A UN investigation into serious human rights violations perpetrated in Walikale territory, North Kivu, where more than 387 people were raped between 30 July and 2 August last year, reveals continuing lack of accountability, justice and security for victims, according to a report released today.

At least seven anti-government protesters were arrested and beaten by Iraqi security forces as hundreds of angry demonstrators gathered Friday in al-Tahrir Square in central Baghdad, human rights activists told CNN.

Five of the activists were released, but two were still being held, activists said Friday evening.

A military spokesman said Col Nyiragire "Kifaru" Kulimushi gave himself up with more than 150 of his fighters, who are also accused of mass rape.

Last month, about 100 women accused former rebels who had been integrated into the army of sexually abusing them in DR Congo's South Kivu province.

A UN envoy last year called DR Congo the "rape capital of the world".

The news about Afghanistan hasn't been good lately: a recent report from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee baldly declared that the country could suffer a severe economic depression after the United States' scheduled departure in 2014. A new interview from UN Dispatch had a more hopeful perspective, however.

The latest UN Women report released yesterday in New York, once again, positions Rwanda as the country with the highest representation of women in politics and participation in the development of their country.

The report indicates that where women have attained a critical mass in parliaments, laws and policies to advance women's rights have followed.

An investigation into mass rapes in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been called off after some of the victims were attacked.

It's mid-day in early March and about a hundred women and girls are squeezed into a round "peace hut" in the Liberian village of Totota with the head of the new U.N. Agency, U.N. Women, looking on. Michelle Bachelet's face draws a look of compassion and concern as the ceremonies begin.

The International Press Institute (IPI) today condemned the decision of a Sudanese court to sentence a journalist to one month in prison for reporting on the alleged rape of a female opposition activist by members of the country's security forces. Fatimah Ghazali was jailed on Tuesday, 5 July, freelance journalist and human rights advocate Abdelgadir Mohamed Abdelgadir said in a written statement.

Three groups of armed militia could have committed crimes against humanity when they raped at least 387 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010, a UN probe said Wednesday.

"Due to the fact that these attacks were well-planned in advance and carried out in a systematic, targeted manner, they could constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes," investigators said in a report.

On July 9th, South Sudan will declare its independence, becoming Africa's newest nation. The challenges it faces are many. 50 years of war and conflict have seriously undermined the capacity of institutions at all levels to provide justice. Scores of cases of human rights violations and abuses, including sexual violence have remained uninvestigated, unprosecuted or unpunished.