Jacob Zuma was inaugurated as the new president of South Africa on 9 May, with his party, the African National Congress, having achieved a resounding victory in the recent elections. In what has been described as the most competitive election yet to take place in a post-apartheid South Africa, the ANC and Mr. Zuma clearly retain the support and trust of the vast majority of voters, men and women.

We wish you well as you prepare for the upcoming Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, being held April 16-18, 2009. As sexual and reproductive health and rights advocates and program implementers who work on a range of issues including prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) we hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to support an historic agreement that has emerged in the Latin American and the Caribbean region.

In a letter to the government of Macedonia, the undersigned, supporters and representatives of sex workers and organizations and individuals advocating for human rights, strongly condemn police actions in relation to the recent mass arrest of alleged sex workers in Skopje, Macedonia.

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.

HRW submits comments to the Law Commission about its report on HIV and AIDS legislation, alerting the Commission to potential concerns and assisting it to strengthen the human rights protections provided by the proposed legislation.