Pambazuka News 583: The bitterness of war, the sourness of justice
Pambazuka News 583: The bitterness of war, the sourness of justice
The Charles Taylor trial reportedly cost a whopping $250 million. Was it worth it?
Confronted with a declining World Order it can no longer control, does the West want to re-assert its will through a new world war, which this time would be really global?
South Africa's economic management is as risky as unsafe sex.
Pambazuka News 582: Charles Taylor: One man, two wars, one guilty verdict - justice for whom?
Pambazuka News 582: Charles Taylor: One man, two wars, one guilty verdict - justice for whom?
Togolese students arrested on 28 March and 3 April, following demonstrations at the University of Kara, have been released. Students Agnité Massama, Bitsioudi Birénam and Sidiba Mohamed who were arrested on 28 March at the University of Kara, have been released. They are members of the National Union of Pupils and Students of Togo (Union nationale des élèves et étudiants du Togo). A fourth student, Alinki M’claw, was arrested on 3 April and was also released. They had been charged with 'incitement to revolt' (incitation à la révolte) after they organized a general assembly to discuss the government's failure to honour its promise to grant benefits to support students, and scholarships on the basis of merit.
In March, 44 countries called on the Government of Eritrea to end its use of arbitrary detention and torture of its citizens. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Human Rights Concern - Eritrea and the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project welcomed this long overdue attention paid to the widespread and systematic human rights violations continuing in Eritrea for over a decade. In a statement to the UN Human Rights Council, states from Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America and North America expressed their concerns about the government’s refusal to hold national elections or allow opposition parties, independent media or international non-governmental organisations to operate.
The scheduled reopening of the trial of those accused of murdering Ernest Manirumva, a Burundian human rights defender, is a positive step, said the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and Protection International. Ernest Manirumva was vice-president of the Anti-Corruption and Economic Malpractice Observatory (OLUCOME). He was kidnapped from his home on the night of 8 April 2009 and murdered in the early hours of the morning of 9 April.
The Globe and Mail has an article about Bill Gates and his advocacy of technology in the agriculture sector. 'Relying on genetically modified (GM) crops and chemicals to push up output per acre may help Monsanto (which was one of the stocks in the Gates Foundation’s investment portfolio), Syngenta and other tech-driven food biggies, but won’t necessarily support those who need the most help-poor smallholder farmers and underdeveloped countries. Making them part of Big Ag’s global supply chain might not help either.'
A grenade attack in a Nairobi church has killed one person and injured at least 15 others, police in the Kenyan capital say. Moses Ombati, the deputy police chief for Nairobi, confirmed the number of killed and injured. Charles Owino, deputy spokesman for the Kenyan police, said the grenade was thrown into the God's House of Miracle Church in the capital's Ngara neighbourhood.
Madagascan security forces Saturday fired tear-gas to disperse a crowd of opposition supporters who attempted to gather in the capital Antananarivo. The meeting had been organised by deposed President Marc Ravalomanana allies to discuss development issues. About three people were arrested and about forty injured during the fracas.
Officials and witnesses are reporting a death of around 20 people after attackers with bombs and guns opened fire at worshippers attending church services at a university in northern Nigeria on Sunday. Explosions and gunfire rocked Bayero University in the northern city of Kano, and witnesses said they targeted two campus church services – one outdoors, the other in a building but with the crowd spilling outside.
Ghana has become the first country in Africa to start protecting children against two of the continent's deadliest infant diseases with simultaneous vaccinations. The diseases targeted are rotavirus, which causes diarrhoea, and pneumococcal, both of which kill more than 2.7 million children worldwide each year. The project is backed by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.
The junta in Guinea Bissau has 'unconditionally' released the two leaders seized nearly three weeks ago, state media said Saturday. The two men include the interim President Raimundo Pareira and the former Prime Minister Carlos Gomes Junior. Both men have since been flown to the Ivorian capital, Abidjan.
