The Working Group on Gender Justice in Africa Tuesday called on the African Union (AU) to encourage member states that are yet to ratify the protocol on the rights of women in Africa to do so.

In a statement made available to PANA, the Working Group said the AU should ensure that states which have ratified the protocol domesticate it and ensure its implementation.

On the first of her two-day visit to Senegal, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday hailed the increasing role of women in the country's politics, especially the election of 65 women into its 150-member National Assembly (parliament), PANA reported from here.

On 5th July 2012, a strong and diverse group of stakeholders working on women's empowerment issues came together to explore ways of promoting Security Council Resolution 1325 that looks at Women, Peace and Security.

That a war crimes court should focus on the victims of war crimes sounds like a simple concept.

But many of those living in the African communities where most of the atrocities being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) took place, have long complained they have been forgotten by this controversial and costly institution based thousands of miles away.

The Solomon Islands cabinet has refused to approve a report on women in time for its submission to a meeting of a United Nations gender discrimination committee.

Solomon Islands is one of the few states party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women that has never submitted a country report.

National Executive Secretariat of the ruling party's female wing, OMA, has appealed to all Angolan women to effectively participate in the electoral process, including casting the vote on August 31.

On a message, in the ambit of the African Women's Day (July 31), OMA congratulates all African women, manifesting its profound recognition for their contribution to the cause of reconstruction and development.

He brushed it off as a family affair, she said. Male relatives took her brother's side, and Dlamini fled to avoid what she feared would inevitably be rape.

After two decades away, Dlamini, 32, came home last year to this village in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal. She approached the head man asking for land to build a house with her savings where she could raise her two children.

Since South Sudan's independence on 9 July 2011, the positive role that women played in the independence struggle barely features in development policy discourse. As in many post-conflict situations in Africa, despite their active role in bringing peace and independence, women tend to fade into the background when official peace negotiations begin and when the consolidation of peace and rebuilding of the economy become formal ventures.

Fast track courts should be set up for trial of cases pertaining to excesses against women, National Commission for Women (NCW) today said. "There is a need for setting up of fast track courts for trial of cases pertaining to excesses against women," NCW chairperson Mamata Sharma said, addressing Women's Peace Conference, organised by Jammu and Kashmir Peace Foundation, at SKICC here.

The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC) has developed a national action plan to give more protection and safeguard the fundamental rights of women.

It also seeks to promote their participation in conflict prevention and the security institutions as well as shield them from physical abuse.