Fahem Boukadous, a reporter for the independent Tunisian television station 'Al-Hiwar Attounsi' is wanted by the authorities on charges of "belonging to a criminal association" for his coverage of protests earlier this year in the Gafsa mining region and because he put foreign news media in contact with labour leaders in the region.

Activists Wangui Mbatia and Ken Ochieng Onguka have just been arrested by the Kenya Police at Jeevanjee Gardens and have been taken to the Central Police Station where they are now being detained. Wangui Mbatia and Ken Ochieng Onguka were arrested for distributing t- shirts on the controversial taxes for Members of Parliament , and DVD's advocating for the full implementation of the Waki Commission Report. The activity is part of the ongoing activities by the Partnership for Change. STOP PRESS: News received shortly before going to press indicates that these activists have now been released.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turns 60 on the 10th of December 2008. As the declaration represents the worldwide expression of the rights which all human beings are inherently entitled to, it is important for the peasants to also commemorate this occasion.

While neighbouring countries struggle to get pregnant women to visit antenatal centres, women in Rwanda seem to be flocking to them. Rwanda manages to reach 72 percent of pregnant women with HIV testing and counselling and other prevention of mother-to-child services (PMTCT), but fewer than 20 percent of Burundi's health centres offer PMTCT services, while Kenya is reaching half its pregnant women.

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) is looking for a suitable candidate to fill the position of Advocacy Officer. This position will offer the position holder an opportunity to work on very exciting advocacy initiatives and campaigns in a very stimulating, multicultural and dynamic environment. The position will involve considerable travel within Africa and other parts of the world.

Struggling to make an impact on your target audience? Are issues unresolved despite your best efforts? Are you excited about the advocacy potential of the Internet, mobile phones or information design, but uncertain about how you can take advantage of them? The Info Activism camp, to be held in Bangalore, India from February 19th to 25th, helps rights advocates to make the best use of information, communication and digital technologies to achieve their objectives.

Mobiles in-a-box from the Tactical Technology Collective is a collection of tools, tactics, how-to guides and case studies designed to help advocacy and activist organisations use mobile technology in their work. Mobiles in-a-box is designed to inspire you, to present possibilities for the use of mobile telephony in your work and to introduce you to some tools which may help you. After reading the material in this toolkit you can expect to be able to design and implement a mobile advocacy strategy for your organisation.

South African women’s rights activists, feminists and students are stepping up pressure on their government and parliamentarians to speak out about the increasing repression in Zimbabwe. Women’s groups in Johannesburg and Cape Town coordinated solidarity actions in support of detained WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu.

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) condemns in the strongest term the stoning to death of Aisho Ibrahim Dhuhulow a Somalian woman after an Islamic Sharia law court found her guilty of adultery.

Namibia’s National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) strongly condemns the extraterritorial hate expression attributed to African National Congress (ANC) Gauteng Province Youth Leader Jacob Kawe over the weekend.

Drawing a broad contrast with South Africa’s anti-apartheid movement, Margot Bokanga argues that the crisis in the DR Congo will only be overcome through effective engagement between regional stakeholders, governmental authorities, international organisations, and national civil society groups. Harnessing the momentum behind campaigns such as the recent , the author hopes the current struggles may one day prove a mere story of the triumph of civil activism for future Congolese generations.

As in US, the wives of Ghanaian presidential candidates are front-and-centre in the on-going electoral campaigns for the December 7 general elections.They are giving interviews, speeches and appearing on newspaper covers, television and websites. This is in contrast to Canada where wives of political leaders in the just ended general elections rarely appeared at the campaign trails.

We (the shack dwellers of Khayelitsha) would like to bring our concerns into your attention and we note with great concerns that people who are living at informal settlements within the City of Cape Town are ignored and undermined by the City and we therefore call on the City of Cape Town:

Now in its fourth year, World Challenge 08 is a global competition aimed at finding projects or small businesses from around the world that have shown enterprise and innovation at a grass roots level. Heiveld Co-operative is a collective of small-scale farmers who produce fine quality organic and fair trade certified rooibos tea. Heiveld has been selected as one of 12 finalists in the 2008 BBC World Challenge competition. Please take a few minutes and vote for the Heiveld. Each person may vote once (and only once), and everyone's vote will help the Heiveld to achieve a better future.

The law has been twice revised since May 2008 but it has become more repressive each time. It is before the rubber stamp parliament and it will for sure be adopted as the Meles Zenawi regime has ordered it should be. The Charities and Societies proclamation that will set up the all powerful and arbitrary Charities and Societies Agency is aimed at banning NGOs working on human rights issues in Ethiopia (women's, children's, disabled person's rights, etc...)

Fact: The Government of Kenya (GoK) will on Kenyatta Day spend on Airforce jets and State festivities over K.Shs. 300 million raised from high taxes on fuel, electricity and water; whereas thousands of Kenyans are cold in the IDP camps and millions more cannot afford even one meal a day.

The director and a staff member of the Society for Democratic Initiatives (SDI), a Sierra Leone media advocacy group, say they are receiving death threats after publishing a report on press conditions late last month. Director Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai told CPJ that he and Information Officer John Baimba Sesay have received threatening phone calls nearly every day this month.

The ILO global reports have particularly highlighted the link between poverty and racial discrimination and examined in detail the situation of ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, migrant workers, people of African descent, the Roma and religious minorities. The effects of multiple discrimination, particular discrimination faced by women on the basis of race and sex, were stressed.

As the first-ever report by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on fistula is scheduled to be presented to Member States today, the Campaign to End Fistula announced a fourfold increase in the number of countries it serves. According to its annual report, the campaign now works to prevent and treat fistula in over 45 countries in Africa, Asia and the Arab States. When the Campaign to End Fistula was launched in 2003, it covered 12 countries.

Ethiopia’s parliament should reject a draft law that would criminalize human rights activity and seriously undermine civil society groups, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch called on donor governments to speak out publicly against the bill, which is expected to be introduced in parliament this month.