DEVELOPMENT is about protection of human rights of the concerned populations. It pre-supposes active participation of the populace in the decisionmaking processes while social justice remains one of the most important and cherished goals of development.

Both as a concept and as a rallying point for gender-based concerns, the emergence of reproductive choice is a relatively new phenomenon in the area of population policy. For decades on end, population policy had been primarily, if not solely, concerned with the regulation and control of human fe

This report examines the linkages between wife-beating and one health-related consequence for women, their experience of fetal and infant mortality.

Change in the size of a population takes place due to births, deaths and migration.

THE United Nations Commission on the Status of Women defines violence against women to include "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women..." [Economic and Social Council 1992].

As women become more involved in public life and break patriarchal control in the process, they also deal with the backlash of cultural, traditional and religious reaction. Various interpretations of Muslim law are promoted by different groups in the struggle over women's rights.