2013Lw guaranteeing women equal rights with men on land access, ownership and utilisation 2009 Law on equal opportunities and pay for women and men, and prohibits sexual harassment in the work place 2013 Law governing political parties prohibits any form of discrimination based on gender , sex, race or religion 2013 Law instituting gender responsive budgeting ISANGE ONE STOP CENTER provides a holistic response to VAW/GBV under one roof. In the area of media 29% of journalist are women and the 2013 law on the responsibilities, organisation and functioning of the Media High Council requires at least 30% of female representation on its Board of Directors Marriage: In Sierra Leone the Registration of Customary Marriage and Divorce Act protect persons entering into customary marriage from forced marriages in line with traditional customs and practices. In general, marriage under whatever law, be it under the Christian Marriage Act, the Muslim Law or Civil Law, is entered into by two adults ( aged 18 years and over). Mozambique had adopted a new Penal Code in 2014 which, amongst others, afforded rapists the chance to marry the victim in exchange of prosecution and this created an uproar amongst civil society organisations. The Government has reviewed this section and removed the provision which allowed the rapist to marry the victim to avoid prosecution. In addition to the removal of this provision, the Penal Code now includes marital rape as an offence.2 Malawi adopted the Gender Equality Act in 2013 and the Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act in 2015 so as to ensure that discrimination against women is eliminated. The Marriage, Divorce and Family Relations Act sets the legal age of marriage at 18. Additionally, Malawi also delivered ground-breaking judgements in 2015 which ensure that women are protected from discrimination. In relation to a case where sex workers were forced to have an HIV test, the High Court of Malawi stated that compulsory HIV testing was unconstitutional.3 Violence Against Women: Benin passed Act No. 2011-26 of 09 January 2012 on the Prevention and Repression of Violence Against Women which protects women from such violations, including domestic violence, FGM, forced marriages and other traditional harmful practices against women. AllAfrica ‘Mozambique: Offensive articles removed from new draft of Penal Code’ (2014) available at http://allafrica.com/stories/201404080228.html (accessed on 15 March 2016). 3 Southern Africa Litigation Centre ‘Malawi High Court rules that mandatory HIV testing is unconstitutional’ (20 May 2015) available at http://www.southernafricalitigationcentre.org/2015/05/20/malawi-high-court-rules-that-mandatoryhiv-testing-is-unconstitutional/# (accessed on 15 March 2016). 2 5