Welcome to “Women Around the World: This Week,” a series that highlights noteworthy news related to women and U.S. foreign policy. This week’s post covers March 25 to March 31.

On June 9, following a closed-door meeting, the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) issued a public statement that the Igbo-dominated southeast should be allowed to secede from the Federal Republic of Nigeria if it was necessary to avoid a civil war. NEF spokesman Hakeem Baba-Ahmed said “the Forum has arrived at the difficult conclusion that if support for secession among the Igbo is as widespread as it is being made to look, and Igbo leadership appears to be in support of it, then the country should be advised not to stand in the way.”

Each Friday, I look at what the presidential contenders are saying about foreign policy. This Week: Democrats gather in Chicago next week optimistic about their chances in November. 

Leaders and students are stepping up to fill Bangladesh’s power vacuum, but communal violence and state collapse threaten to further destabilize the country.