Source: AllAfrica
The Namibia National Women's Organisation (Nanawo) has expressed serious concern over the Libyan situation and condemned attacks on Libya by "some European and American selfish economic expansion forces".
Source: The Inquirer
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has been recognized for demonstrating outstanding achievements in implementing the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa (SDGEA).
Source: Human Rights Watch
The Libyan government should immediately release Eman al-‘Obeidy, the Libyan woman who accused government forces of raping her last week in Tripoli, and allow her family and international media to confirm independently that she is free and safe, Human Rights Watch today.
As a Libyan woman makes a desperate, dramatic plea for help in a Tripoli hotel, Channel 4 News Foreign Affairs Correspondent Jonathan Miller witnesses how Gaddafi's forces deal with dissent.
As Libya's opposition fighters push west, doctors are uncovering more victims from the front line.
Civil society in general and women in particular have a critical role to play in cementing Sierra Leone’s transition from conflict to peace and development, a senior United Nations official said today.
A day after U.S. assistant secretary of state for south and central Asian affairs Robert Blake appealed to the Bangladeshi government to reconsider its dismissal of 70-year-old microfinance guru Muhammad Yunus from the Grameen Bank, IPS spoke with the president and CEO of Women's World Banking (WWB), currently the most comprehensive network of microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the world.
There is no way one can have a conversation with Linette Olofsson without being dragged into her collection of images about her community agricultural project in central Mozambican Province of Zambezia.
Zambians head to the polls sometime before October and civil society groups are working hard to ensure their voices are heard.
"The Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics has failed to realise the objectives it was intended for, but we will not give up on it just yet," says Margaret Nasha.
Source: UNNews
The official spearheading United Nations efforts to combat the scourge of sexual violence during war today welcomed the decision of authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to prosecute several high-ranking military officers accused of rape.
DRC authorities have initiated judicial proceedings against three officers – General Jerôme Kakwavu, Lieutenant Colonel Engagela (aka Colonel 106) and Colonel Safari – and are considering trials in absentia for two other senior officers, according to a statement issued by Margot Wallström, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
General Kakwavu, who is currently in detention in the capital, Kinshasa, is charged with having raped two females – one of whom was aged just 13 – about seven years ago. Before his integration into the military, known as the FARDC, he led a Congolese armed group known as UDC/FAPC.
The case marks the first time that a general in the FARDC is to be prosecuted by a military tribunal for rape.
"These actions send a powerful signal that no military or political leader is above the law, and no woman is below it," Ms. Wallström said.
"In addition to prosecution, there is a need for reparation of victims. It is vital that survivors receive assistance, in particular medical interventions. The aim is not only to bring the perpetrators of sexual violence to justice, but also to ensure that victims obtain justice and care."
The Special Representative said it was now crucial that the authorities apprehend as soon as possible the two other officers, Major Pitchen and Colonel Mosala, and prosecute them as well.
"We continue to monitor this and other incidents of alleged sexual violence in conflict, wherever they occur," she added.
Ms. Wallström has spoken out repeatedly about the widespread sexual violence taking place in the DRC, especially in the vast country's far east, where conflict still rages between the FARDC and a range of militias and other armed groups.
Source: Vanguard
Amnesty International has said that Nigeria had yet to implement the UN Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 25 years after it came into force.
Source: TODAY Newspaper
The Dakar-based ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) yesterday held its eighth consultative meeting to seek more strategic approach to its mandate as well as consolidate the gains made over the last years. The meeting was held at the Paradise Suites Hotel.
Source: IPS
The bicycle has become a symbol of hope for hundreds of women who have been trained in repairing one of life’s favorite transport modes.
The Commission for Gender Equality says the Employment Equity Act needs to be reviewed. The call came after it emerged that black women had not significantly progressed in occupying positions of executive management in the corporate sector.
Source: Times Live
The Nigerian woman with a famous last name is now 64 and could be home with her grandchildren, but she is here instead, at a dilapidated police barracks urging officers' wives to take a stand.
Source: Isis International
Isis Internationalwould like to thank the organizers for inviting us to participate in this panel on Women, Right to Food, Food Security and Food Sovereignty. I would like to give a special mention here to Marilee Karl, founder of Isis International and who has been working on the issue of Food Crisis since 1996.
Source: Amnesty International
Amnesty International has today called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate serious allegations of torture, including forced ‘virginity tests’, inflicted by the army on women protesters arrested in Tahrir Square earlier this month.
Despite huge influx of female journalists, men still dominate top management jobs in media firms, study says. Long known as a "boy's club", the worldwide media industry continues to struggle with gender equality, with new research showing women are still under-represented in the majority of newsrooms across the globe.
Source: United Nations
In many traditional cultures, women aren't allowed to own or inherit property. Losing a husband through death or divorce can be a guarantee of poverty. But two women in Malawi have defied that fate. Here's their story.