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.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has condemned the decision of a court in Sudan which banned the publication of all news related to the trial of Rai-Alshab Arabic daily and its three editors who charged over reports on the alleged involvement of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the construction of a weapons factory in Sudan.

Chad is holding the first summit on the "Great Green Wall" of Africa which is a proposal to plant trees along the borders of northern Africa to battle alarming desertification. The Global Environment Facility is funding the project with about US$119 million. Eleven leaders are at the summit.

In a slow-motion disaster predicted months ago by aid agencies, Africa's Sahel region is lurching towards a food crisis which the world has only weeks left to avert. Yet even if more aid is pledged right now, the obstacles in getting succour to the most vulnerable and remote communities on the planet mean hundreds of thousands of children in Niger and Chad are already facing life-threatening hunger.

Kenya is positioning itself to reap minimum benefits from the expanded market set to be created by the integration of the East African Community (EAC) Common Market which comes into effect on July 1. Both the government and the private sector have lined a series of meetings to ensure the East African nation’s biggest economy makes economic grains from the regional market.

A water-sharing treaty among five upstream Nile Basin countries - to the exclusion of Egypt and Sudan - has reignited the longstanding dispute over water distribution. Local experts, however, say the agreement will not jeopardise Egypt's historical share of Nile water. "Egypt has relied on the waters of the Nile for thousands of years," Hani Raslan, head of the department for Sudan and Nile Basin countries at the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told IPS. "No one can set a limit on Egypt's use of the Nile, which is protected by international law."

Kenya's long-awaited biosafety law is likely to become operational this month — well over a year after its president approved the legislation. President Mwai Kibaki signed off parliament's approval of the biosafety legislation in February 2009, after a decade of controversy about the advisability of allowing the commercialisation of genetically modified organisms.

Much to the frustration of gender activists, Swaziland's Supreme Court has reversed a February 2010 High Court ruling that allowed a married woman to register property in their own name. After centuries of being classified and treated as minors, the new Swazi Constitution granted women equal status in 2005. Activist Mary-Joyce Doo Aphane wished to register a house in her own name and challenged the country's 1968 Deeds Registry Act. She was granted a High Court order declaring the section unconstitutional.

What’s the best way of investing in the developing world? One organization is empowering families by investing in mothers. Hands to Hearts International (HHI) is a non-profit organization that seeks to provide simple and cost-effective programs with tools for women, caregivers, and organizations to improve the early development of children surviving in orphanages, refugee camps, and severely impoverished or conflict-ridden communities.