The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has strongly condemned the humiliating and degrading treatment suffered by four women journalists who were stripped naked in public in Kenema, Eastern Sierra Leone where they were covering events to mark the International Day against female circumcision.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the murder of Said Tahliil Ahmed, Director of HornAfrik- a radio and television station in the Somali Capital Mogadishu- who was gunned down on 4 February 2009. "We condemn this murder which is the result of the lawlessness in Somalia," said Gabriel Baglo, Director of the IFJ Africa Office.

The High Court has awarded a family, including a one-year-old baby and a child of eight, £150,000 damages after the Home Office accepted that it had unlawfully arrested and detained them. On 9 February 2009, in the face of court proceedings brought by the family, the Home Office accepted that the family's arrests and subsequent detentions were unlawful as they could not have been lawfully removed back to the Republic of Congo.

Last July, my young son was enlisted in an armed group during a recruitment campaign near his school. Despite my repeated attempts to intervene, he was covertly sent into military training", a Chadian man recently told JRS. On Red Hand Day, 12 February, JRS calls upon the government, with the support of local and international communities, to increase efforts to prevent the use of children in armed groups through the creation of safer schools.