Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
The year 2014 marks a very significant step towards building a fairer world for men and women. This year we begin a year-long celebration ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 2015. This platform provided the framework to help countries devise public policies to push gender equality forward. We can see substantial progress across different fields.
Source: IPS News
Every year, three million newborn babies and almost 6.6 million children under five die globally, but if the rest of the world looked towards the examples of two of Africa's least-developed countries (LDCs), Rwanda and Ethiopia, they would perhaps be able to save these children.
Source: Frontline Defenders
On 24 June 2014, the Ministry of Justice cancelled the registration license of human rights organisation the Salmmah Women's Resource Centre, and initiated the immediate liquidation of the organisation, leading to its closure on the same day.
Source: Thomas Reuters Foundation
In parts of Malawi, when a girl reaches puberty she may receive a night-time visit from a “hyena” – the name given to an older man who has sex with girls to “clean out the dust” of childhood and prepare them for marriage.
Source: Northumberland Gazette
A north Northumberland woman has just returned from a life-changing voluntary placement in west Africa.
Source: The Guardian
Rwanda has gone from a disaster zone to a country determined to move on – and it's women driving forward the peace process.
Source: KC Team
The defaulter's club in Kenya is not like any other club - it is a growing movement of teenagers born with HIV who deliberately take 'holidays' from their life-saving medication.
Source: Voice of America
The United Nations says gender-based violence against Central African Republic refugees in East Cameroon is very high and is calling on the government in Yaounde to do more to protect these vulnerable women.
Source: The NewTimes
Involving more women in decision-making has been important in Rwanda's meteoric rise two decades after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, experts attending the ongoing Women In Parliament Summit have said.
Source: HuffigtonPost
Nigerian troops have arrested a businessman suspected of being at the head of a Boko Haram intelligence network that helped plan the abduction of more than 200 school girls in the northeast, the military said on Tuesday.
Source: The Herald
Women'S Affairs, Gender and Community Development Minister Oppah Muchinguri (pictured right) has raised concern over the failure by fellow ministers to observe the 50-50 representation in the appointment of parastatal boards.
Source: PMNCH
Prime Minister Erna Solberg of Norway, Co-chair of the MDG Advocates Group, and Graça Machel, Chair of The Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health (PMNCH), joined world leaders and the reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) community to review progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals focused on women and children's health, and to identify targets for healthy women and children for the post-2015 sustainable development agenda.
Source: National Yemen
Produced for Yemeni TV, short film raises awareness of the issues surrounding women and the security and justice sector in Yemen.
Source: BusinessGhana
World Bank Group's Board of Executive Directors has approved US$107 million in financial grants to the countries of Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Rwanda to provide integrated health and counseling services, legal aid, and economic opportunities, to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The project will also strengthen health services for poor and vulnerable women in Africa's Great Lakes region.
Source: MENAFN PRESS
Early struggles in developing a response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic were remembered by African women church leaders who gathered in Nairobi Kenya to celebrate more than 30 years of their Christian ministry in the churches of their region.
Source: ALMONITOR
At a time when the Egyptian government has recognized the need to stop physical and sexual violence against women, human rights organizations have registered dozens of cases of physical abuse against women in Egyptian prisons pending trial for political issues.
Source: Awoko
It has come out clearly that the government of Sierra Leone has not yet ratified the Moputo Protocol in July 2003 along with 52 other African countries. This failure to domesticate the Protocol geared towards promoting the fight against all forms of discrimination against women in society and ensures the rights of women in sexual and reproductive health (SHR) are guaranteed, has drew the interest of women rights activists.
Source: The ManicaPost
THE MDC-T Women Assembly Manicaland executive members and representatives from the 26 constituencies in the province have resigned from the Morgan Tsvangirai camp and joined the Tendai Biti-led Renewal Team on the grounds of persistent violation of women's rights and bed-hopping behaviour of the party's leadership.
Source: New Vision
Ugandan men have been ranked as some of the leading wife beaters in Africa, according to a Scorecard compiled from reports made by different UN organs on domestic violence.
Source: allAfrica
What if there was there was a practice that, if ended, could improve the lives of millions of women and girls worldwide? Every year, 14 million girls are married before the age of 18 inmost cases without their consent and with severe consequences for their health. Child marriage not only holds women and girls back, it holds back our efforts to make the world a safer and healthier place for everyone.