Two weeks ago the Institute for Race Relations published a letter from Yorshire academics protesting that a contract for housing asylum seekers had been awarded to G4S. The company responded to its critics and in reponse to this, the group have released a further letter. 'We sent our original letter because of sheer outrage that a vast private sector security company feared and distrusted by asylum seekers should be considered as suitable to manage asylum seeker housing. We could see immediately that such a contract would mean up to 900 asylum seekers in Yorkshire facing eviction and displacement over the next few months.'

The World Development Movement has warned that the UK’s new drive to provide aid to Somalia is looking like a ‘cynical’ attempt to grab its oil, rather than being aimed at ensuring a better future for people in one of the world’s poorest countries. A report in the Observer newspaper on Sunday revealed that UK officials have been engaged in secret negotiations with Somali leaders to secure access to the country’s immense oil reserves. The revelation came after the UK announced a large aid package for Somalia, and David Cameron hosted a conference in London last week on the development of the war torn state.

Côte d’Ivoire’s national commission of inquiry investigating the 2010-2011 post-election violence should extend its mandate by six months to August 2012, Human Rights Watch said. The extension would better ensure an impartial and comprehensive investigation into crimes committed by all sides, Human Rights Watch said. In meetings with Human Rights Watch, Ivorian civil society representatives, United Nations officials, and diplomats highlighted serious problems with the commission. They cited its failure to include representation from pro-Gbagbo groups and to consult sufficiently with civil society, and said the commission appears to have rushed its work.

The government will soon table a Contract Farming Bill in parliament, seeking to enact a law to protect smallholder farmers and rural communities against exploitation by private investors. Principal Legal Officer with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security Audax Rutabanzibwa said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend that among other things, the law will clearly state the kind of crops to cultivate and nature of relationship between private investors and rural farmers.

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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is calling for a global coalition against censorship at a time when repressive governments, 'militants' and criminal groups around the world are controlling information to maintain their grip on power. 'There is a collective interest in ensuring that information flows freely...An attack on an Egyptian, Pakistani, or Mexican journalist inhibits the ability of people around the world to receive the information that journalist would have provided,' CPJ executive director Joel Simon said in CPJ's annual report, Attacks on the Press, launched on 21 February.

The London Conference on Somalia ended with a seven-point plan aimed at boosting humanitarian aid and support for African Union troops, and tougher action on piracy, but 'fell short on the measures required to address the risks faced by civilians', said Amnesty International. 'The recent surge in military operations increases civilians’ vulnerability to attacks and displacement, and brings more arms into a country already awash with weapons,' said Benedicte Goderiaux, Amnesty International’s Somalia researcher.

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has joined dozens of sites and organisations in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). These two US bills, if passed, represent an unprecedented threat to the open internet as we know it, with impacts felt far beyond the borders of the United States. APC believes the internet is a global public good and is joining today’s protest in solidarity with those who fight to uphold internet-related human rights.

Officials say they will not rule out using force to regain control of Bani Walid after it was recently taken over by forces loyal to the deposed Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Bani Walid, south of the capital Tripoli, was considered a Gaddafi stronghold during the revolution and was supposedly 'liberated' by revolutionary fighters four months ago. But now they say their families have been forced out.

In this article from the Peace and Conflict Monitor, Vital Nshimirimana discusses the transitional justice process as planned by the government of Burundi for 2012. He argues that issues including ongoing insecurity, human rights abuses, lack of dialogue and trust among social partners, as well as lack of rule of law will undermine the process.

The final draft constitution, earmarked to replace the Lancaster House Constitution, will criminalise homosexuality and ban same-sex marriages according to the views of the majority of Zimbabweans, it has emerged. In an interview, Constitution Select Committee (Copac) co-chair Mr Edward Mkhosi (MDC) said Zimbabwe had unequivocally affirmed that homosexuality should be outlawed. 'During the outreach programme, everyone said ‘no’ to gays and lesbians and, as the drafters, we heed what people say,” he said. “Contrary to media reports that the homosexuality issue was causing infighting, the people were clear; we did not waste time on it.'

Sala Aminata, a housewife from Logone and Shari Division in Cameroon’s Far North Region, looks at her six kids with apprehension as she tries to figure out how to feed them with her meagre salary. Rising food prices come after a drought late last year destroyed the majority of the harvest in the Sahel – the arid zone between the Sahara desert in North Africa and Sudan’s Savannas in the south. Rural populations throughout the region have started to run out of food since early February, six months before the next harvest is expected. And all governments in the Sahel, except for Senegal, have appealed for international assistance as 12 million people in the region are threatened by hunger.

State prosecutors in Beitbridge recently refused to handle a case involving MDC-T officials, who were arrested over the weekend for attending a party workshop. The prosecutors said the case was ‘too sensitive’ to handle, but our correspondent in Bulawayo told us they feared the powerful co-Home Affairs Minister and local MP Kembo Mohadi.

The Horn of Africa is one of the least connected regions in the world. Nevertheless, digital media play an important social and political role in Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia (including South-Central Somalia and the northern self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland). This paper published by the Open Society Foundation shows how the development of the internet, mobile phones, and other new communication technologies have been shaped by conflict and power struggles in these countries.

The challenges facing Haiti are discussed in this Q&A with Ambassador Rodolfo Mattarollo, Special Representative of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) Technical Secretariat in Haiti, who was interviewed by Claudia Florentin, the Spanish Editor of the Latin America and Caribbean Communication Agency (ALC).

A lawyer for an opponent of Malawi's president says his client is no longer being watched by police at the hospital where he is being treated for heart problems. Opposition and church leaders in Malawi had joined international human rights organisations in criticizing Ralph Kasambara's treatment. Kasambara was arrested 13 February, accused of kidnapping and torturing three men he told reporters had confessed they had been sent by the government to firebomb his office. The government denies Kasambara's accusations. Kasambara denies the charges against him.

Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda (HRNJ-Uganda) is shocked by the Uganda government's rejection of recommendations made to it during the Universal Periodic Review Mechanism (UPRM) to admit the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression to visit the country and assess the human rights situation. UPRM is a brainchild of the United Nations Human Rights Council whose intention is to assess the human rights situation of its respective member countries. HRNJ-Uganda has learnt that an Inter-ministerial meeting held on 23 February 2012 in Kampala and chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected 21 recommendations out of 42 which had been reserved by the same government during the October 2011 Geneva review.

Mari Monique was pregnant when they pooled all of their savings to join one of the first emigrant groups that opened a gruelling route in search of Brazil’s economic growth promise. The same path has now been trodden by more than 4,000 fellow Haitians. The route begins in the neighbouring Dominican Republic, where emigrants embark on a plane that takes them to Panama. Continuing by bus and on foot, the groups make their way through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and sometimes Bolivia before finally reaching the Amazon border – still a week by boat from the nearest big city. The entire journey can take up to two months, depending on the traveller’s ability to find their way through Spanish-speaking countries, and can cost as much as $3,000.

Egyptian researchers claim to have found a cheap, easy method for detecting and clearing landmines, using plants and bacteria. The three-stage process for deactivating anti-personnel mines - landmines designed for use against humans - first detects the mine before corroding its cast-iron body and, finally, neutralising it.

The former governor of Delta state has pleaded guilty in a British court to laundering millions of dollars in a rare case of a Nigerian politician being held to account for corruption. James Ibori, a former governor of the oil-rich state, pleaded guilty on Monday to 10 counts of money-laundering and conspiracy to defraud. He pleaded not guilty to a further 13 similar charges. Sentencing will take place in April.