Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday that he will not sacrifice women's rights in any peace deal with the Taliban.

After 12 years and more than five million dead, residents of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have learnt to survive with the constant din of war as the backdrop of their lives.

The mass rape of women in Congo (Report, 25 August) illustrates the difficulty the UN faces in trying to fulfil its mandate to prioritise the protection of civilians.

Civilians now account for 70% of casualties in wars and most are women and children. Sexual violence against women and girls has been part of conflicts from Rwanda and Bosnia, to Sierra Leone, Haiti, Congo and Afghanistan.

Authorities in Côte d'Ivoire and Nigeria should investigate and close down networks that traffic Nigerian women and girls to Côte d'Ivoire for forced prostitution, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch also called for collaboration among regional neighbors to improve border efforts to combat trafficking.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed "deep concern" over reports of mass rape of women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and vowed her country's help to bring to justice rebels accused in the "horrific" crime.

Women with disabilities in northern Uganda experience ongoing discrimination and sexual and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many are unable to gain access to basic services, including health care and justice, and they have been largely ignored in post-conflict reconstruction efforts.

First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan has called on the Nigerian women to seek elective posts in 2011 even as she urged the men to support those who have already made their intentions known.

She also called on the international community to enjoin the Nigerian men to change the old tradition of suppressing women and relegating them to the background and embrace modern trend as seen in South Africa, Senegal and Rwanda.

A report this week that Rwandan rebels looted villages in Congo and mass-raped more than 150 women and children in July has human rights activists asking why the UN peacekeeping mission can't prevent such atrocities.

The Rwandan rebels came down into the eastern Congolese town of Luvungi and occupied it for four days, systematically looting local homes and gang-raping more than 150 women and children.

The story of the young Afghan woman whose nose and ears were hacked off by the Taliban has faded from the headlines, but Bibi Aisha's road to recovery has only just begun.

The top U.N. envoy in Congo said Wednesday that two peacekeeping patrols were not informed by villagers that mass rapes were taking place and the United Nations is now working to improve communications and prevent any recurrence.