Morocco has strongly criticised a recent Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, and the response to the document in Moroccan civil society has been divided. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia were among 15 North African and Middle Eastern countries, and over 90 countries worldwide, discussed in the 612-page World Report 2010, HRW's 20th annual review of human rights around the globe.

Egyptian border police shot dead two African migrants who tried to escape into Israel through the Sinai border, bringing the number of migrants killed this week to four. Police sources say they refused orders to stop. They were a 26-year-old Eritrean and a 27-year-old migrant of unknown nationality.

Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) demonstrates and promotes a youth-led approach to development, implementing internationally recognised programmes across sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. SPW is looking for a Country Director with relevant professional experience and a passion for SPW’s mission to place young people at the forefront of change and development. Closing date for applications: 18th February 2010, 5pm GMT (UK time)

The Obama administration should adopt recommendations in a report issued to help stop the flow of stolen money into the United States, Human Rights Watch said.

African leaders have called for an end to detention of political opponents and reiterated the need to end an African era dominated by the grabbing of political power. African Union (AU) Chairman, President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi, said key among the decisions reached during the Addis Ababa Summit which ended Tuesday was to call for an end to the political crises in Guinea, Madagascar and an end to illegal takeover of power in Africa.

UNICEF and the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School will host an international conference on adolescent girls in April 2010. With an emphasis on reviewing existing evidence and policies, the conference will focus on the role and potential agency of adolescent girls in meeting emerging global challenges.

The Open Society Institute (OSI) seeks a full-time Program Officer in its New York office to work jointly with the Sexual Health and Rights Project (SHARP) and the Law and Health Initiative (LAHI).

11 February 2009 is the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison. Tell us about what this historical event meant to you and what it means for you today. Send a paragraph or more about your thoughts to . We'll publish a selection in the next issue of Pambazuka News.

In this , historian, writer and activist, Democracy Now speaks with ‘those who knew him best: Noam Chomsky, Alice Walker, Naomi Klein and Anthony Arnove’. This is a video interview and includes a full rush transcript. Howard Zinn’s classic work

Howard Zinn, social activist, historian and playwright, passed away at the age of 87, on 27 January 2010. The Oakland Institute remembers him: ‘the world has not only lost a legendary historian but an individual, whose commitment to social and economic justice, peace and internationalism, and passion for telling the truth, can be matched by few others… Indeed the world has lost one of its best teachers.’

This is a call for the forthcoming South African Sociological Association (SASA) Congress, hosted by the University of Fort Hare, 13-16 June, in East London. Papers should be related to the theme is “Sport, Leisure, and Development in the 21st century: Opportunities and Challenges”; however, if you have a paper idea that doesn’t exactly fit, please go ahead and submit it to me or one of the other working group conveners. If your abstract is accepted we WILL find a space for it.

Gender based violence, sexual orientation, gender equality and sexuality of people living with HIV/AIDS will be issues discussed at the upcoming Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, 8-12 February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This fourth conference is expected to open up discourse about sexuality in Africa and to source possible insights of reducing the spread of HIV and Aids in Africa.

Ten-year-old Tembuso Magagula sat outside her classroom with her shoulders hunched against the cold today, tears streaming from her eyes. Her long-awaited first day of school had turned into a nightmare. Magagula expected to start grade one this year - four years late - as a beneficiary of the Free Primary Education programme which started on Jan. 26 in all public schools.

Within the framework of its strategy for building comparative knowledge on Africa produced from within the African continent, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites proposals from researchers based in African universities and centres of research for the constitution of Comparative Research Networks (CRNs) to undertake studies on or around any of the themes identified as priority research themes within the framework of the CODESRIA strategic plan for the period 2007 – 2011.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the eighteenth competition under its Small Grants Programme for Thesis Writing. The grants are designed to contribute to the development of the social sciences in Africa, and the continuous renewal and strengthening of research capacities in African universities through the funding of primary research conducted by post-graduate students and professionals.

The Aquino de Bragança Social Studies Centre (CESAB) and the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) co-organizes this International Conference in collaboration with DANIDA and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. It will bring together researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to engage in an open debate of the current state of justice provision and public safety in Mozambique.

Howard Zinn, 87, an activist historian whose 'People's History of the United States' resurrected neglected stories of the country's past and became a surprise bestseller in the 1980s and beyond, died of a heart attack on 27 January in Santa Monica, California, where he was on a speaking tour.

Anyone familiar with the basic provisions of the Arusha accords of 18 August 1992 is impelled to call into question , writes René Lemarchand.

UNICEF and the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School will host an international conference on adolescent girls in April 2010. With an emphasis on reviewing existing evidence and policies, the conference will focus on the role and potential agency of adolescent girls in meeting emerging global challenges.

Under the guidance of the Team Leader for the Horn of Africa/Kenya, the Researcher will support the work of HRW staff in implementing a human rights research and advocacy agenda focusing on the Horn of Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia) and Kenya. Deadline for applications: January 31, 2010.