A top Moroccan newspaper editor, convicted and jailed under the penal code for his writings, has been freed after serving a year in prison. 'I denounce my imprisonment and conviction under the penal code, and I hope I am the last journalist to be tried under it,' said Rachid Nini, editor of the country's most popular daily, al-Massae, on Saturday.
The captain who led a coup in Mali last month before handing power back to a civilian president has rejected the decision by West African states to send troops, casting a shadow over delicately-balanced negotiations to resolve the country's crisis. 'All the decisions announced in Abidjan were reached without consulting us,' Amadou Haya Sanogo told reporters on Saturday. 'I do not agree with the deployment of soldiers from the Economic Community of West Africa States.'
President Alassane Ouattara of Côte d’Ivoire promised paved roads, an end to power cuts and water shortages, better mobile phone coverage, and a new university in the country’s west as part of an 'emergency plan' to develop a region that has been steeped in violence and insecurity for a decade. But for some displaced Ivoirians still unable to return to their homes, the promises ring hollow.
In Malawi, like most other countries in the region with the exception of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, more than 60 per cent of land is customary, meaning that it is mostly untitled and administered by local chiefs on behalf of the government, with local communities merely enjoying user rights. The system has led to many abuses, with some government officials and chiefs selling off customary lands and dispossessing smallholder farmers who are already competing for dwindling arable land as Malawi’s population increases.
Only a fraction of the millions of people worldwide with blood and autoimmune disorders survive - especially those in poorer countries - partly due to the lack of bone marrow stem cell transplants. A recently established Nigerian bone marrow registry hopes to boost matches between donors and patients, and survival chances. Some 200,000 babies are born annually in sub-Saharan Africa with sickle cell disease, a blood disorder in which mutated red blood cells can clump and block blood vessels, causing pain, infection and organ damage. Nigeria has up to two million sickle cell patients, many of whom can benefit from stem cell transplants.
A lack of awareness of the importance of skilled hospital deliveries in Ethiopia, cultural beliefs, and transport challenges in rural areas are causing a high number of deaths during childbirth, say officials. Only 10 per cent of deliveries take place within health facilities, according to the Ethiopia’s latest (April) Demographic Health Survey results. Nevertheless, the figure is a significant improvement on 6 percent in the previous 2005 survey.
Malawi will devalue its currency, the kwacha, by 40 per cent to unlock blocked aid by meeting conditions set by the International Monetary Fund, President Joyce Banda said. The government has resumed relations with the UK and held talks with the IMF, World Bank and U.S. after the death of Bingu wa Mutharika, the leader who clashed with western donors, Banda said. She was sworn-in as president of the southern African nation this month after Mutharika died of a heart attack on April 5.
Kenya Palestinian Solidarity Committee supports the freedom struggle and the consequent establishment of a democratic secular state in the entire land of pre-l948 Palestine where Muslims, Christians and Jews choose to live together in political equality, justice and prosperity for all.
They provide solidarity and link with local and international solidarity committees to create awareness of the struggles in the cultural, social, economic and political spheres in occupied Palestine through acitivities like information sharing, education campaigns, film festivals and public fora. They produce regular enewsletters on Palestine from Kenya and is an example of the solidarity coming from African countries. Visit or
Sudan has declared a state of emergency in areas bordering South Sudan, giving authorities wide powers of arrest a day after they detained three foreigners in a flashpoint town along the frontier. The detentions and Sunday's state of emergency declaration heightened tensions even further along the border between the old rivals, who in the past month came to the brink of an all-out war because of renewed fighting in disputed areas.
The UN refugee agency has said that heavy rains have hit Somali refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, damaging tents, flooding roads and affecting aid delivery. This comes as the refugee population in southern Ethiopia swells to more than 150,000. 'In recent weeks, Dollo Ado in southern Ethiopia has been receiving a weekly average of 450 new Somali refugees. More than 8,500 have been registered so far this year, pushing the refugee population in the area's five camps past the 150,000 mark,' said a UNHCR spokesman.
With a recent report detailing corruption in the fuel subsidy system, a symposium is planned to address the issues and map out a plan of action on the imperative of accountability and probity
on how the collective state resources must and should be managed.
