The current rate of domestic violence in our community, has at long last hit ‘Talk Back’, a prime radio talk show on a prime FM radio station called Radio One. Radio One, is an FM radio station that largely targets people in Kampala. ‘Talk Back ’, is broadcast every morning from around 8.15 to 8.45 am. Most of the topics discussed on ‘Talk Back’, are a continuation of what transpired on the previous evening’s radio talk show called ‘Spectrum’. Both Spectrum and Talk Back capture the elite in Kampala.

The jailing in Senegal of nine gay men for eight years over "indecent conduct and unnatural acts" has been condemned by an international gay rights group. Homosexual acts are illegal in Senegal but the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) told the BBC it was "shocked by the ruling".

Mali's National Programme to fight Female Circumcision (PNLE) plans to reduce the practice from 85% to 65% by 2012, PANA reported Thursday. The plan resulted from an action plan that evolved from a workshop that involved the Malian technical services, the civil society organisations as well as technical and financial partners.

At least 20 families, mostly women and children, have been evicted from their homes in Wes Bank, Delft. As has routinely been the case in other sections of Delft, the evictions were carried out under police intimidation and a heavy police presence.

The Lesbian and Gay Equality Project has been following the case into murder of Eudy Simelane (31), a former Banyana-Banyana soccer player, and an out lesbian, whose body was found stabbed and mutilated in an open field in Tornado - one of the sections in the Kwa-Thema township - on the 28 April 2008. The LGEP is mobilizing at least 120 people from the East Rand to 'camp' for three days in Delmas (Mpumalanga) for the duration of the trial

cc. On the 18th of December, 2008, a Statement on Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity with the backing of 66 states including six African countries, was read at the General Assembly. The statement reaffirmed “the principle of the universality of human rights amongst other things. But a counter-statement arguing against the statement supported by 60 states including a multitude of African countries.

In this essay that shows the discrepancy between universal human rights and their selective application, Lawrence M. Mute asks: Why did the whole of Anglophone Africa decline to support the Statement? Why did such little empathy flow from many discriminated groups to LGBTI communities? Why would many a group discriminated on grounds of race, disability or gender still find it rational to perpetuate discrimination on homosexuals or lesbians?

In September this year, my cousin Norman died of an HIV related infection. It was very wrong, not too surprising and painful news. Wrong because we live in the era of ARVs and no one need die of HIV related infections. Not surprising, because if you are living with HIV in Zimbabwe where there is an absolute collapse of the health system death is highly likely. Public hospitals are closed, no medicines, private health care and medication too expensive, and besides you need over 200 days of daily queuing for cash to get a 30 day supply of ARVs. Painful, because I hadn’t spoken to him for months and the last time I spoke to him I was so angry with him and my anger had not yet subsided. Angry with him, because firstly I discover he is HIV positive. How can Norman, in his early 30s, well educated, intelligent and a switched on guy be HIV positive? He knew how you get it and how you can prevent yourself from getting it? Where did he slip up? How could he be so stupid!!?

Thanks to Carlyn Hambuba for her article It does shed light on what is currently happening. However, at times I think that we need radical innovative strategies in order to be able to end the suffering of women in the DRC and especially in the country’s eastern side. Women have experienced 'all' forms of violence – being raped in the presence of family, seeing their own daughters/sons/husbands being raped, or simply being killed and left to die! Women and girls have been raped many times (some have lost count) and yet the perpetrators remain free! This situation must be handled differently and as a matter of urgency!

Margaret Sichei*, 37, discovered she was HIV positive during a routine antenatal check-up. The pregnancy, as well as the HIV infection, was the product of a gang rape deep in the forests of Mount Elgon in western Kenya, perpetrated by members of a self-styled militia calling themselves the Sabaot Land Defence Force (SDLF).

By now Ester, a 51-year-old grandmother of six, has grown tired of the people who come to scribble notes about what happened to her on the evening of Jan. 30. On that date, men kicked in her door and beat her and her sister down to the ground, tore away their clothes, and raped them. That, she says, is how she became infected with HIV.

Morocco has retracted its reservations on the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), King Mohammed VI announced during a speech on Wednesday (December 10th), the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Tunisian Association of Democratic Women (ATFD) defined three main goals during its last conference in October, said new president Sanaa Benachour: addressing the deteriorating economic condition of women in Tunisia, promoting equality and confronting religious extremism.

Zimbabwean feminists will caucus with women activists from the SADC region to break through the Zimbabwean political impasse and begin the implementation of the Global Political Agreement (GPA). In their meeting with SADC facilitator Thabo Mbeki, at 4pm, they will hand over their resolutions, with actions to move the current Zimbabwean question forward.

A recent study by the Egyptian Center for Women's Rights found that 83% of Egyptian women and 98% of foreign women experience public sexual harassment in this country dependent on Western tourists, including explicit comments, groping, men exposing themselves and assault. Nearly 97% of Egyptian women and 87% of foreigners do not alert police. But human rights activists believe that the extensive news coverage of Saleh's case may inspire more women to file complaints.

With a focus on Ethiopia, this paper identifies and analyses the types, prevalence, major causes and effects of violence against girls in schools. It also aims to assess the availability and effectiveness of policies, rules and regulations and concludes with recommendations on ways to reduce violence against school girls. Despite the legal provisions and efforts to reduce and eliminate violence against children, particularly girls, violence and abuse seem to be widespread in Ethiopia - taking place at home, in schools, and in the community at large.

In response to Network member’s requests, a one stop shop for GBV Prevention information has been created! The Network’s new website features an online library with the most current GBV prevention resources and program innovations in the Horn, East and Southern Africa. Also the website connects members who will be involved in lively online discussions, be able to post their experiences, stories and events.

Following the resignation of Mr. Pierre Thizier Seya from the position of ERNWACA Regional Coordinator, the Board of Directors has appointed Prof. Djénéba Traoré as next ERNWACA Regional Coordinator for a renewable 3-year term, starting from April 1, 2009. Mireille Massouka will be the acting Regional Coordinator until the new Regional Coordinator takes over.

AIDS is affecting women and girls in increasing numbers: globally women comprise almost 50% of people living with HIV. Nearly 25 years into the epidemic, gender inequality and the low status of women remain two of the principal drivers of HIV. Yet current AIDS responses do not, on the whole, tackle the social, cultural and economic factors that put women at risk of HIV, and that unduly burden them with the epidemic’s consequences.

The murder trial of Zoliswa Nkonyana was finally heard last Friday at the Khayelitsha Regional Court following an array of postponements. The trial began last week Friday, 5 December, three years after the brutal murder of this Khyelitsha lesbian, killed because of her sexual orientation. Phindiswa Magxala, a witness who was present on the day of Nkonyana’s murder, told the court how, on 4 February 2006, they were attacked by more than 14 people, four of whom were women, in front of Nkonyana’s step father Gcinumuzi Madondo just meters away from her home.

South Africans are still prejudiced about homosexuals despite having some of the most progressive legislation in the world, with 80% of the population believing that sex between lesbians or gay men is wrong, according to a study commissioned by the Human Sciences Research Council. This is in line with another comparative study, which examined the attitudes of 40 countries to homosexuality, according to researchers Benjamin Roberts and Prof Vasu Reddy.