Gender-based violence against women and girls was prevalent in several countries including Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland. In countries including Burkina Faso, lack of medical equipment, medication and staffing in hospitals left pregnant women and infants at serious risk of birth complications, infection and death. Female genital mutilation rates decreased; however, despite being outlawed, the practice remained widespread. Unsafe abortions contributed to one of Africa’s highest rates of maternal death and injury in Liberia, where affordable and accessible abortion services were largely unavailable to rape survivors. Despite its progressive abortion laws, women and girls faced substantial barriers to legal abortion services in South Africa and faced serious risks to health, and even death, from unsafe abortions. The government failed to address the refusal of health care professionals to provide abortions. In Angola, the government proposed an amendment to the Penal Code, which would decriminalize abortion in certain limited cases, but Parliament rejected the proposal. After a public outcry, the parliamentary vote on the legislation was postponed indefinitely. PEOPLE WITH ALBINISM Superstitions about the magical powers of people with albinism fuelled a surge of attacks against them; in Malawi and Mozambique, they were abducted and killed for their body parts. In Mozambique, a seven-year-old boy was murdered when unidentified men abducted him from his home. Despite public outcry, the government took little action. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE LGBTI people faced discrimination, prosecution, harassment and violence, including in Senegal, Ghana, Malawi and Nigeria. In Ghana, the parliamentary Speaker called for a constitutional amendment to make homosexuality illegal and punishable by law. In Liberia, a man arrested in 2016 and charged with “voluntary sodomy” under the Penal Code, remained in detention awaiting trial. In Nigeria, arrest, public shaming, extortion of and discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation were reported. In a landmark decision in Botswana, a High Court ordered the government to change the gender marker in the identity document of a transgender woman, ruling that its refusal to do so was unreasonable and in violation of her rights. RIGHT TO HOUSING AND FORCED EVICTIONS Amid increasing urbanization, unemployment, poverty and inequality, many countries failed to ensure accessible, affordable and habitable housing. A landslide at a vast rubbish dump on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital caused 115 deaths. Most of the victims lived next to the site and supported themselves by recycling rubbish. At least 10 people, including two children, were also killed in a landslide at a rubbish dump in Guinea. In Lagos state in Nigeria, authorities forcibly evicted at least 5,000 people from the OtodoGbame and Ilubirin waterfront neighbourhoods, while security services fired tear gas and live bullets to clear the area. The forced evictions were in violation of a High Court order restraining authorities from carrying out demolitions in these communities. On the other hand, a High Court ruling in Nigeria declared the planned demolition of Mpape settlement in Abuja illegal, thereby offering relief to hundreds of thousands of residents. The Court ruled that the authorities were obliged to refrain from forced evictions and should develop policies to implement the right to adequate housing. Amnesty International Report 2017/18 25