Africa: How we killed our dreams of freedom
By William Gumede, The New Statesman
Across the continent, liberation movements that fought against colonial rule proved unable to sustain democratic governance. We cannot keep blaming the past.

Zimbabwe: Change is coming: the first step in a long journey
By Mary Ndlovu, Pambazuka News, 29.3.2007
The past three weeks have seen an embattled Zimbabwean government unleash terror on its citizens. Mary Ndlovu believes that the last weeks have brought qualitative change to Zimbabwe that spells the end of Mugabe ‘s rule sooner than later.

Britain seeks better debt relief deal for Latin America's poorest
By Larry Elliott, Guardian Online, March 19, 2007
Britain and other European countries will today mount a final attempt to block a $4.4bn (£2.25bn) debt relief deal for five of the poorest countries in Latin America that that will be financed by raiding a fund designed to promote long-term development in the region.

Ruggie Tells States to Mind Their Businesses
Policy Innovations, 5.3.2007
The morning after Professor John Ruggie of Harvard University delivers his forthcoming report on business and human rights to the United Nations, the world will look the same.

An Open Letter to Political Parties and Civic Leaders from Woza
February 1st, 2007. Women and men of WOZA have initiated a non-violent campaign with the aim of mobilising Zimbabweans to demand social justice from their leaders.

Britain backs revolutionary aid experiment
Guardian Unlimited, 16.2.2007
Britain is backing an experiment to change the way aid is delivered in parts of Africa that highlights a growing divide over how western nations spend hundreds of millions of dollars pledged to the continent.

2007: A Sankofa Year
By Emira Woods, Foreign Policy in Focus, January 5, 2007
In West African mythology, the "Sankofa" is a bird that flies forward while looking backward, with an egg symbolizing the future in its mouth.

Police Ignore Serial Killings in Delhi Slum, Exposing Unequal Justice for India’s Poor
New York Times, 6.1.2007
When Vandana Sarkar, an impoverished migrant worker, went to the police in October to report that her 20-year-old daughter was missing, she recalled Friday, officers laughed and said, “Why do you people have so many children if you can’t look after them?”

Rise Up and Walk
By Wangari Maathai, Project Syndicate
In July 2005, millions of people filled stadiums for the Live 8 concerts in support of Africa’s people. It was also for ordinary citizens that African leaders traveled to Scotland to meet the G-8 heads of state that summer.

The Atrocities of Augusto Pinochet and the United States
NACLA, 11th December 2006
In Santiago on September 11, 1973, I watched as Chilean air force jets flew overhead. Moments later I heard explosions and saw fireballs of smoke fill the sky as the presidential palace went up in flames. Salvador Allende, the elected Socialist president of Chile died in the palace.

The Persistently Poor
By Peter S. Goodman, The Washington Post, December 8, 2006
Despite an intensified campaign against poverty, World Bank programs have failed to lift incomes in many poor countries over the past decade, leaving tens of millions of people suffering stagnating or declining living standards, according to a report released Thursday by the bank's autonomous assessment arm.

Sisters, mothers, martyrs
The Guardian, December 5, 2006
With a few famous exceptions, women in Gaza have long been in the background of the struggle for Palestinian national rights. But suddenly they are on the front line - from politicians and human shields to suicide bombers.

Clinton’s Foundation Brokers AIDS Deal
New York Times, Nov. 30, 2006
The cost of treating children infected with H.I.V. and AIDS is poised to plummet next year, under a deal announced today between two Indian drugmakers and former President Bill Clinton’s foundation.

UN Chief's Scorecard of Success and Failure
IPS, Nov 20, 2006
Less than six weeks before he steps down as secretary-general of the United Nations, Kofi Annan has come up with a political scorecard on the successes and failures of the UN's much-touted development agenda.

Taking Aim at Weapons Trade
By Mary Robinson, Toronto Star, 7th Oct. 2006
Like land mines, conventional arms must be curbed.

