Women candidates in Kenyan elections endure abuse and attacks

Reuters Liz Njue, a Kenyan psychologist who wanted to stand for a county assembly seat, had just arrived to vote in her party primary when opponents attacked her, pulling her hair and tearing her blouse. She fled without casting her ballot and lost the race. Njue is one of dozens of female candidates who have […]
East Africa: Beyond the Tokenism Women’s Political Participation in the Greater Horn of Africa is at a Dangerous Impasse

We as the women’s rights activists of the We Cannot Wait Consortium* are in mourning after the loss of MP Amina Mohamed Abdi who was killed along with 47 others in a suicide bomb attack in Beledweyn. Amina was a member of the Union for Peace and Development Party and an MP on the committee […]
Fighting Abuse of Women In Western Cape Farmlands

In part one of a four-part series on gender-based violence and grassroots activism, we look at an anti-GBV community-response team in the small Western Cape town of Klapmuts. It is a tall order for an organisation with no funding to provide protection and safety for female victims of gender-based violence (GBV) 24 hours a day. […]
Afghan Government Backtracks Over Ban On Schoolgirls Singing In Public

Afghanistan’s government has backtracked on an attempt to ban schoolgirls over the age of 12 from reciting poems or singing at public events, following public outcry and criticism from cultural figures and rights campaigners. Days after critics said a directive sent to schools in the capital marked a backwards step on girls’ rights, the Education […]
Feminist Movements Continue to Battle Culture of Impunity in Egypt

Ten years ago on this day, January 25, one of the biggest revolutions in the world took place in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, as protestors poured into the streets chanting slogans of “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice”, demanding one of the region’s longest-serving and autocratic President Hosni Mubarak to step down. Three weeks later, on February […]
EU Delegation Visits Zamzam Camp For Displaced In North Darfur

A high-level delegation from the European Union headed by High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission (HRVP) Josep Borrell, visited El Fasher, capital of North Darfur, and nearby Zamzam camp for the displaced yesterday. Community leader Adam Ishag told Radio Dabanga from Zamzam camp that the EU official […]
Pope Denounces ‘Torture, Slavery’ In Libyan Migrant Camps

Pope Francis called for the closing of migrant detention camps in Libya on Thursday, saying they were rife with torture and slavery. Francis, who has made defence of migrants and refugees a key part of his pontificate, made his comments into a group of refugees, including women and children, brought to Italy by the […]
Explainer : Important Things To Know About Ekiti Gender-Based Violence (Prohibition) Law, 2019

Last week, a report by Constitutional Rights Awareness and Liberty Initiative adjudged Ekiti state as the most human rights-friendly state in the western part of Nigeria in commemoration of this year’s International Human Rights Day in Lagos. Ekiti state came first in the western, eastern and southern part of Nigeria. Due to the upward swing […]
A New Cold War

Last week, the 12th US-Africa Business Summit, a high-level event attended by 11 African heads of state and government and some 1,000 business leaders, was held in Maputo, Mozambique. During the three-day event, US officials unveiled a USD 60 billion investment agency which will seek to invest in low and middle-income countries, with a special […]