While in New York to celebrate the launch of UN Women's flagship biennium publication, 'Progress of the World's Women: In Pursuit of Justice', Botswana's Unity Dow sat down with IPS to discuss the United Nations' newest entity, its landmark report, and the road ahead for women. Dow is a lawyer, human rights activist, and formerly Botswana's first female judge. She has studied both within Africa and abroad, and has authoured five books. She is serving her second term as commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, and is chairperson of their Executive Committee.

Cameroon has opened its first landfill gas recovery plant, which aims to reduce methane emissions from waste and earn the country emissions reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism. The plant will trap methane generated by decaying household waste at the Nkolfoulou waste disposal site, on the outskirts of the capital, Yaounde. The gas will be stored in wells and burned off, releasing carbon dioxide, a gas that contributes substantially less to climate change per volume released than methane.

A new report from the Global Campaign for Education shows that millions of girls are being forced out of school because of poverty, child labour, early child marriage, the threat of sexual violence, inadequate and poor-quality schools. The report examines 80 poor countries in terms of the gains they have made in girls’ education. The report shows that the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, India, Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan are among those countries failing to respect the rights of girls to an education.

In May, Decree No. 2011-41 was promulgated in Tunisia relating to administrative documents held or produced by public authorities. In its comment on the Decree, Article 19 notes that the exceptions to the right to information outlined in the Decree should be amended in order to comply with international standards. 'According to international law in this area, information should never be withheld unless it affects a legitimate interest protected by law, release of the information would cause actual harm to that interest and this harm would be greater than the harm caused to the public interest by non-disclosure. The provisions of the Decree on exceptions (Articles 16 to 18) should be replaced by a
single provision clearly laying down this three-part test.'

The Somalia Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) estimates that 2.85 million people - a third of the population - are now in humanitarian crisis and in need of urgent assistance, an increase of 42.5 per cent over the figure in December 2010. 'We are no longer on the verge of a humanitarian disaster; we are in the middle of it now,' Isaq Ahmed, the chairman of the Mubarak Relief and Development Organisation, a local NGO working in the south of the country, told IRIN on June 28. 'It is happening and no one is helping.'

In two new reports 'What has Tax got to do with Development: A critical look at Mozambique's Tax System' and 'What has Tax got to do with Development: A Critical look at Zimbabwe’s Tax System', AFRODAD analyses the role played by taxation in the development of the two countries. The link between development and taxation has come up in various fora as development practitioners and activists discussed methods of mobilisation of domestic resources for financing development in the South. The reports reveal that mobilising domestic resources as a means to financing development has become an important development issue, a shift from the past emphasis on financing development from aid and external borrowing.

Tanzania and other sub-Saharan Africa countries have made rapid progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs), but reaching all goals by 2015 remains challenging, a new report says. Despite major improvements, the report says, there were still too many people being left behind calling for intensified efforts to improve the economic gap. Progress tends to bypass those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are otherwise disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability or ethnicity. The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011, launched by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Geneva, finds that sub-Saharan Africa improved the fastest among all developing regions in many areas, especially those related to health.

Sea ice in the Arctic is melting at a record pace this year, suggesting warming at the north pole is speeding up and a largely ice-free Arctic can be expected in summer months within 30 years. The area of the Arctic ocean at least 15 per cent covered in ice is this week about 13.6 square kilometres - lower than the previous record low set in 2007 - according to satellite monitoring by the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado. In addition, new data from the University of Washington Polar Science Centre, shows that the thickness of Arctic ice this year is also the lowest on record.

German economic interests played a key role during Angela Merkel's three-country trip to Africa. In oil-rich Angola improving business ties was a major topic on the agenda for Chancellor Merkel. Ricardo Gerigk, who has headed the delegation of German business in Luanda since last year, said: 'Angola's oil production is close to two million barrels a day,' he said. Angola is the second largest oil producer in Africa after Nigeria. But with a population of just 17 million, compared to Nigeria's 150 million people, there's more wealth, he said.

