Aid agencies working in northern South Sudan are worried about refugees from Sudan's war-torn Blue Nile State who are reaching under-resourced camps in increasingly poor health. In recent weeks over 35,000 people have flocked to a site 50km from the border known as Kilometre 18 (KM18) by aid agencies - the distance to the nearest refugee camp (Jamam) holding over 30,000 people.

A peaceful march by the ‘Save Togo‘ collective on 12 June 2012, degenerated into a stand off with security forces. Around 120 injured were recorded during clashes over 12-13 June. The ‘Save Togo' collective brings together several political and human rights organisations. It was created on 4 April in Lomé and totals 17 groups, including seven organisations dedicated to the defense of human rights.

An investigation in Libya by multiple human rights organisations paints an alarming picture of the treatment inflicted on the migrant population, in the confusion that currently reigns in the country. With rich oil reserves and a small population, Gaddafi’s Libya relied heavily on migrant labour to serve the economy. During the conflict hundreds of thousands of migrants fled to Tunisia, Egypt and neighbouring countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, fearing for their lives. More than six months since the conflict’s end, migrants and refugees in Libya continue to be victims of grave violations of their human rights.

Since December 2011, the food crisis in Niger has displaced large numbers of people from areas of scarcity to parts of the country that enjoyed better harvests. The social impacts for these internal migrants are serious, not least in terms of disruption of education. According to estimates from the Ministry of Education, around 45,000 children have left school this year for reasons linked to the food crisis.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has halved food rations to refugees living in camps in at least four African countries citing a funding shortfall. The cuts have already affected 16,000 refugees in Malawi’s Dzaleka camp who have been on half rations since March, while a further 120,000 refugees in Uganda began receiving half rations of cereals in May.

Activist Adolfo Campos André, aged 32, survived an attack on 15 June. Two Toyota Landcruisers blocked his car, a Chevrolet Spark, in Petrangol Road in Luanda. According to his statement, two of the individuals struck him on the face with the ends of their guns at the same time, leaving him with injuries next to his right eye. Adolfo André has organised youth demonstrations against the long tenure of president José Eduardo dos Santos, who has been in office since 1979.

South Africa has agreed to contribute around R16,6-billion to an International Monetary Fund 'firewall' meant to prevent future financial crises. President Jacob Zuma committed some of South Africa’s reserves at the G20 summit, a meeting of the world’s greatest economies, in Los Cabos, Mexico, spokesperson Jabulani Sikhakhane said.

It is reported that several bars and clubs in the major cities have declared an all out war against persons who are perceived as gay, lesbian or transgender. From reports gathered in Nairobi, Nakuru and Mombasa, popular drinking joints are now enforcing a strict no-entry rule on men who are deemed too effeminate or women seen as too ‘masculine’ or ‘butch.’

Swaziland soldiers sprayed the house of the kingdom’s main opposition leader with bullets in what pro democracy activist believe was a planned attack. The home of Mario Masuku, President of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), at Makhosini near Nhlangano was hit by bullets fired by members of the kingdom’s army, known as the Umbutfo Swaziland Defence Force.

South Africa is getting two-thirds fewer applications for asylum than a few years ago, but researchers say officials make such bad decisions that the whole system is now meaningless. Department of Home Affairs (DHA) officials are so biased and administratively unfair that asylum-seekers are systematically rejected, resulting in an asylum system which 'functions solely as an instrument of immigration control', according to a report by researcher Dr Roni Amit, of the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University.

Rwanda on Monday officially closed the 'gacaca' community courts, the controversial tribunals both credited with easing tensions and criticised for possible miscarriages of justice. 'Today's event is not simply to mark the closure of the courts, but also to recognise the enduring value of the process,' President Paul Kagame said at the closing ceremony in Kigali.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) has halved food rations to refugees living in camps in at least four African countries citing a funding shortfall. The cuts have already affected 16,000 refugees in Malawi’s Dzaleka camp who have been on half rations since March, while a further 120,000 refugees in Uganda began receiving half rations of cereals in May.

Indigenous peoples’ organisations and activists are calling on governments to fully implement their commitments to uphold human rights, including rights to lands and resources as an essential cornerstone for achieving socially just and ecologically sustainable development.

This issue of the South Bulletin focuses on the Rio Plus 20 Summit to be held in 20-22 June in Brazil. Twenty years after the Earth Summit the world faces even more serious crises in the environment and the economy. Will Rio+20 do better in rising to the challenge of tackling the global crises? This issue of the Bulletin analyses the key issues to be decided at Rio, including reaffirming the Rio commitments, the Green Economy, sustainable development goals, finance and technology.

Uganda said on Wednesday 20 June it was banning 38 non-governmental organisations it accuses of promoting homosexuality and recruiting children. Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo told Reuters the organisations being targeted were receiving support from abroad for Uganda's homosexuals and accused gays and lesbians of 'recruiting' young children in the country into homosexuality.

Plan International says it is deeply concerned at new proposals by the Egyptian parliament to reduce the legal age for girls to marry to 14 - just four years after a successful campaign increased the age limit to 18. 'Early marriage can have a devastating impact on girls’ lives – they are more likely to be forced out of school, live in poverty, have early pregnancies and endure health complications or die during childbirth.'

Reuters reports on a London court case that 'has been given a glimpse into the opaque world of Angolan diamonds, in a battle between a Russian-Israeli tycoon and his one-time partner that has also thrown up how modern-day buccaneers are building fortunes from Africa's resources.' Reuters suggests Angolan officials have tried to stop the case because of the embarrassment it may cause in an election year.

The death toll of campaigners, community leaders and journalists involved in the protection of forests, rivers and land has risen dramatically in the past three years, said Global Witness. Brazil – the host of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development – has the worst record for danger in a decade that has seen the deaths of more than 737 defenders, said the briefing, which was released on the eve of the high-level segment of the Earth Summit.

Police in Kampala, Uganda on Monday raided a gay rights meeting and arrested several LGBT activists gathered at the Essela Hotel in Najjeera, a Kampala suburb, accusing the participants of 'propagating gay issues in Uganda'. East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project, the organization behind the workshop, said that police interrupted the meeting and began questioning attendees at the event, including activists from Canada, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.

This report is the result of the work of an amazing group of women from Asia and Africa who came together to research into the conditions of women in same-sex relations in their countries. 'With great determination and courage this group of women set about revealing the many obstacles, humiliations and indignities these women face. They uncovered not only pain, invisibility and silence, but also the pleasures of bonding and the beauty of love,' says the preface. Major themes in the research were female masculinity, the silencing and invisibility of Women-Loving-Women (WLW), and attempts at organizing on the basis of non-normative sexualities.