Teachers’ unions are now asking the Government to shut down all secondary schools to end the mayhem, but Education Minister Sam Ongeri has ruled this out, saying it would postpone the problem. The unionists called for tough measures as one more student died in Western Province, more schools were closed and striking students arraigned in court, with no sign of let-up in the chaos that has paralysed secondary education.

The Kenya Government will start implementing the Ndung’u report on irregular land allocation from next week, Lands Minister James Orengo has announced. Orengo said he has studied the report and does not need to consult Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President Mwai Kibaki or form another commission to implement it.

At the forefront of feminist publishing in South Africa for 20 years, the Agenda journal raises debate around women’s rights and gender issues. The journal encourages critical thinking, debate and social activism and strengthens the capacity of women and men to challenge gender discrimination and injustices.
The IBSS/SAPSE accredited and peer reviewed journal will be published in mid-November 2008. We invite contributors from all over the African continent and other countries in the South to write on the above-mentioned topics from either a research or an activism perspective. Please submit no later than 6 August 2008.

The Africa Youth Trust is seeking to recruit programme officer for its East African Youth Reinventing A Democratic And Human Rights Culture And Centering Youth Voices In Regional Law Making programme. Attached are the Terms of Reference and requirements needed for the post. CV can be emailed directly to [email][email protected] Application closes on 5th August 2008 at 4:00pm local time.

Equality Now, an international human rights organization dedicated to ending violence and discrimination against women globally, is seeking to recruit a Program Officer, who will assist the Nairobi Office Director with program work and specifically in the areas of managing a fund for grassroots activism to end female genital mutilation (FGM), helping draft and publish Awaken, a semi-annual newsletter that addresses FGM, and research and campaign related to the legal defense of adolescent girls in Africa. Applications must reach Equality Now by 31 July 2008. Equality Now will unfortunately only be able to respond to short-listed candidates.

Every year, SOAWR, which is a regional network of 26 civil society organizations and development partners across Africa working towards the promotion and protection of women’s human rights in Africa, attends. During the Summit, SOAWR challenges the host country to sign, ratify and/or domesticate the AU Protocol on Women’s Rights. Following the Regional consultation strategy on the same held in Tunisia, 2007, SOAWR took up the lead once again and sent press releases and other material to its members and stakeholders in the process urging Egypt, the host for the AU Summit 2008, to ratify the protocol.

The Kenya Government was jolted into action by the rising cases of student riots with Education minister Sam Ongeri chairing a crisis meeting with key players in the sector. As the key leaders in the education and security sectors were seeking a solution to the crisis that has affected over 300 schools in the last one month, Tourism minister Najib Balala said the ban on caning should be lifted.

The African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) will be attending the XVII International Aids Conference in Mexico, August 3rd- 8th. Activities AWDF will be involved in at the Mexico conference include the press launch of a progress document on the achievements of our HIV/AIDS fund since it’s inception in November 2005.

This is a vivid study of the day-to-day experience of living in a working class neighbourhood on the Cape Flats. It deals with issues of criminality and the search for dignity in a harsh, economically depressed urban landscape. Gangs are the main focus of the study, but gang members are presented on a broader canvas as family members, neighbourhood friends, members of sports clubs, employees. Within this intensely claustrophobic world devout Christians and Muslims, drug dealers, cops, gangsters and welfare workers all rub shoulders.

The Third EQUINET Regional Conference on Equity in Health in east and southern Africa will be held at Speke Conference Centre, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda September 23rd -25th 2009. The conference theme 'Reclaiming the Resources for Health: Building Universal People Centred Health Systems in East and Southern Africa' highlights the opportunities we seek to highlight for improving health equity in east and southern Africa.

This report from Liberian-based Stop Firestone coalition member, the Save My Future Foundation, details human rights, labor and environmental abuses on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. The report is an update of SAMFU's 2005 report on Firestone.The report is also one of the first examinations of the role that several different security forces operating on the plantation play in violating the rights of workers, their families and communities surrounding the plantation.

