Global Voices Online reports that potential mining activity in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park is threatening its ecosystem and that of the adjacent Mana Pools National Park in Zimbabwe. The two national parks, rich in wildlife and one of the last bastions of huge elephant populations in Southern Africa, are situated less than 200 kilometres downstream from the hydroelectric Kariba Dam.

Recent deadly clashes in Kenya stem from widespread economic frustration, chronic impunity and the ambitions of politicians seeking office, according to analysts and activists. As the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay noted, the timing of the latest clashes on the coast is alarming. 'In Kenya, the recent inter-communal violence in the Tana River District, during which dozens were killed, including a large number of children and women, is a grim reminder of the 2007-08 events,' she said earlier this week, referring to the killings and displacement that followed the country’s last presidential poll.

A faction of Central African Republic rebel group the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace claimed responsibility Sunday for two attacks near the capital and threatened to carry out more. The CPJP last month signed a peace deal with the government, officially ending the rebellion by the largest armed group still active in the violence-torn country and raising hopes of an end to years of conflict. But the faction that claimed the attacks in two towns just north of the capital on Saturday said it did not accept the peace deal.

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) has condemned sustained deadly violence against journalists following the killing of young journalist in Mogadishu. Zakariye Mohamed Mohamud Moallim, a young cameraman, working as freelance journalist was shot dead on Sunday evening (16 September 2012) in Nasib Bundo neighbourhood of Shibis district in Mogadishu. Men armed with pistols shot the journalist in the head and chest, according to family members. Zakariye died on the spot and the killers escaped from the scene, as said by eyewitnesses.

The UN Human Rights Office has released a new publication on sexual orientation and gender identity in international human rights law. It sets out the source and scope of some of the core legal obligations that States have to protect the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. The 60-page booklet is designed as a tool for States, to help them better understand the nature of their obligations and the steps required to meet them, as well as for civil society activists, human rights defenders and others seeking to hold Governments to account for breaches of international human rights law.

Fixed-term contract of one year in duration
Location: London
Salary: £42,156 per annum

The Middle East and North Africa Programme at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International is seeking to appoint two dynamic, team oriented people to the role of Researcher in the North Africa team with a focus on Egypt and/or Libya.

About the job

As a research-based campaigning organization, investigating and documenting human rights issues is fundamental to our advocacy and lobbying work. Our North Africa team requires two Researchers to take the lead in initiating human rights research and action by providing regional and thematic expertise, excellent research skills and sound political judgement. A campaign oriented approach to your work is essential. You will be required to conduct and co-ordinate research activities, monitor, investigate and analyse political, legal and social developments and human rights conditions, give authoritative advice on these areas and prepare human rights action materials.

About you

With experience of working on human rights issues, you must have first-hand in-depth knowledge and experience of Egypt and Libya and an understanding and awareness of the cultures of North Africa. You’ll have a background in activism, academia, law or journalism with the ability to identify and thoroughly investigate those issues and ensure our voice has authority. You will need proven research and communication skills, impartial political judgement, coupled with strong strategic thought. Fluency in English, including excellent writing skills, is essential, as is the ability to speak and read Arabic fluently.

About us

Our aim is simple: an end to human rights abuses. Independent, international and influential, we campaign for justice, freedom and truth wherever they’re denied. Already our network of over three million members and supporters is making a difference in 150 countries. And whether we’re applying pressure through powerful research or direct lobbying, mass demonstrations or online campaigning, we’re all inspired by hope for a better world. One where human rights are respected and protected by everyone, everywhere.

For more information and to apply, please visit and search for requisition ID 814BR.

Closing date: 12th September 2012.

On 5 September 2012, AFRA-Kenya officially launched a documentary film that can easily be described as the first of its kind. The screening of 'I am Mary' was done at the Inter News offices, I & M towers in Nairobi. It is the story of Mary, a lesbian woman who volunteers with one of the GALCK member groups, Minority Women in Action (MWA) and an active participant in the fight for human rights for LGBTI persons in Kenya.

Heavily-armed police in Swaziland invaded the venue for a ‘people’s summit’ due to take place 6 September as part of week-long pro-democracy activities in the kingdom. The Swaziland Democracy Campaign (SDC) reported ‘a large number of heavily armed and hostile police’ invaded the Bosco Skills Centre, Manzini, where the summit was due to start.

Section 27 has filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks. Rights organisation Section 27 filed papers at the North Gauteng High Court on Monday after it emerged that hundreds of Limpopo pupils are still without textbooks and are facing an inadequate departmental catch-up plan.