In Thailand, More Survive AIDS, Only to Face Rejection
By Seth Mydans, International Herald Tribune, October 16, 2006
Thailand’s primary AIDS hospice at a Buddhist temple here, once a place of certain death, is now becoming overcrowded by the living — people whose lives have been saved by medication but are rejected by their families or neighbors.

NGOS CRITICIZE OUTCOME OF IMF-WORLD BANK MEETING
Third World Network, 4th Oct, 2006
NGO representatives have criticized the negligible results of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World-Bank, held in Singapore from 19 - 20 September 2006, which they said were grossly inadequate to deal with the massive problems of financial instability, debt, poverty and economic imbalances plaguing the world today.

The denial industry
By George Monbiot, The Guardian, 19.09.06.
For years, a network of fake citizens' groups and bogus scientific bodies has been claiming that science of global warming is inconclusive. They set back action on climate change by a decade. But who funded them? Exxon's involvement is well known, but not the strange role of Big Tobacco.

Africa: Combating Inequality
Ernest Harsch, allAfrica.com, 7th September 2006
Workers in Burkina Faso are angry. Four times in 2005 and then again this May, the country's trade unions shut down economic activity through a series of national general strikes. Thousands marched in the streets of that West African nation to protest low salaries, high prices, lost jobs and inadequate social benefits.

Justice for a Lawless World?
IRINnews.org, July 2006
The age of impunity may be giving way to a new kind of global justice.

Pinoy Kasi : Present!
By Michael Tan, Inquirer Opinion, August 30, 2006.
TODAY is the International Day of the Disappeared, "disappeared" being a translation of the Spanish "desaparecidos."

Forest rites, tests as Togolese girls become women
By Emile Kouton, AFP, August 3, 2006
KOUMEA, Togo -- With just a little scarf around her waist and a bra to cover her nudity, Sami, 19, traverses the streets of Koumea in the first stage of an initiation rite toward becoming a woman in Togo.

We need a political solution
Imran Khan, The Guardian, 25th August 2006.
Terrorism is an age-old phenomenon that rampaging armies, no matter how powerful, can never eliminate.

South Africa: Poor Excuse for Failure Develops a Life of Its Own
Rhoda Kadalie, Allafrica.com, 24.08.06.
A small report in the Sunday Times (August 20) caught my eye. It looked insignificant but captured an issue at the heart of government's inability to deliver services to the poor.

Grassroots HIV/AIDS Activism Growing
Manju Parikh, WorldPress.org, August 17, 2006.
In the past few weeks, India has made headlines for two very different reasons. The good news was that India's economy grew at the fastest pace in more than two years, surpassed only by China. The bad news soon followed, however. India has overtaken South Africa as the country with the highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the latest figures from the Joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS.

Scientists make human stem cells without destroying the embryo
Ian Sample, The Guardian, Thursday August 24, 2006
Scientists have found a way to make human embryonic stem cells without destroying embryos, a breakthrough that could overcome intense ethical objections to the research.

The UN Human Rights Council: Opportunities and Challenges
JURIST Special Guest Columnist John Pace, former Secretary of the UN Commission on Human Rights, says that the creation of a new Human Rights Council to replace the Commission could be a major step forward for human rights protection...

Bringing the wicked to the dock
The Economist
March 09, 2006
HITHERTO, the world's worst tyrants have usually managed to avoid being brought to court for their crimes. Some, of course, were killed. Hitler took his own life. But Stalin and Mao died in their beds...

Why the War Is Sexist
Z Magazine

Refusing to be silenced as a military parent, Cindy Sheehan’s voice lent new urgency to stopping the war in Iraq. She has been likened to a Rosa Parks of the anti-war movement. Both widely recognized women served as symbolic figures to help bring the weight of a larger base of organizing to bear on the public.

