Foreign land investment is on the rise in Sierra Leone and, as with many of its neighbours, the government wants more companies to come in to boost the economy and spur much-needed agricultural development in rural areas. Sierra Leone ranked 180 out of 187 countries on the UN human development index in 2011. But as more and more companies flock to the country to lease large tracts of land, murmurs of protest and unrest are cropping up among local populations who are unhappy with the way the deals are done; and civil society groups are growing increasingly concerned that foreign land deals are not producing the win-win scenarios they had hoped for.

This page on the Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising website explores the two-way linkages between informality and growth: the impact of the informal economy on economic growth, and the impact of economic growth on the informal economy. How much and in what ways does the informal economy contribute to economic growth? Or does the informal economy account for low productivity and low growth? Does the size of the informal economy shrink during economic growth and expand during economic slumps or downturns? Is it, in other words, counter-cyclical or pro-cyclical?

Illegal logging generates $10-15bn (£7.5-11bn) around the world, according to new analysis from the World Bank. Its report, 'Justice for Forests', says that most illegal logging operations are run by organised crime, and much of the profit goes to corrupt officials. Countries affected include Indonesia, Madagascar and several in West Africa.

The Oakland Institute, which has been producing some critical reports on land grabs in Africa, reports how the Ministry of Agriculture in Ethiopia has suspended land allocations to take time for assessment.

REDRESS helps torture survivors to obtain justice and reparation.

A new issue of Race & Class features an article on 'Malcolm X at the Oxford Union' in 1964. Saladin M. Ambar, who examines Malcolm's speech and the context in which it was given, reveals a key change in Malcolm's thinking on nationalism in response to the call for decolonisation in Africa and the extension of human rights to other marginalised groups throughout the world.

Citing insiders, this article in The East African says there is a renewed sense of urgency within Amisom to complete the military operations by end of July, as the election fever in Kenya starts to gather pace. Kenya’s elections are closely watched in the region both for their potential to disrupt landlocked neighbours, and now for regional security, given the country’s current centrepiece role in Somalia.

A parliamentary team scrutinising a dossier claiming that President Kibaki is being investigated by the International Criminal Court will start hearings on Monday. The dossier claimed that Britain was working to have two ICC suspects, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto, jailed to pave the way for Prime Minister Raila Odinga to ascend to the presidency.

A group of independent UN experts has urged member states to include universally-agreed international human rights norms and standards, as well as accountability mechanisms, in the goals that will emerge from a UN sustainable development forum in June. 'Global goals are easily set, but seldom met,' said the 22 human rights experts in an open letter to governments, as the first round of informal negotiations ahead of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) holding in New York, US.

Kenyan authorities should hold responsible police officers who assaulted three reporters last week and drop a baseless legal case against one of them, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. At least 10 police officers in plainclothes surrounded Suleiman Mbatiah, a reporter for the Daily Nation, after he took photographs of an undercover traffic operation in the western town of Nakuru on 13 March, according to news reports.

The World Water Forum held in Marseille, France was an opportunity for multinational water companies to make money out of nature.

A Zimbabwean magistrates’ court has given six activists accused of plotting to oust President Robert Mugabe a two year suspended sentence and fined them $500 each. The six who include a university lecturer and former Member of Parliament Munyaradzi Gwisai were on Monday found guilty of a conspiracy to incite violence by a Harare magistrate.

The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is examining the Same Gender Marriage Prohibition Bill. The draft law foresees three years of prison for those entering a marriage with someone of the same sex, or already in one. The Bill does not exclude tourists or expatriates in Nigeria. Those ‘witnessing, abetting and aiding the solemnization of same gender marriage’ face fines of up to 50,000 Nigerian naira (approximately EUR 230), and imprisonment for up to five years.

Khartoum could dishonour an agreement if Juba did not withdraw alleged support for rebel groups operating in Sudan, officials said. The demand came a day after Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP), argued that agreeing on security was a deal breaker for the agreement. The 'Four Freedoms' agreement signed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, guarantees citizens of the two countries the right to own property, live, work and move between the two nations.

This UNECA background paper reviews the potential impact of the European debt crisis on Africa and offers policy advice on the actions that African leaders need to take to mitigate those negative effects. To that end, it overviews the characteristics of the euro area debt crisis, before discussing the risks it poses to Africa and the possible channels through which its effects may be transmitted.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on Gabonese authorities to drop legal proceedings against six journalists in connection with articles raising questions about use of a presidential plane. According to a CPJ statement, two of the journalists have fled the country fearing arrest after being summoned by police for interrogation.

Political instability, civil strife and humanitarian crises in Africa have over the past decades reversed countless maternal health development gains on the continent, health experts warn. 'African countries with good maternal health statistics are generally those that have long-term political stability. This shows that stability is a fundamental basis for development. If it doesn’t exist, other priorities overtake,' Lucien Kouakou, regional director of the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) in Africa, told IPS.

Efforts are being made to remove the human right to water and sanitation from the Rio+20 negotiating text.

After a fact-finding and advocacy mission on freedom of association and the situation of civil society organisations conducted in Egypt from 11-14 February 2012, the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders - a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) - have published the findings of the mission, and noted that one year after the Revolution, the conditions for the enjoyment of freedoms of association and peaceful assembly in Egypt have significantly deteriorated. 'Our organisations are particularly concerned about the direct attacks by the government against Egyptian and international human rights NGOs.'

The turmoil in northern Mali is thwarting efforts to treat and prevent obstetric fistula, say health experts and local NGO workers. It is just one example of the fallout from the latest fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian army, triggered when rebels began attacking northern military posts in January. Since then, some 195,000 people are estimated to have been displaced by fighting, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.