The Land Matrix is an online public database of large-scale land deals. It provides a visualisation of records documenting land deals since 2000. The data you can explore represent about 50 per cent of the entire data base. The remaining deals are being crosschecked and added, together with new data provided, on an on-going basis. The visualisations offer overview of the data as well as giving full access to the public database down to the level of an individual deal.
While it is a recognised universal fact that eliminating gender inequality and achieving women’s empowerment are paramount to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, progress with implementation of the MDGs is the slowest in those areas that depend most heavily on improving the status of women and girls. The Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) held a seminar titled 'Uniting parliamentary efforts to end violence against women in Africa' to discuss the important role parliaments can and do play in ending violence against women in Africa. Besides being an opportunity to learn, meet and develop new projects, this seminar also served as a base for a parliamentary resolution and two parliamentary guidelines on FGM/C and UNSC Resolutions 1325.
Parliament has passed a law that spells out the punishment for torture - 15 years imprisonment or a fine of Shs 7.2m upon conviction. It is intended to define and criminalize torture, and provide for sanctions and compensation in case of the offence of torture, and regulate the use of information obtained through torture.
The traditional farming methods of smallholder farmers – which, researchers say, also help to fight soil depletion, reduce irrigation needs and adapt to climate change – may soon disappear. They are being wiped out by governments focused on promoting commercial monocultures that they hope will bring fast, high yields in order to boost national agricultural sales on global markets.
In this episode of Africa Today, Walter Turner interviews Anuradha Mittal from the Oakland Institute on land grabs in Africa and speaks with Kambele Musavuli from Friends of the Congo on resource exploitation and contemporary developments in the DRC.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has expressed deep concern about current or recent moves in a number of countries to curtail the freedom of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other civil society actors to operate independently and effectively. Pillay noted that freedom of association is under increasing pressure in many countries across the world. 'Freedom of association is the lifeblood of NGOs,' she said. 'Systemic legal or administrative attempts to curtail their activities can be very damaging.'
The world’s recent financial and political upheavals have not been kind to women. In Libya’s Tripoli, female suicide rates increased tenfold during the revolution, while dismal job prospects have young Greek women abandoning their career aspirations, participants in a global forum on women’s rights said over the weekend. 'Many people say this is a time for transformation and moving forward but we know from our work that it’s also a time of instability and uncertainty,' Jamaican activist Mariama Williams, a senior programme officer at the South Centre, said at the closing session of the 12th International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development in Istanbul.
This issue brief from the International Peace Institute provides a brief overview of the legal, political, and operational frameworks protecting children from the effects of armed conflict, notably from violations by nonstate armed groups. It explores some of the limitations of these frameworks and their mechanisms, and then discusses ways to maximize the comparative advantages of different actors when engaging nonstate armed groups to improve the protection of children’s rights.
The African Media Barometer (AMB) is an in-depth and comprehensive description and measurement system for national media environments on the African continent. Unlike other press surveys or media indices the AMB is a self assessment exercise based on home-grown criteria derived from African Protocols and Declarations like the 'Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa' (2002) by the 'African Commission for Human and Peoples’ Rights'. The instrument was jointly developed by fesmedia Africa, the Media Project of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Africa, and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) in 2004.
Malaria cases have increased dramatically in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, leaving clinics and treatment centres unable to cope, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned. The number of people treated for malaria in MSF projects has soared by 250 per cent since 2009 in six provinces – half of the vast African country – and accelerated even more sharply in recent months. The reasons for the trend are not clear, although it is thought renewed fighting by militia groups has made it increasingly difficult for people to access prevention and treatment for the mosquito-borne disease.
Four senior judges in Kenya have been declared unfit for office in a landmark ruling by a new committee investigating the impartiality of the judiciary. The vetting panel was set up as part of the deal to end post-election violence in 2008 when it was agreed to reform political and judicial institutions. Five other judges were cleared. The four told they are unfit to continue have seven days to appeal.
