Source: UNFPA
Maiduguri, NIGERIA – Yana, 25, was three months pregnant when she fell sick with cholera just days ago. “I was already suffering, but then I started bleeding, and the baby is gone now,” she told UNFPA in one of the tent wards for cholera patients at a displacement camp outside Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s conflict-scarred Borno State.
Rwandan authorities have arrested, forcibly disappeared, and threatened political opponents since the August 2017 presidential elections, Human Rights Watch said today. The incumbent, Paul Kagame, won the election with a reported 98.79 percent of the vote.
8 September 2017 – The scale up of international assistance to the Lake Chad Basin this year has averted a famine in north-east Nigeria, even though millions of people are still suffering, according to the United Nations aid chief.
28 September 2017 – About 25 million unsafe abortions, accounting for 45 per cent of all abortions, occurred every year from 2010 to 2014 worldwide, with 97 per cent of those unsafe procedures occurring in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, a new United Nations study has found.
26 September 2017 – Large-scale displacement and a health system in tatters as a result of persistent violence by the Boko Haram terrorist group have left many – most worryingly, pregnant women and their unborn babies – vulnerable to cholera in the wake of an outbreak in August, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has warned.
(Abuja) – Cameroon’s military has carried out a mass forced return of 100,000 Nigerian asylum seekers in an effort to stem the spread of Boko Haram, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The deportations defy the UN refugee agency’s plea not to return anyone to northeast Nigeria “until the security and human rights situation has improved considerably,” and leaves deportees facing spiralling violence, displacement and destitution.
The gender pay gap doesn’t just reflect men’s dominance in the workplace, it parallels a hidden oppression in the home. As the Trump administration moves to slash social-welfare programs and roll back workplace anti-discrimination protections, the economic war on women is manifested not only through the pain of deprivation but, often, through the violence of abusers.
The energy in the room was palpable, as the African Women Leaders Network, launched in June 2017, reconvened under the leadership of Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat today at the 72nd UN General Assembly, on 21 September 2017. The discussions focused on mobilizing support for women’s leadership in the transformation of Africa towards a peaceful, stable and prosperous continent.
Source: AllAfrica
Caught under the shadow of the already-famous women, there are also many other self made icons who turned tragedy into remedy, however their successes go unnoticed. Helina Yetateku, a mother of two, is one of such women. She just saw massive transformation on her life.
The Federal Government on Thursday described the rate of illiteracy in Nigeria as alarming, saying between 65 and 75 million people are illiterate in the country. The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, made the remark on Thursday when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi State in Birnin Kebbi.
In a story published by The Citizen newspaper in Tanzania, Dr. John Lwegasha, the head of the gastroenterology and hepatology unit at Muhimbili National Hospital, was quoted as saying that hepatitis B is responsible for more deaths due to infectious diseases than HIV.
The European Union and the United Nations today launched a joint initiative to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls, one of the most widespread and devastating human rights violations across the globe.
19 September 2017 – Extoling the benefits of women’s economic empowerment, both for economies as well as societies as a whole, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today encouraged governments, the private sector, multilateral institutions and others to take measures to achieve the full and equal participation of women in the economy.
Source: UN News Center
19 September 2017 – The United Nations refugee agency is urging the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to ensure protection for refugees and asylum-seekers following last week’s shooting incident in Kamanyola in which at least 39 people were killed and 94 injured.
One of the most persistent barriers to women’s success at work and to economic growth, unequal pay, will be actively challenged by a new global partnership, the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC).
Uganda received its one millionth refugee from South Sudan on 17 August. This influx of people, many of whom have fled terrible violence to seek sanctuary in northern Uganda, has put a significant financial strain on the country and in particular its northern region.
Young people are key to peace efforts, but they need support and a place at the table.
Source: Aljazeera
Thousands of women fleeing the four-year-long conflict in South Sudan have been raped and sexually assaulted, according to rights groups and women who have spoken to Al Jazeera.
Source: UN News Center
17 September 2017 – Ahead of a high-level United Nations meeting on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse, the Organization's Special Coordinator on the issue is urging global leaders to join the “Circle of Leadership,” lend the political weight of their offices, and act – both at the national and international levels – to eradicate the scourge.