Working in the field of violence against women has been quite a journey and experience for me, both empowering and at times very sad. Every year, Gender Links works in partnership with other organisations to provide survivors of gender violence with opportunities to tell their stories. Having participated in this project, I know that by telling their stories, survivors begin a healing process. I also know that each of these stories represent thousands more that never get told.

The ICC Prosecutor has issued a notice by which he informs victims of alleged crimes committed in Kenya during the post-election violence of 2007-2008 that he will request authorization from Pre-trial Chamber II to open an investigation into such alleged crimes, in accordance with Article 15(3) of the Rome Statute and Rule 50 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Our movement is under serious attack in Durban. Our comrades in Abahlali baseMjondolo in Durban have been attacked and had their homes destroyed by an armed ANC militia supported by the local police and politicians. We will be holding a protest against state repression at New Road, Maccassar Village, from 11:00 on Saturday 28 November 2009.

Burundian authorities should immediately retract an ordinance outlawing the Forum for the Strengthening of Civil Society (FORSC), an umbrella organization representing 146 Burundian civil society associations, said Amnesty International, the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, and Human Rights Watch in a joint statement.

"We must involve the bosses. We can not move without them. The bosses are our partners. Many of them are just victims of the system too. Most of the employers mean well. All we need to do is raise their awareness and they will be ok. We did a workshop with some of the most senior bosses last year, just one workshop.

In this week’s [mp3], South African domestic workers get wage increase, Mozambican unions decry paltry fine for workers’ deaths, and Zimbabwe’s unions demand parliamentary inquiry into worker shootings. This bulletin is part of a partnership between Worker’s World Media Productions and Pambazuka News that seeks to highlight labour issues affecting Africa’s workers.

Mooshoo*: “intoni ingxaki?” That is what the taxi driver said to me after he had repeatedly spoken to me in Xhosa since I had first hopped into the taxi. I usually just ignore them. I say where I am going, give them the correct change and keep quiet. But this time, there was no chance of that happening.

The Poverty and Economic Policy (PEP) research network announces a call for proposals for its 2010 competition for research grants with a total vlaue of up to $CAN 50,000 each.

Thandeka*: I was fourteen when I was first raped. The perpetrator was in his early thirties. My friend and I were walking to the shop to buy bread when a man came out of the long grass. He showed us a gun and told us to do what ever he said or else...so we did. My friend and I went with him. He then started to ask us questions about sex.

What do you think of when you see a butterfly? Beautiful colours! Freedom after the struggle to break out of a cocoon! The sky is the limit! Reaching up; reaching out! These were just a few of the answers given by survivors of gender violence who over the last five years have come out to tell their stories. Gathered together at a workshop convened by Gender Links (GL) ahead of the Sixteen Days of Activism on Gender Violence from 25 November (International Day of No Violence Against Women) to 10 December (Human Rights Day), the women took some time to pause to recall what speaking out has meant to them.

Join the editors of Pambazuka News, an award-winning online platform for social justice in Africa based in Oxford, Dakar, Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro, for a discussion on using the web to facilitate and transform activism and citizen journalism across the continent. Firoze Manji, Tidiane Kassé, Joshua Ogada and Alyxandra Gomes will share their experiences of electronic activism in Lusophone, Francophone and Anglophone Africa with the Oxford Internet Institute's Dr Mark Graham on Tuesday 1 December.

Following the completion of the Democratic Governance Civil Society Week (DG–CSW) in Kisumu, Western Province, Kenya, Zaya Yeebo rounds up the discussions and highlights the increasingly recognised need for civil society to demand the same accountability of itself that it does of the country's government.

In this week’s [mp3], Botswana's Debswana dispute goes to mediation, Swaziland Democracy NOW! Campaign to be launched, and Togo hosts conference of precarious work. This bulletin is part of a partnership between Worker’s World Media Productions and Pambazuka News that seeks to highlight labour issues affecting Africa’s workers.

Latest analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has revealed that for the week of 30 October 2009 to 5 November 2009, a whopping 82 percent of the national broadcaster, the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC)’s election campaign news coverage was devoted to the ruling South West Africa People’s Organization (SWAPO) rallies, while the next highest party coverage was a mere four percent.

In an act of solidarity with Ugandan lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) activists and human rights defenders, a gathering was held yesterday, 17 November, in Pretoria, at the Ugandan Embassy, to protest against the Anti Homosexuality bill. Fikile Vilakazi from the Coalition of African Lesbians gave a synopsis of the bill in front of a large number of activists who were chanting outside the embassy in opposition to the bill.

After their 6th inconclusive bail hearing, it is now abundantly clear that the legal process for the Kennedy 13 is a complete travesty of justice. They are scheduled to appear again on the 27th November. By that time, some of accused will have been in prison for 2 months without trial - two months in prison without any evidence being presented to a court and without a decision on bail. This is a moral and legal outrage that amounts to detention without trial by means of delay.

Cases of sexual harassment, at for instance a workplace, usually boil down to “he says, she says.” Yet the biggest challenge with sexual harassment is not just proving that it happens, but that more often than not it is quite subtle. During 16 Days of Activism, we need to recognise that gender violence and abuse come in many forms.

Will society accept me with a disfigured face like I have now? Will I ever walk up the streets out there to go to school after what this cruel man has done to me? I feel I have nothing left to be proud of and I have lost the biggest purpose of my life - completing school. I had hoped one day to have a house of my own and to be like many other women, educated and working.

Marriage brings happiness to some, but for me it was a nightmare for twenty-five years. I stayed in an abusive marriage, enduring it, always hoping that what did not work out today, would tomorrow. It was my son’s sickness that ended it: a son who had been a breadwinner for my husband and me. Because it ended, I found happiness. Let me explain.

It's 12 midnight, as I lay awake beside him. My head is filled with confusion as I weigh the options for the next course of action to take. I am struggling to sleep and worse still, I cannot stand seeing his face. Part of me is telling me to stab him and end all the misery that he is causing me, but the other side is warning me not to.