Tag Archives: Impunity

AMA, Human Rights

Sudan’s war on women: The number of people in need of sexual violence support quadruples as abuse of women and girls becomes the blueprint of war, three years on

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As the war in Sudan enters its fourth year with sexual violence as one of its most defining features, UN Women calls for the protection of all women and girls, accountability for all perpetrators, and a major scale-up in funding for women-led front-line response.

New York, USA, 15 April 2026- /African Media Agency (AMA)/- Sexual violence continues to surge across Sudan, with the number of women and girls requiring support after experiencing gender-based violence nearly doubling in two years and quadrupling since the start of the war three years ago, according to a new Gender Alert: The Impact of the War in Sudan on Women and Girls, published today by UN Women.

On 10 December 2024 in Sudan, Omnia [NAME CHANGED] peers through the window during a visit to a women’s organization. Displaced from her home due to fighting and threats, she lives with the trauma of being kidnapped, threatened, beaten and raped by armed men. To support her healing, Omnia is receiving mental health and psychosocial support from a women’s organization. Photo: UNICEF/UNI754435/Tess Ingram

The analysis draws on evidence from 85 women-led organizations operating across Sudan, including on the frontlines of the war in Darfur and Kordofan. Two-thirds of women front-line responders reported a significant increase in sexual violence in 2025, and half reported further escalation in 2026, according to new survey data featured in the alert.

“Women and girls are being raped and killed in their homes, and as they flee, seek food, water and medical care. The use of sexual violence has been embedded in the blueprint of Sudan’s war”, said Anna Mutavati, UN Women Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

More than 4.3 million women and girls are now displaced inside Sudan, whilst 17.1 million require humanitarian assistance in 2026. Yet for many, especially in active conflict areas, there is limited or no access to food, shelter, or medical care. More than two-thirds of women working for women-led organizations on the front lines of the humanitarian response witnessed a significant increase in a lack of access to basic essential services in 2025.

All violations designed to inflict terror, humiliation and control over women and girls are compounded by blockades and ongoing instability and are being carried out with widespread impunity. “Ending this war means ending the impunity that sustains it and recognizing that there can be no peace whilst sexual violence remains one of its most calculated and cruelest tactics”, said Mutavati.

Women-led organizations assessed in the alert are reaching nearly 20 million people in need across Sudan. In conditions that are increasingly incompatible with basic survival, they are providing food to families, medical care and psychosocial support to survivors of sexual violence, mediating local conflicts, negotiating humanitarian access in places where formal systems have collapsed and international actors cannot reach.

Almost all (99 per cent) of surveyed women-led organizations in Sudan report implementation challenges linked to funding shortages, impediments caused by authorities, and insecurity. Some 85 per cent of surveyed women-led organizations in Sudan report being affected by funding reductions or cuts in 2025. Women working on the front lines face threats and targeted attacks, with one in five surveyed women working for women-led organizations having reported receiving threats. There has been no meaningful participation of Sudanese woman as negotiators in official peace talks over the past three years.

UN Women is on the ground in Sudan delivering life-saving support to women and girls, including protection services, psychosocial support and essential supplies. UN Women calls for the protection of civilians and the full, safe, and meaningful inclusion of women in humanitarian response, including direct support for women-led efforts.

UN Women calls for accountability for perpetrators, access to justice for victims and survivors, and the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in peace processes and decision-making.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Un Women.

The post Sudan’s war on women: The number of people in need of sexual violence support quadruples as abuse of women and girls becomes the blueprint of war, three years on appeared first on African Media Agency.

Entertainment

Dax Shepard Offers to Pay for Daughter Delta, 11, to Freeze Her Eggs

Maravi Post Reporter

Dax Shepard shared a wild promise with his 11-year-old daughter, Delta.

“Delta was saying how she can’t wait to have a baby,” Shepard, 51, said during the Monday, January 5, episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast. “I said, ‘When do you think you’ll have your first child, when you turn 18?’ I want to be supportive of whatever.”

When his daughter responded with “no,” Shepard guessed that Delta would have her first child between 35 and 45 years old.

