Speaking at the first day of the national summit against gender-based violence and femicide in Centurion, South Africa, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called on the country’s judiciary to come to the aid of women. The government convened the two-day gathering together with civil society organizations in an effort to find ways to stop the scourge of abuse. Most speakers at the gender summit shared a similar belief that South Africa’s legal framework, especially when it comes to women victims of gender-based violence, needs to be reviewed urgently.

South Sudan celebrated a new peace deal last week as fervent hopes of an end to a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people were tempered by widespread skepticism that the fragile agreement will hold. The deal, which is meant to end a civil war that began in 2013, commits forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, and the rebel groups fighting them, to sharing power. Speaking at a ceremony in Juba, the capital, Kiir offered an unprecedented apology for a conflict that “was a complete betrayal to our people” and the liberation struggle.

A UN rights expert said that Sierra Leone’s decision to de facto remove all three members of its Human Rights Commission was an attack on the rule of law and must be reversed. In April 2017, three human rights commissioners were appointed to the commission for a five-year term. However, in June 2018, the President of Sierra Leone ordered the commission’s dissolution, without citing a reason. “The Government’s decision to de facto dissolve the Commission’s current membership undermines the rule of law in Sierra Leone and distracts from efforts to promote and protect human rights.

On September 18, the trial of Dominic Ongwen resumed at the ICC. Ongwen is on trial for 70 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity – including various forms of sexual violence and the recruitment of child soldiers – committed in the former IDP camps of Lukodi, Odek, Abok, and Pajule during the 20-year insurgency in Northern Uganda. Ongwen is the first former child soldier who is facing trial at the ICC for crimes in which he was also a victim.