The Unga Revolution, a ‘self motivated and non-violent movement of the people of Kenya aimed at realising all the rights and privileges as enshrined in the constitution of Kenya’ has called on the government to ensure that all citizens are guaranteed their right to food, shelter, healthcare, education and social security, as enshrined in Article 43 of the country’s constitution, in part by reducing the prices of basic commodities.

Security forces in Equatorial Guinea have detained more than 200 youth in the past week. The reasons for the detentions remain unclear, although government authorities chastised parents for giving their children too much liberty, writes EG Justice.

UK WILPF ‘is extremely troubled by the worsening situation in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. In particular we are concerned with NATO’s excessive military aggression and with the UK government’s actions, which are fuelling a civil war in the North African country.’

Recorded on 25 May at Ottawa's Carleton University, the following is a video of a talk led by Firoze Manji and Molly Kane of Pambazuka News and hosted by Pius Adesanmi. The panellists discuss 'African awakenings and new visions of solidarity' to celebrate Africa Liberation Day.

While this toolkit has been designed primarily for the local partners and activists of the VNC campaign, this can be a resource, too, for human rights activists who are keen to develop their
online activism and want to know where and how to start. The toolkit aims to impart the following skills:
- An understanding of why and how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can
be appropriated by women's rights and human rights groups in their advocacy skills
through their use of online tools, including networking and mobile tools for advocacy and
campaigning.
- The ability to develop an advocacy/communication strategy.
- Knowing what social neworking is and the various spaces and tools they could use in their
online activism.
- An understanding of online privacy and security issues relevant to building their online
activism.

A human rights campaigner from Madagascar was in the UK recently to demand that the Royal Bank of Scotland withdraw its financing of companies mining tar sands in her country. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has a long track record of financing companies operating in the Canadian tar sands, which are devastating the land and lives of First Nations people in Alberta. The bank has also financed French oil giant Total’s test mining of tar sands in Madagascar over the last three years. Total is expected to decide next month whether to go ahead with larger scale exploitation of tar sands in the country. If it does, the water supply of more than 120,000 people in one of Madagascar’s poorest areas could be disrupted and poisoned and its unique biodiversity severely threatened.

The President of the Swaziland National Union of Students, Maxwell Dlamini, has been detained, tortured, and forced by Swaziland’s regime to sign a confession that says he was in possession of explosives during the April 12 Swazi Uprising - a movement inspired by similar uprisings in North Africa and The Middle East.

'While many take having a toilet that is clean and safe for granted, it remains a luxury for a great deal of our most vulnerable communities. Approximately 10.5 million people in South Africa still do not have access to basic sanitation services. According to recent research by the Water Dialogues, approximately 500,000 people in the City of Cape Town do not have access to basic sanitation. Although this is a challenge facing every municipality, sanitation provision is a local government function. As a resident of Khayelitsha, I intend on holding my local government to account in acting in accordance with its constitutional obligations.'

Abahlali baseMjondolo stands in full solidarity with the democratically elected leadership of the Makause settlement as they face threats of violence from the ANC branch in Primrose. We are far away in distance but close in spirit and we will do all that we can to mobilise support for the comrades in Makause as their community politic faces the threat of repression from the party politic. As our experience shows very well these threats must be taken very seriously by all democrats.

Pharmaceutical industries in emerging markets are shifting their focus away from poor to developed countries, which will affect access to cheap generic medicines. Poor states should tackle this development by capitalising on the international trade exemptions they still enjoy regarding medicines as 'intellectual property'. These comments come from a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), titled 'Investment in Pharmaceutical Production in the Least Developed Countries', or LDCs.

South African competition authorities approved Wal-Mart's $2.4 billion bid for Massmart on Tuesday (31 May), saying the retailer must not fire workers for two years. The conditions imposed on the deal - including a programme for developing local suppliers - will likely be seen as a win for the world's largest retailer, which said it would walk away from the deal if targets were put on local procurement.

Botswana public sector unions said on Monday (30 May) they had conditionally accepted a three per cent pay rise but a six-week strike that has shaken the ruling party's 45-year grip on power would continue until all demands were met. A spokesman for the Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) said the government must reinstate 1,500 sacked workers as part of a final settlement, and lift a 'no work, no pay' policy. The agreed average pay rise is a fraction of the 16 per cent first demanded by the 90,000 state workers, and less even than the five per cent on offer from the government of the landlocked southern African country, the world's biggest diamond producer.

Charles Dan is Africa Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the UN agency responsible for promoting and supporting worldwide labour rights. In a debate on job creation at the World Economic Forum on Africa, Dan called for a breaking-down of barriers between formal and informal economies. In a similar line of thinking, when other panelists fell silent on the problem of large levels of structural unemployment on the continent, Dan offered as a solution the growth of the social and solidarity economy. Read this interview with Dan on

Do you know that you have a constitutional right to eat a healthy meal everyday?
Do you know that you have a constitutional right to have a good house?
Do you know that the state should pay for you if you are unable to pay for yourself?
Why do you allow your human and constitutional rights to be violated?
Why do we suffer in silence as our leaders watch?

For real answers, join all other Kenyans at:

'Unga-30 Bob' Rally
Date: 31 May 2011
Time: 1pm
Venue: Outside Harambee House, Harambee Avenue

President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga are invited to explain to all Kenyans!
Email: [email][email protected]

'Several major events have taken place on the African continent since the start of 2011, in a particular global context. Already weakened by its unfavourable historic position in the global system, over the past two decades Africa has endured the horrors of neoliberal austerity measures, the pillage of its resources and the privatisation of warfar. Africa is more than ever at a crossroads because of the failure of the neoliberal model, the crisis of capitalism and the exhaustion of neocolonial modes of growth,'writes GRILA, in a statement to mark African Liberation Day on 25 May.

Sceptical about the effectiveness of the ‘roadmap’ being implemented by Madagascar’s ‘de facto authorities’, CCOC (Collective of Citizens and Civic Organizations) has issued a memorandum on resolving the country’s two-year crisis.

Municipal elections appear to have had a dampening impact on service delivery protests, according to research by Municipal IQ, which carries out a Municipal Hotspots Monitor. Municipal IQ reported that there were 10 protests in 2004. This jumped to 34 in 2005, dropped to just two in the last municipal election year in 2006, rose again to 32 in 2007, dropped slightly to 27 in 2008, but jumped steeply to 105 in 2009 and to 111 in 2010. There have been 23 so far this year.

Five hundred people from eThembeni and Transit Camp in Grahamstown blockaded a national road on Tuesday, in a demonstration for housing, electricity and water, the Unemployed People’s Movement reports.

On 8 May, Kenyan police officers illegally cancelled a rally to campaign for economic and social rights in Starehe constituency. This could 'set a bad precedence for future engagements between peaceful citizens and law enforcement officers; in as far as exercising of democratic rights is concerned,' write campaign coordinators the Unga Revolution, in an open letter to the Commissioner of Police.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest incidence of child labour in the world and estimates show that it continues to grow. This paper examines the causes and magnitude of child labour in Kenya. It finds that socioeconomic status and structure of the household have a strong effect on child labour. Also, a large proportion of working children attend school.