The University for Peace (UPEACE) is pleased to offer two online courses in 2011: 'Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in the Contemporary World' from 17 January to 27 March 2011 and 'Peace and Conflict Studies; The Foundation Course' will be re-offered from 7 February to 17 April 2011. These are both 10 week courses. The courses will be delivered by UPEACE faculty members: Dr. Amr Abdalla and Dr. Victoria Fontan and Professor Mihir Kanade. These courses are offered for three academic credits or for UPEACE training certificates. They will enable individuals who cannot come to the UPEACE campus, to gain new qualifications and skills. For course descriptions and more information, please visit the website.

Reporters Without Borders says it has learned that police in rural areas have for some time been confiscating shortwave radio sets from people caught listening to programmes made by Zimbabwean journalists in exile. The press freedom organisation has firmly condemned the use of such methods to censor information and restrict individual freedom.

The camp of Ivorian presidential challenger Alassane Ouattara vowed on Friday to reject any legal move to overturn provisional poll results giving him victory, warning of a possible return to civil war. The world's top cocoa grower was plunged into uncertainty last Thursday after the constitutional council, whose chief is close to President Laurent Gbagbo, said it did not recognise provisional results and would rule on the outcome within days.

The former ruling ZANU PF party has withdrawn its support for changes to the Public Order and Security Amendments Act (POSA). POSA is a piece of legislation tightened up by a ZANU PF dominated parliament in 2002. The draconian legislation gives untold powers to the police, who apparently opposed changes to the Act. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the police are responsible for the administration of the Act.

Google literally brought Accra - the capital of Ghana in West Africa - to a standstill with the public launch of its new product Google Trader. It is a free online classifieds service that allows Ghanaians to buy and sell products and services, as well as search for jobs or just about anything else. According to Google, Trader can be used by anyone in Ghana, but is expected to have the biggest uptake in major towns and cities across the country. 'Individuals can post short ads to buy and sell items and services, whilst businesses of any size can also use the site to reach more customers and increase their sales,' a statement read.

Writer Chuma Nwokolo recently launched a creative venture that mixes the power of blogging with story-telling. He published a brand new story on his blog, but the story was told in six letters, each of which he published daily throughout this week, with the final letter published on Saturday. The catch was that if the six parts got a hundred comments between them, he'd promise his readers to start a brand-new serial on the following Monday. 'So if you want a new tale next week - or if you simply want to put me through the torture of writing one under pressure - get commenting and send this link around your friends too!' he wrote on his blog. Visit the blog to find out how the story went.

In the midst of a global economical crisis as well as a climate crisis, South Africa needs an employment plan, rather than a traditional ‘growth path’. Employment should take place where it is needed, not where private for-profit interests deem it ‘possible’. The shortcomings of the New Growth Plan (NGP) show that organised labour and popular movements must continue to engage in the debate and forge an alternative economic policy to neo-liberalism.

Last year, the world spent $1.53 trillion dollars on the military. We can’t afford this price tag. We have too many other priorities that require our money: poverty, climate change, job creation. It’s time for people all over the world to come together and say no to the generals and the military contractors. Visit the website to find out more.

The vast inequalities of wealth on either side of the invisible boundary between the Arab world’s richest and poorest countries - Yemen and Saudi Arabia - have come to define the small town of Haradh in northwestern Yemen, where aid agencies are scrambling to help an increasing number of stranded and ill-treated African migrants. In addition to drugs and arms smuggling, Haradh is becoming increasingly infamous for its role in the trafficking of African migrants in search of work in Saudi Arabia.

Advocacy and investment on behalf of children affected by AIDS have had an impact, and the goal of eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV appears within reach. But for every problem solved or advance made, new challenges and constraints have arisen. This Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report examines current data, trends and the progress that’s been made - pointing out disparities in access, coverage and outcomes - and calls for concrete actions to benefit the millions of children, women and families worldwide who bear the burden of the epidemic.

In this week's edition of the Emerging Powers News Round-Up, read a comprehensive list of news stories and opinion pieces related to China, India and other emerging powers.

The Fahamu Emerging Powers in Africa Programme is pleased to announce a call for applications for its Journalist Study Tour to India. Four successful applicants will be chosen to participate in a 6-day study tour. African media professionals in print, broadcast, radio and online fora throughout Africa are encouraged to apply for this study tour. African lecturers from journalism schools and media programmes on the continent may also apply.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is unfortunately synonymous with its dreadful past and its terrible present, despite its beauty, complex history and unachieved potential. Locked not only into its own internal troubles but also into those of the Great Lakes region, it has provided more than enough material on forced migration, violence and political quagmires for the latest issue of FMR. While the articles contained in this issue of FMR make grim reading, they also offer glimmers of hope for better outcomes, at least potentially, alongside analysis of how and why these things have been happening. Authors come from Congolese civil society, UN agencies and NGOs, Congolese and donor governments, and international research - and include articles by the former UN Relief Coordinator John Holmes and the former Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC Ross Mountain. This issue also contains a further seven articles on other forced migration-related subjects.

After decades in exile, almost a quarter of a million officially registered refugees in Uganda and similar numbers of unregistered refugees are considering the prospect of returning to Sudan. Based on interviews conducted with refugees and returnees in northern Uganda and South Sudan, this research paper from the Policy Development and Evaluation Service of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is about the lives of individual Sudanese people who are either still living in Uganda and might identify themselves as refugees, migrants, traders or a little bit of all three, or have returned to South Sudan after decades in exile.

A group of Ugandan organisations and individuals have made an urgent appeal to civil society to support the inclusion of sexual minorities in national health policy.

Diagne Roland Fodé

Four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Africa have been selected to receive a prestigious award by UK-based charity, the STARS Foundation. Bungoma-based NGO, ACE Africa Kenya, Nairobi-based NGO, Childline Kenya, Hargeisa-based Africa Educational Trust and Cape Town-based, Home from Home Trust, will each receive a STARS Impact Award, consisting of $100,000 in unrestricted funding and tailored consultancy support. They will be presented to the charities’ Directors on 2nd December at a ceremony in London.

Israel’s most recent measure in ongoing efforts to deport the country’s growing migrant worker and refugee community is the government’s approval of a detention facility in the Negev desert for migrants and refugees. Israel considers only a small number of the 35,000 Africans, who have entered Israel over the past few years, as refugees. The rest are viewed as illegal economic migrants.

Firoze Manji e Molly Kane

Kathy Jo Wetter

Anne Maina

Khadija Sharife

Pat Mooney

Andréia Lisboa de Souza

Albano Pedro

Isis-WICCE will be actively participating in the 16 Days of Activism by hosting a cyber dialogue on its newly revamped website. As an organisation, we have had the privilege of working with women’s activists globally. Therefore, we would like to call upon our networks to create a forum where members can share their thoughts, opinions, and statements on the theme of ‘militarism and violence against women’.

Participants will be invited to contribute in the cyber dialogue which they can also share within their networks. The dialogue will commence on the first day of activism and continue for 16 days with every other day providing a new engaging question.

The theme of the 16 Days of Activism is pertinent to the work of Isis-WICCE. We have seen how conflict and post-conflict situations create atmospheres and situations where militarism increases violence against women, especially taking into consideration the role the military plays as either perpetrators of violence or as their mandated role in protecting them. Thus, it is important to open up a discussion on the structures of violence that do exist and navigate a way forward.

This is a call for all parties who are interested to visit the Isis-WICCE Blog beginning on 25 November 2010 to participate in the dialogue.