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Earlier this month, a group of 58 law-makers introduced a parliamentary resolution calling for the creation of a committee of inquiry into the wearing of the burqa and niqab on French territory. According to the authors of the resolution, the wearing of the burqa represents "an attack on the dignity of women," because when a woman wears it "her very existence is repudiated.

South Africa's Woman's Legal Centre (WLC) has documented 12 cases of South African women, most of them HIV-infected, who claim to have undergone what the health world calls "coerced sterilisation". Promise Mthembu, a Wits University researcher based in Durban, who is helping compile the cases, said coerced sterilisations were happening "in very large areas" of South Africa.

The 11th International AWID Forum which took place in Cape Town, South Africa in November last year was the largest ever with over 1900 people participating. The theme of the Forum was “The Power of Movements. Srilatha Batliwala, AWID Associate Scholar delivered the final address summarising the main ideas and debates of the Forum.  This article covers Srilatha’s address which highlights some prominent threads running through feminist movement building today.

Popular chat site Mxit’s recently launched a classified advertising service which is now attracting explicit adverts, some from children who offer nude pictures of themselves, in exchange for cellphone airtime. According to reports one advert posted by a girl claiming to be 17 years old asks users to call her to make arrangements for airtime to be transferred to her in exchange for “nudy pics of me and sexy chat”.

The current Broadcasting Act is to be amended in order to strengthen governance at the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), says Communications Minister, General Simphiwe Nyanda. Delivering his Budget Vote in Parliament on Tuesday 23 June 2009, Minister Nyanda said the amendment will be done in consultation with all the relevant stakeholders.

Many women's and human rights advocates argue that the only legal option that will respect and protect the human rights of sex workers is non-criminalisation. Sex workers are daily subjected to violence from clients, the police and their boyfriends and have no legal recourse. A number of sex workers in Johannesburg have given submissions to the Law Commission drawing on their experiences of the law, the police and their job as sex workers. The month of June 2009 is an important window of opportunity for advocacy on the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa.

How would the media react if Michelle Obama, Grace Mugabe, Sarah Brown or Carla Bruni-Sarkozy had been violently gang-raped, asks Marianne Thamm of Media24.

Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development says ANC government is committed to consumer protection

A rape counsellor from Mpumalanga has been charged with child pornography.

A policing expert has warned taxi drivers to obey the law like every other South African citizens.
 

The president has challenged us to develop plans to make sure that every South African has been given at least basic skills in reading and writing - Minister of basic education Angie Motshekga

Men in Kenya participated in the family planning meeting that took place during a 'Baraza' (chief's gathering).

Mokonyane said that the government should not wait until 2010 and the World Cup in South Africa because there were “pressing issues” that faced prostitutes now.

The Strategic Dialogue on Safer Internet Environment for Children took place in Tokyo, Japan and draft guidelines for child online safety where reviewed.

One in four men in South Africa have admitted to rape and many confess to attacking more than one victim, according to a study that exposes the country's endemic culture of sexual violence.