Camfed Zambia this year launched an ambitious child abuse prevention initiative, funded by Irish Aid. Camfed’s Zero Tolerance to Child Abuse Campaign breaks through the culture of silence surrounding child abuse, and calls on all sectors of Zambian society to put an end to it.

A former U.N. employee went on trial in France on Tuesday accused of raping around 20 underaged girls during missions to Africa between 1998 and 2004. Didier Bourguet, a mechanic who worked for the United Nations from 1994, faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years if he is found guilty of a series of sexual offence and pornography charges ranging from rape to corruption of minors.

People who practise female circumcision should be jailed for life, a Cabinet minister has proposed. The practice, according to Gender and Children Affairs minister Esther Murugi, was entrenched in all but four communities in Kenya and the prevalence was alarming. Ms Murugi said previous attempts by the Government as well as local and international organisations bore little success, going by the number of incidents reported.

The UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Angelique Kidjo in collaboration with Children Associated with the War [CAW] at George Street in Freetown said that the practice of forcing girls into prostitution must stop, and the girls must be given a chance to rebuild their lives.

Pandemonium broke out in Igueben Local Government Council of Edo State when a widow and mother of three, Patience Iyah was set ablaze by her uncle, Ahmed Okoro Evbohon over her refusal to take to prostitution abroad. The attack which took place when the widow arrived her village for the burial ceremony of a late relation created confusion in the community as the villagers wondered whether all was well with him.