ethiopia: ARTICLE 19 releases report on legal framework for freedom of expression

Contributor
Feb 20, 2003

ARTICLE 19 has released a report on the current legal framework for freedom of expression in Ethiopia. ARTICLE 19 believes that the report will inform the ongoing dialogue in Ethiopia on the new draft press law. The Report presents an independent assessment of the current legal framework for freedom of expression in Ethiopia and identifies the key areas of concern in relation to freedom of expression.

Ethiopia

Chad: Newspaper chiefs fined and jailed

Contributor
Feb 20, 2003

Nadjikimo Bénoudjita, publisher of the weekly Notre Temps, and Mbainaye Bétoubam, the paper's deputy editor-in-chief, were sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined two million CFA francs ($3,300) in damages and interest on 6 February 2003.

Chad

africa: Diarrhoea vaccine on fast track for poor nations

Contributor
Feb 20, 2003

A new multi-million dollar project has been launched to speed up access in developing countries to a vaccine against the world's leading cause of severe diarrhoea among children. The goal of the three-year US$30 million venture is to ensure that a vaccine against the rotavirus is made available to children in developing countries at the same time as it is to those living in the developed world, a move that, it is claimed, could save half a million lives a year.

nigeria: education performance worst in west africa

Contributor
Feb 20, 2003

The poor state of Nigeria's educational sector has resulted in a frightening decay which has put the performance of the country's candidates in public examinations behind that of their counterparts in war ravaged countries in West Africa. This is revealed in a quarterly review of the sector by Shelter Rights Initiative.

Nigeria

ethiopia: Newspaper vendors detained, harassed

Contributor
Feb 20, 2003

Vendors of Ethiopian free press publications are being hunted down and detained, and their newspapers are being snatched from them by police, says the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (EFJA). This comes at a time when local and foreign journalists, publishers and media professionals have strongly protested against the new draft press law that have been made public by the Ministry of Information.

Ethiopia

africa: Poverty and exclusion among urban children

Contributor
Feb 13, 2003

Asserting that tens of millions of urban children around the world are living in poverty and life-threatening environments, UNICEF says that municipal authorities need to place the best interest of the child at the forefront of their decision-making. At the launch of the report, "Poverty and Exclusion among Urban Children", released by UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre (IRC), UNICEF Deputy Director Kul Gautam stated: "The tens of millions of urban children who are denied basic social service...read more

Zimbabwe: Political Violence Report for January 2003

Contributor
Feb 13, 2003

Political violence has characterised the run up to the parliamentary by-election to be held in Kuwadzana over the weekend of 29 - 30 March 2003. The imposition of an unofficial curfew by ZANU PF supporters in Kuwadzana, following the death of ZANU PF member, Tonderai Mangwiro, in a petrol bombing, has stepped up organised violence and torture in the area.

Zimbabwe

Africa: United Nations steps up action on child soldiers

Contributor
Feb 13, 2003

In a recent diplomatic dance to confront those governments and armed groups using child soldiers, the United Nations took both a firm step forward and a small side step. The challenge to act came in 2001 when the UN Security Council, led by France, adopted a ground-breaking initiative to compile a list of those using or recruiting children as soldiers in armed conflicts on its agenda. Non-governmental organisations campaigning against the use of child soldiers welcomed this landmark resolution.

BURUNDI: School feeding programme launched

Contributor
Feb 13, 2003

The World Food Programme (WFP), in partnership with World Vision, has launched a major school-feeding programme in the northern Burundi province of Karuzi, thereby boosting the chances of higher school attendance rates among otherwise hungry pupils.

Burundi

SUDAN: Report says civilians targeted by gov't and affiliated militias

Contributor
Feb 13, 2003

Civilians in Western Upper Nile (Wahdah State), southern Sudan, including women and children, have been targeted by the Government of Sudan and allied militia groups in a series of attacks since the new year, a new report has said. A preliminary report issued on Sunday in Khartoum by the independent Civilian Protection Monitoring Team (CPMT) stated that the attacks had occurred in villages around Mayom, Mankien, Tam and Leel.

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