Behind the headlines heralding potentially positive developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), women and girls continue to be at risk. Media outlets report the arrest of rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda and the possibility of peace openings, but the eastern region where women and girls have been savagely raped and mutilated remains traumatized.

INTERIGHTS defends and promotes human rights and freedoms worldwide through the use of international and comparative law. We achieve this through a range of activities designed to strengthen human rights jurisprudence and obtain redress for people whose rights have been violated. INTERIGHTS is pleased to announce a call for applications to lawyers who would like to participate in a forthcoming litigation surgery on women’s human rights. Applicants are required to submit cases involving women’s human rights violations.

The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), Global Rights, Interights and the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists have just concluded a groundbreaking four-day workshop on legal strategies for promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Africa. The meeting, the first-ever dialog between lawyers who have worked on litigation related to LGBT rights and African LGBT leaders, was held in Cape Town, South Africa and attended by 45 participants from 11 African countries— Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

WIBG, an open-access, peer-reviewed, online feminist journal, publishes and supports work from around the globe that analyzes and works to change the status and conditions of women in global households, prisons, and cities. We publish interdisciplinary analyses, creative expressions (including film and music), reports from the field, interviews, and artworks that are committed to feminist praxis, understood as analysis and action focusing on the empowerment of women.

This course aims at giving the students a thorough overview and understanding of international law instruments pertaining to migration movements and to migrant and refugee women and children in particular. The course will have a human rights focus. The course will be structured around an examination of two groups and their rights; women and children. No single international treaty governs migration and migrants' rights, but that does not mean that there is no "international migration law".

In February 2006, a thirteen year old schoolgirl, R.M., was raped by her teacher, Edson Hakasenke when she went to his house to collect her school papers upon his request. Mr. Hakasenke told her not to report the incident as she would be thrown out of school and he would lose his job. R.M. did not report the rape until several weeks later after she was treated for a sexually transmitted infection that she had contracted as a result of the rape. Her aunt/guardian filed a complaint with the headmaster. When confronted, Mr. Hakasenke claimed R.M. was his “girlfriend.”

Fraud, data piracy, seeking partners on the internet: women in Burkina Faso are as much victims as perpetrators. From Ouagadougou to Banfora via Bobo-Dioulasso, and from Ouahigouya to Dori, all towns with an internet connection are affected by this phenomenon. However, the fight against this crime is in the tentative stages, if not altogether non-existent. Legislation is still under development.

When Egypt's new parliament convenes in early February, some members will be proposing a law to strengthen penalties against sexual offenders by increasing jail time and fines. The bill will also put more pressure on police to crack down on perpetrators by calling on them to intervene when incidents occur and not to remain passive bystanders when women demand justice.

Laws against female genital mutilation are driving the practice underground and across borders, says UNIFEM. A study released in 2008 looked at the flow of girls traveling to be excised between Burkina Faso and its neighbours Mali, Niger, Ghana and Cote d’ Ivoire. Except Mali, all four countries in the study have laws against female genital mutilation (FGM), although enforcement varies widely.

A cosmopolitan mix of women from the corporate and humanitarian aid fields gathered in Geneva on Friday to discuss the empowerment of displaced woman through livelihoods. More than 30 people from around the world attended the half-day "Worlds of Women Coming Together" meeting, co-organized by the UN Refugee Agency and Women's International Networking. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, general secretary of the World YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association), gave the keynote address.

In the year in which the WSF joins with the population of the Pan-Amazon, we, women from different parts of the world gathered in Belém, reaffirm the contribution of indigenous women and women from all forest peoples as political subjects that enriches feminism in the framework of the cultural diversity of our societies and strengthens the feminist struggle against the patriarchal capitalist global system...

Government is to facilitate the processes aimed at strengthening the machineries dealing with matters of gender equality such as 50/50 representation in decision-making structures. Delivering the State of the Nation Address during a joint sitting in Parliament on Friday, President Kgalema Motlanthe said in the coming few months pending on the national and provincial elections, government will endeavour to complete that particular mandate.

The Open Society Institute works to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. Open societies are characterized by the rule of law; respect for human rights, minorities, and a diversity of opinions; democratically elected governments; market economies in which business and government are separate; and a civil society that helps keep government power in check. The OSI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender, Intersex (LGBTI) Rights Initiative, part of the Special Initiatives Program, will build off of OSI's vast network of programs and foundations to advance the human rights of LGBTI persons globally.

Women performing excisions in Burkina Faso are cutting babies instead of young girls to escape increased scrutiny, according to the government and organisations fighting female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). FGM/C has been outlawed in Burkina Faso since 1996 and is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and US$1500 in fines.

This collection provides a sampling of available Online Learning Tools with subject matter related to violence against women prevention and intervention. Materials included in this collection have four key components: they are 1) free, 2) available online, 3) interactive, and 4) self-guided. The resources listed here can be used for the purposes of staff development (by individuals), or as tools for trainers (in groups).

Ethiopian religious leaders have called on the country’s government to amend the constitution and ban homosexuality, a law which was never mentioned in the constitution of that country before. In a meeting held in December 2008 in Addis Ababa, where heads of various congregations including the Roman Catholic, Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant churches met, a resolution was made that seeks to end homosexuality which was branded as “the pinnacle of immorality.”

The lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex, (LGBTI) community in Nigeria is appalled by the recent approval of the drastic Same Gender Marriage Prohibition Bill by the House of Representatives, which aims to root out all forms of homosexual practices in that country. According to Reverend Jide Macaulay of the House of Rainbow Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) the Bill “is a continuing nuisance and avoidable evil that is terrorizing innocent same gender loving people.”

Pro-gay priest, Reverend John Makokha may face the axe from the United Methodist Church (UMC) following his positive stance on homosexuality, which is said to contravene the social principles of the UMC. Makokha confirmed this explaining that he is likely to be released from his duties during the next annual conference in April 2009 in Kampala.

Nobody shall suffer prejudice in his social life or his place of work because of his or her ethnic origin, religion, age, sexual orientation, political conviction or physical handicap. This is the challenge of Mauritius's new Equal Opportunities Act (EOA). In Mauritius, the Constitution guarantees everybody's rights. Yet, women, minorities and many other people suffer from discrimination in jobs, and other fields. This is done in such a way that they are difficult to be detected.

Married female medical doctors in Morocco continued their protest this week, with a sit-in that began Monday (January 26th) in front of the Health Ministry headquarters, against a policy that allows them to be assigned to jobs far away from their families. The demonstration – scheduled to run through Friday – also protests the ministry's non-payment of the doctors' salaries since last November.