Daughters as young as 12 in the villages surrounding Antsohihy, the capital of Sofia Region, in Madagascar's remote, traditional north, often suffer the harmful consequences of falling pregnant and giving birth too young when parents accept zebus (cattle) or cash as a dowry. Nationwide, 3,750 mothers and 16,500 babies die each year during or soon after delivery. Another 75,000 women experience medical problems as a result of childbirth, and an estimated 40 per cent of these women receive insufficient care.

ZANU PF’s information minister Webster Shamu has threatened a crackdown on the independent media in the country warning that 'the gloves may soon be off'. Shamu was speaking at a Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) function in Harare that was meant to celebrate World Press Freedom Day.

SocMed invites students to apply for the fourth annual course Beyond the Biologic Basis of Disease: The Social and Economic Causation of Illness, a social medicine immersion experience conducted on-site at Lacor Hospital in Gulu, Uganda from January 7, 2013 to February 1, 2013. This unique immersion course incorporates innovative teaching methodologies to merge teaching of clinical tropical medicine with understanding the socioeconomic, cultural, political, and historical underpinnings of illness. Visit for more information about the course, its directors and guest lecturers, and SocMed. Questions can be sent to [email][email protected]

In this broadcast, Africa Today talks with Kali Akuno of the United States Human Rights Network on his article 'Trayvon Martin is All of Us' and speaks with Art Curator Thomas Seligman on the 'Central Nigeria Unmasked: Arts of the Benue River Valley' exhibit at the Cantor Arts Center/ Stanford University.

As media interest mounts around a GM wheat trial taking place at Rothamsted Research Institute, the Gaia Foundation and partners African Biodiversity Network have voiced support of the challenge being led by campaign group Take the Flour Back. Later this month they will be launching the film 'Seeds of Freedom', a 30-minute documentary exploring the corporate takeover of seed, and the impact that this is having on communities across the world. Visit the webpage to find out more.

The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) is pleased to announce the 2012 session of its annual Democratic Governance Institute. It therefore invites researchers to submit their applications for participation in this institute to be held from 23th July to 10th August, 2012 in Dakar, Senegal.

The Refugee Law Project, a project of the School of Law, Makerere University, embarked on a countrywide conflict-mapping exercise dubbed: the National Reconciliation and Transitional Justice Audit (NR&TJ Audit) to document all major current and past conflicts and their legacies in Uganda. One of the main objectives was to document from a community perspective all the post-independence armed conflicts in Uganda. Six briefs are now available for their website.

East Africa's Legislative Assembly has passed a regional HIV/AIDS Bill that seeks to protect the rights of people living with HIV and harmonize regional legislation and policy on the prevention and treatment of HIV. Activists have welcomed the passing of the Bill, which, unlike some of the laws in the region's individual member states, does not criminalize the deliberate transmission of HIV.

A special summit of West African leaders held in Dakar, Senegal, agreed to dispatch a regional force to Mali if the interim government officially makes the request. 'The conference instructed the Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) to prepare the standby force for immediate deployment as soon as Mali asks for it,' a statement issued at the meeting said.

The army has dismissed allegations that Uganda is propping up rebel groups in Sudan. The allegations, which have lately become a staple in mainstream Sudan media is, according to the Uganda government, a deliberate ploy by Khartoum to 'deflect attention from the daunting challenges it is facing.' According to the Sudan government, Uganda is giving assistance to the Justice and Equality Movement rebels who have been engaged in mortal combat with Khartoum for the last 10 years, together with SPLM-N rebels in Unity and South Kordofan areas.

Last week, a new Land Matrix 'land grab' database was released at a big World Bank conference on land. On paper, says one academic, they have a strong methodology and very strict criteria about projects that are to be included, but some projects involved China are listed even though they were exaggerated or never came to fruition.

Sahelian governments and local and international aid groups are struggling to cope with both the continual arrivals of people fleeing the regions of Gao, Timbuktu and Kidal in northern Mali, and the mounting number of hungry people across the region as the lean season gets underway. Altogether some 284,000 Malians have fled the north according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 107,000 of them thought to be displaced within Mali; 177,000 in neighbouring countries.

As you approach the Lake Chad basin from Maiduguri, in northeastern Nigeria, the atmosphere of despair is telling. The air is dusty, the wind is fierce and unrelenting, the plants are wilting and the earth is turning into sand dunes. The sparse vegetation is occasionally broken by withered trees and shrubs. The lives of herders, fisherfolk and farmers are teetering on the edge as the lake dries up before their eyes. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called the situation an 'ecological catastrophe', predicting that the lake could disappear this century.

At UNCTAD XIII recently held in Doha, a united front of the BRICS, the G77 and China, supported by intense NGO lobbying and a highly publicised letter from former senior UNCTAD staff (including several from the Caribbean), successfully resisted efforts by the Global North to retsrict the agency’s critical work linking trade, development and the global financial and economic crisis. Was it a victory for the South, or a draw? Visit the page through the link provided for three perspectives on the meeting:
- Victory for the South by Deborah James
- Draw at Doha by Vijay Prashad
- South wins battle for new UNCTAD mandate by Martin Khor.

We are pleased to announce that the May 2012 issue of the Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter is now .

In this issue:

- Pending questions: UNHCR Recommendations regarding the Cessation Clause for Rwandan refugees
- Asylum victory on appeal: Immigration Judge placed ‘unreasonable expectations’ on applicant to demonstrate the motive behind violence against her
- UK detaining Sudanese asylum seekers with an aim towards deportation
- Understanding psychology can make asylum decisions fairer
- EU resolution against human trafficking in the Sinai
- Hungarian asylum process condemned by the UNHCR
- Thai NGO collecting signatures to petition for a Refugee Act
- The Moroccan Arab Spring: Protecting migrants rights in theory and practice
- Campaign for access to detention centres in Europe
- Engaging with our readers
- Refugees in Egypt: Between rights and responsibilities
- Publication profile: Migration Information Source

Also in this issue: Deportation news; Country of Origin and legal news; Resources; Publications; Vacancies; Courses, conferences and seminars; Calls for papers; Links.

As always, we welcome feedback and suggestions.

Sylvia Tamale chooses to raise her voice on issues like the right of sex workers to earn a living, the right for adults to enjoy adult entertainment and leisure like ebimansulo (striptease shows), and the recognition of human rights for marginalised groups such as sexual minorities and refugees, addressing the injustices in the law. Her arguments? That as long as these minorities’ activities do not infringe on the freedoms and rights of others, they should be granted their right to freely do as they please.

As a member of a small team of country-based researchers, the field researcher will work closely with the research coordinator to deliver timely, fact-based and first-hand experiential findings on the impacts of large-scale land deals on rural women.

When the Western Sahara report of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was watered down this year, from an April 6 to an April 11 'final' version, the first questions were directed at Morocco. But on April 16 a senior Ban administration official told Inner City Press the larger hypocrisy is France's, and sell-out of the UN is by Herve Ladsous, the fourth Frenchman in a row to run the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO).

The Private Military & Security Companies (PMSC) newsletter published by contains updates on the impact of these companies on human rights from around the world.

Tunisian demonstrators have gathered in the capital, Tunis, to express solidarity with Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, Press TV reports. Demonstrators gathered on the major Habib Bourguiba Avenue in the capital on Saturday. The event was organized by a group of Tunisian activists who had gone on a 24-hour hunger strike in support of Palestinian prisoners before the demonstration on Saturday.