Woman's Consciousness, Man's World
Z Magazine

The capitalist mode of production has penetrated farther and deeper than any other form of production. Geographically it has extended its technology in search of markets; politically it has devised the most ingenious methods of control in its own interests

Overview of Human Rights Issues in Zimbabwe
Kubatana.net: extracted from Human Rights Watch World Report, January 2006.
The continuing erosion of human rights in Zimbabwe was highlighted in 2005 by Operation Murambatsvina, the government’s program of mass evictions and demolitions which began in May, and, which, according to the United Nations, deprived 700,000 men, women and children of their homes, their livelihoods, or both throughout the country.

Hamas Wins the Palestinian Elections
Foreign Policy in Focus, January 27, 2006. The appeal of Hamas stems from an urgent Palestinian demand for change in leadership, both generational and political, opposition to corruption, and dissatisfaction with the perceived lack of capacity of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to provide for the basic needs of its people.

Sex-selection tests in India mean fewer girls, study says
An estimated half million female fetuses are aborted annually by parents in India who are desperate for more economically beneficial boys, according to new research.

Women in an Insecure World: Violence against Women Facts, Figures and Analysis
Geneva (DECAF), September 2005-According to estimates by the United Nations, up to 200 million women and girls are demographically ‘missing’.1 The euphemism hides one of the most shocking crimes against humanity.

CEDAW: the women formula
An international instrument is an unlikely driving force for domestic social change. But change has taken place – and continues. Susanne Zwingel draws important lessons for women’s human rights.

A Change of Course: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through the Lens of the Women's Global Charter for Humanity (2005)
August 2005 - Published by The World March of Women this critical document about the MDGs gives a feminist point of view on the 8 Goals and suggests improvements to poverty erradication indicators.

Women's rights and poverty
Radio Polonia. The UN Population Fund’s annual report links the development of women’s rights with the development of the economy. How is Poland shaping up to the challenge?

Voices of Solidarity
A report by the Urgent Action Fund (UAF) that features expertise from international women's rights activists in conflict areas on the gender dimensions of the recovery process post Hurricane Katrina.

Social Watch launches Annual Report featuring new development indexes
Social Watch will launch its Annual Report 2005 this 14 September in New York. “Roars and Whispers. Gender and Poverty: Promises vs. Action”

Report on the World Social Situation
The Report on the World Social Situation (RWSS) is prepared on a biennial basis by the Division for Social Policy and Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

HIV/AIDS AND GENDER IMPACT REPORT
Southern African Regional Poverty Network - This report summarizes the findings of a household livelihood survey in Zambia. The aim was to gain a clear understanding of the dynamics of assets and livelihood strategies that are induced by the presence of HIV/AIDS in communities and households in Northern Province.

HIV/AIDS Law, Policy, and Women's Rights
Oxfam America- Why HIV/AIDS is hitting women the hardest, and how improving policies, laws, and women’s rights is essential to fighting the epidemic.

Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation
This paper by Lara Fergus provides an overview of the social and legal position of trafficking in women for sexual exploitation in Australia, and on the International Human Rights stage. ACCSA - Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault

Women’s Bodies as a Battleground: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls During the War in the DRC
Due to the increasing ‘privatisation’ of violence in the DRC, combatants who have no regard for international protocol often use sexual violence as a weapon of war. This is an International Alert Report of the findings of research carried out by two South Kivu Women’s organisations.

Sexual Violence and its Consequences among Displaced Persons in Darfur and Chad
Rape and sexual violence against women and girls are a prominent feature of the “ethnic cleansing” campaign carried out by government forces and militia in Darfur, Sudan. Human Rights Watch (HRW) took two research missions to camps in Chad and South Darfur in February 2005 in order to research patterns of sexual and gender-based violence and the response of local and international actors.A Human Rights Watch (HRW) Briefing Paper

Decisions Denied: Women’s Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina
Decisions about contraception and abortion are difficult, deeply personal, and sometimes wrenching. In Argentina, women are routinely prevented from making such decisions. This Human Rights Watch report profiles the issues related to Women’s Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina

NEPAL: Interview with Ian Martin, head of UN human rights monitoring
KATHMANDU, 10 May (IRIN) - Agreement was reached between the United Nations and the government of Nepal on 11 April 2004 to allow United Nations human rights monitoring in the country.

