What is surprising is the recent assault on the ICC from within the African Union, despite, as outlined in a recent communiqué of its Peace and Security Council, its "unflinching commitment to combating impunity." Several of the AU's North African members - who are not, incidentally, parties to the ICC - are trying to undercut its support on the continent.

While the West grapples with wasted food, the developing world faces the spectre of increasing hunger. There is a human rights dimension to this calamity that is frequently missed or ignored - women and their children are most likely to lack food and go hungry. Passing laws that protect women's land rights will cost governments very little, but will go a long way to reducing starvation and improving the lives of African women and children.

The news of the opening of a hospital-based crisis center in Kabwe, Zambia, to address the complex needs of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence was music to my ears; given that in 2007 I listened to heart-wrenching accounts by Zambian women, including women living with HIV. Gender-based violence devastated the lives of many of those women.

The Zambian government should adopt a comprehensive law to curb sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and accelerate establishment of hospital-based coordinated response centers to help the victims and survivors.

For years now, women’s groups in Southern Africa have campaigned tirelessly to ensure that the Southern African Development Community adopt the Protocol on Gender and Development. Yesterday, the SADC finally took that historic step. Member states will be obliged to amend their laws to ensure equal rights for women across a wide range of issues, from provisions that require member states to enshrine equality in their constitutions, to firm commitments to reduce maternal mortality by 75 per cent. But while that’s a cause for celebration, the Protocol still does not refer explicitly to domestic violence, and it still doesn’t oblige states to introduce legal provisions that criminalise marital rape.

Southern African leaders should adopt the proposed Gender and Development Protocol at their upcoming summit after amending it to include crucial provisions deleted in 2007. One of the most important provisions that should be put back in to the protocol would commit states to criminalize marital rape.

The Human Rights Council reviewed Zambia’s report under its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism in Geneva last Friday, and adoption of the report took place this week on Wednesday. Here in Lusaka, women, including those who describe themselves as “living positively,” are struggling to come out of the shadows that still obstruct the government’s efforts to fight HIV/AIDS.

The Zambian government is failing to address the life-threatening obstacles facing Zambian women living with HIV who experience domestic and gender-based violence, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Gender-based violence and insecure property rights are preventing Zambian women from accessing life-saving antiretroviral treatment.