Despite a long list of abuses by Canadian mining companies in Africa - and elsewhere - it’s very difficult to hold them accountable at home. Will the new government of Justin Trudeau defy the powerful mining industry and adopt legislation to constrain their abuses abroad?

Alarmingly, it appears that the presumption of guilt is alive and well in international justice. Will this presumption be allowed to continue to smother the right to be presumed innocent? Will violations of human rights principles of fair trial be remedied? The successful survival of international justice depends on the answers.

Universal Children’s Day was marked on Friday, 20 November. In September this year, the UN included a target to end violence against children in the Sustainable Development Goals, explicitly linking, for the first time, a violence-free society for children to economic growth.

It is now 20 years since the dictatorship of Sani Abacha murdered renowned environmentalist, writer and defender of the rights of the indigenous Ogoni people of southern Nigeria, Ken Saro-Wiwa, and his eight comrades. What does his life and struggles mean for African people today?

As China released its 13th Five Year Plan last week, there are key ingredients of China’s model of development, which African countries can definitely learn from.

Scores of Ghanaians from all walks of life have paid glowing tributes to three heroes for their exceptional contributions towards the development of the broad progressive movement in Ghana.

Pope Francis arrives in Uganda at the end of the month on his first African trip. The church is taking advantage of the visit to make money from the poor faithful. And Ugandan authorities are doing everything to present a false image of the country during the visit. It is all hypocrisy.

The problems facing the utility companies will only end when the economic problems underpinning the cedi slide are addressed. And these go beyond macro-economic stabilisation policies prescribed by the IMF/World Bank. What is needed is transformation of Ghana’s relatively low-value agricultural produce into high-value manufacturing activity.

People have lost so much; they have chosen to defend themselves from further losses. This is legitimate. However, there is a sense in which government has to take primary responsibility for the security of life and property of all Nigerians.

The dust of the electoral contest in Tanzania is settling and, as expected, the winning party’s bigwigs are lining up for powerful state appoints even where they do not qualify. But it is time for the new government to immediately begin implementing its agenda for the good of all. On their part, Tanzanians must push the government to serve them as they surely deserve.

For reasons best known to the Nigerian police, it has refused to accept that a person is innocent until a court of competent jurisdiction has declared them guilty. To the Nigerian police, an accused person is guilty and could be maltreated and/or killed before prosecution.

Just like in the last election, the large number of Kenyans in the diaspora are unlikely to vote in 2017, despite that right being guaranteed by the constitution. The electoral commission simply has neither the logistical capacity nor the funds to organise diaspora voting.

In the small absolute monarchy of Swaziland the struggle to get a decent education is connected to the struggle for political freedom. Student activist Njabulo Mazibuko has written about what implications this understanding has for himself and his fellow students.

Following threats to de-register 959 Kenyan NGOs, many working for good governance and human rights, CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance, and the National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders–Kenya (NCHRD-K), call on Kenyan authorities to immediately stop the repeated harassment of NGOs and ensure a conducive legal and political operating environment.

President Kenyatta’s government is growing less tolerant of informed policy debate and dissent each day. This is immensely troubling. It is creating an atmosphere of state coercion and intimidation.

There is a serious concern that Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration is targeting human rights groups, especially those that called for accountability for Kenya’s 2007-2008 post-election violence and those documenting security forces abuses.

Tanzanians did not have much of a choice going into last week’s elections. The contest was between a ruling party heavyweight and a former ruling party bigwig who defected to the oppostion only recently. Nothing earth-shaking in terms of policies. And now that the ruling party has retained the presidency, it is time for it and the oppistion to deliver to the citizens.

In Tanzania, as in the rest of Africa, God is ubiquitous in politics. Victory at elections is attributed to him. While there is nothing wrong about being religious, tying political outcomes to Providence is problematic as it deepens the passivity of citizens and absolves politicians of responsibility to their constituents.

Zanzibar’s election commission last week abruptly canceled all results of elections held October 25, which the leading opposition party said it had won. There are fears of political violence in the Indian Ocean island. Over 30 Zanzibar scholars now want the governments of Zanzibar and Tanzania to keep all of their citizens well and free from harm and respect electoral democracy.

In recent days there have been vicious attacks on and the looting of foreign-owned shops in Grahamstown in South Africa's Eastern Cape. Police have hardly anything to protect those targeted. In this statement, five women give a detailed account of their horrifying experience.