Study of Comparative Constitutions for Muslim Countries
US Commission on International Religious Freedom Releases Religion & Human Rights releases a study that examines the text of Muslim constitutions from 44 nations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

Spotlight on Ukraine: Trafficking of women and the Beijing Platform for Action.

Troops must stay to protect Iraqi children
Iraqis are paying a horrendous price for the good intentions of well-meaning conservatives who wanted to liberate them.

Bush’s Churchillian Dreams
Even as the administration draws parallels between Iraq and World War II, it is undermining the framework of international law in place since that war to prevent a repeat of Nazi-style crimes.

Sexual Domination in Uniform: An American Value
The Abu Ghraib portraits of sexual humiliation and submission have exposed the unbelievably tangled strands of racism, misogyny, homophobia, national arrogance and hyper-masculinity that characterize the U.S. military.

Trading Away Our Rights- Women Working in Global Supply Chains
Big brand companies and retailers in the fashion and food industries are driving down employment conditions for millions of women workers around the world, according to a new study by the international agency Oxfam, 'Trading Away Our Rights.'

The Cutting Edge Pack on Gender and Citizenships
How are citizenship rights and responsibilities being extended and transformed by struggles for gender equality? How can women and others marginalised by gender participate in and influence the decisions that affect their lives? This pack is a concise, practical resource for policy-makers, practitioners and activists. It demonstrates how gendered understandings of citizenship rights can help development actors promote the participation of all women and men in shaping their societies and communities.

Report of Paul Hunt
(PDF)
The report of Paul Hunt, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health is now available on the UN website (link above).

International Women's Day: Where are we in 2004?
(PDF), US Committee for UNIFEM Lunch, speech by Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director, March 2004

MSF Report on the DRC: Words alone will not put an end to sexual violence.
After years of neglect the issue of sexual violence is now finally on the political agenda in DRC. The response so far, however, falls short of what is necessary given the overwhelming number of rape cases.

AFRICA: Focus on efforts to eradicate female genital mutilation
Africa is aiming to eradicate harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation (FGM) by 2010, campaigners said on the eve on the International day on Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation, to be marked on Friday. Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on Tuesday, Berhane Ras-Work, the president of the Inter-African Committee on Traditional Practices (IAC), called for a continent-wide zero-tolerance approach to combat FGM.

Amnesty International - Library - Afghanistan: 'No-one listens to us and no-one treats us as human beings'. Justice denied to women
Two years after the ending of the Taleban regime, the international community and the Afghan Transitional Administration (ATA), led by President Hamid Karzai, have proved unable to protect women. Amnesty International is gravely concerned by the extent of violence faced by women and girls in Afghanistan. The risk of rape and sexual violence by members of armed factions and former combatants is still high. Forced marriage, particularly of girl children, and violence against women in the family are widespread in many areas of the country. These crimes of violence continue with the active support or passive complicity of state agents, armed groups, families and communities. This continuing violence against women in Afghanistan causes untold suffering and denies women their fundamental human rights.

Seizing an Opportunity: Afghan Women and the Constitution-Making Process
This report analyzes the Afghan constitution-making process from a gender perspective. It discusses the present social and political context in Afghanistan; examining in detail the structures and stages of the constitution-making process, and making recommendations for the upcoming Constitutional Loya Jirga regarding the representation of women, the criteria for election of female members, the security of women participants, and measures to ensure that women's voices are heard. Finally, it discusses some of the legislative and democracy-building priorities Afghan women have recently voiced.

A Feminist Human Rights Lens on Human Security
Article by Charlotte Bunch, Executive Director, Center for Women's Global Leadership