Egyptian activists declared Wednesday, 13 June as the day to write about sexual harassment on social websites and blogs in an effort to combat the rising level of sexual violence in the country. The same event took place last year with large success that saw it spread to neighboring countries like Lebanon, Tunisia and Morocco.

Local Egyptian reports mentioned on Monday 11 June the dreadful progress in the case of the Islamist parliamentarian whom police have accused of public indecency, as the girl in the case has been detained for four days under orders by the prosecutor. A report said that the prosecutor has also ordered a 'virginity test' on her to determine if she is a virgin or not. The news has caused an uproar among the rights community over the virginity tests, which brought back to mind the same tests that were forced upon female protesters in Tahrir Square in March 2011.

Gay Biafran activist Joshua Odeke was billed for forced deportation from the UK on 7June 2012.
He fled Nigeria due to his political activities there, namely his involvement with the non-violent Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), which campaigns openly for Igbo tribe freedom and an independent state. Joshua is deeply worried about returning to Nigeria because both his father and brother were killed by authorities because of their involvement with MASSOB.

Identity Kenya has reported that two gay men were attacked by a mob after they were caught having sex in Kayole estate late last month. The two men were beaten by the mob on the night of 27 May 2012 as they were caught in the act by passersby. One managed to escape while the other died after being stoned by a crowd of people.

Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to investigate reports of sexual assaults on women protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square, to counter the impression that no one will be punished. There has been a rise in violent attacks against women since demonstrators returned to the square 10 days ago to protest verdicts against toppled president Hosni Mubarak, his sons and security aides. Mubarak escaped a death sentence over deaths of protesters, and he and his sons were acquitted on corruption charges.

The 2012 Gender in Nigeria Report launched recently shows that gender inequality is at highly worrying levels. There is a lack of gender balance in the economy, education, politics, health, access to justice and almost all areas of human development. According to the report, 'Nigeria's 80.2 million women and girls have a significantly worse life chances than men and also their sisters in comparable societies; 60-79% of the rural workforce is women but men are five times more likely to own land. '

James Elangwe, 87, belongs to the Balues, the only clan in which inheritance passes through the female line. But this doesn't mean that women inherit. Instead, it means that when a man dies, the first son of the man's sister inherits. Elangwe says matrilineal inheritance puts women at a greater disadvantage than patrilineal inheritance because wealth leaves the immediate family. Elangwe's wife belongs to a tribe where inheritance passes from father to son in a patrilineal system. Women cannot inherit, but he says at least it stays within the immediate family if there is a son.

In the light of growing Turkish influence and the confusing pattern of conflicting interests and international gatherings, will Somalis receive the help and respect they so desperately need from the Istanbul II conference?

Ikhaya (Home) is a part of the Photo XP community project supported by Greatmore studios, co facilitated by Zanele Muholi and Lindeka Qampi. It is a collection of 60 hours of photographic memories that were taken in different areas of Khayelitsha. All of them are black lesbians between 21 and 31 years of age, from various places within and outside of Khayelitsha. So far 2012 PhotoXP has been exhibited at three (3) different events in May 2012. The first Ikhaya show was at Greatmore Studios on the 10th May, followed by Exuberance on the 12th May 2012 which was part of UCT GIPCA event. The recent, third show was during the OSISA: Money, Power & Sex conference on the 22-24 May 2012 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.

Hundreds of Moroccan women a day are resorting to backstreet abortions, a leading doctor has estimated, prompting calls for reform in a country where the termination of pregnancies remains illegal. Campaigners say some of those resorting to illegal abortion are the victims of rape, driven at least in part by the social stigma attached not just to having a child out of wedlock but even having suffered rape.

Since the end of apartheid in South Africa, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities have made unprecedented legal gains under the rubric of the bill of rights. The traditional courts bill threatens to undermine this security for millions of South Africans living in rural areas. The bill is the latest in a series of clumsy attempts to define, regularise and institutionalise the role of traditional leaders. In so doing, the bill undermines the protection afforded by constitutional civil rights.

The US Department of State’s 2011 Human Rights Report catalogues an ongoing range of abuses and discriminatory treatment directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people worldwide – starkly underscoring what Secretary Hillary Clinton has called '…one of the remaining human rights challenges of our time.' Speaking in Geneva last December, Secretary Clinton noted that, too often, LGBT people remain an 'invisible minority', members of which '…are arrested, beaten, terrorized, even executed…' while '…authorities empowered to protect them look the other way or, too often, even join in the abuse.'

Q-zine is a pan-African, bilingual (English/French), quarterly electronic magazine by, for and about sexual minority groups in Africa. The fifth issue of Q-zine is proud to showcase LGBTI and queer African innovators and creators who are making their visions a reality. Q-Zine is looking for young LGBTI and queer people in Africa and the Diaspora who are moving, shaking, setting trends and making a difference in their lives and in their communities.

Government should revise the Traditional Courts Bill, which activists argue is promoting patriarchal practices in rural areas and also discrimination against women. This article gives the example of The Rural Women’s Movement (RWM), a KwaZulu-Natal NGO, which has in the course of its work with more than 50,000 rural women extensively documented the harsh realities of rural lives under the unaccountable authority of traditional leaders and their institutions of power. 'In a district that cannot be named for fear of reprisal the traditional leader unilaterally controls community resources and access to land. In most instances, where there are projects that rural women have initiated without him, for example a sewing machines project, he tries to undermine the projects and threatens to remove the resources needed for the project.'

In an interview on the Panos website, a woman talks about learning from the radio that women’s rights violations are happening in the regions the rebels are occupying in the north. 'Since the cities of Timbuktu, Gao and Kidal have come under the rebels’ control many women and girls are reported to have been raped. The national radio station announced that in Gao some women died trying to give birth as the city’s hospital has been destroyed.'

While all eyes were focused on the presidential race, on the streets of Egypt, inch by inch, bit by bit, women's rights are shrinking. Women, Muslim and Christian, who do not cover their hair or who wear mid-sleeved clothing are met with insults, spitting and in some cases physical abuse. In the urban squatter settlement of Mouasset el Zakat, in Al Marg, Greater Cairo, women told a London Guardian reporter that they hated walking in the streets.

This fact sheet highlights the progress of rural women against key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators, pointing to some of the advancements made and gaps that still exist. It suggests that globally, and with only a few exceptions, rural women fare worse than rural men and urban women and men for every MDG indicator for which data are available.

The Economic Cost of Violence survey - the result of a collaboration between Karama and its economic realm in Egypt, which is led by the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE) - was released last month, stating that the total national cost of women’s exposure to violence exceeds 785 million Egyptian Pounds (LE) a year, over three billion LE over the last three years. Launched in 2010, the study aims to quantify the monetary cost of women’s exposure to violence as the basis of a campaign to prevent violence against women by demonstrating that the impact of violence goes beyond women and has implications for the nation as a whole.

The complex relationship between violence against women (VAW) and information and communication technologies (ICTs) is a critical area of engagement for women's rights activists. ICTs can be used as a tool to stop VAW, while VAW can be facilitated through the use of ICTS. However, few women's rights activists are working actively on this issue. Consequently, a political and legal framing of the intersection between these issues is not established in most countries.

Personal and social communication have changed substantially with the use of ICTs, social networks and text messages. ICTs create new scenarios, new ways for people to live and these reflect real-life problems. Issues of security, privacy, and surveillance are now part of the debate around ICT development. Women should assert their rights here too, with determination and without delay. Women may not have been an active part of ICT development when the conversation started, but the rapid pace of change online, means they need to participate now to ensure that the future of the internet is shaped taking into account women’s rights concerns, says this report.