“I said, ‘If you want to, we’ll freeze your eggs when you’re 18.’ I’ll pay for you to get your eggs frozen so you don’t have to think about that,” the actor continued. Shepard’s podcast cohost Monica Padman praised his “lovely” gesture.

Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell’s Most Honest Parenting Quotes

According to Shepard, his daughter is “thinking mid-20s” is the perfect age to start having kids, but both he and Padman thought that Delta would be “underestimating” how much fun she’s having at that age.

“It won’t be time for her to be in the house every night with a child,” Shepard said.

Shepard shares Delta and daughter Lincoln, 12, with wife Kristen Bell.

Both Shepard and Bell, 45, have been candid about their parenting styles in several interviews over the years. Shepard’s podcast has also offered him a platform to discuss fatherhood.

Shepard previously discussed his daughters’ future dating lives during a 2023 episode of his podcast.

The actor confessed that he’s “not going to love seeing some 25-year-old dude in boxers in my kitchen” if the girls have adult “sleepovers” with their significant others as they get older. While he is “very pro-sex” and wants his daughters to be “very happy and adventurous” when it comes to love, he doesn’t want any of it happening under his own roof.

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s Most Polarizing Comments Over the Years

One thing that is OK in Shepard and Bell’s home is cursing, however.

“I fully swear in front of my kids,” the actor said during a July 2025 episode of his podcast. “They are allowed to swear, not with impunity, but when it’s called for, and they land it, and it’s in the house and not out at a restaurant, it’s OK.”

He added, “My defense of it is, I just told the girls, like, ‘Hey, these are noises that come out of your mouth, and you assign what they mean to you.’”

Shepard explained that he thinks of this way, there’s “no way” that he’s introducing the girls to cursing.

Bell previously discussed this same subject during a 2020 appearance on Good Morning America. The Frozen star recalled Lincoln saying: “You never told me f*** was a bad word,” when coming home from school one day.

“Dax has, yet again, the best response,” she recalled. “He said, ‘Listen, you’re a kid. There are a lot of things you can’t do until you’re an adult. One of them is drive my car. One of them is drink alcohol. Vote. And say swear words.’ It’s as simple as that.”

AMA, Human Rights, Technology

Digital violence is intensifying, yet nearly half of the world’s women and girls lack legal protection from digital abuse

MaraviPost

UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism campaign demands a world where technology is a force for equality – not harm.

New York, USA, 20 November 2025 -/African Media Agency(AMA)/-The digital world promised connection and empowerment – but for millions of women and girls, it has become a world of abuse. Digital violence is spreading at alarming speed fueled by artificial intelligence, anonymity, and the absence of effective laws and accountability. It now spans every corner of the Internet – from online harassment and cyberstalking to doxing, non-consensual image sharing, deepfakes, and disinformation – weaponized to silence, shame, and intimidate women and girls. According to World Bank data, fewer than 40 per cent of countries have laws protecting women from cyber harassment or cyber stalking. This leaves 44 per cent of the world’s women and girls – 1.8 billion – without access to legal protection.

Stock photo posed by model.

Women in leadership, business, and politics face deepfakes, coordinated harassment, and gendered disinformation designed to drive them to deplatform or leave public life altogether. Across the world, one in four women journalists report online threats of physical violence, including death threats. 

“What begins online doesn’t stay online. Digital abuse spills into real life, spreading fear, silencing voices, and—in the worst cases—leading to physical violence and femicide,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous. “Laws must evolve with technology to ensure that justice protects women both online and offline. Weak legal protections leave millions of women and girls vulnerable, while perpetrators act with impunity. This is unacceptable. Through our 16 Days of Activism campaign, UN Women calls for a world where technology serves equality, not harm.”

Reporting of online abuse and violence remains low, justice systems are ill-equipped, and tech platforms face little accountability. The rise of AI-generated abuse has only deepened impunity across borders and platforms. But there are signs of progress. Laws are beginning to evolve to meet the challenges of technological change: from the UK’s Online Safety Act to Mexico’s Ley Olimpia to Australia’s Online Safety Act and the EU’s Digital Safety Act, new reforms are taking shape. As of 2025, 117 countries reported efforts addressing digital violence, but efforts remain fragmented for a transnational challenge.

