In the new Global Report on Equality at Work 2011, the International Labour Office (ILO) notes that in spite of continuous positive advances in anti-discrimination legislation, the global economic and social crisis has led to a higher risk of discrimination against certain groups such as migrant labour. 'Economically adverse times are a breeding ground for discrimination at work and in society more broadly. We see this with the rise of populist solutions,' said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia, adding that 'this threatens painstaking achievements of several decades'.

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) has welcomed the decision by Parliament to set up a national task team to tackle hate crimes against lesbians and gays.

Ayanda Kota of UPM defends the Cutting Edge television programme's portrayal of terrible sanitation conditions in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Cameroonian human rights organisations Association for the Defense of Homosexuals (ADEFHO) and Teenagers Against HIV/AIDS (SID’ADO) are reporting that Mbede Roger Jean-Claude has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for homosexuality.

Inspired by the January revolution, Egyptian workers are occupying a closed factory and demanding that they be compensated. The workers say the factory was profitable, but was privatised, sold at below market rates and stripped of its assets. This video from The Real News Network reports on the plight of the workers.

Cosatu has called on the Competition Tribunal to reject Walmart's planned acquisition of Massmart, spokesman Patrick Craven said. The Anti-Walmart Coalition - consisting of various trade unions, including the SA Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers' Union (Saccawu), SA Clothing and Textile Workers' Union (Sactwu), labour federation Cosatu and civil society organisations - opposes the deal because of the negative consequences it sees for Massmart workers, the wholesale and retail sector and its supply chains.

The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva, selects Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera as the Laureate for her work for LGBT rights and marginalised people in Uganda. Nabagesera is the founder and executive director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights organisation.

Pambazuka and the Carleton University Institute of African Studies invite you to a talk to celebrate Africa Liberation Day with Firoze Manji and Molly Kane, Pambazuka News. It takes place on Wednesday, 25 May at 6pm at the Arts Lounge, 1025 Dunton Tower, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Pambazuka and the Carleton University Institute of African Studies invite you to a talk to celebrate Africa Liberation Day with Firoze Manji and Molly Kane, Pambazuka News. It takes place on Wednesday, 25 May at 6pm at the Arts Lounge, 1025 Dunton Tower, Carleton University.

The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has again declared Mumia Abu-Jamal’s death sentence unconstitutional, on the basis that members of the jury during his trial were given unclear sentencing instructions. The award-winning journalist has been on Pennsylvania’s death row for 29 years. His 1982 murder trial and subsequent conviction has been the subject of great debate.

‘It is one thing to be attacked by the police or securities. It is another thing to be attacked by other poor people that have been mobilised, on an ethnic basis, against an independent movement by the ruling party and given the support of the police to attack, to threaten, to demolish homes and to drive all the leading members of a movement out of a community,’ writes South African shackdwellers' movement, Abahlali baseMjondolo.

‘What are the conditions under which cultural expressions, used as a means for resistance, can become accessible to an international community?’ Martina Keilbach reflects on the work of Kenyan poet and political activist Abdilatif Abdalla.

While Nigeria has always had a problem with insecurity, the recent spate of bombings in the country ‘have remained largely faceless, with no one claiming responsibility or offering an agenda’, argues Tunde Oyateru.

The failure to establish a mechanism around Western Sahara to monitor human rights comes in sharp contrast to the UK and French position on human rights in other recent resolutions, such as 1970 on Libya, stress the Western Sahara Campaign.

These are , the 24-year-old lesbian activist raped and murdered in Gauteng, South Africa.

Abahlali baseMjondolo would like to invite your organisation/
community/area to SHACK FIRE SUMMIT that will be held at QQ informal
settlement site B Khayelitsha on 27 April 2011 from 10:00am to 13:00pm.

The aim of the event is to:

- Light candles in memory of those who lose their lives within shack fire
and the victims of shack fires.
- Explore the course of shack fire, governmental intervention, and other
humanitarian intervention
- To come up with a program/ campaign to call for electrification of all
shack settlement

For further details and direction please call our admin @ 073 412 8218.

On behalf of Abahlali baseMjondolo Western Cape

Mzonke Poni, WC chairperson
073 2562 036/ 083 446 5081

While the recent protests in Madison, Wisconsin, may have given America’s working class ‘hint at the possibility of resistance’, the historic absence of support for ‘racialised’ sections of the working class exemplifies the stronghold of white supremacy over the US labour movement, writes Ajamu Nangwaya.

Residents have vowed to continue their protest against the eviction of a poor family and against Thursday’s (14 April) police brutality that has left three residents seriously injured, says a Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign press statement. Residents will submit a petition to police and fight for the rights and dignity of resident’s vulnerable to greedy banks and politicians, says the statement.

On the International Day of Peasant Struggles, prominent farmers, fisherfolk, human rights and research organisations have sharply criticised the World Bank, three UN agencies and governments for promoting agricultural investments that are resulting in land grabbing on a massive scale.

'Bolivia is set to pass the world's first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country's rich mineral deposits as "blessings" and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry,' reports The Guardian's John Vidal.