King Mswati III of Swaziland has received a luxury jet as a gift from 'anonymous sponsors', a government spokesperson has confirmed to the BBC. The DC-9 twin-engine aircraft is for the use of the king and his 13 wives, Percy Simelane said. Swazi's banned opposition party says taxpayer money must have been used to buy it, but Mr Simelane denies this.
Five people have been killed and 10 injured in two separate attacks in central Nigeria - one targeting football fans, officials have said. Unknown gunmen shot dead five villagers in an overnight attack on Rim, 50km (30 miles) south of Jos in Plateau state. Earlier, in Jos city nine people were injured after a blast outside a venue where fans had been watching the Chelsea-Barcelona football match.
The white right-wing group Kommandokorps has emerged again in mainstream media after an in-depth article in the Mail & Guardian and a short documentary video in cyberspace. Wessel van den Berg and Mbuyiselo Botha argue that the video shows the way in which violence is equated with manhood, demonstrating that certain forms of masculinity are valued above others. 'These processes are often overlooked, but they are the root cause of the high levels of violence in South Africa.'
Sonke Gender Justice has launched a new publication, 'Mapping the Legal Framework to Prevent Sexual Violence & HIV in South Africa’s Correctional Facilities.' Sexual violence and HIV and AIDS are key areas of concern for Sonke, as inmates experience both at heightened proportions. HIV and sexual violence are inherently linked, particularly in South Africa’s prisons where external estimates for HIV range between 40-60 per cent.
Despite the escalating aerial bombardment deep into her territories, South Sudan has called for resumption of talks with Sudan to resolve the outstanding issues that include demarcation of the fragile borders, status of Abyei and security. Meanwhile, in Beijing, South Sudan’s leader accused Sudan of declaring war as Khartoum’s warplanes bombed border regions in defiance of international calls for restraint.
African women are dismayed at the fact that this racist project which was supposed to bring awareness of the very painful and complex issue of genital cutting has ironically had the completely opposite effect.
Date: Saturday, 5 May 2012 (9am-5pm)
Venue: Wesley Memorial Hall (by St Peter's College) , New Inn Hall Street, University of Oxford, UK
http?://www?.?oxfordafrica?.?eventbrite?.?co?.?uk/
We warmly encourage all students to join us.
The 2012 Conference focuses on building the type of leadership Africa needs to successfully face challenges in the 21st century. The conference will bring together young and emerging academics, students, entrepreneurs, activists, and politicians to discuss and debate the challenges of the day in Africa. These discussions will help develop concrete strategies to nurture and sustain youth leadership in Africa and in African communities worldwide.
Speakers include:
Vera Songwe (World Bank Country Director)
Arthur Mutambara (Deputy Prime Minister, Zimbabwe)
Sanusi Lamido Sanusi (Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria)
He Liehui (Chairman, Touchroad International Holdings Group, China)
June Arunga (CEO, Open Quest Media, 100 Most Creative People in Business)
Matthew Hassan Kukah (Human Rights Activist & Social Exponent)
Gbenga Sesan (Executive Director, Paradigm Initiative, Nigeria)
Patrick Awuah (Founder, Ashesi University, Ghana)
Mary Harper, Africa Editor, BBC World Service & Author of Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War & Hope in a Shattered State
We are proudly sponsored by Google, Business Connection, Think Africa Press, and the Oxford African Studies Centre.
Be sure to visit our website for all the latest news: http?://www?.?oxfordafrica?.?org/
After bitter debate within the Security Council, and strong pressures from France to avoid any kind of progress in the resolution of the conflict in Western Sahara, the member states of this “non-democratic” international body adopted a new resolution completely void of any sense or reason.
Citizen Coalition for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU), Citizens’ Manifesto Coordination Office, Uganda Governance Monitoring Platform (UGMP) and Centre for Constitutional Governance (CCG), said the debate to restore term limits should not be partisan because it affects the whole country. 'It is unfortunate that the NRM party organs are making an attempt to trivialise an issue of national importance to a partisan conversation. All Ugandans who have suffered at the hands of political instability and uncertainty know that the issue of presidential term limits is colourless.'
