Gender & Sexual Diversity

At least 38 countries have seen reports of involuntary sterilisation over the past 20 years, with some of those cases involving women being sterilised against their will whilst giving birth. The BBC recently heard from two members of our partner Her Rights Initiative on their experiences of having been involuntarily sterilised.

Over the past two and half months, South Africa's LGBTIQ+ community has been rocked by a series of brutal hate crimes against its members - from KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng, from the Eastern Cape to the Western Cape. At least six lives - that we know of - have been snuffed out in cold blood. We share here a joint statement by some of our partners calling for more to be done about these horrendous crimes!

The Africa Division at our Head Office recently engaged with group of "loud and proud" Queer feminist activists and writers from South Africa, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya on their motivation and inspiration for their feminist activist work on gender and sexual identity. A series of published interviews have since followed. Read here a conversation had with South African activist Seoketsi Mooketsi (Seopowerr). 

Cape Town - A little more than a month since the launch of the National Shelter Movement of South Africa’s (NSMSA) 24-hour toll-free shelter helpline, the centre has revealed that 776 calls have been fielded.

Our partners at the National Shelter Movement of South Africa have launched their own 24-hour toll-free Shelter Helpline. This is the first national helpline exclusively dedicated to helping victims of domestic abuse access shelter services in each of the nine provinces, while also assisting with a variety of other issues that impact survivors. The call centre is based in Cape Town and is currently operated by three social workers. Read the full press release here.

Domestic violence puzzles people. Why does one person in a relationship abuse another; why does the one being abused stay in this relationship; and what should those who know about this do about it? The solution to these dilemmas, proposed by the Department of Justice in its amendments to the 1998 Domestic Violence Act, is this: that everybody must report any knowledge of domestic violence to the police or a social worker – or face criminal charges. This article, based on a submission to Parliament by the author in collaboration with a range of other organisations, including HBF, interrogates this new proposed provision.

2020 marks the 20th year of the UN Security Council's Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security. On this anniversary, our Brussel's office has put together a dossier entitled "No Women - No Peace" that portrays 20 women from various countries across the world that make a difference in peace and security; South African activist Nomarussia Bonase is one such woman who has spent her life working with victims of violence, fighting social inequity, and taking a stand against injustice.

Online event: 20th anniversary of landmark UNSC Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security Join us in commemorating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.