UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, welcomed last week’s call by the United Nations Security Council for an immediate halt of all acts of sexual violence against women in conflict situations. The Fund described it as a historical achievement that would go a long way in protecting the dignity of women and girls who are often subjected to violence as a tactic of war.

So far, most studies of the Rwandan genocide or the Congo Wars have failed to examine these events in historical depth - under inclusion of a wider theoretical literature on mass violence - and in their broader regional contexts (i.e. including the political and socio-economic situations in Burundi,Uganda and Tanzania as well as the strategic interests of Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia etc.).
In order to fill this gap the editors of the Journal of Genocide Research welcome original and innovative papers involving the transnational and transregional approaches which are crucial for an understanding of the local dynamics that have fed processes of cumulative radicalizations in the whole region.

The Africa Rice Center (WARDA) to mobilize applications from women scientists and professionals. Application Deadline: July 20 2008 or until the position is filled.

In response to . I hear you so well, loud and clear. We need to revamp the peace movement and commitment to ably protect that which is sacred-life. I am beginning to think that only under a vibrant peace revolution can we gain political will and safety for our women, girls, and little boys.

KwaZulu-Natal has coughed up at least R1 million in transport costs to repatriate foreign nationals in the province to their countries of origin.vBetween 700 and 800 refugees had already been sent home, mainly to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, said the head of the eThekwini Municipality’s international and governance relations, Eric Apelgren.

Chad accused Sudan's army of attacking a town on its eastern border on Tuesday and blamed its neighbour for Chadian rebel raids that have disrupted international aid operations to help thousands of refugees. The Chadian accusation showed tensions flaring again between the two oil-producing neighbours, who often accuse each other of supporting cross-border rebel attacks over their frontier running along Sudan's violence-torn Darfur region.

The trial of two Algerian Christian converts accused of proselytising has been postponed for a week, the head of the country's Protestant Church said on Wednesday. The prosecution is the third to be brought against Christian converts in the mostly Muslim country since a controversial law was passed in February 2006 demanding non-Muslim congregations seek permits from regional authorities.

Exposure to the elements after heavy rains washed away shelters, and lack of adequate food, have hit many Somalis who fled the capital, Mogadishu, to seek refuge in the northern outskirts, local and civil society leaders said. "At least nine people, including a pregnant woman and two children have died in the last two weeks," Abikar Sheekhay, a medical doctor who visits the camps, told IRIN.

Former rebels taking part in a demobilisation process in northern Cote d’Ivoire went on the rampage on 18 June in the former rebel stronghold Bouake, demanding that cash and benefits promised to them be expedited. “We did not have the intention to jeopardise the whole process. We still have every intention of integrating into normal civilian life.

Rebel forces fighting the Chadian government have rejected claims that they were "totally destroyed" in fighting on Wednesday. Ali Gueddei, a spokesman for the rebel National Alliance, said on Thursday that his group had lost just 27 fighters, rather than the more than 160 claimed by the government, in fighting in Am Zoer.

This series of briefs provides a regional synthesis of findings of 12 thematic studies and 20 individual case studies of social transfer schemes undertaken by the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme (RHVP) in southern Africa. The briefs aim to provide a wide-ranging set of policy-oriented findings on core hunger and vulnerability issues identified by the many stakeholders consulted during the planning process.

The UN refugee agency is embracing new media with a vengeance, launching on Thursday a pioneering Facebook application to raise funds and awareness about refugee protection. UNHCR is already using other popular social networking sites such as YouTube, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, Deli.cio.us and Reddit to reach the massive online community and inform people about its work helping millions of uprooted people around the world.

Describing it as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, UN refugee agency chief António Guterres on Wednesday urged the international community to make peace in Somalia a priority and acknowledged that UNHCR had to do more to help those uprooted by the 17-year conflict.

On the eve of World Refugee Day, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Thursday concluded a mission to one of the world's largest refugee camps and then met with a group of internally displaced Kenyans who were uprooted in post-election violence earlier this year. He told both groups – Somali refugees in the sprawling Dadaab camp on the Kenya-Somalia border and displaced Kenyans in the town of Naivasha – that his hope is for all of them to be able to go home soon.

Overnight violence in Somalia pushed the death toll on Friday to 38 in the days since a peace deal was signed in Djibouti last week. The June 10 agreement between Somalia's interim government and some opposition figures was rejected outright by hardline Islamists in exile and the insurgents on the ground, and experts had warned it was likely to have little impact on the violence.

Government troops, national police, foreign groups and local militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to contribute to deteriorating human rights conditions, the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the country (MONUC) has said in a report.

In this, the 60th anniversary year of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on World Refugee Day, Amnesty International calls on states to reaffirm everyone’s right to seek and to enjoy asylum from persecution, as recognized in the words of article 14 of the UDHR.

This 119-page report examines South Africa’s decision to treat Zimbabweans merely as voluntary economic migrants and its failure to respond effectively to stop the human rights abuses and economic deprivation in Zimbabwe that cause their flight and to address their needs in South Africa. Human Rights Watch spoke to almost 100 Zimbabweans in South Africa about their plight.

There is dispute over whether the violence of the past nine years in Zimbabwe is a reflection of political violence, or crimes against humanity. This paper examines aspects of this debate in the wake of the 29 March 2008 election results and the ensuing violence that has left thousands displaced and many activists dead and injured. The paper also discusses the role of the international community in the current debacle.

Nigerian militants responsible for the bombing of oil pipelines and the kidnapping of foreign workers in the Niger delta said yesterday they would not take part in a peace summit called by the government. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, whose campaign of violent sabotage against Nigeria's oil industry has helped push world oil prices to record highs, said next month's summit was bound to fail.