The newspaper headline signaled the tragedy. This story gave an elaborate and compassionate account of how 41-year-old Linda Kabengele committed suicide after her community continually stigmatised her due to her HIV-status. Her charred body was found still smoldering, as she lay dead near a tavern. Next to her was a photograph of her child, her handbag and some anti-retrovirals. There were tut tuts followed by sympathetic noises from the public.

Keith Goddard, champion for the struggle for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people's rights in Zimbabwe, passed away on 10 October, Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) has announced.

Despite its six million inhabitants, Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is far from a city where one can live openly and express their sexual orientation. On this day everywhere in Africa, homosexuality is considered an abomination and a way of relating imported ideas from the West. Just walk the streets of this vast city to understand how difficult it is to receive a same-sex partner. Moreover, within the family, the pressure is often so strong that the paper of a homosexual is like an ordeal.

LGBTI activists and human rights defenders have spoken against homophobic attacks by Zehir Omar, amongst others, aimed at High Court Judge Kathy Satchwell doubting her competence to be a Constitutional Court Judge because of her sexual orientation.

The rate of HIV infection among pregnant women in South Africa has remained stubbornly high at around 29 percent for the third year running, according to government figures released on 5 October. The 2008 National Antenatal HIV and Syphilis Prevalence Survey - based on blood samples from 34,000 pregnant women who attended antenatal clinics in 52 health districts - measured HIV prevalence at 29.3 percent, compared to 29.4 percent in 2007 and 29.0 percent in 2006.

ILGA is deeply worried and outraged by UN Assembly new President Ali Abdussalam Treki's failure to consider the protection of the life and safety of lesbians, gay men, trans, intersex and bisexual people all over the world a matter of human rights. In an interview prior to his first address to the UN Assembly in his new role, Mr Treki declared himself to be “not in favour at all” with reference to the Statement in favour of the decriminalisation of homosexuality signed by 66 Countries and read by the Argentinian representative last December at the General Assembly in New York.

UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, will sponsor a special event on 12 October to open a major exhibition on violence against women around the world. The show, to be attended by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, other senior United Nations officials and representative of the diplomatic community, is also intended to observe the 15th anniversary of the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), and will follow a full-day session of the General Assembly commemorating the anniversary.

African Women Condemn Use of Force on Unarmed Civilian in Guinea African Women leaders meeting in Lome, Togo at a Women’s Leadership Conference convened by the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) in collaboration with ROFAF condemns in the strongest terms the use of excessive force on unarmed and peaceful demonstrators in Conakry, the capital of Guinea that has resulted in the death of at least 157 persons and injuring over 1,200 people since Monday 28th September 2009.

On September 30, 2009, the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that addresses the need to end sexual violence against women in conflict-affected countries. Introduced by the US government, at a session chaired by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the resolution builds on SCRs 1325 and 1820, both of which were instrumental in raising the issue of sexual violence on the Security Council’s agenda.

The Equal Status and Human Rights of Women in East Africa (EAHUWO) is an East African based program that seeks to improve the knowledge of international human rights standards, in particular those related to equality and non-discrimination among professionals working with the human rights of women in order to contribute to the enhancement of gender equality throughout the East African Region.

The International Day of Rural Women directs attention to both the contribution that women make in rural areas, and the many challenges that they face. Women play a critical role in the rural economies of both developed and developing countries. In most parts of the developing world they participate in crop production and livestock care, provide food, water and fuel for their families, and engage in off-farm activities to diversify the family income.

In the wake of Guinea's bloody repression, CONAG-DCF (National Coalition of Guinea for the Rights and Citizenship of Women) condemns the violence and the atrocious abuse suffered by the country's women.

On behalf of the Inter African Committee on Traditional practices Affecting the Health of Women and Girls as well as the members of the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, I would like to congratulate the President on his appointment, as well as wish him a successful tenure. We would also like to take this opportunity to commend the Council for holding this annual discussion on the integration of gender into its work of promotion and protection all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

New York University Wagner announces a call for applications for the African Women Public Service Fellowship, a fellowship program made possible by a donation from the Oprah Winfrey Foundation, which expands the opportunity for African women to prepare for public service in their home countries. As fellows at NYU Wagner, African women study in one of two graduate programs: the two-year Master of Public Administration or the one-year Executive MPA: Concentration on International Public Service Organizations.

The Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) Fellowship Program was founded in 1993 at the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., in order to train women's human rights lawyers from Africa who are committed to returning home to their countries in order to advance the status of women and girls in their own countries throughout their careers. Over 50 women's human rights advocates from Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe have participated in the LAWA Program. The application deadline for the LAWA Program, is Wednesday, September 30, 2009.

Google Inc.’s recent restrictions on ads for abortion services in fifteen countries raises questions about the influence of search engine provider policies on freedom of information. In withholding access to this kind of information, are women’s rights being violated?

A film, set to be released on the 7 April 2010, has brought the topic of homosexuality back in the agenda in Tunisia. The first feature film by Tunisia’s Mehdi ben Attia titled “Le Fil”, tackles the issue of homosexuality between men within a male chauvinistic society where men are supposed to be men and ancient traditions still rule. Entirely shot in Tunisia, “Le Fil” was presented under the Tunisian National Selection, during the Festival du Film Francophone d’Angouleme (South West of France), on 26 to the 30 August 2009.

Over 4,000 people gathered in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on Tuesday to attend the launch of Amnesty International's campaign to end maternal mortality in the country. Amnesty International's Secretary General, Irene Khan, told the assembled crow that having a baby should be a very happy occasion, “but, in so many houses it becomes a very sad occasion.

Gay activists in South Africa have welcomed the life sentence handed down to a man for the killing and gang rape of lesbian football star Eudy Simelane. Ms Simelane was one of the first women to live openly as a lesbian in KwaThema township near Johannesburg.

Hundreds of serious cases of violence against women were recorded in Mauritania between 2007 and 2009, the Chairperson of the Association to fight Against Dependence (ALCD-RIHAB), Mrs. Fatimetou Mint Ahmed Jiddou, has disclosed.