As Uganda joined the global community in marking World Press Freedom Day, research shows that some media houses in the country have caved in to pressure from the State and no longer report on critical issues affecting the country. Speaking at the release of a report titled: ‘Media Liberalisation in Uganda: Threatening Journalists’ Rights and Freedom’, in Kampala, Mulindwa Mukasa, the executive board chairperson of Human Rights Network for Journalists (HRNJ) said: 'During the Buganda riots, media houses were closed while others were sternly warned to desist from covering the events of the riots. This forced some media houses to lay-off objective journalists and replace them with less critical ones.'

Gunmen have shot dead a journalist in Somalia - the fifth such killing this year. Farhan Jeemis Abdulle, a reporter for Radio Daljir, was shot by masked men as he left his office in the north-central town of Galkayo, his colleagues say.

The East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network has welcomed two resolutions adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) raising concerns about the situation of journalists in Somalia and Ethiopia. The 51st Ordinary Session of the ACHPR that took place in Banjul, The Gambia, began on 18th April and concluded 2 May 2012. Members of the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (EHAHRD-Net) and its secretariat actively participated in the Commission session, as well as the NGO Forum that took place on 14th-16th April.

This portal impartially presents the human rights impacts of oil pollution, from all sides. What are the victims, advocates, companies and commentators saying? Are the abuses continuing? Are past abuses being addressed? Are steps being taken to prevent further spills? Do victims have effective remedies? What is the latest news about lawsuits and compensation claims? The portal’s purpose is to keep an ongoing focus on these important issues, and to provide a platform to reflect the continuing public debate.

Beading is a practice in the Samburu indigenous community of Kenya which involves the sexual engagement and exploitation of girls as young as nine years old by male relatives. Download the newsletter by Kenyan organisation Samburu Women for Education and Development Programme (SWEEDO) to find out more.

The Kenyan security forces have committed widespread human rights abuses against ethnic Somalis with total impunity, Human Rights Watch said in a report. Between November 2011 and March 2012, Kenyan police and soldiers arbitrarily arrested and mistreated Kenyan citizens and Somali refugees in North Eastern province in response to attacks by militants suspected of links to Somalia’s Islamist armed movement al-Shabaab.

The Burundian Interior Minister ordered Human Rights Watch to cancel a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura, on May 2, 2012, that was planned to release a report on political violence in Burundi, Human Rights Watch said. The police also ordered Human Rights Watch to stop distribution of the report in Burundi. The Human Rights Watch report documents the rise of political killings in Burundi from late 2010 to late 2011.

'The World According to Monsanto' is a full length documentary about biotech company Monsanto's control over the seed and food chain. It can be viewed through the weblink provided.

Malawi President Joyce Banda has said she had asked the African Union to prevent Sudan's wanted leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir from attending a summit in her country, saying his visit would have 'implications' for the economy. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Sudan's President Bashir to face charges of masterminding genocide and other war crimes during his nation's Darfur conflict. Malawi angered international donors when it played host to Bashir last year - ICC members countries like Malawi are supposed to arrest people wanted by the global court.

This hour-long video on the Ndifuna Ukwazi blog contains an interview with Doron Issacs from Equal Education. The video looks at the origins of the organisation. 'The Equal Education approach was to set up youth meetings to get young people to determine what issues were important and what hindered their performance at schools. These evolved into campaigns and activities geared to educating communities and parents on the education system, how to understand their rights and how to work with the education authorities to fix the problems that emerge.'

Lawyers in Egypt said that the 14 women detained by the military on Friday were released on Sunday after the legal appeal was accepted by the military prosecutor. A total of 15 women were detained on Friday in the forced eviction of the sit-in near the ministry of defense, and military prosecutor ordered 14 of them to be held for 15 days pending investigation.

The National House of Traditional Leaders wants to remove a clause from the Constitution which protects people from being discriminated against because of their sexual orientation. City Press reported on Sunday that the organisation was responding to an annual invitation by Parliament's constitutional review committee to submit suggestions for Constitutional amendments.

This OSISA and AfriMAP report argues that Mozambique’s commitment to providing access to education in a country scared by years of conflict, with an illiteracy rate of 90 per cent in the 1970’s, has yielded strong results. However the sector still faces several difficulties that it must tackle urgently if it is to attain the MDG goal on education and gender parity.

This report covers the findings of the third week (April 15 to 21, 2012) of monitoring language use on radio under Media Foundation for West Africa’s project on: Promoting issues-based and decent language campaigning in Ghana’s 2012 elections, funded by STAR-Ghana. For the week under review, indecent expressions were recorded on a total of 14 programmes aired on 11 out of the 31 radio stations being monitored under the project.

