Violence against women

In a ground-breaking move, South African prosecutors will investigate President Robert Mugabe’s political party for crimes against humanity for an alleged campaign of mass rapes in Zimbabwe’s last election.

The decision, following a request by Canadian activist Stephen Lewis and others, marks the first time an African government has used domestic laws to investigate another African country under the emerging doctrine of “universal jurisdiction.”

The safety and inclusion of women and girls is a priority issue across the globe. In every country and society, women and girls are subject to violence in both public and private spaces, simply because of their gender.

وسط غياب مؤسسات الدولة و تكرر الاعتداءات الجنسية ضد متظاهرات في ميدان التحرير بالقاهرة، مبادرة "قوة ضد التحرش/ الاعتداء الجنسي الجماعي"، واحدة من أبرز المبادرات التي نشأت لمواجهة هذه الاعتداءات.

When armed Islamist fighters arrived in the northeastern Malian village of Haribomo near Timbuktu, one of the first things they did was sip sweet tea with the local imam. They then told him how they expected the village women to behave.

“The Islamists met with the imam and they said, ‘Let us tell you our rules’,” said Adane Djiffiey Djallo, a coordinator at Aide et Developpement au Mali, a Timbuktu-based non-governmental organisation. “They said women would no longer be allowed to go to work, to the market or wash in the river.”But the imam turned to the Islamists and said: “‘Let me tell you my rules’”.