When Mbuyiselo Botha decided to take the African National Congress League President, Julius Malema, to court for hate speech against women, he was confident from the start that the case had merit. But he also knew that this would be the most challenging test of his 15 years of gender activism.

What was supposed to be a joyous day turned into a nightmare for one family, when on Monday morning 1 February, Maria Lungu* arrived at Lusaka International Airport after a two-month long business trip in Asia. Joy turned to shock and disbelief when Lungu was caught and arrested for drug trafficking upon arrival, just meters away from her anxiously waiting husband, children and other family members.

Commemorating Freedom Day on 27 April, the Lesbian and Gay Equality Project (LGEP) will be hosting a “Freedom for all Rally” at the Eudy Simelane Memorial Park (Kwa – Thema), celebrating constitutional freedoms by remembering all victims of hate crimes and demanding full liberation in South Africa.

African and British human rights campaigners rallied outside the Commonwealth’s head quarters in London on Monday 22 March. They were protesting against the prosecution and imprisonment of the Malawian same-sex couple, Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, on charges of homosexuality, and against the Commonwealth’s failure to condemn their arrest and detention in Chichiri prison.

Rape victims will no longer need a case number before getting treatment at health institutions said Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi. Motsoaledi said when a rape victim arrives at a health institution, they won't be asked to produce a case number before being treated.

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has joined President Robert Mugabe in dismissing calls to enshrine gay rights in the new constitution. "I totally agree with the president," he said, state media report.

Africa Youth Trust, in partnership with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute invites applications for the third Training Program on The Equal Status and Human Rights of Women in East Africa (EAHUWO). The program is jointly being undertaken by Africa Youth Trust (Kenya) and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (Sweden) with sponsorship from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The first ever gender justice and local government summit closed in Johannesburg on 24 March 2010 with awards to five women and four men whose work on the ground won the highest accolades from judges and participants during presentations made earlier this week.

The summit featured 103 entries from ten countries in a variety of categories including prevention, response, support, individual innovation, institutional good practices, specific GBV campaigns and innovative communication strategies.
Under the banner “score a goal for gender equality, halve gender violence by 2015” the conference brought together journalists, local government authorities, municipalities, NGOs and representatives of ministries of gender and local government.

On the evening of 24 March 2010, Gender Links awarded nine winners and nine runners up awards at a colourful gala dinner that was held at the City of Johannesburg offices, Reception Room. Video footage documenting some of the grassroots initiatives were shown. Footage can be made available on request.

The judges also made their choice and a winner and three runners up were awarded. Annex A provides names of all the winners in the different categories.

Please see for full details of the awards and winners.

The Women’s Refugee Commission with support from the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration is conducting a participatory four-day national-level workshop on operationalizing protection into livelihood and household energy programs for displaced populations in Ethiopia. The workshop is aimed at staff from governments, donor agencies, and NGOs working in Ethiopia.

The United Nations has invited a newly established group of independent experts to advise on ways to better protect women in conflict situations, and to ensure that their voices are heard in peace processes and that they are included in post-conflict reconstruction and governance structures.

Communities across Southern Africa are fighting an uphill battle against gender violence. Among other challenges, economic inequalities, cultural attitudes, and media stereotypes all hamper turning the tide. However, looking at the approximately 200 participants from ten countries who took part in the first Southern Africa Local Government and Gender Justice Summit and Awards held in Johannesburg 22-24 March, it’s clear that making a difference is more than possible when individuals, communities, and governments put their heads and hands together.

The final verdict in the case of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga of Malawi, detained for performing a same-sex engagement ceremony, is expected to be on Monday 22 March 2010 and Amnesty International has urged people to send appeal letters of protest to the Malawian government opposing arrest and trial of the two men.

Constitutional rights of South Africa¡¯s gay people are facing an increasing threat from radical elements in the conservative sector, Christina Engela of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) said also stating that gays and lesbians still have a long way to go before they can be equal to heterosexuals in terms of human rights.

Mercy Gondwe, 51, from Rumphi in northern Malawi, was married for 34 years. When her husband died in 2008, she assumed she would inherit the land they had been cultivating together since they got married. But this was not the case.

For many Moroccan working women, the trade-off between home lives and jobs occurs at the expense of time and peace of mind. While women have acquired some freedom in the working environment, attitudes have not changed as regards the role of a woman within the family. The equality they seek has not yet been achieved on the domestic front.

The Inner Circle (TIC) will host the Annual International Retreat (AIR) aimed at challenging Muslim extremism as well as engaging the impact of this on gender and sexual minorities.

The Congolese conflict is considered the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, and the deadliest since World War II. Since 1998, more than six million people have died as a result of this war. Over two million people have been forced to flee their homes, and some 400,000 Congolese have sought refuge in neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been kidnapped, raped, and tortured.

Church leaders in Kenya are opposing a provision in a draft of a national constitution that includes emergency exceptions to the country's abortion ban. A recent study links the ban to the deaths of at least hundreds of women a year.

Cases of anxiety and depression, two leading mental health illnesses, are on the rise among women in some African countries, thanks to the current difficulties in the economy, gender roles and violence, writes Arthur Okwemba. Findings of study done at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi by the African Mental Health Foundation shows that 42% of adults and 41% of children who went to the facility were diagnosed with depression. This likely reflects what is happening in other African countries.

In celebration of International Women's Day, 8 March 2010, the Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) is launching its new website - The FTX is both a training initiative for women's rights advocates and a community of feminist and technology activists. The FTX was developed by the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) in response to calls from feminist and women's rights movements for greater understanding of emerging technologies, their potential and impact on the rights and lives of women.