‘Given the fact that Iran will not give an inch to the demands of the United States and Israel, which have already mobilised several of the means of warfare to their disposal, they will have to launch the attack as soon as the date agreed by the Security Council on June 9, 2010 – with the established rules and requirements – expires. There is a limit to all what man hopes to achieve, which he cannot surpass. In this critical case, President Barack Obama is the one who would give the order to start the so much announced and publicised attack, following the rules of the gigantic empire,' proclaims Fidel Castro.

IRIN is pleased to announce the launch of three more chapters in our ongoing series of short films, Kids in the City. The Dump Site tells the story of children who scavenge from the Dandora rubbish tip in Nairobi to survive. Home Alone features a family of four children in the Ugandan capital Kampala who were orphaned by AIDS, while The Weigh Scale introduces 14-year-old Cambodian Chan Sori, who never knew his fathe

"Virtually every author concludes that violence against African migrants will continue and increase unless some profound socio-economic and attitudinal changes occur. This text thus sounds a loud warning bell to South Africa about our future. And it does so not merely based on the opinions of the authors, but because of the views of ordinary South African citizens that informed the research. ... survey after survey, focus group after focus group, have shown deeply xenophobic attitudes rising steadily over time." - David Everatt in introduction to report on South African Civil Society and Xenophobia, July 2010

A court in Gambia has rejected the appeal of an opposition politician who was jailed for using a megaphone at a rally without permission, a case that has drawn harsh criticism from foreign donors. The jailing of Femi Peters, campaign manager of the main opposition UDP party, led to the United States and former colonial power Britain speaking out over concerns about human rights in Gambia, moves which drew an angry rebuke from President Yahya Jammeh who accused them of backing the opposition.

Local authorities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are reporting that almost 90,000 people have been uprooted from their homes following recent military operations in the region, the United Nations humanitarian arm said. At least six civilians have died and dozens of others have been injured in the fighting between the national army, or FARDC, and fighters associated with the Ugandan rebel group known as the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU) in the Beni territory in North Kivu province

Civilians, especially women, tend to bear the brunt of armed conflicts across the world, particularly in Somalia, where Islamist insurgents are fighting a weak government propped up by African Union forces. Several women in Mogadishu told IRIN about the day-to-day reality of living in a warzone.

Rwanda's presidential elections will take place on August 9, 2010, in a context marked by increasing political repression and a crackdown on free speech. Over the last six months, Human Rights Watch has documented a worrying pattern of intimidation, harassment and other abuses - ranging from killings and arrests to restrictive administrative measures - against opposition parties, journalists, members of civil society and other critics.

The Non-Governmental Organisation Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Nigeria's federal government for allegedly maltreating pensioners in the country. In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP said 'owing to the government’s failure to faithfully implement the Pensions Reform Act, several pensioners continue to have their internationally recognized human rights to life, to an adequate standard of living, to equality and non-discrimination, and to humane treatment violated, with impunity.”

South African telcommunications company MTN has been warned by the Swaziland Solidarity Network (SSN), an opposition group close to the South African trade union federation Cosatu, that it could face a mass boycott from Africans concerned about its bowing to demands from the Swazi royal family to investigate phone calls to South African journalists from inside the country.

International Relations and co-operation department director of Nepad, Harvey Short, says more than R770 million of South African state funds have been used to prop up states with human rights abuse records. These include Zimbabwe and Guinea, and no attempt was made to monitor the use of funds, nor evaluate what the effect of the cash windfalls were.

Researchers from the University of California Berkeley’s Human Rights Center canvassed nearly 2,000 households in the Central African Republic to document the impact of violence in the country and gather opinions about the best way forward. The results present a stark picture of a population traumatized by decades of political strife, military coups and poverty; leading the researchers to conclude the country is one of the worst cases of a humanitarian crisis in the world.

The Refugee Law Project seeks a Child Rights Officer to be responsible for the psychosocial component of the Child Rights and Protection Programme. S/he must be a trained social worker or counsellor with considerable experience working with Children.

The Refugee Law Project seeks a Child Rights Lawyer to coordinate the Child Rights and Protection Programme. S/he should be an advocate of the High court of Uganda and must be conversant with the international, regional and national mechanism for the protection of children. Masters Degree in Human Rights is desirable.

The United Nations spokesperson has said that the restrictions recently announced by the Sudanese government on the movement of personnel from the African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) violates previous accords signed between both sides. Last week, a senior Sudanese official told Reuters that UNAMID travel would be monitored going forward and that their bags will be searched. They will have to inform the government before moving on roads even within South Darfur’s capital Nyala, he said.

The Africa Peace & Conflict Journal, published by the UN Mandated University for Peace, is now accepting abstracts and full length articles for its upcoming December 2010 publication. Submissions on all topics related to African peace and conflict studies are welcome. The deadline for receipt of full-articles is September 1st 2010. The Africa Peace & Conflict Journal is a biannual publication.

Fifty years ago, the former Belgian Congo received its independence under the democratically elected government of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba. Less than seven months later, Lumumba and two colleagues were, in the contemporary idiom, "rendered" to their Belgian-backed secessionist enemies, who tortured them before putting them before a firing squad. The Congo would not hold another democratic election for 46 years. In 2002, following an extensive parliamentary inquiry, the Belgian government assumed a portion of responsibility for Lumumba's murder.

On the 23rd July 2010 in an auspicious gala dinner in Johannesburg Salman Khan, founder and chairman of SAKAG (South African Kashmiri Action Group) was awarded in recognition of is work for the Kashmir cause in South Africa by the Human Rights Foundation of South Africa. Salman Khan founded SAKAG in South Africa in 1999 and have relentlessly worked on the raising of issue of Kashmir on all level in South Africa for last 11 years, he has since delivered hundreds of speeches, over 200 radio interviews, 50 TV interviews, several presentations in universities and schools, and had written many articles on Kashmir human rights issues in national news papers.

Following the incredible feeling of African unity experienced during the World Cup, most of us were alarmed by rumours of the targeting of migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers in some pockets of our communities post the final. It stood in stark contrast to the Pan-African spirit we demonstrated when we collectively switched our loyalty to Ghana after Bafana-Bafana was eliminated from the tournament.

The leader of a major rebel group in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur warned the embattled African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) that it will bear the consequences if they allow Sudanese authorities to enter the IDP camps in the wake of deadly clashes that took place this week.

The Refugees Self Reliance Initiative a branch of Ezra Ministries of Tanzania has received credible reports that there are a lot of refugees from DR Congo, Rwanda and Burundi etc who are forced to return home against their will. We have spoken directly to the team of those refugees and register some mistreatment in the new camp of Nyarugusu.