SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- A U.N. official said Friday that a better job needs to be done in prosecuting rape cases that occurred during the Bosnian war nearly two decades ago, and in other armed conflicts worldwide.

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, better known as the Maputo Protocol, was adopted by the African Union in the form of a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights in 2003 in Maputo, Mozambique and entered into force in 2005.

Forty-six African governments have signed the Maputo Protocol, properly known as the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on Women in Africa.

It is more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in modern conflict.” Those words, uttered by Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, a UN force commander in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2008, focus attention of the world on heinous crimes committed against women during conflict.

Violence against women touches Uganda just as it does every other nation. Gender-based violence is a global pandemic that cuts across all borders - ethnic, racial, class, religious, and educational level.

While the current global financial and economic crisis brings many nations to their public-spending knees, military spending continues to increase: 6 percent last year and 49 percent since 2000. In the United States military, expenditures now account for just under half the world total (46.5 percent). It seems fair to ask: What is our goal, and are we getting our money's worth?

For two decades, women around the world have marked "Sixteen Days of Activism Against Gender Violence", which fall between the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Nov. 25 and International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10.

From Argentina to Ghana, and Japan to Georgia, this year, women's groups worldwide are focusing on the linkages between militarism and violence against women.

Women are still “mainly construed as clichés of sexual attraction to be shown on television,” Information Minister Tarek Mitri said Thursday in his opening address at this year's New Arab Woman Forum (NAWF).

The two-day, forum in Beirut is seen by female activists as an opportunity to assess the progress made in championing women's rights, while addressing the various obstacles that continue to impede change.

Sunday, November 4, 2010, (JUBA) – The South Sudan Human Rights Commission said on Thursday said that effective mechanisms need to be put in place to address human rights issues particularly those associated with gender rights.

Victor Lado Caesar Tombe, executive officer of the commission says that many women and girls in south Sudan suffer from exploitation, trafficking, gender based violence.

Dar Es Salaam — Women have continued to lag behind in elective posts as shown by the General Election results announced by yesterday evening, with only nine women having won parliamentary seats so far. Among them there are five who have retained their seats and four new candidates who have defeated their opponents.