Source: Liberia Government
"Women continue to play a major role in the efforts for peace. Women continue to be those peace builders; continue to promote the environment that enables all citizens to search for peace, maintain peace and use the security that peace brings to be able to join in the processes of development that will touch the lives and change the condition of humankind," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has said.
One after the other, women visiting their sick friend Aïssatou Baïlo Diallo, a 42-year-old teacher in Guinea’s capital Conakry, are overcome with emotion and leave her bedside crying. Diallo has been in and out of hospitals since she was raped in the 28 September 2009 stadium attack, and in recent weeks her health has deteriorated rapidly. Three years after the stadium massacre, the pain is fresh.
There is a particularly vulnerable group – the women and children of our world for whom ‘external shocks’, cause real and serious dislocation in their daily lives.
THERE was a time in Africa, years ago, when men controlled all the wealth. The male folk were the exclusive owners of land and property, and the women simply had to be content with the crumbs the men threw their way.
Samira Ibrahim, Rasha Abdel-Rahma, and Jihane Mahmoud, three victims of the so-called "virginity tests" conducted by the Egyptian military on a group of female protesters last spring, are taking their case to the African Commission.
The United States Government, along with other G8 members, hosted a side event today at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to announce that Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Mozambique have joined the G8’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition.
September marks the annual Heritage Month in South Africa. Heritage month celebrates and affirm individual and collective cultural, traditional and ethnic diversities. It also includes traditional practices and values that have been passed on from generation to generation since time immemorial. This heritage month, as politicians stall the withdrawal of the controversial Traditional Courts Bill, it's important to consider what the legislation could mean for the average South African woman.
Investing in women farmers could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100 to 150 million people. That was one of many insights which emerged at the launch of a joint project to empower farmers in seven different countries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Source: All Africa
More than 100 Liberian women Wednesday met with Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Karin Landgren, in Gbarnga, Bong County, to call for increased access to justice.
On the occasion of World Tourism Day, marked today, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov highlighted the important role that the tourism industry can play in combating human trafficking for sexual and other exploitation. The World Tourism Organization's Global Code of Ethics for Tourism calls on governments to combat exploitation through the national legislation of both the countries visited and the countries of the perpetrators of these acts, even when such acts are carried out abroad.
A two-day consultative meeting of Africans parliamentarians on the International Conference of Population Development (ICPD) and MDGs started yesterday. Jointly organized by the Rwandan parliament, African Women Leaders' Network, and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), the meeting gathers MPs from 15 African countries along with delegates
Senate President, Dr Jean Damascene Ntawukuliryayo, has asked African Members of Parliament to play a central role in the attainment of Millennium Development Goals before the 2015 deadline.
Source: The New Times
The First Lady, Jeannette Kagame, has stressed the need for a level playing field so that everyone, including women, has access to equal opportunities.
FINANCIAL inclusion among women entrepreneurs is critical for achieving inclusive growth and poverty reduction in the country, Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Deputy Governor administration Tukiya Mabula has said.
UN Women and the three Rome-based United Nations agencies working on food and agriculture will launch on 27th September a joint programme to empower poor rural women through economic integration and food security initiatives.
Source: Human Rights Watch
Hundreds of victims of the 2009 massacre, rapes, and other abuses by security forces in Guinea have yet to see justice done, Human Rights Watch said today on the eve of the third anniversary of the attacks. The Guinean government should increase support for the domestic investigation of the crimes so that those responsible can be held to account without further delay.
On September 28, 2009, several hundred members of Guinea’s security forces burst into a stadium in Guinea’s capital, Conakry, and opened fire on tens of thousands of opposition supporters peacefully gathered there. By late afternoon, at least 150 Guineans lay dead or dying, and dozens of women had suffered brutal sexual violence, including individual and gang rape.
“The victims and loved ones of those who perished have yet to see the men who carried out the horrific crimes that took place on September 28, 2009, brought to book,” said Elise Keppler, senior international justice counsel with Human Rights Watch. “Moreover, the persistent failure of the government to hold human rights violators to account over decades of repressive rule in Guinea has fueled further abuses.”
In February 2010, a domestic panel of judges was appointed to investigate the September 28 crimes. The panel has made some important strides to advance the investigation, including interviewing more than 200 victims, Human Rights Watch said. Charges also have been filed against at least seven people in connection with the crimes. They include Moussa Tiégboro Camara, Guinea’s current minister in charge of fighting drug trafficking and organized crimes, and, more recently, Colonel Abdoulaye Cherif Diaby, who was Guinea’s health minister on September 28, 2009.
However, well over two years later, more than 100 victims await the opportunity to provide statements to the investigating judges, and possible mass graves have yet to be investigated. The investigating judges also have yet to interview at least two key people implicated in the crimes – Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who was president at the time, and Captain Claude “Coplan” Pivi, who was the minister of presidential security at the time and continues to hold that post. Nor has the panel interviewed other witnesses from Guinea’s security services.
The investigating judges have not had adequate equipment and supplies and have had only limited security protection. In addition, key suspects such as Moussa Tiégboro Camara have not been placed on leave from their government positions pending investigation – even though in Tiégboro Camara’s case he is in a position to intervene in criminal investigations.
A Human Rights Watch investigation in 2009 suggested that the killings, rapes, and other abuses committed by the security forces on and after September 28 rise to the level of crimes against humanity, given their widespread and systematic nature. A commission of inquiry established by the United Nations Secretary-General also found that it was reasonable to conclude that crimes against humanity were committed.
In October 2009, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Office of the Prosecutor placed the situation in Guinea – which joined the ICC in 2003 – under preliminary examination. Whether the ICC may open an investigation in Guinea is an open question: under the ICC’s complementarity principle, the ICC only acts if national authorities are unable or unwilling to prosecute.
But even if the ICC were to open an investigation, its scope to ensure justice would be limited as it focuses only on genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and suspects at the greatest levels of responsibility, and the court is based thousands of miles from Guinea.
Human Rights Watch conducted fact-finding in Guinea in June 2012 to assess the progress of the September 28, 2009, investigation with a view to promoting fair, effective domestic investigation and prosecution of the crimes. A report on this research is forthcoming.
“Guinea is sending a terrible signal to victims by allowing key suspects to remain in government posts where they can influence the investigation,” Keppler said. “While the investigating judges have made some progress in the investigation, they need more support from the Guinean government if they’re going to help break the cycle of abuse and build respect for rule of law in Guinea.”
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The September 28 Stadium in Conakry where members of the Presidential Guard, gendarmes, anti-riot police, and militia in civilian clothes opened fire on protesters on September 28, 2009.© 2011 Balkees Jarrah/Human Rights Watch
Source: Newstime Africa
Discriminatory social institutions formal and informal laws added to norms and practices that limit their social and economic opportunities, women are all fired up and they just can't take it no more.
European leaders rolled out a new initiative to get women to participate more in politics and business ahead of this week's U.N.'s General Assembly meeting.
Nearly 1,000 Ethiopian migrants, stranded in Yemen, are being flown home by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the last flight scheduled for Tuesday in an effort to help the Ethiopians leave what has become an abusive situation.
Tunisian civil society groups expressed outrage after a young woman was accused of indecency on Wednesday by two policemen jailed for raping her, amid criticism of the Islamist-led government on women's rights.