RUMBEK, 6 October 2010 (IRIN) - If there is one group that faces special challenges in Southern Sudan, it is women. Principal among them is gender-based violence, which is under-reported and spreading given the long history of conflict, certain traditional practices and weak judicial systems, say specialists. Below are some key obstacles to tackling GBV in Lakes State.

Valmathi Jegadas is a different sort of mine clearer to the testosterone-fuelled explosives specialists portrayed in the 2008 Oscar-winning Hollywood hit, The Hurt Locker. A farmer's wife in northern Sri Lanka, Jegadas, 37, earns 200 dollars a month risking her life, and she admits being scared each time she steps into the minefields that are a legacy of the island's long and bloody civil war.

Delegates from Asian countries gathered in Jakarta on Wednesday to discuss how best to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.

A UN expert on sexual violence in war zones arrived in Kinshasa on the first leg of a week-long trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of recent mass rape.

Margot Wallstrom, UN special representative on the prevention of sexual violence in conflict, was to visit the east of the country, where armed groups are regularly accused of horrific violence against civilians, from Thursday to Monday.

The recent incident of mass rape in the Walikali area of North Kivu followed by the release of a United Nations report on massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has created a certain amount of discontent from various members of the international community. The Walikali incident has created intense concern, as has the UN report – albeit for different reasons.

Governance standards have improved significantly in Angola, Liberia and Togo over the past four years, but have declined in Eritrea and Madagascar, according to a leading survey assessing the quality of governance across Africa.

There has been a lot of talk about the mass rapes that took place in Walikale (in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in late July and early August. I only now got around to reading the MONUSCO report, which I have posted here in French. It's pretty graphic in parts – the attackers apparently searched the women's body cavities for gold and money before raping them. Some of the women were bitten by snakes in the forest during the rape.

Four armed men barged into Anna Mburano's hut, slapped the children and threw them down. They flipped Mrs. Mburano on her back, she said, and raped her, repeatedly.

It did not matter that dozens of United Nations peacekeepers were based just up the road. Or that Mrs. Mburano is around 80 years old.

“Grandsons!” she yelled. “Get off me!”

United Nations has selected Rwanda as host to the International Conference on the Role of Security Forces in Ending Gender Based Violence (GBV) against Women.

The Congolese government must seek justice against rebel force that allegedly carried out mass gang rapes last month, a U.N. special envoy warned.

A U.N. human rights report claimed members of the Mai Mai militant group along with members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda gang-raped hundreds of women and several men between July 30 and Aug. 2.