Thousands of people took to Cairo's Tahrir Square 20 April to protest against the handling of the nation's transition period by the ruling military council following the fall of former president Hosni Mubarak. The demonstrators called for a quick exit of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) and that officials from the ousted president's government be barred from May's upcoming presidential election.
Participants at the NGOs Forum of African Commission on Human and People’s Right (ACHPR) on 12 April added their voice to the widespread condemnation of the Gambian authorities over their deliberate policy of blocking access to critical online news websites in the country. Systematically, the Gambia authorities have either attacked the online news newspapers by hacking into their websites or blocking their IP addresses, making it impossible for Gambians to access the news sites.
US wants to use South Sudan to gain strategic advantage but China may be the peace broker.
A group of civil society organisations has stated that it must be recognised that the Protection of State Information Bill would undermine whatever gains have been made by South Africa. 'The Bill’s extraordinarily harsh and broadly drafted penalties – which prohibit accessing, sharing, or publishing any information classified within its expansive provisions – would create a society of secrets in which vital democratic spaces are closed off, and those who expose injustices may be targeted. The absence of any kind of adequate protection for whistleblowers is as much a concern today as it was when the Bill was introduced to Parliament.'
In two days of consecutive protest, Egyptian youth continued to demand the release of human rights lawyer, Al Gizawi, who is detained in Saudi Arabia for allegedly defaming its monarchy. The human rights lawyer is particularly contentious due to a lawsuit he filed in Egypt against King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz over alleged arbitrary detention of hundreds of Egyptians.
‘Like the formation of the Black Consciousness Movement did in the 1970s, we need to unite in our own space, define our own struggle and politics, and shake the barricades of neo-liberalism.’
Egyptian freedom of expression advocates are in an uproar over the banning of a play over its alleged use of 'foul language'. Rights movements issued a joint statement condemning al-Sawy Cultural Center in Cairo for banning the play 'Mono-drama Auto bus' from showing at the center’s 7th Mono-drama theater festival taking place this month. The Egyptian Women Union, the New Woman Foundation, the Egyptian Coalition and the Egyptian Democratic Institution are among the organization who have signed on in condemnation.
The World Bank and European Commission officials have accused Nevsun, the Canadian mining company operating in Eritrea, of misleading its investors. A Wikileaks cable, dated 15th June 2006, describes a visit organised by Nevsun and the Government of Eritrea for export credit agencies from Canada and South Africa, as well as Proparco, Standard Bank, and the European Investment Bank.
Glencore, the commodity and mining firm worth £27bn, stands accused in the Democratic Republic of the Congo of dumping raw acid and profiting from children working 150ft underground. The revelations come as the notoriously secretive Swiss-based company, which floated on the London Stock Exchange last year, seeks to merge with mining firm Xstrata in a £50bn-plus deal.
While a large-majority boycott of the polls would no doubt be a strong symbol of the regime’s illegitimacy, it is not clear how this would add to what is felt by most within Algeria already.
A critical analysis of different ‘solutions’ to improve the situation for rural women in Africa within the context of an iniquitous global food system.
Algeria is a key player in the Sahel, perhaps now more than ever. The crises in Libya and Mali will likely bolster the geopolitical rent that has benefited the Algerian regime since 11 September 2001.
Growing solidarity and resistance by Latin American nations to the continuing hyper-hostility of the US towards Cuba demonstrates a new assertiveness in relationships and a shift in political power.
Freedom and democracy in post-apartheid South Africa has meant white minority rule being replaced by rich minority rule.
An analysis of the continuing financial enslavement of West African nations to the French government.
Two of the world's biggest mining companies endured a barrage of protests as a broad coalition of unions, individuals, social and environmental groups from as far afield as South Africa and Mongolia travelled to London for Rio Tinto and Anglo American's annual meetings. At Anglo American's AGM, the miner came under fire amid allegations its South African subsidiary is responsible for cases of silicosis and tuberculosis in the country contracted between the 1960s and 1990s. About 1,200 former gold miners suffering the lung diseases are bringing a case against it in the High Court in London next month.
