Dozens of families on the outskirts of Bamako, the capital of Mali, are under threat of being evicted from their lands by the Government in favour of a housing project. The cultivation ban, ordered in July 2009, jeopardizes their right to adequate food. Moreover, if the eviction is realized, it will hinder the ability of the families to feed themselves in the long run. They already belong to the most vulnerable in Mali. The Government acted without prior consultation with the affected individuals and has not taken steps towards compensation or resettlement, which is in breach of human rights obligations.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) youth should celebrate themselves on Youth Day and assert the protections and freedoms enshrined in our constitution, Justice Edwin Cameron said as the country prepares to commemorate the Soweto Uprising of June 16, 1976.

The economic crisis has affected the economy of Burkina Faso only in a limited way. Despite dry whether conditions and low cotton prices, GDP growth has only been slightly reduced. According to the latest analysis of the Burkinabe economy by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), GDP growth was reduced from 5.2 percent in 2008 to 3.2 percent in 2009.

A South African study suggests that nurses are able to manage patients on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy as effectively as doctors, supporting the case for “task-shifting” in HIV treatment. The study, published in the Lancet on 16 June, divided 812 HIV patients into two groups - one of which received ARV therapy from doctors, the other from nurses. Both the nurses and doctors were inexperienced in ARV management and received similar training from clinicians who were also on call during the duration of the study to answer questions.

Over 50 million people in Africa and elsewhere in target countries benefited from loans of the Food Facility, a special instrument with a budget of 1 billion euros, established a year ago by the European Union (EU) to face the food crisis in developing countries, official sources said. According to a document, made available to the media, 65,000 children received supplemental nutrition care through the loans of the Food Facility, managed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

A new report by UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said that global prices of food could climb by as much as 40 per cent in the coming decade. FAO said that the rise would be caused by the growth in global population, which would increase the demand for more food. The report, entitled: "The Agriculture Outlook 2010-19", which was made available to the Pan African News Agency (PANA) on Wednesday, anticipated that wheat and coarse grain prices could jump to levels of between 15 and 40 per cent higher than they were between 1997 and 2006.

The United States has welcomed the release by a Rwandan court of Peter Erlinder, an American lawyer who had been detained since May on charges of denying the 1994 genocide. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said US embassy officials were at the court hearing and immediately shared the news with Mr Erlinder's family.

The World Cup has rightly captured the country’s imagination, writes Leonard Gentle. Despite Bafana’s anaemic performance against the Uruguayans, there is still a clear sense of relief amongst opinion makers that we’re pulling off hosting the event. The dominant voice proclaims that we’ve proven everyone – meaning the prophets of doom – wrong.

People look for refuge in other countries because they have no other option- they are being persecuted at home because of who they are, their beliefs or their opinions. Sadly, all too often, instead of finding safety in other countries, many find closed borders, xenophobia, detention and terrible living conditions. Some are denied a fair hearing of their asylum claims and could be forced to return home, where their lives are in danger. On World Refugee Day, 20 June 2010, Amnesty International calls on states to reaffirm everyone's right to seek and to enjoy asylum, as recognized in article 14 of the UDHR.

At least 11 people were killed on Friday and dozen others wounded after rebel militias attacked the barracks of Somali government forces in Hosh, southern Mogadishu. "Insurgents, supported by foreign terrorists, attacked our base in the Hosh area early this morning," government security official Ahmed Warsame said.

The world's oceans are virtually choking on rising greenhouse gases, destroying marine ecosystems and breaking down the food chain -- irreversible changes that have not occurred for several million years, a new study says. The changes could have dire consequences for hundreds of millions of people around the globe who rely on oceans for their livelihoods.

The historic meeting at the Kennedy Road settlement on Sunday went well despite the intimidation from the local ANC. The background to this meeting, and its importance, is that in September last year Abahlali baseMjondolo(AbM) and the Kennedy Road Development Committee (KRDC), the openly and freely elected committee in the settlement, were expelled in violent attacks organised through the local ANC and supported by the police and the criminal justice system.

Only two years after its last revision, the Swiss Asylum Act is about to be 'reformed' again. The changes include a gag order on political activism for asylum-seekers and a modification of the concept of a refugee. Ever since Switzerland adopted the Asylum Act in 1981, it has constantly been tightened, largely at the expense of the refugees, as in most European countries.

The number of refugees voluntarily returning home has plunged to its lowest rate in two decades, partly due to chronic insecurity in war-torn nations, according to the UN refugee agency. Only 251,000 of the world's 15 million refugees returned to their home countries last year, the lowest rate in two decades, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Comoros President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi has signed an African Union-brokered deal, allowing him to stay on power as "interim president" until November. Then, late elections are to be held. According to a statement by the Comoran Union presidency, the agreement that ends the archipelago's constitutional crisis was signed in Moroni, the capital, today. An election timetable is key to the agreement.

The government of Kenya is running an ambitious programme that aims to have 80 percent of all uncircumcised men - an estimated 1.1 million - circumcised by 2013. Most uncircumcised men live in the western province of Nyanza, where so far more than 100,000 have had the procedure, and the drive is seen as hugely successful. IRIN/PlusNews visited Nyanza's capital city, Kisumu, and spoke to several men about why they refused to be circumcised.

The international community risks losing the global battle against HIV/AIDS, unless funding for projects to stem the spread of the disease and keep those infected healthy is sustained and increased, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has warned. "In our global war on AIDS, the international community is on the verge of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory," Ban wrote in an editorial opinion published in the Austin American-Statesman, a US-based newspaper.

Ethiopia's main opposition parties on Tuesday won the first round battle in their attempts to challenge the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front's (EPRDF) landslide victory in last month's general elections. "At least we have managed to have our case filed at the court," Gidada Negasso, Ethiopia's former president, told PANA on phone after the Supreme Court allowed the opposition coalition to challenge the EPRDF landslide win in the 23 May elections.

Twenty South African boys have died following botched circumcisions in the Eastern Cape Province. "The deaths occurred over the past 12 days, with nine of them occurring over the past 24 hours," said a provincial health spokesperson. Some 60 boys have been rescued from 11 initiation schools which have since been closed. Circumcision is seen as a rite of passage into manhood in some South African communities

Shot at and raped. Arrested and beaten. Detained and deported. Extorted and robbed. Threatened and insulted. Ignored and shunned. The treatment of hardened criminals in some far-flung police state? The fate of political opponents by a repressive regime? Not quite. For Somali refugees - 80% of them women and children - this is their welcome to Kenya.