Ethiopia’s rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has accused the Ethiopian military of committing a massacre against predominantly women and children in the Wardher region on 6 September. At least 13 people have been confirmed dead. The ONLF said in a statement that the killings targeted family members of ONLF rebels, including the Guuleed family.

There has been a big push to lower political temperatures in the Democratic Republic of Congo, but President Joseph Kabila could emerge weaker, and his silent dependence on his East African neighbours to hold on to power could deepen. The conflict in eastern DR Congo that flared up recently, threatened to suck several countries into a new war, and set neighbouring Rwanda on a collision course with its international allies, improved quickly over the past week.

An increasing number of developing countries are introducing universal healthcare coverage - and creating new models to do it - according to research published in The Lancet journal. Lessons learned from countries like Ghana, India and Rwanda are already shaping the way countries like South Africa are beginning to pilot their own bids for universal coverage. In the early 20th century, two models of universal healthcare coverage emerged in the United Kingdom and Germany. The UK uses general taxes to fund publicly provided healthcare in its one risk pool model, while Germany’s multiple risk pool model relies on household premiums and payroll taxes, and relies on private healthcare providers. Industrialised countries like Japan, Canada and France have all implemented variations of these two models. But countries from the global South (developing) are creating their own models, according to research by the Results for Development Institute and others, published in The Lancet as part of its universal healthcare coverage series.

At least 16 people have been killed by government soldiers in the central Malian region of Segou, when the army opened fire on their vehicle, a government official and the police have said. The incident occurred overnight in the town of Diabali, and authorities said those killed were Islamist fighters. Among the dead were two Malians and 14 Mauritanian nationals, Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Mali's capital Bamako.

The Transnational Institute (TNI), in cooperation with the Municipal Services Project (MSP) and the Latin American Programme for Distance Education in Social Sciences (PLED) is offering a free web-based course on Alternatives to Privatisation: Non-Commercial Public Services Options in the Global South. The course will begin on October 8, 2012 and will comprise a series of eight weekly sessions.

The continued arrival of refugees fleeing post-election violence and militia activities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in western Uganda, and the government’s efforts to resettle them, have created a land row that has already cost the life of a government official. Government officials say 100 police officers have been deployed to Oruchinga, Nakivale, Rwamwaja, Kyangwali and Kiryandongo refugee settlement camps to help quell the clashes and ensure the safety of the refugees.

The potential cost of pesticide-related illnesses in sub-Saharan African between 2005 and 2020 could reach $90bn (£56bn), according to a UN report released on Wednesday highlighting the growing health and environmental hazards from chemicals. It said the estimated cost of pesticide poisoning exceeds the total amount of international aid for basic health services for the region, excluding HIV/Aids.The report by the UN environment programme (Unep) warned that the increasing production of chemicals, especially in emerging economies where there are weaker safeguards, is damaging the environment and increasing health costs.

Units of Spain’s paramilitary Civil Guard rounded up a group of would-be African immigrants recently on an otherwise uninhabited Spanish rock off the North African coast and shipped them back to the Moroccan shore just a few dozen yards away. As European governments impose austerity measures in the face of the Continent’s debt crisis, they are under domestic pressure to stem illegal immigration that is seen as putting additional pressure on scarce resources, reports the New York Times. Human rights groups have expressed concern that, in their zeal to protect Europe’s borders, authorities are neglecting the rights of would-be migrants and particularly of those who might have a legitimate claim to asylum.

Swaziland police tricked students into believing they were being escorted to deliver a petition to the government, but instead took them to a road with no exits and ambushed them, firing shots and beating them up. Media in Swaziland are reporting that about 100 students were forced to flee across the streets of the Swazi capital, Mbabane.

Zanu-PF has vowed not to give in to pressure to endorse a draft constitution produced two months ago by the constitutional parliamentary committee. But the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wants to put it to a referendum. Political observers have interpreted this as a sign that Zanu-PF will spurn the mediation efforts led by the Southern African Development Community and South African President Jacob Zuma. Earlier this year, Mugabe said his party reserved the right to reject Zuma as the SADC facilitator if he showed 'any bias'.

A Kenya court has jailed the country’s former permanent secretary of Kenya’s Tourism Ministry Rebecca Nabutola and the former Kenya Tourist Board Managing Director Achieng Ong’ong’a after they were convicted of corruption. Chief Magistrate Lucy Nyambura sentenced Nabutola to four years in jail while Ong’ong’a was given three years jail after both were found guilty 'of conspiracy to defraud the government of 8.9 million shillings (about $106,000).'