A new report details a wide range of abuses occurring on a rubber plantation in Liberia owned by the Bridgestone/Firestone tire company. The report, titled “The Heavy Load: A Demand for Fundamental Changes at the Bridgestone/Firestone Rubber Plantation in Liberia” was published by Liberian-based Save My Future Foundation (SAMFU) and exposes poor living and working conditions for rubber tappers, a meager pension system, barriers to educational and health access, water and air pollution and violations of workers’ right to organize. The report is also one of the first examinations of the role that several different security forces operating on the plantation play in violating the rights of workers, their families and communities surrounding the plantation.

Robert Nyahn of the Save My Future Foundation said, “There is time for everything, the time for exploitation and abuse is over; it is now time for Firestone to clean up the ugly and unimaginable past and begin to make fundamental changes that reflect a company committed to contributing to the growth and development of a developing country. With our hands joined together we will no longer accept this kind of evil.”

Emira Woods, co-director of Foreign Policy in Focus at the Institute for Policy Studiessaid, “This groundbreaking report shows that the heaviest load in Firestone’s largest rubber operation is still being born by the women and children of Liberia. After 82 years of exploitation masked by a massive public relations campaign, Firestone must be held accountable for its continued violations of worker rights and abuse of the environment. Liberian workers and future generations need good corporate neighbors. Firestone can and must do better.”

Tim Newman, child labor campaigner at the International Labor Rights Forum said, “This report reveals the widespread abuse of workers’ rights on the Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia. As the first independent and democratically elected union leaders on the plantation negotiate a new contract, it is important that Firestone take the demands of workers and their allies to heart. Eighty two years of exploitation is enough and the time is now for a new day on Firestone’s rubber plantation in Liberia.”

Firestone has operated the world’s largest rubber plantation in Harbel, Liberia since 1926. As the report shows, rubber tappers have a daily production quota they must meet in order to receive their daily wage which is just over $3 a day. As a result of the unreasonably high quota, workers must bring family members to work with them or hire subcontractors using their meager salaries. Additionally, workers must carry two 75-pound buckets of raw latex on sticks on their shoulders and work without protective gear. Workers live in crowded shacks without electricity, running water, indoor latrines.

The new report is a follow up to SAMFU’s 2005 report on human rights violations and environmental abuses on the Firestone rubber plantation called “Firestone: The Mark of Modern Slavery.”

*The complete report can be read online by clicking .

*Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/

“The ONE Africa Award has opened its CALL FOR NOMINATIONS to individuals, organizations based in Africa. The award is a one time grant of US$100,000.The deadline for receipt of nominations is August 15th, 2008.

The seizing of foreign newspapers, including The Zimbabwean, the Economist, and the Weekly Telegraph, just before the run-off election on June 27 on instructions from the military junta has cost the National Association of Independent Newspaper Distributors eye-watering trillions in hard currency.

FEMNET being a regional organization that promotes and protects the rights of women in Africa, we have decided to probe the impact of the current Global Food Crisis and Climate Change on African women, in our next issue of FEMNET Newsletter for September-December, 2008. FEMNET invites you to contribute articles relating to this theme. The article can either be in French or English with maximum words of 800 words and minimum 400.

Africa and Middle East Refugee Assistance (AMERA), a UK-based refugee rights organization assisting refugees who seek asylum in Egypt, is seeking a Program administrator, a Psychsocial team leader, and an IT administrator.

The two-day conference will take place in Accra on November 17 and 18, 2008 to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the end of the bubonic plague epidemic in Ghana (then the Gold Coast). This conference will use the occasion to discuss epidemic disease in general and increase dialogue between academics, policymakers, and the general public regarding epidemic preparedness and policy.

Rwanda's lawmakers voted in favour of a constitutional amendment that guarantees former Presidents immunity from prosecution for life. Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama hailed the amendment, saying it would alleviate constitutional ambiguity. The amendment exempted a former President from being prosecuted on charges he/she was not put on trial while in office.

Despite the stalled peace talks in Juba, many internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in Uganda’s cities and towns have begun to plan for an end to their displacement. But many more could remain displaced indefinitely, as many of the urban IDPs the Refugee Law Project has spoken with say the government’s return and resettlement assistance has so far been too little.

At least 15 African migrants, most of which are children died of hunger and thirst aboard an overcrowded boat trying to reach southern Spain, Spanish officials have said. The migrants were aboard a small craft that was attempting to make crossing from Africa to Spain. Spanish police said of the 15 reported deaths, at least nine were children, aged from nine months to four years, according to rescued survivors.