Ethiopian migrants, stranded in Yemen, are being flown home by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the last flight scheduled for Tuesday in an effort to help the Ethiopians leave what has become an abusive situation. According to an IOM statement, the first chartered flights occurred last week and carried over 600 migrants back to their home country in order to remove them from what officials said was riddled with human rights and human trafficking violations.

The practice of men marrying underage girls - which has been an accepted social norm for centuries but has been linked in recent years to the spread of HIV - was recently declared illegal in Swaziland. Known in SiSwati as ‘kwendizisa’, the marriage of an adult man to an underage girl was considered a legal 'grey area' prior to the promulgation of the Children’s Protection and Welfare Act of 2012. According to the 2005 Swaziland constitution, some customary practices are allowed unless they conflict with constitutional clauses.

Activists attending the public hearings on the controversial Traditional Courts Bill in Parliament were shocked when women were told debate and comment on the Bill were not welcome. A number of civil society organisations and rural women have travelled to participate in the public hearings on the Bill which has been widely criticised for entrenching gender inequality and possibly subjecting millions of rural South Africans to a ‘second class’ justice system. It is feared that the Bill, which is before Parliament’s Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development, in its current form gives patriarchal traditional courts enormous power to undermine the Constitutional rights of women and children.

Violence against women and girls and the indiscriminate extraction of natural resources are among the most pressing issues that indigenous peoples face today, a United Nations human rights expert said. 'A recurring issue that has come to my attention in various contexts is that of violence against indigenous women and girls,' said the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, in his statement to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. In the past year, Anaya has collaborated with various countries, UN agencies and indigenous peoples in several studies and country assessments on the challenges indigenous peoples face on a daily basis. He has also made recommendations to states of good practices and responded to cases of alleged human rights violations.

SOAWR welcomes Congo’s and Guinea’s ratification of the Protocol and acknowledges this as a huge step that will facilitate achievement of economic growth and development

The authorities in Uganda have charged a British theatre producer, David Cecil, for staging a play about the condition of gay people in the country. He appeared in court accused of 'disobeying lawful orders', because the play 'The River and the Mountain' was performed without authorisation. Mr Cecil was denied bail. He faces two years in jail if convicted.

Positive and decisive acts are required to ensure effective promotion of gender equality in the composition of judges of the African Court.

A six-day course designed to help journalists fine-tune their skills and enhance their coverage of women’s issues, opinions and empowerment will take place in Barcelona, Spain in November. Participants will attend four days of classes and then have two days of the News Xchange conference.

Women activists challenging the fundamental structures of their communities and calling for new terms of peaceful coexistence among the Sudanese people are facing prosecution, sexual violence and harsh punishment by security forces.

Ethiopia’s rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has accused the Ethiopian military of committing a massacre against predominantly women and children in the Wardher region on 6 September. At least 13 people have been confirmed dead. The ONLF said in a statement that the killings targeted family members of ONLF rebels, including the Guuleed family.

Barrenness is a delicate subject in Uganda, where the stigma attached to women who cannot bear children is strong. These women are called 'barren' or 'infertile', with some forced to leave their matrimonial homes or left by their husbands. Many turn to gynecologists, traditional healers and religious leaders for help. Medical experts say that there are 3.5 million cases of infertility in Uganda, making it a part of the 'African Infertility Belt'.

On 5 September 2012, AFRA-Kenya officially launched a documentary film that can easily be described as the first of its kind. The screening of 'I am Mary' was done at the Inter News offices, I & M towers in Nairobi. It is the story of Mary, a lesbian woman who volunteers with one of the GALCK member groups, Minority Women in Action (MWA) and an active participant in the fight for human rights for LGBTI persons in Kenya.

Irresponsible transfers of weaponry, munitions, armaments and related equipment across borders have resulted in the loss of millions of lives and livelihoods and the violation of fundamental human rights. In particular, the widespread availability of small arms and light weapons increases the risk to both men and women’s security, and impedes their enjoyment of their civil, political, social and economic rights in different ways. There is a gender dimension to the trade whereby women are disproportionately affected by armed gender-based violence.

Threats and violence against women journalists are on the rise in many regions of the world. In their work exposing injustices and bearing witness to human rights violations, women journalists are women human rights defenders and as such are in need of better security and protection mechanisms.

Disparities on land access are one of the major causes for social and gender inequalities in rural areas. Gender differentiated rights to land have implications on rural food security and nutrition as well as on the wellbeing of rural families and individuals. This online database from the Food and Agricultural Organisation explores the issue.

Mombasa Anglican Church of Kenya Bishop Julius Kalu has said gays are worse than terrorists and called for Christians to be ever vigilant. It is now emerging that the Bishop had 'asked for money from different gay groups' to assist in planning for a workshop where several Anglican priests and their wives were expected to attend.

Contributors from the African continent and other developing countries are invited to write on the topic above – addressing the theme of Gender and - from either a research or an activism perspective. Abstracts and contributions must be written in English and in a style accessible to a wide audience. Please submit abstracts to [email][email protected]

This case study from Oxfam on the uprising in Egypt says that the revolution gave women a sense of freedom and empowerment, and seemed like the perfect opportunity to claim their rights. However, while many groups, including women, overcame their fear to speak out against violations of their basic rights, the change in power relations threatened to ignore women’s rights or even reverse gains that were won in the past.

Every day in international development organisations feminist bureaucrats make use of strategy, tactics, wisdom and skill to act for their principles. This Institute of Development Studies paper explores the challenges and opportunities for feminists working as women’s rights and gender equality specialists in international non-governmental development organisations, as analysed from an insider practitioner perspective.

This report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees states that while sexual violence against women and girls has also become a central protection concern in displacement contexts, sexual violence against men and boys is less understood or acknowledged. 'It is increasingly evident, nevertheless, that this is a recurrent protection concern in situations of conflict and displacement.'