A special summit of West African leaders held in Dakar, Senegal, agreed to dispatch a regional force to Mali if the interim government officially makes the request. 'The conference instructed the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to prepare the standby force for immediate deployment as soon as Mali asks for it,' a statement issued at the meeting said.

When President Museveni signed the controversial Land Amendment Bill into law protection from illegal eviction was guaranteed. However, participants debating the issue of land grabbing in a public policy symposium in Kampala last week, cited state house, police, the lands ministry, investors and government officials among the key drivers of land disputes and illegal evictions.

The army has dismissed allegations that Uganda is propping up rebel groups in Sudan. The allegations, which have lately become a staple in mainstream Sudan media is, according to the Uganda government, a deliberate ploy by Khartoum to 'deflect attention from the daunting challenges it is facing.' According to the Sudan government, Uganda is giving assistance to the Justice and Equality Movement rebels who have been engaged in mortal combat with Khartoum for the last 10 years, together with SPLM-N rebels in Unity and South Kordofan areas.

Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete has sacked six ministers amid allegations of government corruption. He has been under pressure to deal with the scandal following a report by a body overseeing public finances. The inspector of the government's accounts noted the rampant misuse of funds in at least seven ministries.

Last week, a new Land Matrix 'land grab' database was released at a big World Bank conference on land. On paper, says one academic, they have a strong methodology and very strict criteria about projects that are to be included, but some projects involved China are listed even though they were exaggerated or never came to fruition.

Sudan has endorsed the African Union's (AU) roadmap to avert an all-out war with South Sudan, though it insisted on retaining the right to self-defence. Earlier, South Sudan said it had accepted the AU's seven-point roadmap that called for a cessation of hostilities. Based on the seven-point roadmap, the two countries have until next Tuesday to restart stalled negotiations and three months to reach an agreement.

Sahelian governments and local and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing the regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal in northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region as the lean season gets underway. Altogether some 284,000 Malians have fled the north according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 107,000 of them thought to be displaced within Mali; 177,000 in neighbouring countries.

Renewed heavy fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) North Kivu Province has pushed some 3,000 Congolese refugees into northern Rwanda where they are in need of humanitarian assistance, says a senior UN official. 'The situation is worsening since humanitarian volunteers are now overwhelmed by the influx of Congolese refugees who are arriving in Rwanda,' Neimah Warsame, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) representative in Rwanda, told reporters on 3 May.

As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria, the atmosphere of despair is telling. The air is dusty, the wind is fierce and unrelenting, the plants are wilting and the earth is turning into sand dunes. The sparse vegetation is occasionally broken by withered trees and shrubs. The lives of herders, fisherfolk and farmers are teetering on the edge as the lake dries up before their eyes. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called the situation an 'ecological catastrophe', predicting that the lake could disappear this century.

Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol. Japan will be without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear plant on the northern island of Hokkaido goes offline for routine maintenance. After last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.

At UNCTAD XIII recently held in Doha, a united front of the BRICS, the G77 and China, supported by intense NGO lobbying and a highly publicised letter from former senior UNCTAD staff (including several from the Caribbean), successfully resisted efforts by the Global North to retsrict the agency’s critical work linking trade, development and the global financial and economic crisis. Was it a victory for the South, or a draw? Visit the page through the link provided for three perspectives on the meeting:
- Victory for the South by Deborah James
- Draw at Doha by Vijay Prashad
- South wins battle for new UNCTAD mandate by Martin Khor.

Japanese organisations have asked for support in their appeal to Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihiko Noda and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon concerning the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool. 'It is clearly evident that Fukushima Daiichi Unit 4 spent nuclear fuel pool is no longer a Japanese issue but an international issue with potentially serious consequences. Therefore, it is imperative for the Japanese government and the international community to work together on this crisis before it becomes too late. We are appealing to the United Nations to help Japan and the planet in order to prevent the irreversible consequences of a catastrophe that could affect generations to come.'

We are pleased to announce that the May 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now .

In this issue:

- Pending questions: UNHCR Recommendations regarding the Cessation Clause for Rwandan refugees
- Asylum victory on appeal: Immigration Judge placed ‘unreasonable expectations’ on applicant to demonstrate the motive behind violence against her
- UK detaining Sudanese asylum seekers with an aim towards deportation
- Understanding psychology can make asylum decisions fairer
- EU resolution against human trafficking in the Sinai
- Hungarian asylum process condemned by the UNHCR
- Thai NGO collecting signatures to petition for a Refugee Act
- The Moroccan Arab Spring: Protecting migrants rights in theory and practice
- Campaign for access to detention centres in Europe
- Engaging with our readers
- Refugees in Egypt: Between rights and responsibilities
- Publication profile: Migration Information Source

Also in this issue: Deportation news; Country of Origin and legal news; Resources; Publications; Vacancies; Courses, conferences and seminars; Calls for papers; Links.

