International report

Tunisia has been at the forefront of the debate on women's rights across the Arabic-speaking world since the adoption of the 1956 Personal Status Code that is considered one of the most progressive in the region.

In Senegal at least 40 people drowned at beaches in Dakar and its suburbs this summer. The capital is surrounded by water but most of the beaches are prohibited due to strong currents and lack of lifeguards.

Women in Afghanistan are increasingly launching their own businesses, despite the violent conflict and a weak economy that has crippled the country for decades. They are defying the conservative society's traditional gender roles by becoming financially self-sufficient entrepreneurs, Zakarya Hassani reports from Kabul.

In Senegal at least 40 people drowned at beaches in Dakar and its suburbs this summer. The capital is surrounded by water but most of the beaches are prohibited due to strong currents and lack of lifeguards.

The calmer beaches have been privatised by hotels or blocked off by developers, leaving people with few places to cool off during the summer.

But the main problem is a combination of poor urban planning and teaching children from a young age how to enjoy water sports.

Emmanuelle Landais has this report from Dakar.

After four years of conflict, Ukraine remains one of the world’s most mine-affected countries. International demining operators, such as the Halo Trust and the Danish Demining Group, encourage local women to apply for demining positions.

According to demining NGOs operating in eastern Ukraine, the conflict zone is one of the five most mined regions in the world. With the war entering its fifth year, between 600,000 and a million civilians continue to cross the front line each month.

As the African continent faces a demographic explosion, governments are realising the urgency of sustainable family planning policies. But applying such policies is a slow process, especially in rural areas with little access to healthcare and low levels of education. Mozambique has one of the highest instances of child marriage and teenage pregnancy in the world. The UN Population Fund is working alongside the Mozambican government to help reduce child marriage and teenage pregnancy, but it’s an uphill battle. Grainne Harrington reports from Mozambique

In The Gambia, this year’s Hajj or the annual pilgrimage to Mecca by Muslims has been overshadowed by controversy over a financial donation to Gambian pilgrims. In the third of a five-part series on the Hajj, Sheriff Bojang Jr reports from Banjul.

Kenyan Muslims have joined millions from around the world in performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage to the holy Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, one of the five pillars of the Islamic faith. In Kenya, many pilgrims faced daunting logistical challenges until the very last minute. Correspondent David John Bwakali spoke to some Hajj travel agents and Islamic leaders to file this report, the second in RFI’s five-part Hajj series.

For the first time in India, Muslim women over the age of 45 can make the Hajj pilgrimage without a male guardian. As a result, over 1,300 women this year applied to travel alone on the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Although the Indian government's scrapping of a Hajj pilgrim subsidy may have prevented some from making the trip, authorities' decision to reallocate the funds towards education and job opportunities for women and girls has been welcomed by many Indian Muslim women. Correspondent Murali Krishnan has this report, in the first episode of RFI's five-part Hajj series.