UN Women is calling for:

  • Global cooperation to ensure digital platforms and AI tools meet safety and ethics standards.
  • Support for survivors of digital violence by funding women’s rights organizations.
  • Holding perpetrators accountable through better laws and enforcement.
  • Tech companies to step up by hiring more women to create safer online spaces, removing harmful content quickly, and responding to reports of abuse.
  • Investments in prevention and culture change through digital literacy and online safety training for women and girls, and programmes that challenge toxic online cultures.

Feminist advocacy has driven global recognition of digital violence as a threat to women’s fundamental human rights resulting in growing prioritization and action against digital violence by countries. However, shrinking civic space, coupled with unprecedented funding cuts and pushback against feminist movements threatens to undermine decades of progress. In this context, initiatives such as the EU-funded ‘ACT to End Violence against Women and Girls’ programme are more important than ever to support feminist movements in their push for justice.

This year’s 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign calls for urgent global action to close legal gaps and hold perpetrators and tech platforms accountable. To support governments and policymakers, UN Women is launching two new tools – the Supplement to the Handbook for Legislation on Violence against Women on Technology-facilitated violence against women and girls and the Guide for Police on Addressing Technology-Facilitated Violence, which complements previous guidance for police on addressing violence against women and girls from the Handbook on Gender-Responsive Police Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence – providing practical guidance for prevention and response. Until the digital space is safe for all women and girls, true equality will remain out of grasp, everywhere.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of UNWOMEN.

Note to editors

For media enquiries, please contact the UN Women Media Team at [ Click to reveal ]

About the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is a global campaign led by UN Women under the UNiTE to End Violence against Women initiative. It runs each year from 25 November to 10 December, connecting the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Human Rights Day.

In 2025, the campaign focuses on ending digital violence against all women and girls – one of the fastest-evolving forms of abuse worldwide. Digital violence includes online harassment, stalking, gendered disinformation, deepfakes, and non-consensual sharing of intimate images, all of which are rising sharply as technology advances.

The 2025 UNiTE campaign calls on governments, technology companies, and communities to act now – to strengthen laws, end impunity, and hold platforms accountable. It urges sustained investment in prevention, digital literacy, and survivor-centred services. It also calls for long-term support to women’s rights organizations that are leading efforts to make digital spaces safe and inclusive for all.

About ACT

The Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action (ACT) programme, is a game-changing commitment between the European Commission and UN Women as co-leaders of the Action Coalition on Gender Based Violence (GBV), in collaboration with the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. The ACT shared advocacy agenda is elevating the priorities and amplifying the voices of feminist women’s rights movements and providing a collaborative framework focused on common priorities, strategies and actions.

About UN Women

UN Women exists to advance women’s rights, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. As the lead UN entity on gender equality, we shift laws, institutions, social behaviours and services to close the gender gap and build an equal world for all women and girls. We keep the rights of women and girls at the centre of global progress – always, everywhere. Because gender equality is not just what we do. It is who we are.

The post Digital violence is intensifying, yet nearly half of the world’s women and girls lack legal protection from digital abuse appeared first on African Media Agency.

Entertainment

Why Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell Want Their Daughters to ‘Be Disrespectful’

Maravi Post Reporter

Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are proudly raising two daughters who “talk back” — even if that doesn’t sit well with everyone.

During the Monday, November 3, episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast, Shepard, 50, recalled a conversation he had recently with a friend while out in Nashville where they “very kindly” brought up the fact that his and Bell’s daughters, Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10, aren’t afraid to speak their minds.

“They’re kind of shook with how our daughters will talk back to us or to anybody because it’s very un-Southern, right?” Shepard explained, noting, “Down there, everyone’s like, ‘Hi, Ms. Kristen. Hi, Mr. Dax.’”

Shepard revealed that his friend proceeded to call him out for how vocal his kids are toward him in public, including while eating out.

Dax Shepard Jokes About 2 Daughters’ Future Sex Lives: Do It ‘In the Car’

“She’s like, ‘Yeah, your kids will let it rip,’” he explained. “‘They seem to have no kind of respect’ is what she was saying. And feeling a little entitled.”