As always, we welcome feedback and suggestions.

Who are the people behind grassroots movements, farming unions, groundbreaking research and government policy that are helping to stave off hunger, boost crop harvests and put more food on tables? AlertNet put this question to dozens of experts and researchers from leading non-governmental organisations and research institutes involved in nutrition and agriculture and have come up with a 'Top 10 food trailblazers' list.

Sylvia Tamale chooses to raise her voice on issues like the right of sex workers to earn a living, the right for adults to enjoy adult entertainment and leisure like ebimansulo (striptease shows), and the recognition of human rights for marginalised groups such as sexual minorities and refugees, addressing the injustices in the law. Her arguments? That as long as these minorities’ activities do not infringe on the freedoms and rights of others, they should be granted their right to freely do as they please.

This newsclip from The Real News Network examines worker protests in Egypt in the context of the European Bank seeking to ratify $1.5 bn in loans to Egypt. 'This isn't investment, it's imperialism!' shouts one protestor.

As a member of a small team of country-based researchers, the field researcher will work closely with the research coordinator to deliver timely, fact-based and first-hand experiential findings on the impacts of large-scale land deals on rural women.

The 'Birthing Justice: Women Creating Economic and Social Alternatives' series features twelve alternative social and economic models which expand the possibilities for justice, equity, and strong community. They are based in the US, Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Some are national-level, some global-level. Some are propelled by people’s movements, some forced or adopted into government policy. In first-hand narratives, women describe their role in having created the models and show us their unique perspectives and challenges in the movements. The fifth narrative focuses on land occupations in Honduras.

When the Western Sahara report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was watered down this year, from an April 6 to an April 11 'final' version, the first questions were directed at Morocco. But on April 16 a senior Ban administration official told Inner City Press the larger hypocrisy is France's, and sell-out of the UN is by Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).

The National Coordination of Peasant Organizations (CNOP) of Mali and La Via Campesina have published a new report on the mobilization of social movements against land grabbing. Land grabs jeopardize food sovereignty and threaten sustainable family farming and peasants everywhere in the world. The document stems from the first international peasant and farmer conference against land grabbing, held at the Nyéléni site in Sélingué in Mali, from 17 to 19 November 2011. The gathering included about 250 participants, principally women and men of rural and peasant origin, from 40 mainly African countries. It witnessed numerous testimonies by populations that had been ousted from their land by foreign investors who have set up vast monocultures for the export of foodstuffs or agrofuels. In most cases the populations are neither informed nor compensated.

LAP GreenN, the Libyan Investment Authority’s international telecommunications arm and a major foreign investor in Zambia, said on Monday that it was disturbed by the decision last week in the Zambian High Court not to grant interim protection for its seized assets, which were legitimately purchased at a cost of US$257 million. In a statement, made available to PANA here, LAP GreenN said it had decided for valid reasons not to appeal the court decision, but to address the issue in its case against the government, which is scheduled in the Zambian High Court on 9 July, 2012. LAP-GreenN is an US$8 billion telecommunications investment arm of Libyan African Investment Portfolio (LAP) and it claims that its assets in Zambia now have a market-value of approximately US$480 million.

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Helen Zille has apologised for referring to Eastern Cape pupils who flocked to the Western Cape for better education as 'refugees', it was reported. 'I am] very sorry because it was never meant in that context at all and it was never said in that way at all,' she was quoted as saying in the Cape Times.

The trial of seven Free State policemen accused of murdering and assaulting protester Andries Tatane continued last week. Tatane was killed in Ficksburg during a service delivery protest, allegedly by public order police, on 13 April last year.

Thousands of Malawians last Monday converged on Ndata Farm, the sprawling private estate of former President Bingu wa Mutharika, to witness the funeral service of the 78-year-old economist-turned politician. Mutharika died suddenly on 5 April after collapsing in his office at the New State House in the capital, Lilongwe. Several African leaders, including Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Mwai Kibaki of Kenya and Armando Geubuza of Mozambique and African Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping, attended the Catholic Church Ceremony.

The recent deaths of journalists in Nigeria, Lebanon, Somalia and Indonesia bring the number of journalists killed so far in 2012 to 36 - which means this year is on track to be the deadliest for the media since International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping records in 1997. 'We are witnessing, by a significant margin, the deadliest start to a year for the media in recent memory,' IPI executive director Alison Bethel McKenzie said. 'As movements for democracy spread across the world, journalists - whose work is critical to any free society - are increasingly coming under violent attack.'