Source: The Guardian
Ban Ki-moon argues ‘it’s high time now’ for female leadership of the United Nations as candidates including Helen Clark and Susana Malcorra vie for top job
Source: Al-Monitor
Tunisia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs submitted to parliament in mid-July a new draft law on the elimination of violence against women. Article 2 of the draft law extends to “all forms of gender-based violence directed against women by any perpetrator, whatever form it takes, without discrimination on the basis of birth, color, race, religion, thought, age, nationality, socio-economic conditions, civil status, health, language or disability.”
Source: IPS
The process for arguably the top political job on the planet is well underway. And the time is right for a woman and a feminist to take the helm.
SOURCE: allAfrica
This week fact-checking ninjas, Africa Check revealed that it's not actually seven million girls who miss school every month because of the inaccessibility of feminine hygiene products. And while the actual number of girls who miss school because the price of pads and tampons is fewer than 7 million, the price of pads and tampons should still be treated as a public health emergency.
Source: Daily News
Last month, the High Court of Tanzania ruled that sections of the 1971 Marriage Act, which allowed girls to be married at an age as young as 14, were unconstitutional. TECMN Chairperson, Ms Valerie Msoka, said it was shocking that the biggest stakeholder would appeal the court decision against such changes.
Source: The Guardian
Tinalbaraka Amano has done well to adapt to life in the desert. Three years ago, the 16-year-old had her own room in a suburban house in Mali’s capital, Bamako. She had school friends with middle-class aspirations and Snapchat. At Mbera refugee camp in southern Mauritania, she sleeps in a tent with her parents. Before bed, she has to shake her sleeping mat for scorpions. The neighbours are mostly nomads who have never been online or in a classroom.
Source:News 24
Johannesburg – South African women continue to be victimised through sexual crimes, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Tuesday.
Source: BBC News
Farms have been built on ancient routes of a semi-nomadic community in Nigeria, causing violence that has already claimed hundreds of lives this year.
Source: News 24 WIRE
There is a business case to have women in leadership. According to the McKinsey Women Matter report for Africa, released recently, there is a link between companies which perform better financially and that have gender diversity.
Source: Fin24
Johannesburg – Part of the team that helped establish pillars for South Africa’s new democracy and new Constitution in the early 1990s, Dr Yvonne Muthien has come a long way, using her academic expertise to build institutions in government and guide business decisions.
SOURCE: allAfrica
Tanzania Ending Child Marriage Network (TECMN) has made a call to the government to reconsider its decision to challenge a court ruling on child marriage.
Last month, the High Court of Tanzania ruled that sections of the 1971 Marriage Act, which allowed girls to be married at an age as young as 14, were unconstitutional. TECMN Chairperson, Ms Valerie Msoka, said it was shocking that the biggest stakeholder would appeal the court decision against such changes.
"Child marriage is no joke and should be discarded with the highest of contempt as it takes advantage of young children and robs them of their future; development of the human race cannot occur if cultures such as these are tolerated with a casual look as if it is normal," she stressed.
Accompanied by some of TECMN members, Ms Msoka said if Tanzania was to be a country of laws and justice, Attorney General Chambers should respect judgments and ruling which mostly benefit minors in the country.
Founder and Executive Director for Msichana Initiative, Ms Rebeca Gyumi, said the government appeal was "one step forward and two steps back." She added: "We are still confused with the government decision as to date; we don't have a memorandum of appeal and hence we don't even know the grounds of appeal.'
Executive Director of the Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC), Dr Helen Kijo-Bisimba, said the effect of the Act was to discriminate against girls by depriving them of opportunities that are vital for all citizens.
Dr Bisimba noted that as the Court of Appeal was not the last option for them; they were ready even to go further to the African Court of Justice if the government would win the appeal. Recently, a High Court nullified sections 13 and 17 of the Tanzania Law of Marriage Act, which allow girls to marry at age 15 with parental permission and at age 14 with the permission of a court.
They ruled that the provisions were unconstitutional and therefore, gave the Attorney General (AG) one year from the date of the decision within which to make arrangements for amendments of the law to put 18 years as the minimum age for one to contract marriage.
The court's ruling follows a series of new legal measures, adopted by the government, which makes it a crime to attempt to marry school-going children under 18 years, as well as any "person who impregnates a primary school or a secondary school girl."
Source: BBC
A Kenyan man accused of chopping off his wife's hands and hacking her head with a machete after blaming her for their childless marriage should face the full force of the law, rights activists have said.
Source: UNHCR
Since conflict flared three weeks ago, the number of people fleeing to Uganda has doubled to 52,000, with 8,000 more seeking refuge in Sudan and Kenya.
Source: News Deeply
In sub-Saharan Africa, girls and young women account for 71 percent of new HIV infections among adolescents. South African officials hope more access to pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, will help, but experts say stigma and lack of education could doom those efforts.
Source:Human Rights Watch
Morocco’s new law regulating work for domestic workers could help protect thousands of women and girls from exploitation and abuse, Human Rights Watch said today. The new law was adopted by the House of Representatives on July 26, 2016, and will go into effect one year after publication in the official gazette.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Members of Burundi ruling party’s youth league, the Imbonerakure, have repeatedly gang-raped women since a wave of political protests began in 2015. Many of the rapes appear to have been aimed at family members of perceived government opponents. Policemen or men wearing police uniforms have also committed rape.
Source: Open Society Foundation
Being a child in Liberia today is not easy. The legacy of a brutal 14-year civil war and the impact of the Ebola virus outbreak mean children in Liberia face a range of life-threatening challenges. The country’s infant and child mortality rates remain among the highest in the world. Despite these obstacles, Liberia is making strides on quality early childhood development and serving as an example for other post-conflict countries.
Source: UNHCR
Esther is one of more than 40,000 South Sudanese refugees who’ve fled to Uganda, since renewed violence erupted earlier this month. After spending days on the border, she and other new arrivals are moved to refugee settlements, where the government gives refugees a plot of land, allowing them to rebuild their homes and their lives.
SOURCE: The Guardian
Buying land to build on in Senegal can be a nightmare. There are plenty of empty-looking plots in desirable areas, but woe betide the novice buyer.
Source: Oxfam Canada
Those shifting and hiding their wealth are failing to pay back into the "care economy' -- the people who produce and reproduce the workforce of today and tomorrow.