Source: CGTN Africa
A new law in Morocco criminalising violence against women goes into effect on Wednesday, in what critics say is merely a first step in the right direction. Approved by parliament in February the new law bans forced marriages and imposes tougher penalties on perpetrators of various types of violence committed both in the private and public spheres, including rape, sexual harassment and domestic abuse.
Source: The East African
President John Magufuli has urged Tanzanian women to "give up contraceptive methods" insisting his country needs more people, local media reported Monday.
"You have cattle. You are big farmers. You can feed your children. Why then resort to birth control? This is my opinion, I see no reason to control births in Tanzania," Magufuli said in a speech on Sunday, according to The Citizen daily newspaper.Source: The Standard
Joana Mamombe stood out as the youngest MP in the new Parliament when Zimbabwe’s newest crop of legislators took their oaths last week following the controversial July 30 elections.
Mamombe of the MDC Alliance replaced Jessie Majome as the Harare West representative.
The 25-year-old legislator, a molecular biologist, says one of her major priorities in the next five years is to fight cancer.
Mamombe (JM) told our senior parliamentary reporter Veneranda Langa (VL) that she also wants to use her five-year term in the legislature to advance the interests of youths.
Source: Daily Observer
As United Nations (UN) reveal an increase in the number of girls not in school worldwide, Bridge-Liberia is expected to officially launch a new campaign dubbed GirlSuperPower, calling on Liberian policymakers to prioritize the need for gender equality in education.The launch of the campaign, which will bring together Liberian women stakeholders, with a panel discussion on 20th September 2018 on the topic, ‘‘Using Education as a Tool for Girls’ Empowerment,’ several Bridge students, predominantly girls, will also be in attendance at Kendeja Public School in Paynesville.
According to Bridge Public Affairs office, the launching of the GirlSuperPower campaign is based on reports that ahead of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, UN data revealed an increase of over 6% in the number of girls not in primary school, in just one year. This is a key metric for UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: achieving quality education for all, which now appears to be moving in the wrong direction. Equal education for girls is an unfulfilled promise for the majority of the poorest families in Liberia.
Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation
Sex outside of marriage in Mauritania is officially punishable by flogging, jail time, or in cases of adultery, death by stoning. Women raped in Mauritania are discouraged from reporting the crime because they themselves can be jailed for having sex outside of marriage, a rights group said on Wednesday.
Source: New Times Rwanda
Women will take 67.5 per cent of seats in the next Lower House going by the latest results from the just-concluded parliamentary elections.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) Tuesday released provisional results from legislative elections, which saw the governing RPF-Inkotanyi take most seats out of the 53 that are openly contested for.
RPF won 40 seats in the house after garnering 74 per cent of the votes cast by 6.6 million Rwandans who turned out for the direct vote on Sunday and Monday.
Source: UNIOGBIS News
The law was unanimously voted by the 81 MPs present. The National Assembly (ANP) thus concluded two days of discussion under the leadership of the chairman of the Specialized Commission for Women and Children, Ms. Martina Moniz.
Source: AllAfrica
By Angela Oketch
The national rollout of free Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in Kenya has been pushed to next year due to what an official termed high demand from countries across the globe.
Source: Ghana Web
Research by the International Republican Institute (IRI) on females’ participation in politics in Ghana has shown that most women refuse to contest political positions for fear of being insulted and tagged as prostitutes.
Source: Journal du Cameroun.com
Women in Cameroon have staged a sit-down strike in Buea, head quarter of the South West Region of the country to appeal for a return of peace in the troubled Anglophone regions of the country.
Source: AllAfrica
Beirut — A statement by Egypt's highest religious authority denouncing sexual harassment could be a turning point in efforts to crack down on abuse against women, activists said on Tuesday.Al-Azhar, which has huge influence over Egypt's mostly Muslim population and trains most of the country's imams, took to Facebook and Twitter this week to denounce the practice of harassing women, including over their behaviour or clothing.
Source: The Economist
Diane Rwigara and the perils of dissent in Rwanda
Source: The New Arab
Source: Morocco World News
Rabat – Police have reportedly arrested 10 men involved in kidnapping, raping, torturing, tattooing, and holding captive a 17-year-old in central Morocco.The girl, named Khadija, was subjected to the worst forms of violence during the month she was held by more than 10 men in Oulad Ayad, a small town near Beni Mellal and 150 kilometers northeast of Marrakech.
Source: Voice of America
Born into slavery and kept as a servant for 30 years, Haby Mint Rabah is now running for parliament in Mauritania to fight for freedom in a nation with one of the world's worst slavery rates.Rabah's candidacy is a first for the West African country, where more than two in every 100 people — 90,000 in total — live as slaves, according to the 2018 Global Slavery Index.
Source: Reuters
Burundi’s rollback on banning pregnant girls and expectant teen fathers from attending school is a victory for child rights, but steps must be taken to curb sexual exploitation and teen pregnancies, campaigners said on Tuesday. Burundi’s education ministry on Friday reversed a month-old policy under which pregnant teens and young mothers, as well as the boys who made them pregnant, no longer had the right to be part of the formal education system.
Source: AllAfrica
Authorities in Malawi have expressed optimism that a new Termination of Pregnancy law will be enacted once Cabinet ministers complete reviewing recommendations which the Law Commission submitted.Speaking during a media workshop on abortion law reform, Ministry of Health Spokesperson Joshua Malango said the sequence was that after the Cabinet scrutinises the recommendations, the bill would be tabled in Parliament.
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union News
Djibouti’s new legislature is making great efforts to become more representative of the country’s people. Elections in February changed the composition of the National Assembly with an intake of 60 per cent of new MPs. Women are better represented, making up 26 per cent of the intake, up from 11 per cent in the last legislature; the Assembly is also proactively reaching out to civil society and youth.
Source: AllAfrica
Namibia has one of the largest percentages of women in its police force in Southern Africa at 31 percent. This also means that more Namibian women are deployed as part of peacekeeping missions in the region and beyond, according to the recently launched SADC Gender Protocol 2018 barometer.
Source: AfroBarometer
Since its independence in 1968, Mauritius has taken pride in promoting its development based on democracy, good governance, human rights and freedoms, and the rule of law. Its Constitution affirms that all Mauritians should benefit from the right to equal protection and assistance of the law against any form of discrimination.