While Shepard acknowledged that “there’s value” to having manners, like the ones that are evident throughout the south, he was proud that his girls will stick up for themselves against anyone.

“I said, ‘You’re dead right. They do talk back and they are not respectful,’” Shepard said of his response.

Dax Shepard Reveals Why He and Kristen Bell Want Their Daughters to Be Disrespectful Talk Back
Kristen Bell Courtesy of Kristen Bell/Instagram

The Parenthood alum said he told the friend, “I can understand where that seems completely unruly, but I want you to know what I’m prioritizing, which is when they’re 19 and their boss is a f***ing creep, I want them to talk back. I want them to be disrespectful. I want them to always advocate for themselves, whether I think they’re right or wrong.”

Shepard added that he is “willing to deal” with what others consider “embarrassing” behavior from his young children to promote empowerment for when they’re adults.

“I can handle that,” Shepard concluded. “Because I want this other thing for them as women.”

Kristen Bell Shares Hilarious DIY Mother’s Day Card From Daughters

Shepard and Bell, 45, have been honest about their parenting style — and the sometimes controversial approaches they have — throughout their marriage.

Earlier this year, Shepard told his podcast listeners that cursing is OK in their house, depending on the situation.

“I fully swear in front of my kids. They are allowed to swear, not with impunity, but when it’s called for, and they land it, and it’s in the house and not out at a restaurant, it’s OK,” Shepard said during the July 28 episode.

He revealed, “My defense of it is, I just told the girls, like, ‘Hey, these are noises that come out of your mouth, and you assign what they mean to you.’”

Lifestyle

DR Congo seeks to lift former president Kabila’s immunity over alleged war crimes

Maravi Post Reporter

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has taken a historic step by officially requesting the removal of parliamentary immunity for former President Joseph Kabila, citing serious allegations including war crimes and support for armed rebellion.

Justice Minister Constant Mutamba announced that the Congolese military prosecutor has submitted a formal request to the Senate to lift Kabila’s immunity. As a former head of state, Kabila holds the status of senator for life, which currently protects him from prosecution.

Authorities claim to have evidence implicating Kabila in “war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the massacres of civilians and soldiers,” particularly through alleged support for the M23 rebel group. M23 has been active in North Kivu, where its offensives have destabilized the region and displaced millions.

Joseph Kabila ruled the DRC from 2001 to 2019. He left the country in late 2023 and has been residing primarily in South Africa. Recently, he expressed a desire to return to the DRC and contribute to resolving the crisis in the east. He denies all allegations leveled against him.

The timing of this legal move is significant. It coincides with ongoing peace efforts between the DRC and Rwanda—accused of backing M23—under U.S. mediation, with a peace agreement expected by May 2. Meanwhile, the Congolese government has suspended Kabila’s political party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), and threatened to seize assets belonging to him and his associates.

Kabila’s allies view the legal action as politically motivated. Ferdinand Kambere, PPRD’s permanent secretary, accused President Félix Tshisekedi’s administration of trying to block Kabila’s return to the political scene. He further argued that the current leadership bears responsibility for the spiraling conflict in the east.

This political escalation comes amid worsening violence in eastern DRC, where clashes between government forces and M23 rebels have left around 3,000 people dead and nearly 7 million displaced since the beginning of 2025.

If the Senate approves the request, it could pave the way for an unprecedented trial of a former Congolese head of state on charges of war crimes, potentially marking a turning point in the country’s fight against impunity.

Source: Africanews

https://video.euronews.com/mp4/ED/13/77/38/02/ED_PYR_1377382_20250501162936.mp4
Human Rights

Blasphemy Killings, Impunity and Ethnoreligious Vendetta in Northern Nigeria

Leo Igwe
eo Igwe Why I choose humanism over faith

A lot has been said about the unconstitutionality of blasphemy laws and their incompatibility with human rights norms and principles. But very little attention has been paid to the ethnoreligious implications especially in Northern Nigeria. The link between blasphemy allegations, including imputations of desecrating the Quran and ethnoreligious feud and vengeance, has largely been ignored. It has yet to be highlighted how blasphemy allegations have undermined the project of nation-building, Nigerian citizenship and mutual co-existence of persons from different ethnoreligious backgrounds in the northern part of the country. Prosecutions for blasphemy are few and far apart, but blasphemy related attacks and killings often take place. In this piece, I argue that blasphemy allegations provide a pretext for Muslim fanatics in Northern Nigeria to vent their hatred and anger on persons from other ethnoreligious backgrounds. Blasphemy accusations serve as a weapon to settle ethnoreligious scores.

