Journalists, webmasters, and students who have been jailed by their governments for simply expressing their views via the Internet should be freed immediately, Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch marked World Press Freedom Day, Saturday, May 3, by launching an online campaign to profile Internet dissidents, and to encourage the international community to pressure governments for their release.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said in a statement on Tuesday it was suspending its civil disobedience campaign pending the outcome of a meeting with the SA National Aids Council (Sanac) on May 17. The decision was made at a meeting of the TAC executive committee despite reservations expressed by several members who stressed the urgency of changing government policy on treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS and concerns about whether Sanac had the power to act to save lives.

Angola on Monday launched the biggest health campaign in the country’s history, aiming to inoculate seven million children against measles. Spearheaded by the Ministry of Health, with key financial, logistical and training support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the campaign seeks to vaccinate every child aged between nine months and 15 years, a UNICEF statement said.

The National Security Agency and Military Intelligence services have carried out a series of arbitrary arrests and detentions in Darfour and Khartoum, specifically targeting members of the Four and Zaghawa tribes. The World Organisation Against Torture requests concerned people to write to the authorities in Sudan urging them to take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity of those in detention; and order their immediate release in the absence of valid legal charges.

Some 1.6 million of the 4.7 million children in Tanzania are labourers, according to the country's latest labour force survey. A majority of the children, between five and 17 years worked for more than four hours a day and were not attending school due to poverty, according to the "Integrated Labour Force Survey 2000/01".

Southern Africa is, by and large, a dry place. Water is perhaps the region's most precious resource - the source of life itself. And yet the region's life-giving source of water - rivers and their catchments - are increasingly under threat from ill-conceived development schemes. International Rivers Network is devoted to protecting rivers on an international scale, from the Amazon to the Zambezi. Through research, activism and outreach, IRN takes on powerful governments and industries that bulldoze their way through communities with destructive river development projects. Find out how you can help them by visiting their web site.

Here is the one and only rule for the Brand America Boycott: this action belongs to you. You decide what brands and products stand as symbols of America's new empire-building project, and you decide how you'll make your statement.

As a leading strand to this special issue, we suggest the following hypothesis : the double movement of segmentation and internationalisation of the labour market is matched by a diminishing role of states and public labour legislations (that never covered more than a part of the labour force), to the benefit of new forms of contractual labour. These changes entail not only more precariousness, but also the shrinking of solidarity and social protection into community and sectoral dynamics. Hence an increasing vulnerability of the weak, a weakening of national integration and of the social bond, and a risk of fragmentation of society. On this theme and problematisation, we hope to collect contributions bearing on different countries of the Middle East and North Africa, dealing with complementary issues, and confronting cases and studies that will help us understand what is at stake in the evolution of labour and its effects in terms of solidarity and social integration.

Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) founder member Edward Mavundla, who died on Wednesday an hour before Aids activists arrived to visit him, made a deathbed call for world support for the organisation. "I am urging the people all over the world to support (the) TAC to show solidarity with South Africa -- we (the HIV-positive) are dying," Mavundla said on Tuesday night, shortly before he died, according to a transcript of his last statement released by TAC lawyer Nathan Geffen on Wednesday.

We are looking for a Program Officer for Africa Regional Policy and Advocacy to work as part of the AMANITARE initiative – The African Partnership for the sexual and reproductive health and rights. This post requires a highly motivated, well-organised and mature professional to work with the senior advisor on developing a strategy for advocating for the inclusion of women’s rights, in particular sexual and reproductive health and rights, in agendas of the African Union and the African Charter on Human and People’s rights.

We are haunted daily by images on the television and in the papers of victims of genocide, torture, mass rape, and ethnic cleansing. Now you can do something to help.
The revolutionary Victims Trust Fund of the ICC will provide direct reparations to victims of atrocities to help them rebuild their lives and communities. It is part of the new permanent International Criminal Court (ICC), which will hold perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity accountable before the law when their own countries are unwilling or unable to do so. By sending a small donation to the Victims Trust Fund you can provide direct assistance to the victims of future atrocities.

The Youth Coalition (YC) and the Youth Against AIDS Network (YAAN) are hosting the Africa Advocacy Workshop aimed at young people working on issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights in Africa. The workshop will focus on enhancing the skills of young people working in this area to lobby and advocate for changes at national, regional or international level. In addition, the training will focus on building the capacity of participants to design and manage effective advocacy campaigns within their own communities aimed at changing attitudes or behaviours that negatively affect the sexual and reproductive health and rights of young people.

Help stop the further destruction of mangrove forests in the Niger Delta by writing letters of concern to the relevant government officials.

WorkingforChange.com has recently posted a list of 5 things it encourages readers to do about Iraq. The ideas give readers a variety of ways to take action online such as pre-written emails to governmental officials, local events calendars and online donations, reports NetPulse, a project of PoliticsOnline: Fundraising and Internet tools for politics. (http://netpulse.politicsonline.com)

A series of arbitrary arrests have taken place in Sudan. The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) is gravely concerned about the arrests and requests that you urgently write to the Sudanese authorities to ensure the safety of those arrested.

The Independent Medico Legal Unit is a non-profit organisation. Its focus is the promotion and protection of human rights by providing medical and legal assistance to victims of survivors of torture. The IMLU is currently seeking qualified candidates for the above positions. More details can be obtained at the website or by writing to: The Managing Trustee, IMLU, P.O Box 1271-0606, Nairobi, Kenya.

For millions of children all over the world going to school, having a decent meal and a clean place to live in are a luxury. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) about 246 million children are involved in child labour. These children are exposed to the worst form of working conditions. They are engaged in work that is hazardous to their health and general well being.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) says their civil disobedience campaign will be extended to all government departments. Zachie Achmat, TAC leader, and more than 100 others were arrested at Cape Town's Caledon Square police station this week after laying charges of culpable homicide against Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, the Health Minister, and Trevor Manuel, the Finance Minister.

HelpAge International Africa Regional Development Centre have produced five radio plays available on CD as parts of their Rights Programme highlighting rights issues as they affect older people. The titles are: The effects of HIV/AIDS on older people in Africa; Poverty and older people in Africa; Abandonment of Older people in Africa; Witchcraft accusations and violence against older people in Africa; Health care for older people. They also have a two-part documentary highlighting the abuse of older people's rights. The titles are: The rights of older people: the mark of a noble society; The rights of older people: possible solutions. Contact [email protected] for copies.

Corporate globalisation continues to wreck havoc in Southern Africa. It is characterized by deregulation of markets, trade liberalization and dumping of harmful products in poor countries. It includes privatization of essential public utilities, immobility of labour; diehard paragons of this job-killing doctrine such as the European Union, the International Monetary Fund, the United States of America, the World Trade Organisation and transnational corporations, define as a process of restructuring the world economy.