On the 23rd July 2010 in an auspicious gala dinner in Johannesburg Salman Khan, founder and chairman of SAKAG (South African Kashmiri Action Group) was awarded in recognition of is work for the Kashmir cause in South Africa by the Human Rights Foundation of South Africa. Salman Khan founded SAKAG in South Africa in 1999 and have relentlessly worked on the raising of issue of Kashmir on all level in South Africa for last 11 years, he has since delivered hundreds of speeches, over 200 radio interviews, 50 TV interviews, several presentations in universities and schools, and had written many articles on Kashmir human rights issues in national news papers.

The Second World Conference of Humanitarian Studies (WCHS), organized by the International Humanitarian Studies Associational (IHSA) and hosted by Tufts University, Medford, USA (in collaboration with Harvard University, Columbia University and the Social Science Research Council) will take place 2 - 5 June 2011. The conference marks a major step in ratcheting up the quality of our understanding of the dynamics of societies in crisis, the resultant greater use of evidence based humanitarian programming and an increased professional approach to humanitarian work. As with other professional fields, having a forum where cutting edge research can be presented and critiqued is a vital tool in moving the profession forward.

The Refugee Law Project seeks a Gender Researcher to lead in Gender Research component of the Beyond Juba Project. S/he should be able to demonstrate field research experience as well as group facilitation skills, and be conversant with concepts of gender, masculinities, sexual & gender based violence. A Masters degree in a related field is desirable.

Information for Change 2010: a free workshop in Nairobi linked to the Nairobi Book Fair

Title: Digital Publishing in Africa: The Next Steps

Date: 21 September 2010: 09.00 - 16.30

Location: Jacaranda Conference Centre, Jacaranda Hotel, Westlands, Nairobi

In July 2009 the first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa went live, opening up new opportunities for digital publishing in the region.

Information for Change 2010 will examine emerging digital publishing models in East Africa. Speakers will present first-hand experience of the realities of working in the region, and will showcase and share innovative approaches to the creation and delivery of information. The programme will include a keynote address, a speaker-led panel session, two World Café sharing sessions, case studies presentations, a venue for participants to display materials, and a moderated interactive session that will involve all participants.

A buffet lunch is included in the programme.

To register, go to click on Registration on the left hand navigation, and complete the form.

AMwA will be holding a Sierra Leone National African Women’s Leadership Institute (AWLI) on the theme, “Reclaiming Our bodies: Women’s Leadership and Movement Building on Gender Based Violence and Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Conflict and Post Conflict Africa”, that is scheduled to take place from 3rd – 16th October, 2010 in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

We are organisations that campaign for social justice. The success of our work is dependent on respect for the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. The right to free expression and freedom of the press and other media are essential components of democracy. That is why they are contained in the Bill of Rights. They are one of the essential means by which all people in South Africa, especially the vulnerable, exploited and poor, can hold government and the powerful private business sector to account.

Foreign land barons are using millions of shillings to hire elite law firms for advice on how to protect their property should Kenyans pass the proposed Constitution — that bars them from owning land — in Wednesday’s vote. Commercial lawyers said the number of clients seeking land ownership advice under a new constitution has risen steadily in the past three months to peak at the end of July as the referendum drew closer.

The Non-Governmental Organisation Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued Nigeria's federal government for allegedly maltreating pensioners in the country. In the suit, filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP said 'owing to the government’s failure to faithfully implement the Pensions Reform Act, several pensioners continue to have their internationally recognized human rights to life, to an adequate standard of living, to equality and non-discrimination, and to humane treatment violated, with impunity.”

Sifwe-speaking villagers in Namibia’s Caprivi Region live in fear of renewed persecution by members of the Namibian Police (NamPol) assigned to the marathon Caprivi High Treason Trial (CHTT) saga. Most of the said NamPol officers have been accused of systematically committing acts of torture and or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment (TCIDT) or punishment against the alleged Caprivi secessionist rebels.

The leader of a major rebel group in Sudan’s Western region of Darfur warned the embattled African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) that it will bear the consequences if they allow Sudanese authorities to enter the IDP camps in the wake of deadly clashes that took place this week.

