Despite Sudan being a signatory to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, its discriminatory laws against women contradict the declared government commitment to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed on 9 January 2005 and the National Interim Constitution. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - which Sudan acceded in 1986 - prohibits torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment such as flogging and protects women's rights to be free from discrimination based on sex.

On the occasion of African Women’s Day, the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and Media Rights Agenda wish to draw the attention of the Nigerian authorities to the urgent need to address the situation of women and girls victims of gender-based violence and discrimination, in particular sexual abuse.

In early July, Rwandan officials announced a new programme that aims to strengthen women's economic capacity by providing more access to credit and enabling them to start income generating projects. Rwanda's central bank has been given the responsibility of identifying beneficiaries - the sole criteria being that the projects should be aimed at women's empowerment.

The new Moroccan family law was designed to give women equal rights in the family. But five years after its introduction, Moroccan women leaders say opposition to the law from politicians and within the judicial system persists, and the new law has not been able to change Moroccan mentality. King Mohammed VI adopted the law, the Mudawana, in January 2004. Under the new law, a woman can ask for divorce without her husband's approval. And where men could earlier repudiate their wife arbitrarily, divorce is now made conditional on a decision by the court.

An April 2009 law that criminalizes homosexual conduct threatens to exacerbate the deplorable treatment of gays and lesbians in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said in a newly publishedmultimedia project. The project, "Forbidden: Institutionalizing Discrimination against Gays and Lesbians in Burundi," consists of printed and online narratives, photos, and voice-recorded testimonies of Burundian gays and lesbians that bring to life the daily struggles faced by the small lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Burundi.

Tanzania has launched a bank aimed specifically at women in what officials say will be an empowering move. The bank says women need only an ID card or passport to open an account, unlike other banks which require title deeds or other proofs of wealth.

If violence is not natural, and not ingrained in our genetic makeup then the question is, what the root of violence is (violence, which is gender based). Gary Barker has done lot of research in this area and he has an answer. He is associated with International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) as Director, Gender, Violence and Rights. He strongly advocates for the engagement of men in ending gender-based violence (GBV).

The Mozambican parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, has passed the second and final reading of a bill on domestic violence against women, but with a clause tacked onto the end to placate the howls of rage from some male quarters that the bill was "unconstitutional" because it "discriminated against men". Some of the press has waged a relentless campaign against the bill. The private TV channel, STV, and the daily paper "O Pais", owned by the same company, have been particularly insistent that the bill violates the constitutional clause on equality between the sexes, and should be "more inclusive".

On 29 to 30 July 2009 Khumbulane Magagula, Johannes Mahlangu and Themba Mvubu will reappear at the Delmas Circuit Court on the charges of robbery with aggravating circumstance, rape and murder of lesbian soccer player Eudy Simelane, whose body was discovered with multiple stab wounds on 28 April 2008 in Kwa-Thema, Ekurhuleni. The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project together with partner organisations plan to have hundreds of activist and supporters from Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg and Delmas picketing outside and following the proceedings inside the Court.

We the Kiamaiko Bunge la Mwananchi women social movement on this 16th day of July having examined the numerous contradictions imposed on the average Kenyan women the imposed poverty, under development and deprivation of Kiamaiko and women around the country; bearing in the mind that the rising food and other commodities prices are the direct result of increased Grand coalition government aggression against oppressed Mwananchi.

The Swaziland cabinet has endorsed a harsh law imposing fine of E50, 000 ($6, 500) for persons convicted of perpetrating domestic violence. The proposed legislation, Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of 2009 which is yet to be tabled in parliament, further says should the convict fail to pay the fine, they should faces up to 10 years in jail.

As health institutions are stepping up to fight HIV prevalence among the gay community Women who have Sex with Women (WSW) seem to be shut out. This is a group which, according to Nomvuyo Dlamini of Durban Lesbian and Gay Community and Health Care Centre, is less researched but also faces sexual health problems. Dlamini says the WSW are generally not regarded as being at a high risk of HIV “but they are.”

In April 2009 the international NGO Transgender Europe (TGEU) in cooperation with the multilingual Online-Magazine “Liminalis - A Journal for Sex/Gender Emancipation and Resistance” started a new project, the Trans Murder Monitoring Project, which focuses on systematically reporting murdered trans people on a worldwide scale.

Trial to the murder of Eudy Simelane is resuming at Delmas Circuit Court on 29 – 31 July 2009. This time only three of the four accused, who pleaded not guilty, will appear in court as one of the accused who pleaded guilty is already serving a 31 years sentence. The remaining co-accused Khumbulani Magagula, Johannes Mahlangu and Themba Mvubu are facing charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, rape and murder.

In December 2008, a group of young women staged a protest against the common practice of fattening women before marriage, intended to make them more attractive in the eyes of men. The protest did not immediately result in the end of the practice, but it was a landmark event showing a new assertiveness among Mauritanian women in a society where men use tradition and sharia law to maintain their dominance.

A year ago, a mother in Kashari County took the law into her own hands and castrated a man she caught raping her seven-year-old daughter. Malita Kyomugisha returned from her farm and found her neighbor Tito Mugarura sexually assaulting her youngest daughter behind her house in Rugyerera village.

A landmark meeting in New York, co-organized by the UN refugee agency, has given important impetus to efforts to eradicate discrimination against forcibly displaced and stateless females, including rape, domestic violence and other abuses.

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is a global source of support for country and local-level action to end violence against women and girls established by the General Assembly. Due to the global economic and financial crisis, the Fund is facing a dramatic shortfall in donor contributions.

The Zimbabwe Women Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) is seeking a competent, experienced and self motivated individual for the position of Receptionist/Secretary. ZWRCN is an information-based organization with a focus on research, collection, analysis, processing and dissemination of information on gender and development. The organization’s strategic interventions aim to empower women, strengthen inter-organizational networking of gender and development agencies and promote the women’s movement in Zimbabwe.

While pressure mounts for the Zimbabwean government to draft an inclusive constitution, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community in that country remains uncertain about its future in the newly formed government of national unity. Following a public statement earlier this year that called for the drafting of the new constitution to be a people driven process, it now appears that the government is willing to engage.