Women’s rights in Morocco have come under the spotlight recently after a young woman was assaulted in a Rabat market by people she called “Salafists,” or ultra-conservative Islamists. She said she was accosted by the men because of the short dress she was wearing.
Source: Democratic Alliance
Press release - The Democratic Alliance (DA) notes with extreme concern the Cape Town High Court full bench judgment highlighting what appears to be a fatal flaw in the Criminal Procedure (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act 32 of 2007.
Source: New Era
About 100 people, of whom 56 were men, held a peaceful march to protest violence perpetrated against women and children under the theme 'men for healthy relationships' on Saturday.
Source: New Security Beat
“Nigeria is a country of marginalized people. Every group you talk to, from the Ijaws to the Hausas, will tell you they are marginalized,” said Peter Lewis, director of the African Studies Program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Lewis spoke at an April 25 conference on Nigeria, co-hosted by ECSP and the Wilson Center’s Africa Program, assessing the country’s opportunities for development given its demographic, governance, natural resource, health, and security challenges.
Source: CNN
Baby showers herald the transition to motherhood. Roses, greeting cards and invitations to lunch, celebrate mothers every May -- well at least in most parts of the world. In Africa by and large the story isn't so rosy.
Source: The Standard
"Getting to Zero” stands for the hope that we have for eliminating HIV. We can get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero Aids-related deaths, but the challenge is how to get there and how to hold on to the gains made so as not to roll backwards.
Source: Jakarta Post
Indigenous women around the world suffer disproportionately from gender-related violence, but they say a lack of hard numbers has allowed governments to ignore the problem.
Source: New Times
Rwanda has scooped the United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) 2012 for its efforts in fighting Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV).
Source: Mail & Guardian
How do we stop damaged men from damaging women? By not looking away. By speaking out. And by raising a nation of better men, writes Khaya Dlanga
Source: Leaderhsip
Ms. Lulu Xingwana, South Africa's Minister of Women, Children and People Living with Disabilities, has called for stiffer sentences for sexual crime against women, children and disabled persons.
Source: IPS
MONROVIA, May 9, 2012 (IPS) - The only two female heads of state in Africa, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Malawian President Joyce Banda, have just committed to using their positions to improve the lives of women across the continent.
Source: AllAfrica
Ghana has taken a major step towards reducing its under-five mortality rate by becoming the first African country to introduce two new vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease.
Source: AllAfrica
In a move designed to promote safe motherhood and reduce infant mortality, Zanzibar has abolished child delivery charges in public hospitals.
Source: AllAfrica
"Today you're going to cry." The doctor, prodding Grace roughly with his nicotine-stained fingers, is matter-of-fact, there's no malice in his voice. And, afterwards, when she begs him not to let her see the fetus, he's considerate enough to cover it with a paper towel as it lies in a bloody puddle at the end of the examination table, before helping her to her feet. When he returns to the leather armchair in his consulting room, she notices that he doesn't bother to wash his hands before lighting a cigarette, blowing smoke in her direction as she leans over the desk to hand him his money.
Source: WLP
In April 2012, Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP) published Strategizing for Democracy: Challenges and Opportunities for Women in the MENA Region.
Source: AllAfrica
Ghana has made significant progress in increasing access and utilisation of maternal health services. And although statistics from the Ghana Health Services (GHS) show some reduction in Maternal Mortality ratio of 740 per 100000 lives birth in 1990, to 590 in 1996 with a further reduction of 540 in 200, to 541 in 2005 and finally to 350 in 2010, the reducing trend falls short of the 5.5 percent annual decline required to achieve Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 185 per 100,000 by 2015.
Source: IRIN
Daughters as young as 12 in the villages surrounding Antsohihy, the capital of Sofia Region, in Madagascar's remote, traditional north, often suffer the harmful consequences of falling pregnant and giving birth too young when parents accept zebus (cattle) or cash as a dowry.
Source: allghananews
The Islamic Peace and Security Council (IPASEC), on Thursday launched a peace project dubbed: “Ensuring Violence Free 2012 Election in Zongo Communities in Greater Accra Region,” in Accra.
"It is now more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier in modern wars." These words were spoken by Major General Patrick Cammaert, the Deputy Force Commander of the United Nations Mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 2008, as he described the the terrifying scorched earth rape strategy being employed in that country (and others like it).
Severe overcrowding, poor sanitation, a lack of resources and brutal violence continue to blight prisons across the continent.