A Bill that gives Cameroonians in the diaspora the vote has been passed into law. The Bill sailed through during an extraordinary session of the National Assembly. Opposition groups and civil society organisations have, however, termed the new law a 'political gimmick' by the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) party to gain political capital and extra votes from abroad during the forthcoming elections.

Cotton production resumed quietly in the small town of Sara after farmers won a victory in their fight with SOFITEX, the leading company in Burkina Faso which buys and processes cotton, reports Farm Radio Weekly. The renewed interest in cotton contrasts with the violent protests in June. Some farmers threatened not to produce the valuable fibre this year. But others had already planted and did not support abandoning the crop. Angry farmers destroyed some of the newly-planted fields. Police intervened to prevent them from pulling up all the young cotton plants.

Having been illegally evicted from a building in Johannesburg’s CBD, several hundred people were able to return to their homes after an urgent hearing at the Johannesburg High Court. The residents had been evicted from their homes without a court order by the City of Johannesburg’s Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) and Fire Brigade officials. Hundreds of women and children, including 50 blind people, were locked out of their home by JMPD officers. The officers readily conceded that they had no court order but said that they were 'only following orders'.

Kamal Abu Aita, representative of the Egyptian Independent Union Federation (EIUF) which was recently formed in Tahrir Square during the revolution, has confirmed that the EIUF rejects any attempt to ‘normalise' relations with Israel. In a speech in London to hundreds of activists from the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel, Abu Aita also welcomed the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS) and called on the international trade union movement to join the coalition.

A joint meeting that sought to end the current power crisis in the country on 11 July ended without any solution after lawmakers on the budget committee threw out government officials, including ministers, over accountability concerns. Four ministers were in Parliament pleading for the approval of Shs207.5 billion needed to pay for the outstanding thermal power subsidy bills but without success.

The United Nations should ensure that peacekeepers have a strong mandate to protect civilians and should increase the number of troops deployed to South Sudan, a global coalition of eight international nongovernmental organisations said. The UN Security Council is expected to authorise a new peacekeeping mission in South Sudan to succeed the current United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS). The UN secretary-general has recommended increasing the number of troops from the current 5,000 to 7,000. However, some member states have urged lower troop levels, citing cost concerns.

Four communities that Shell Petroleum Development Company operates in recently issued a 14 day ultimatum to the company, demanding implementation of an agreement reached with the communities in 1999. The communities include: Oruma, Otuasega, Elebele and Imiringi. Following the ultimatum to Shell, leaders of the community had appeared before the Joint Military Task Force [JTF] at the expiration of the time with a view to settle the matter amicably. Unfortunately, Shell could not convince the aggrieved communities that are demanding that the company honour the agreement it reached with them in 1999, and they decided to stage a peaceful protest at the heavily guarded Shell facility, the Kolo Creek Logistic Base.

Fifty young economists, academics and businesspeople called an Algiers press conference on Saturday (9 July) to unveil '100 Measures for a New Algeria'. It was the symbolic date of 5 July, however, that 'Nabni' ('Our Algeria Built on New Ideas') selected to announce the recommendations. The group hopes to implement the proposals, drafted after two months of deliberations, before next years' independence decennial.

Reports that major opposition parties in the country have united to form an umbrella opposition coalition against the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) could be the beginning of an end to the ruling party's 45-year rule over this country. However, the level of support for the new coalition remains unclear. With negotiations still underway, the opposition coalition has not yet taken control of any political power base nor demonstrated its popularity. Leadership of the coalition might also prove a contentious issue.

Uganda opened its first war crimes trial Monday, 11 July charging a commander of the Lord's Resistance Army rebellion blamed for brutal civilian murders during a 20-year war in the north of the country. Thomas Kwoyelo was charged before the International Crimes Division court in the northern town of Gulu with 53 counts of wilful killing, hostage taking, destruction of property and causing injury.

Ibrahim Kalokoh, an investigative journalist of the privately-owned For Di People daily newspaper, was threatened with death by two staff members of the Sierra Leone Port Authority (SLPA), following corruption reports by his newspaper against the SLPA’s General Manager, Benjamin Davies. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent reported that the two men warned him to discontinue 'publishing' negative stories about their boss or they would be killed.