Source: UN News Centre
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged world leaders to take bold decisions to tackle the AIDS epidemic, as he launched a new United Nations report that warns that recent gains, while laudable, are fragile.
Source: PlusNews Global
Media images of men in northern Kenya washing condoms for re-use have underscored the need to improve HIV communication and close gaps in the supply of condoms in rural areas.
Source: UNAIDS
The elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa has come a step closer with the endorsement of a new regional framework following a three-day consultation in Nairobi, Kenya earlier this month.
Source: United Nations News Centre
With the post-electoral deadlock in Côte d’Ivoire now entering its fifth month and the crisis showing no signs of abating, the Security Council today demanded an immediate end to the violence against civilians and decided to impose targeted sanctions against former president Laurent Gbagbo, his wife and three associates.
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.
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.