The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) to take urgent action to protect and promote human rights in Swaziland during its submission to the organisation's 51st session in Banjul. In a statement, OSISA urged the Commission to work with states to scrap outdated, colonial era offences that serve to criminalise poverty and homelessness, and allow for arbitrary arrest and detention by the police.
The unification of the water resources of Africa is one of the primary bases for African unity, with a system of canals linking rivers and lakes in the kind of infrastructure planning that ensures that all will have water.
On April 26, 2012 in Ouagadougou, a hearing on the presumed confinement of Thomas Sankara was put off until May 24, 2012 by the judge because the general rapporteur would be absent on a mission.
The complaint was first filed in 2002 by Me Dieudonnée Nkounkou and has been pending in the courts of Burkina. It has since been pursued by CIJS lawyers Sankara and Farama. The room was filled with Sankarists and curious onlookers who sang the national anthem and then booed the bench when the judge delayed the case.
On April 25, 2012, after five years on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Charles Taylor—suspected of being involved in the disappearance of Thomas Sankara—was found criminally responsible for having abetted and ordered crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone. This makes Charles Taylor the first former head of State to be convicted by an international court.
Meanwhile, the International Justice for Sankara Campaign is still waiting from the State party Burkina Faso to follow up on a request for a DNA forensic report as a follow up stipulated in the UN decision.
The CIJS wishes to thank all those who have shown their support in this 15-year struggle against impunity and calls for ongoing general mobilization.
On the eve of Sierra Leone’s Independence Day, former Liberian President Charles Taylor was found guilty of war crimes committed during that country’s civil war. But does the verdict represent a major victory for Sierra Leoneans beyond its symbolic value?
A major oil spill in the Niger Delta was far worse than Shell previously admitted, according to an independent assessment obtained by Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD), which exposes how the oil giant dramatically under-estimated the quantities involved. The spill in 2008, caused by a fault in a Shell pipeline, resulted in tens of thousands of barrels of oil polluting the land and creek surrounding Bodo, a Niger Delta town of some 69,000 people.
One of the world's largest funders of science is to throw its weight behind a growing campaign to break the stranglehold of academic journals and allow all research papers to be shared online. Nearly 9,000 researchers have already signed up to a boycott of journals that restrict free sharing as part of a campaign dubbed the 'academic spring' by supporters due to its potential for revolutionising the spread of knowledge.
This new publication by the Association for Progressive Communications and the International Development Research Centre gathers several reports from developing countries on how ICTs are and can be applied to help communities experiencing water-reated stress, adapt to climate change. While drawing on current experiences in the field of water management and sustainability, the perspective of the authors is primarily from the ICT for development (ICT4D) sector.
South Africa's governing African National Congress (ANC) has upheld the expulsion of Julius Malema as the party’s youth league leader, a statement has said. The ANC's statement said: 'In respect of the present disciplinary hearing, the [ANC National Disciplinary Committee of Appeal] NDCA confirms the sanction imposed by the NDC that the appellant be expelled from the ANC.' Malema, 31, was suspended in November after being found guilty of three of the charges against him - including bringing the party into disrepute by calling for regime change in Botswana.
Reporters Without Borders has called on the authorities of the semi-autonomous northeastern region of Puntland to immediately release radio Voice of Peace director Awke Abdullahi Ali, who has been held in the region’s capital, Bossasso, for nearly two months. Ali has not been charged although, under the law, no one should be held for more than 48 hours without charge.
Osange Silou-Kieffer, the wife of Franco-Canadian journalist Guy-André Kieffer missing in Côte d’Ivoire, has received an assurance from President Alassane Ouattara that no-one would be protected in the investigation into her husband’s disappearance. Visiting Abidjan, the country’s business capital, to mark the eighth anniversary of his disappearance, Silou-Kieffer and a Reporters Without Borders representative met Ouattara to tell him of their concern at the lack of progress in the investigation.
