An online forum – hosting some of the world's leading observers - on how individuals, communities, nations, and international organisations seek justice in the aftermath of mass violence and genocide will take place between February 20th - March 7th, 2003.

Since ratifying the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women in 1983, the Republic of the Congo had eliminated discriminatory laws and drafted other legislation to ensure gender equality, that country's representative has told the Convention's monitoring body.

The latest figures released by the United Nations indicate that as many as 148,737 refugees are residing in Ethiopia. According to a report by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the refugees include 50,906 Somalis, 93,500 Sudanese, 3,871 Eritreans and 460 Ethiopians.

Some 19,000 genocide prisoners granted provisional release by President Paul Kagame began two months of re-education last Friday at solidarity camps throughout the country's 11 provinces and the City of Kigali.

Students in Malawi have set fire to the ruling party offices over President Bakili Muluzi's attempt to alter the constitution to stay in power.

The test for President Olusegun Obasanjo and other candidates in the Nigerian election is to answer critics who say modest progress in areas such as inward investment, tackling corruption and industrial diversification falls well short of the systemic change needed to encourage the development of the private sector and relieve the poverty of most of the country's 120m people.

Minister of Information and Publicity Jonathan Moyo has said that "The Daily News" newspaper and all its journalists are operating illegally because they are not registered with the Media and Information Commission.
Related Link:
*IFJ calls for end to Daily News persecution
http://www.pambazuka.org/newsletter.php? id=13106

Three Rwandan poachers convicted of killing two endangered mountain gorillas and stealing a baby one have been fined and sentenced to four years in prison, an official said last Thursday.

Visit the web page by clicking on the link provided and sign a women's statement against a looming war on Iraq.