Washington,D.C. Following a major international women’s conference, members of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women agreed that all nations have an unqualified responsibility to protect women and girls from violence and discrimination in the world today.

By Andrew Heslop,Kigali A panel discussion hosted by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Pansy Tlakula, revealed how criminal defamation and insult laws are hindering Africa’s press and in turn, the economic and social progress of its people.

By Paul I. Adujie It is reasonable to assert that so much have changed in South Africa and progress has been made there since the attainment of majority rule with the end of Apartheid minority rule.

A former Peace Corps volunteer, who pleaded guilty to sexually abusing several children under the age of 6 while working at an AIDS center in South Africa, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Human Rights Watch,New York The conviction on April 26, 2012, of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, for serious international crimes during Sierra Leone’s brutal armed conflict provides justice for victims and shows that no one is above the law, Human Rights Watch said today. Taylor was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity before the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone on charges that stemmed from…

A report by Michael Kiefer of The Arizona Republic newspaper in the American state of Arizona says a trial for Liberian parents whose eight-year-old daughter was gang-raped by four boys is becoming more complicated than expected.

Interview by Geraldine Coughlan for Radio Netherlands, Leidschendam The judgment in the high-profile trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor is expected within months.

Pointe Noire, Republic of the Congo The governments of the Republic of Congo and Benin have signed a land mark agreement to protect children from child trafficking, which in recent years has become a major problem in the Congo.

By Sulaiman Momodu, Grand Gedeh County The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR has opened a sixth camp for up to 27,000 refugees from Cote d’Ivoire who have been living with host communities in eastern Liberia since fleeing their homeland.

Monrovia ,Liberia Liberia’s referendum on constitutional changes has got off to a slow start due to an error in one of four questions.