Malawi's government should drop all criminal charges against a same-sex couple who are facing up to 14 years in prison, Human Rights Watch has said in a letter to high-level justice and home affairs officials.

Gambia's Assistant Superintendent of Police Yahya Fadera has declared there will be zero tolerance for gender-based violence, in particular rape and sexual assault against women and girls, warning that perpetrators will have no place to hide.

The Association of African Women for Research and Development (AAWORD/AFARD) is looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of the Gender and Economic Justice Program Manager for a fixed term contract. This position offers possibility of gaining experience working for a leading Africa women regional organization in a stimulating, multicultural and dynamic environment. This position will involve travel within Africa and other part of the world.

Since the onset of violence in Casamance back in 1982, the Senegalese government and the Movement of Democratic Forces in the Casamance (MFDC) have not been able to negotiate a lasting peace. Periods of relative calm have been regularly punctuated by violent flare-ups that lead to fresh negotiations. In recent months, the region has once again been plunged into violent conflict. The women of Casamance make this call for an immediate end to the violence.

An experience which Belita Simpokolwe went through in December last year remains deeply etched in her memory. "Sometimes I fail to concentrate in class when these things come back to my mind," laments 13-year-old Simpokolwe, a grade six pupil at Kawale Primary School, in the northern Malawi district of Chitipa.

This publication from WIDE reviews the current debates about development, as well as the background for this new aid architecture, and analyses the international frameworks for financing for development and women rights, as well as governments´ commitments for resources. It also summarises and analyses all the contributions to the aid effectiveness agenda from a gender perspective.

The President of Cote d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo has signed a pardon decree to free about 100 female prisoners in the West African country.

Three human rights workers involved in the defense of the famous Malawi gay couple have been arrested, according to a release from the UK-based Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) equality group, OutRage! The couple are in police custody and face a maximum imprisonment of 14 years.

January marks the fifth anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which ended a bitter north-south civil war in Sudan. With important elections scheduled for April, women are debating and fighting for an expanded role in the new institutions of government.

A Ugandan government minister has said that a proposed law which includes the death penalty for some homosexual acts is "not necessary".

On the 29th of December 2009 a lesbian woman and human rights activist, Thuli Rudd, also known as Thulani, was arrested on her way back home in Swaziland at the border from South Africa. She was charged with the murder of her partner, the late Pitseng Vilakati whose body had been found on Tuesday the 22nd of December 2009.

The International Criminal Law Review invites submissions for its 2010 special issue entitled “Women and International Criminal Law,” to be guest-edited by Diane Marie Amann, University of California, Davis, School of Law; Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Temple University Beasley School of Law; and Beth Van Schaack, University of Santa Clara School of Law.

Gender Links, a Southern African NGO based in Johannesburg specialising in gender, media, women’s rights and governance, seeks the services of an experienced individual to serve as a field officer for its gender justice and local government programme in South Africa. The main task of the incumbent, who will be based in Johannesburg, will be to work with local councils, partners and stakeholders to develop gender and gender violence (GBV) action plans for local councils as well as providing backstopping and support to these councils.

Gender Links, a dynamic Southern African NGO based in Johannesburg that promotes gender equality in and through the media, seeks to fill the post of Gender and Media Programme Manager on an initial two year contract basis. All applications must be received by close of business on Friday 15 January 2009. Late applications will not be considered. Candidates from within the SADC region are welcome to apply. GL is an equal opportunity employer.

Uganda is making global headlines again, this time with a proposed law to execute citizens found guilty of ‘aggravated homosexuality.’Nick young explores the broader gender implications.

Just as we should deplore the role of religious extremism in terrorist acts, we must reject extremist intolerance and antipathy towards sexual minorities, argues Audrey Mbugua. Rather than 'surrender your brain' to hate-mongering religious leaders and misplaced fear, Mbugua stresses, we must focus on promoting peace and understanding.

Annual campaign ‘16 Days of Violence Against Women’ has raised the profile of violence against women through Tanzania’s local media, Salma Maoulidi writes in this week’s Pambazuka News, but there’s no guarantee that greater visibility of the issues will change attitudes and spark political to stop violence against women. Raising alarm over the ‘intolerable multi-dimensional culture of violence’ that women experience, Maoulidi makes a series of sixteen demands ‘to underscore fundamentals in changing an ideology and deeply seated culture of violence against women’.

It was not the three days of labour that caused Fatimata Guido the most pain, her urine-stained sheets or the five operations she has had to repair an obstetric fistula. “It is the fear of having sex again, since that is what got me into this situation in the first place.”

Early this year, about six writers from Uganda Women Writers’ Association (FEMRITE) armed themselves with notebooks, tape recorders and cameras to record women’s voices in Kapchorwa where female genital mutilation (FGM) is practiced. Two Ethiopian women stories were also recorded in the collection. The product of women experiences is a book; Beyond the Dance, which captures the details and engages readers in the personal stories, personalizes FGM and imparts that this practice must end now.

As the 2010 Soccer World Cup approaches, expected to bring an influx of gay tourists to South Africa, Health4Men, a health centre for men who have sex with men (MSM) in Soweto has urged entertainment venues in all cities to promote responsible sex among gay men. Themed Responsible Sex Promotion by Gay Venues, this initiative is targeting night clubs, bars, taverns, guest houses and sex venues, making available free condoms, lubricant sachets, fact sheets, posters and public health notices.