Huge reserves of underground water in some of the driest parts of Africa could provide a buffer against the effects of climate change for years to come, scientists have said. Researchers from the British Geological Survey and University College London have for the first time mapped the aquifers, or groundwater, across the continent and the amount they hold.
The South African Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana, has called for Southern African countries to develop a comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach to end gender-based violence (GBV). In her keynote address to the opening session of the third annual Gender Justice and Local Government Summit in Johannesburg, Xingwana, added that countries must continue to focus on the links between HIV and AIDS and GBV in strategies for prevention, response and support.
Nathan Charles spent over two months investigating and exposing the poor conditions at the Bong Mines hospital in Bong County, Liberia. Through his ongoing investigation, Charles discovered that not only did the health center have inadequate facilities to serve the surrounding community, it also was short on doctors and medication. It wasn’t long before word spread about the conditions patients endured at the Bong Mines Hospital and the Liberian government was forced to step in.
Since 2008, the rush for land in developing countries has rapidly intensified but the sector remains largely unregulated and land deals are frequently agreed in secret between governments and investors. This report, 'Dealing with Disclosure', launched by Global Witness, the International Land Coalition and the Oakland Institute, looks at why it is vital to transform the secretive culture behind large scale land deals and, for the first time, sets out in detail what tools governments, companies and citizens can harness to ensure that this happens.
In the midst of the chorus of widespread condemnations of the imposition of values and norms alien to Africa under the pretext of human rights, the Gambian leader has made his position clear, denouncing in the strongest term possible terms what he called 'ungodly gay marriages', saying his country has no 'room for gays and lesbians'.
Gay rights activists in Uganda want the government to declassify homosexuality as a mental health disorder. Activists have expressed concern that most health workers interviewed said homosexuals were mad people deserving psychiatric intervention.
One year after events that led to the deaths of 63 migrants in a boat in the waters off the coast of Libya, 4 survivors, with the support of a coalition of NGOs, filed a complaint in France concerning the responsibility of the French military for failing to assist persons in danger.
The International Criminal Court has warned Mali it is considering investigating reports of killings, rapes and other war crimes it fears may have been committed since January when fighting erupted there, triggering a wider crisis. 'The office has been closely following the developments in Mali since clashes erupted around 17 January 2012,' the ICC prosecutor's office said in a statement, adding it would now decide whether to conduct a preliminary investigation.
This brief update from the United Nations Fund (UNICEF) reports on recent developments in polio-endemic Nigeria. As of 13th of April 2012, 20 new cases of wild poliovirus (WPV) have been reported in eight states, compared to nine cases for the same time period in four states in 2011. The polio eradication programme is addressing challenges in campaign quality while dealing with a deteriorating security situation. In key infected states (Borno, Kano, Sokoto, Yobe), more than one in three children has received less than four doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV).
The Moroccan Parliament is debating a new bill that would give the prime minister some of the power now held by King Mohammed VI. The proposed law is considered among the most important political reforms brought by the new constitution in Morocco, since the power of appointments was limited to the king under the previous constitution.
As part of Algeria's effort to encourage citizens to participate in the 10 May legislative election, the human rights commission suggested that people be forced to vote. Farouk Ksentini, chairman of the National Consultative Committee for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights (CNCPPDH), on 7 April proposed that there should be a punishment for those who fail to vote.
This policy brief from the International Organisation of Migration looks at the situation of migrants who have returned home to several West African countries as a result of the conflict in Libya. It aims to provide an understanding of the factors that led to migration to Libya, in the first place; the migrants’ journey to Libya and their efforts to make a new life; the hasty return home; and the current needs of returnees and context to which they are returning.
Thousands of residents in Diepsloot, a large township north of Johannesburg, South Africa, are queuing for hours to access clean, safe water a week after their supply was contaminated by sewage. The contamination occurred when a contractor working on a nearby sewer line broke the water pipe that supplies Diepsloot. Though the damage was repaired, it is believed that E. coli in sewage contaminated the water supply.
