The seizure of large commercial farms - almost all white-owned - has continued despite the formation of a unity government in Zimbabwe. The country's farm workers say they are the biggest losers. The workers say that Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders must intervene immediately to stop the violence against them.

Gender based violence, sexual orientation, gender equality and sexuality of people living with HIV/AIDS will be issues discussed at the upcoming Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, 8-12 February in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This fourth conference is expected to open up discourse about sexuality in Africa and to source possible insights of reducing the spread of HIV and Aids in Africa.

Big dams have frequently imposed high social and environmental costs and long-term economic tradeoffs, such as lost fisheries and tourism potential and flooded agricultural and forest land. According to the independent World Commission on Dams, most projects have failed to compensate affected people for their losses and to adequately mitigate environmental impacts.

The international human rights body has called on Moroccan authorities to cease a ban on foreign travel against selected Sahrawi activist, saying it hampers the freedom of movement. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said since August 2009, the government has revived an arbitrary and repressive measure, which it had used frequently more than a decade ago to bar Sahrawis’ from traveling abroad.

The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out the concrete human rights reforms set out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement, Human Rights Watch has said. The EU is currently reviewing its sanctions policy toward Zimbabwe.

An epic collaboration involving one of the world's most popular social networking media, Twitter, and Malaria No More, an international body fighting against Malaria, is poised to save over 80, 000 lives from the deadly effect of malaria.

The West is ignoring a jailed Ethiopian opposition leader to keep the Horn of Africa stable despite her being this week named on a United Nations list of arbitrary detainees, her party said on Friday. Birtukan Mideksa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ), was first jailed with other opposition leaders when the 2005 election turned violent. She was pardoned in 2007 but re-arrested last year accused of violating that pardon.

South Africa faces potentially huge cuts in donor support for its HIV/AIDS programme over the next five years, yet it needs an extra R2-billion a year to reach all those who need antiretroviral treatment. “US government funding is going to come down dramatically over the next five years,” warned Dr Roxana Rogers, USAID South Africa Health Team leader last week.

On Friday the 29th of January, over 260 women, men, children and elderly will be represented in court for our appeal trial against forceful relocation from Zille Raine Heights informal settlement in Grassy Park to Happy Valley, 35 kms away from Cape Town.

An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of male circumcision for HIV prevention in Rwanda has concluded that circumcising newborn babies would be cheaper and prevent more infections than providing the operation to adolescents or adults.

The WTO Secretariat has launched a new programme of support for teaching, research and outreach activities at 14 universities in the developing world. The WTO Chairs Programme (WCP) will assist national academic institutions in providing students with a deeper understanding of trade policy issues. Through analytical input into the formulation and implementation of trade policy, the WCP will help strengthen the participation of the beneficiary countries in international trade.

An article in The Lancet medical journal, co-authored by a UNHCR expert, says health care for people in conflict settings needs to be updated. It calls for changes in four key areas: delivery of health services; treatment of chronic diseases; development of health services in urban areas; and surveillance, measurement and monitoring.

At least 1,570 individuals were removed from the EU's territory in 31 flights coordinated by the bloc's external borders agency Frontex between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15 last year. This represented a tripling in joint expulsions - involving authorities from two or more EU states - since 2007. Some 428 migrants were flown out in such operations that year, with the figure rising to over 800 in 2008.

Gay rights groups are pleased with the third National Aids Stategic Plan by the National Aids Control Council (NACC), which caters for men who have sex with men (MSM) as most at risk populations, launched by Prime Minister Raila Odinga on 12 January 2010.

Agricultural researchers should spend more time improving local seeds and less time developing hybrids from "outside", farmers in West Africa have said. And research should broaden from narrow concerns such as improving a single crop to wider studies that take into account the environment in which farmers operate, they said.

Governments, aid agencies and donors must join forces now to ensure that severe food insecurity in the Sahel does not lead to famine, says the European Commission humanitarian aid department (ECHO).

We the citizens of Kenya wish to issue this statement in support of the decision by the United States Government to withhold funds that had been earmarked towards Kenya’s Free Primary Education programme. As aggrieved citizens we agree and demand that those responsible for the misappropriation of free education funds not only be dismissed from office but be held accountable to the full extent of the law.

From the opinion pages of the world's most influential newspapers to the hallways of high schools in Oregon and beyond, globally people are taking a fresh look at an old problem - the persistent and pervasive discrimination faced by the world's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population.

In only two weeks, four Afro-Colombian leaders have been murdered, and several subjected to death threats. Fumigations have caused the internal displacement of more than 100 Afro-Colombians. The violation of Afro-Colombian fundamental rights continues to escalate. Effective and structural measurements must be taken by Colombian government in order to guarantee the safety and integrity of Afro-Colombians, and promote the respect and observance of their rights.

OLPCorps is OLPC’s official field volunteer program. It is a worldwide community dedicated to transforming education for children who have had little or no access to modern information technology. OLPCorps gives young people the opportunity to contribute their minds, bodies, time and skills to delivering better education for children living in some of the world’s most disadvantaged communities.