A human rights rally will be held outside Swaziland, after security forces blocked a planned gathering at the weekend by pro-democracy groups who intended to condemn the government's draft constitution. "We will now restage [the event] in another country that recognises human rights," said Kislon Shongwe, an official with the banned political party, People's United Democratic Movement.

The government of Swaziland has allocated R2 million (307,692 dollars) in its budget for an anti-corruption office that does not function, but is sorely needed. "Corruption is part of any national government, any business, any place from a school headmaster’s office to a religious organisation where money and influence are found. It is to government and society’s benefit that an anti-corruption authority exists to take action," said an Mbabane attorney with the Swaziland Law Society.

Humanitarian issues occupied a large portion of Finance Minister Majozi Sithole's 2004 budget, which was presented to the parliament of Swaziland on Wednesday. "Issues of social inequities and good governance have to be addressed," Sithole told MPs as he described the requirements for attracting the investment that could bring much needed employment and poverty relief.

A senior U.N. official criticized Swaziland's monarchy Saturday for failing to rein in HIV/AIDS, which now infects 38.6 percent of Swaziland's population, making the southern African nation's prevalence rate the highest in the world, Agence France-Presse reports. U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, closed his three-day visit to Swaziland by slamming the kingdom's leadership for being "too slow to recognize the threat of HIV/AIDS on people's lives" and saying it would have to act with "lightning speed" if it wanted to reduce the prevalence rate.

King Mswati opened parliament on Wednesday, but avoided commenting directly on the controversy surrounding the resignation of the Speaker and the country's "rule of law" crisis. "The nation knows that the administration of our justice system has been facing some challenges this past year," said Mswati, referring to the resignation of the Court of Appeal bench in protest over palace interference in the judicial system. "I have been assured that the minister of justice has engaged stakeholders on this issue, and await their views on the way forward."

With no politically motivated killings or incarcerations in 2003, Swaziland is a haven of stability in a troubled continent, say defenders of the country's absolute monarchy. But a report released this week by the US State Department has criticised the country's human rights record, alleging the government "continued to commit serious abuses". "Citizens were not able to change their government peacefully. Police used excessive force on some occasions, and there were reports that police tortured and beat some suspects," the US government's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour said in its annual country report.

After years of resisting the introduction of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in Swaziland, the government bowed to pressure from international donor organisations last year and permitted their distribution. However, what followed has been a confusing and dangerous free-for-all which has reached the point where some activists have called for the drugs to be banned.

Swaziland's banned political opposition parties have slammed the indefinite postponement of the opening of parliament, saying it showed that the kingdom's highest democratically elected body had no real power. "This 'postponement' is actually a suspension of the legislative branch of government. Parliament used to be a rubber stamp for palace policy, but now it has ceased to exist," an official of the People's Democratic Movement told IRIN.

A nurses' strike has shut down most of Swaziland's health care system, drawing attention to financial and technical shortcomings, and the problems besetting the nursing profession. "While we continue our strike action, doctors and orderlies will have to take care of patients," said the president of the Swaziland Nurses Association, Masitsela Mhlanga, at a press conference last Thursday. Nurses are striking over the government's inability to pay salaries on time, back pay and salary increases.

The Swazi government is to pay the primary school fees of 60,000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The Ministry of Economic Planning and Development revealed last Thursday that in the national population of 960,000 people, there were 200,000 OVC.

A heated debate is underway in Swaziland about whether children who fail English should be forced to repeat the academic year. "The English language requirement is a millstone around the neck of every Swazi school child,” says Agnes Khumalo, a public school teacher in the northern Hhohho province. But, businessman Arthur Simelane disagrees. "You can't get a good job without a knowledge of English, or succeed in the business world without competence in the international language,” he told IPS.

2004 is shaping up as the year of prison reform in Swaziland, and AIDS is the catalyst. "It would be wrong to suggest that prisons are inhumane in Swaziland, but there is much room for improvement to make them safe from HIV infection, inmate abuse and other ills that are more or less endemic to African prisons," said an officer with the Correctional Services, which administers the kingdom's prison system. This person spoke on condition of anonymity.

With schools reopening nationwide this week, teachers in Swaziland are concerned that a weakening economy and HIV/AIDS will affect the number of children enrolling for the 2004 academic year. "The problem is school fees - and it's not a new one. Parents scramble to come up with money for tuition, school uniforms, transportation, boarding and other fees. What is measurably worse this year is the number of parents who are out of work, and the growing population of children without parents," Alexander Tsabedze, a headmaster in the northern Hhohho region, told IRIN.

Swaziland's banned political parties and pro-democracy groups are conceding they may have harmed their cause by boycotting recent parliamentary elections. "If you are in the wilderness, you need all opportunities to be heard. All platforms, even government bodies, must be utilised," Ntombi Nkosi, president of the women's league of the Ngwane National Liberatory Congress (NNLC), told IRIN.

A legion of volunteer community activists in Swaziland are identifying orphans and vulnerable children - many of them affected by AIDS - and seeing to their nutritional, medical, educational and psychological needs. "The community worker is called 'lihlombe lekukhalela', which means 'shoulder to cry on'. They are the person who children know they can go to for assistance.

After banning abortion in the country, but then leaving an option for its eventual legalization, the new draft constitution typifies the ambiguous feeling most Swazis have toward the procedure. Abortion is unlikely to be seen as a tool to curb population growth any time soon, according to the draft constitution. Under Chapter IV, “Protection and Promotion of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms,” section 16, clause 5 states, “Abortion is unlawful.” However, the word “unlawful” is followed by the qualifying word “except on grounds where the continued pregnancy will endanger the life or constitute a serious threat to the physical health of the woman, where there is a serious threat to the mental health of a woman, or there is serious risk that the child will suffer from physical or mental defect of such a nature that the child will be irreparably seriously handicapped.”

This report by the Coordinating Assembly of Non-Governmental Organisations (Cango) is based on the proceedings of a workshop hosted to address the constitutional framework for poverty reduction in Swaziland. Its main objective was to raise awareness about the constitution in order to give the Swaziland State a clear framework for developing strategies to fight poverty.

There's growing awareness among policymakers in Swaziland that a burgeoning orphan population created by AIDS is fundamentally changing the nature of their society. A National Draft Policy on Children, including orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), is in the works and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Swaziland met with government representatives on Wednesday to assess the country's OVC programmes.

Swaziland is a small country geographically, and its population numbers less than a million. But, it has an oversized AIDS problem. "We have a disproportionate AIDS dilemma. It comes from a failure in the past to own up to an emerging crisis," an official with the Ministry of Health told IPS.

Women now comprise 30 percent of Swaziland's legislature, following King Mswati's appointments of new MPs and Senators. For a traditional nation where women are still legal minors, this accomplishment is impressive. The only question asked by political observers is: Should credit not go to Swaziland's neighbours that comprise the 14 member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC)? “It is SADC protocol that all nations aligned in the organisation must have a 30-percent quota of women legislators,” Doo Aphane, national director for the Swaziland branch of Women in Law for Southern Africa, told IPS.