New international HIV testing guidelines are encouraging couples to test together and for immediate initiation on antiretrovirals for the one testing positive. The World Health Organisation issued the guidelines recommending that a person living with HIV who has an HIV-negative partner (a 'sero-discordant' partnership) be offered HIV treatment regardless of their CD4 cell count level (measure of their immunity).
The African Platform on Access to Information (APAI), an intercontinental initiative to promote Access to Information on the Continent, took the campaign a step further in its address to the 51st session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The APAI working group, composed of MISA, AFIC, Article 19, IFJ, TAEF, MRA, MFWA, ODAC, and Highway Africa, called on the Commission to recognize 28 September as International Right to Know day, as well as for an expansion of article IV of the Declaration of Principles of Expression in Africa to incorporate the principles of the African Platform on Access to Information Declaration.
Safety nets - programs that invest in poor people and help them enhance their livelihoods and productivity by transferring resources to poor households - have been on the rise in Sub-Saharan Africa. These programs either transfer money directly to vulnerable households, or offer labor-intensive public works jobs such as building rural roads to adults who need temporary employment during the agricultural lean season. World Bank analysis shows that over the past 10 years, 120 cash transfer programs have been rolled out in Africa.
The World Bank is helping corporations and international investors snap up cheap land in Africa and developing countries worldwide at the expense of local communities, environment and farm groups said in a statement released to coincide with the bank's annual land and poverty conference in Washington DC. According to the groups, which include NGO Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and international peasants' group La Via Campesina, decades of World Bank policies have pushed African and other governments to privatise land and focus on industrial farming. In addition, they say, the bank is playing a 'key role' in the global rush for farmland by providing capital and guarantees to big multinational investors.
Migreurop, a coalition of organisations from thirteen European, African and Middle Eastern countries, has produced an extremely useful and powerful report which describes in detail ways in which the policy of preventing the entry of undocumented migrants is implemented. The first part of 'At the margins of Europe: the externalisation of migration controls', looks at the outsourcing of control at the eastern border area of Turkey (the main overland route to the EU via Greece), the high mountains, snowy and treacherous, crossed by ‘illegal’ travellers who might be from Iran or Afghanistan, Somalia or Eritrea.
Add your name to Amnesty's petition demanding justice for the people harmed by Shell in the Niger Delta.
Amnesty International considers all individuals convicted solely for their peacefully held views to be prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.
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cc WikimediaSomalia and Ethiopia’s expected entry into the East African Community will significantly transform the region’s geopolitical security architecture.
A message of solidarity to the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania ‘Indaba’ by Motsoko Pheko, former PAC president at Orlando, Johannesburg, 6 April 2012.
The sickening signs of Kim’s retreat in the face of power were unmistakeable beginning in early April, just after his nomination was announced by Obama.
The very first plank of the Kenyan people’s agenda should be a departure from elite pacting: the noxious, personality-driven “succession” political maneuvering.
Leading a dedicated team to accompany the development and implementation of campaign strategies led by progressive African social justice movements, the Utetezi Director will support innovative strategies to amplify grassroots demands and realize people-centred change.
Location: Nairobi, Kenya or Dakar, Senegal.
Deadline for application: May 7, 2012.
For further information, please the job description and person specification.
To apply, please send the duly completed application form attached to: [email protected].
Sign the civil society statement and join the campaign to stop UN corporate capture!
Elizabeth Michael, better known in the Tanzanian film industry as Lulu, is a prime suspect in the death of famous actor Steven Kanumba early this month. The 17-year-old has been charged and will appear in court on May 7.
Community distressed after four of their leaders, including the village chief, are arrested.
Statement from Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) in response to Pambazuka News article titled ‘As a Ugandan citizen, I demand justice or death’
A Nigerian pressure group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has petitioned the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate an alleged US$6 billion fuel subsidy loot in the West African country. It said in its petition to Luis Moreno Ocampo, ICC Prosecutor, that the ICC should examine and investigate whether 'the widespread and systematic corruption and theft of over US$6 billion in the fuel subsidy scheme over a period of three years and its devastating effects on millions of Nigerians amount to inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health as provided by Article 7 of the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court'.