Fifty years ago, the former Belgian Congo received its independence under the democratically elected government of former prime minister Patrice Lumumba. Less than seven months later, Lumumba and two colleagues were, in the contemporary idiom, "rendered" to their Belgian-backed secessionist enemies, who tortured them before putting them before a firing squad. The Congo would not hold another democratic election for 46 years. In 2002, following an extensive parliamentary inquiry, the Belgian government assumed a portion of responsibility for Lumumba's murder.

The Refugee Law Project (RLP), Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with the African Transitional Justice Research Network (ATJRN) has established an Institute for African Transitional Justice (IATJ). The institute is pleased to announce its first short course on African Transitional Justice. The course will take place in Kampala, Uganda from 21 – 27 November 2010. This week-long residential course will consist of a series of interactive lectures, workshops, and round table discussions focusing the theme “Addressing Transitional Justice in the Context of African Challenges”.

The Refugee Law Project seeks a Child Rights Lawyer to coordinate the Child Rights and Protection Programme. S/he should be an advocate of the High court of Uganda and must be conversant with the international, regional and national mechanism for the protection of children. Masters Degree in Human Rights is desirable.

Information for Change 2010: a free workshop in Nairobi linked to the Nairobi Book Fair

Title: Digital Publishing in Africa: The Next Steps

Date: 21 September 2010: 09.00 - 16.30

Location: Jacaranda Conference Centre, Jacaranda Hotel, Westlands, Nairobi

In July 2009 the first undersea cable to bring high-speed internet access to East Africa went live, opening up new opportunities for digital publishing in the region.

Information for Change 2010 will examine emerging digital publishing models in East Africa. Speakers will present first-hand experience of the realities of working in the region, and will showcase and share innovative approaches to the creation and delivery of information. The programme will include a keynote address, a speaker-led panel session, two World Café sharing sessions, case studies presentations, a venue for participants to display materials, and a moderated interactive session that will involve all participants.

A buffet lunch is included in the programme.

To register, go to click on Registration on the left hand navigation, and complete the form.

Wellcome Trust is accepting applications for the International Engagement Awards for global health research. A wide range of people including media professionals, educators, science communicators, health professionals and researchers in bioscience, health, bioethics and history can apply for these awards, which offer grants of up to £30,000 for a period of maximum three years.

Sokwanele is launching an online Constitution survey that aims to gather views from Zimbabweans everywhere, including the millions of Zimbabweans who live in the Diaspora and who have been largely excluded from the constitution-making process. he constitution survey features a mix of questions. Some questions directly address content usually included in a constitution, while others seek to survey opinions on issues of concern to Zimbabweans. These issues, and Zimbabwean opinions on them, should guide those who are tasked to draft the new document and our views should be honoured in the detail making up a new constitution.

Kenyans have overwhelmingly voted in a new constitution, which would redefine the political landscape and make it easy to send a sitting President to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial for crimes, including genocide, as part of the East African nation's range of law reforms. Kenya's draft constitution easily sailed through during the 4 August vote, with the provisional poll results Thursday showing at least 67.9 percent of the voters had given it their approval, against 33 percent of the voters who opposed the draft law.

We are now in August, that special month set aside to celebrate the achievements of women in South Africa. But I'm not so sure we should be pouring champagne just yet. It is also during this month that we commemorate the day on which 20,000 women marched on the Pretoria Union Buildings 54 years ago to protest the extension of passes restricting freedom of movement during the apartheid government.

Gender is far more dynamic and variable than most understand, writes Ken Rhode, while Lindsay highlights that some transgender women/men may actually identify as men or women rather than as transgender.

AfricaAdapt is launching its second Knowledge Sharing Innovation Fund. The Fund offers support to African researchers, local and civil society organisations, cooperatives and community networks that create new ways of sharing knowledge between African communities. These poor and vulnerable communities rarely get the opportunity to share their valuable experience and learn from others in formal exchanges of knowledge on climate change adaptation.