-Qaida insurgency and has seen scores of attacks on its military forces.

In August, a bomb hidden on a bus carrying air force personnel in Sanaa killed three people and wounded 23.

Afghanistan’s ambassador calls for delay of asylum seeker’s deportation

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:40 PM PST

Commonwealth criticised over handling of the case as lawyers for the 65-year-old Hazara man apply for injunction

Syria chemical weapons handed over by March, says Russia

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:32 PM PST

Regime will dispatch large shipment during February, says Russian deputy foreign minister, blaming security concerns for delays

Minnesota Stadium Demoliton Continues - video

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:27 PM PST

Construction crews set off explosive charges to sever the cables of the Metrodome's roof, as part of a gradual demolition of the former home of the Minnesota Vikings

ABC hires vocal critic from Murdoch press to be media manager

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:23 PM PST

Nick Leys, media editor of the Australian, employed to craft corporate messages and answer media inquiries

Amanda Meade

Barnaby Joyce in Coalition tug-of-war as Nationals press on drought package

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:19 PM PST

National party pushing for interest rate subsidies for farmers to be reinstated, while Liberals reject other pleas for support

Gabrielle Chan

Manus Island design report

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:06 PM PST

Copy of the report by Sinclair Knight Mertz, commissioned by the Department of Immigration

Township Yogi project – in pictures

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:01 PM PST

In the township where Nelson Mandela cast his first vote after being released from prison and where Gandhi lived before moving to India, the ancient spiritual practice of yoga is changing lives for many residents through the work of the Township Yogi project.

Women's rights country by country - interactive

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Which countries have laws preventing violence against women? Which legislate for gender equality? And which countries allow abortion? We use World Bank and UN data to offer a snapshot of women's rights across the world

Pakistan urged to ban Arab sheikhs from hunting endangered birds

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Special licences given to high-rolling dignitaries to kill houbara bustard, which is considered to be at risk of extinction

Pakistan is witnessing a mounting backlash against Arab sheikhs who spend part of their winters hunting a rare bird that conservationists warn is at risk of extinction.

Activists in the country say they are determined to end the annual killing of houbara bustards, an elusive bird that migrates each winter from central Asia to Pakistan's warmer climes.

Although the birds are officially protected, VIP visitors from the Gulf enjoy their traditional hunts with falcons and believe the houbara's meat has aphrodisiac properties.

"Is there any more ridiculous reason to kill an animal?" said Naeem Sadiq, a Karachi-based activist who petitioned the Lahore high court to ban the practice. "If it's illegal for Pakistanis to kill these birds why should the Arab sheikhs be allowed to do it?"

On Friday, the court slapped an interim ban on hunting in Punjab province, where the government has issued special hunting permits to royalty from across the Arab world.

Numbers of houbara, which are considered to be at risk of extinction by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, have fallen dramatically in recent decades.

They have been almost wiped out on the Arabian peninsula and various countries in the region, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, have set up breeding programmes to try to revive numbers.

While houbara hunting has been banned in India for decades, Pakistan continues to give special licences to Arab rulers and senior officials. This year Pakistan issued 33 permits allowing dignitaries to kill up to 100 birds each.

The list of licence holders is a who's who of Gulf potentates, including the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and the president of the UAE.

The Arab kingdoms are home to huge numbers of Pakistani expatriate workers and the government is loth to jeopardise its relationship with such important regional allies.

"Arab dignitaries have been coming for hunting for decades and decades – it's a longstanding tradition," said Tasneem Aslam, from Pakistan's ministry of foreign affairs. "Ten years ago there wasn't so much public awareness about the issue but now we see more voices raising their concern."

It's not just environmental activists and the country's boisterous media that increasingly focuses on the comings and goings of Arab dignitaries but also politicians determined to stop the sport.

Sindh, one of Pakistan's four provinces where a large number of licences were issued for the hunting season, is attempting to challenge the foreign affairs ministry's right to issue permits.

"We believe the constitution gives the right to give licences to the provinces," said Sikandar Ali Mandhro, a Sindh provincial government minister leading the fight. "If we succeed we will immediately introduce a five- or 10-year ban because the bird numbers have become so low."

Few outsiders have witnessed one of the bustard-hunting expeditions, but stories about the high-rolling Arab falconers are legendary in Pakistan.

Tons of equipment is flown in by private transport planes, including the falcons used to hunt the rare quarry. Luxuriously appointed camps are set up for the sheikh and his guests, who often stay for weeks.

Local communities value the money spent by their annual visitors, who have paid for improvements to roads and airstrips, as well as paying for the means to build mosques and schools.

An official from the Houbara Foundation Pakistan, which rescues birds captured for illegal shipment to the Gulf, said there was a desperate need for a proper national survey of houbara numbers in order to decide whether limited hunting should be allowed to continue.

"The real problem arises once a hunting camp is set up and other people come and take advantage," said the official, who did not wish to be named. "We have informal information about locals shooting the birds."

Jon Boone

Women's rights around the globe: behind the data | Liz Ford

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

What issues are covered, data sources, key areas such as abortion rights and education, and challenges for the future

Interactive: Women's rights, country by country

More than 130 of 143 countries have gender equality laws, 142 grant equal rights for men and women on property ownership and 129 have laws preventing women from being sacked while pregnant. Some form of parental leave is offered in almost all countries when women give birth, and in 116 countries daughters have equal inheritance rights as sons.

But only 76 countries have legislation that specifically addresses domestic violence – and just 57 of them include sexual abuse. Sixty countries offer equal pay, and in 10 countries women are legally bound to obey their husbands.