Nigeria is a country with a volatile ethnoreligious mix. Politics and social interactions are largely driven by primordial instincts and sentiments. The volatility is predicated on the way that religion and ethnicity intersect. In Nigeria, religion is professed along ethnic lines. The Hausas and Fulanis are predominantly Muslim, while ethnic groups in Southern Nigeria are mainly Christian. Tension, hostility, and mistrust feature amongst the ethnic and religious groups in Northern Nigeria. Conflicts between members of the various religions, especially between Christians and Muslims, often erupt. Ethnoreligious bloodletting is rampant in Muslim dominated sections of Northern Nigeria. Persecution and oppression underlie the relationship between Muslims and ethnoreligious minorities in the region. The pervasive hostile situation has created an atmosphere where Muslim extremists in northern Nigeria are often looking for opportunities to revenge and attack other ethnic and religious/non religious persons.

Unfortunately, allegations of insulting Prophet Muhammad, or desecration of the Quran provide avenues to tackle non-Muslims. A critical look at blasphemy killings in Islamic Northern Nigeria reveals a worrisome pattern. Victims are mainly non-Muslims from the south; Christian/traditionalist Igbos, Yorubas, etc. Let us take a look at some instances of blasphemy related killings in Northern Nigeria. In the 90s Muslims beheaded Gideon Akaluka in Kano. Akaluka was a Christian trader from Southern Nigeria. They accused him of desecrating the Quran. The police arrested and detained him. But Muslim fanatics invaded the police station and abducted Mr. Akaluka. They beheaded him and later paraded his head on the streets of Kano. In 2007, some Muslims lynched a Christian teacher, Mrs. Christianah Oluwasesin, in Gombe. Her students accused her of desecrating the Quran. Muslim fanatics beat her to death and burnt her corpse.

In 2016, Muslims attacked and killed Methodus Emmanuel for making blasphemous posts on Facebook. Whilst on June 2, the same year, Muslims killed Mrs. Bridget Agbahime, a Christian female trader from southern Nigeria at a local market in Kano. These killings did not take place in private rooms and corners, but in public places, on the streets, in the market etc. They were not executed by an individual but by mobs.
Thus, allegations of blasphemy have served the interests of Muslim bloodletters who perpetrate these atrocities with impunity, sometimes with the tacit support of the sharia governments in the region. Under Nigerian law, jungle justice and extrajudicial killing are prohibited. That means those who indulge in such criminal behaviors ought to be prosecuted and punished. Sadly, this has not been the case with killings linked to blasphemy. There has not been a single instance where perpetrators of blasphemy related killing were brought to justice. Rather blasphemy killers are treated as defenders of Islamic faith, not criminals. They are celebrated and honored, not condemned or sanctioned. In most cases, no arrests are made, and in situations where arrests are made, the suspects are later set free.

In Northern Nigeria, blasphemy laws and norms have created a situation of lawlessness. Murder is not a crime if it is carried out in the name of Islam. Killing a human being is not morally reprehensible or against the law, if the person killed is believed to have insulted the prophet of Islam. Politicians and clerics openly and publicly incite violence; they call for the murder of any real or imagined blasphemer. Simply put there is no justice for victims of blasphemy related murder and attack. This unfortunate situation is illustrated in the case of Mrs. Agbahime. In 2016, those suspected to have murdered Bridget Agbahime were charged to court in Kano. But months later, they were acquitted. The state prosecutor stated that the suspects had no case to answer. In fact, no one who kills a blasphemer has any case to answer in Muslim dominated Northern Nigeria. This situation must change. Perpetrators of blasphemy related killings are murderers and should be brought to justice. Nigerian government should take urgent measures to stop blasphemy killings and ethnoreligious vendetta in Northern Nigeria.