'Over the past year, the Minister of Human Settlements, Tokyo Sexwale, has been praised for his energy in tackling the housing crisis. What the Minister apparently fails to recognise is that for millions of poor citizens (and non-citizens), informal settlements and inner city buildings are the only forms of accommodation available in the city or close to it. These forms of housing have two very important factors that state housing developments have often failed to provide - closer location to employment opportunities and affordability.'

Developing countries continue to drive the global recovery but are not in a position to make up for slowdown in the advanced countries. Consequently, 2011 does not hold out much hope for the world economy, says a new report by the United Nations. The UN report, titled 'World Economic Situation and Prospects 2011' (WESP), finds that because of the slowdown in the advanced countries and the phasing out of stimulus measures, output growth in the developing countries is expected to shrink to six per cent during 2011-2012, down from seven per cent in 2010.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who sometimes resides in Kenya and Tanzania, has severely embarrassed the Obama Administration throughout the past week with the leaking of US diplomatic cables. Worse is, by all accounts, yet to come. The leaked files include material from the 2007 Kenyan election and its violent aftermath. They are much-awaited in some quarters of the Kenyan political sector, especially with regard to the ongoing build-up to the cases at The Hague by International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. There are even those who are hoping that something might crop up in the Kenya cables which could play game changer to the whole ICC process as it stands at present.

Amnesty International has called on all states to commit themselves to end enforced disappearances, following news that a landmark treaty aimed at preventing the practice will come into effect. The International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (Disappearances Convention) will enter into force on 23 December, after Iraq on Wednesday became the 20th country to ratify it. The Convention aims to establish the truth about enforced disappearances, punish perpetrators and provide reparations to victims and their families.

Ten years after the signing of an accord designed to move Burundi from civil war to democratic stability, the country has yet to establish transitional justice mechanisms aimed at enhancing reconciliation and bringing to book those responsible for crimes committed during the country's turbulent years. Human rights activists and political observers say the lack of these mechanisms - a truth and reconciliation commission and some form of criminal tribunal - had perpetuated a culture of impunity, allowing human rights violations to proliferate, especially by state organs such as the police and judiciary.

Advocacy and investment on behalf of children affected by AIDS have had an impact, and the goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV appears within reach. But for every problem solved or advance made, new challenges and constraints have arisen. This Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report examines current data, trends and the progress that’s been made - pointing out disparities in access, coverage and outcomes - and calls for concrete actions to benefit the millions of children, women and families worldwide who bear the burden of the epidemic.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme is pleased to announce a call for applications for its Journalist Study Tour to India. Four successful applicants will be chosen to participate in a 6-day study tour. African media professionals in print, broadcast, radio and online fora throughout Africa are encouraged to apply for this study tour. African lecturers from journalism schools and media programmes on the continent may also apply.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is unfortunately synonymous with its dreadful past and its terrible present, despite its beauty, complex history and unachieved potential. Locked not only into its own internal troubles but also into those of the Great Lakes region, it has provided more than enough material on forced migration, violence and political quagmires for the latest issue of FMR. While the articles contained in this issue of FMR make grim reading, they also offer glimmers of hope for better outcomes, at least potentially, alongside analysis of how and why these things have been happening. Authors come from Congolese civil society, UN agencies and NGOs, Congolese and donor governments, and international research - and include articles by the former UN Relief Coordinator John Holmes and the former Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC Ross Mountain. This issue also contains a further seven articles on other forced migration-related subjects.

After decades in exile, almost a quarter of a million officially registered refugees in Uganda and similar numbers of unregistered refugees are considering the prospect of returning to Sudan. Based on interviews conducted with refugees and returnees in northern Uganda and South Sudan, this research paper from the Policy Development and Evaluation Service of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is about the lives of individual Sudanese people who are either still living in Uganda and might identify themselves as refugees, migrants, traders or a little bit of all three, or have returned to South Sudan after decades in exile.

A group of Ugandan organisations and individuals have made an urgent appeal to civil society to support the inclusion of sexual minorities in national health policy.

Diagne Roland Fodé

Four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Africa have been selected to receive a prestigious award by UK-based charity, the STARS Foundation. Bungoma-based NGO, ACE Africa Kenya, Nairobi-based NGO, Childline Kenya, Hargeisa-based Africa Educational Trust and Cape Town-based, Home from Home Trust, will each receive a STARS Impact Award, consisting of $100,000 in unrestricted funding and tailored consultancy support. They will be presented to the charities’ Directors on 2nd December at a ceremony in London.

Israel’s most recent measure in ongoing efforts to deport the country’s growing migrant worker and refugee community is the government’s approval of a detention facility in the Negev desert for migrants and refugees. Israel considers only a small number of the 35,000 Africans, who have entered Israel over the past few years, as refugees. The rest are viewed as illegal economic migrants.

Firoze Manji e Molly Kane

Kathy Jo Wetter

Anne Maina

Khadija Sharife

Pat Mooney

Andréia Lisboa de Souza

Albano Pedro

Isis-WICCE will be actively participating in the 16 Days of Activism by hosting a cyber dialogue on its newly revamped website. As an organisation, we have had the privilege of working with women’s activists globally. Therefore, we would like to call upon our networks to create a forum where members can share their thoughts, opinions, and statements on the theme of ‘militarism and violence against women’.

Participants will be invited to contribute in the cyber dialogue which they can also share within their networks. The dialogue will commence on the first day of activism and continue for 16 days with every other day providing a new engaging question.

The theme of the 16 Days of Activism is pertinent to the work of Isis-WICCE. We have seen how conflict and post-conflict situations create atmospheres and situations where militarism increases violence against women, especially taking into consideration the role the military plays as either perpetrators of violence or as their mandated role in protecting them. Thus, it is important to open up a discussion on the structures of violence that do exist and navigate a way forward.

This is a call for all parties who are interested to visit the Isis-WICCE Blog beginning on 25 November 2010 to participate in the dialogue.

Saudi Arabia's strategy to outsource food production will be at the top of the agenda when several heads of state and high-level delegations from African countries arrive in Riyadh for an investor conference on 4 December 2010. In some of these countries, Saudi investors are already acquiring farmland and starting to put the Kingdom's policies into operation. One of their main targets is West Africa's rice lands.

The Commission for Gender Equality has issued an invite for people to attend a two-day public hearing on gender transformation in the workplace.

Uncleared minefields in northern Uganda’s Lamwo district have prevented thousands of people displaced during the Lord’s Resistance Army insurgency from returning home, officials said. 'These people can’t go to their villages [in Agoro sub-county] unless the place is cleared and declared free of the landmines,' local government official Mathew Ocen Akiya told IRIN. He said some 10,000 people were unable to go home because of the mines.

Writer Chuma Nwokolo recently launched a creative venture that mixes the power of blogging with story-telling. He published a brand new story on his blog, but the story was told in six letters, each of which he published daily throughout this week, with the final letter published on Saturday. The catch was that if the six parts got a hundred comments between them, he'd promise his readers to start a brand-new serial on the following Monday. 'So if you want a new tale next week - or if you simply want to put me through the torture of writing one under pressure - get commenting and send this link around your friends too!' he wrote on his blog. Visit the blog to find out how the story went.