Of 194 countries, 187 allow abortion in certain circumstances, although the practice is illegal in five countries – Chile, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta and Nicaragua – and subject to severe restrictions in many others

Using data from the World Bank and the UN, we've created an interactive that offers a snapshot of how women's rights are legislated around the world.

We specifically looked at laws related to domestic violence, harassment, abortion, property and employment rights, as well as constitutional laws on discrimination and equality. Countries from across Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America are included.

All the figures, except those on abortion, are drawn from the World Bank's 2013 data, and cover 143 countries. The data on abortion are the latest figures from the UN department of economic and social affairs, compiled in 2011 and including 194 countries.

Despite some worrying omissions, the figures reflect a growing acceptance of women's rights. However, getting legislation passed is just one hurdle to improving the lives of women. There is still a huge gulf between what is written on the statute books and women's reality.

"We see that even if the countries where rights are recognised, implementation is limited and sometimes doesn't exist," says Vanina Serra, a programme officer at Mama Cash, an international women's fund that supports the rights of women, girls and transgender people.

"There are several obstacles we see through the work of our grantees in accessing justice. The main one is very often the lack of knowledge of women's rights and how to access the justice systems itself. There is widespread mistrust towards the justice system." In some countries, the police and judiciary will dismiss women when they want to report offences, and the cost of taking a case to court can be prohibitively expensive, Serra adds.

Often, the organisations to which Mama Cash awards grants are involved in training women about their rights. "Usually women, girls and transgender people are not aware they have rights. Their experience of violence becomes normal to them. There's a lot of work to do in raising awareness."

Lee Webster, head of policy and influencing at NGO Womankind, said the hard work begins once the legislative process ends. "We want laws, but the bigger thing is getting them implemented and that goes right to local level. If they are not understood by local police and judiciary, they might as well not exist."

Srilatha Batliwala, a lead adviser on the Bridge Gender and Social Movements programme at the UK Institute of Development Studies, and an associate scholar at the Association for Women's Rights in Development, agrees. She says the women's movement has, rightly, spent years campaigning for legal reform and addressing gender bias in existing laws, but the focus needs to shift to changing attitudes and the social factors that prevent women from exercising their rights. The power of the law to overcome these forces should not be overestimated, she adds.

"The people who actually administer the law are carrying a lot of gender bias," Batliwala says. She agrees with the words of a feminist judge at a high court in India, who said the problem was that the country's laws were 100 years ahead of its society. "This is a challenge. To make the law real to people, we now have to work on people, not the law."

Batliwala says there needs to be a wider support base to push for change. "These aren't women's issues, these are everybody's issues. We can't make the change by ourselves. We need the other side to get on board … Unless we get a wider spectrum of groups saying no this has got to stop, it's not going to stop, it's going to get worse."

Liz Ford

Why 2014 is a key year for women's rights and gender equality | Liz Ford

Posted: 03 Feb 2014 11:00 PM PST

Help us create a global platform for discussion that amplifies the voices of women's rights advocates around the world

Over the past few decades, the often tireless work of the women's movement around the world has brought positive change. There has been a growing recognition that countries cannot thrive if half the population is left out of education and work, or not included in decision-making. Laws have been introduced to recognise women's right to safety in and outside the home, equal pay in the workplace and equality under the law, and there have been attitudinal changes towards women.

The past 20 years have seen two landmark international agreements on women's rights. In September 1994, the International Conference on Population and Development, which met in Cairo, for the first time shifted the emphasis on population control from government efforts to reduce numbers through family planning, to look more broadly at women's empowerment and how their lives can be improved. It examined issues including access to decent reproductive health services, sexual health advice and support and through the elimination harmful practices, such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and forced marriage. About 179 countries signed up to the programme of action, which contained more than 200 recommendations.

The following year, in Beijing, the Fourth World Conference on Women committed to achieving gender equality by removing the obstacles that limit women's involvement in public and private life and prevented them from an equal share in decision-making.

But with success comes the backlash, and that backlash has been increasingly evident over the past 15 years. As the UN looks to mark the 20th anniversary of the Cairo agreement this year, women's rights organisations are, more and more, having to concern themselves with fighting reactionary policies that seek to chip away at hard-won rights.

Globally, about one in three women will be beaten or raped during their lifetime, and more than 140 million women and girls are estimated to be living with the consequences of FGM. And despite numerous UN resolutions that state the importance of women's involvement in peace and reconciliation, women are still not invited to peace talks.

Women's rights groups are underfunded. Research by the Association for Women's Rights in Development (Awid) found that the average annual income of 740 organisations it surveyed in 2010 was about $20,000 (£12,000).

On Tuesday, the Guardian launched a women's rights and gender equality section to provide a specific focus on the pressing issues affecting women, girls and transgender people around the world, and the critical work being carried out by women's rights movements.

This year is gearing up to be a key time for women's rights and gender equality. The UN Commission on the Status of Women, being held in New York in March, will discuss progress against the millennium development goals and crucially look at how women feature in what comes next.

Despite loud calls for a standalone goal for gender equality to be included in any new set of targets after 2015, it is far from certain that this will be achieved. Sexual violence against women, particularly during conflict, is expected to receive global attention once again this year, with a summit hosted by the UK, and the anniversary of Cairo will be a chance for cool assessment on whether women have achieved the right to determine when, and if, they have children.

Working in partnership with Mama Cash and Awid, we want this section to offer a safe forum for debate and for sharing ideas. We want to create a global platform for discussion that amplifies the voices of women's rights advocates who are normally left out of decision-making or not heard in mainstream media.

Tell us what you think and what you would like to hear more about. Email us at development@theguardian.com

Liz Ford