The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by The Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), a member organisation of the SOS-Torture Network, about the allegations of torture and ill-treatment, and arbitrary detention suffered by Mr. Mahmoud Ragab Ibrahim, a 21-years old craftsman from Alexandria, by prison guards of the al-Hadra Prision, in Alexandria. According to the information received, on 1 February 2011, Mr. Ibrahim was passing through the area of Sidi Beshr, in the city of Alexandria, when he was approached by members of the community watches. They considered him suspicious and he was subsequently handed over to the Command Center of the Northern Area of the Armed Forces (CCNAAF), despite having presented his national identification card to the community watches members.

Some of the articles included in this edition are:
- Towards a better understanding of global land grabbing: an editorial introduction
- Challenges posed by the new wave of farmland investment
- How not to think of land-grabbing: three critiques of large-scale investments in farmland

Long known as a 'boy's club', the worldwide media industry continues to struggle with gender equality, with new research showing women are still under-represented in the majority of newsrooms across the globe. The study, conducted over a two-year period for the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF), covered 170,000 people in the news media and involved interviews with 500 companies in 59 countries. On average women are underrepresented in all media positions, in sectors ranging from news media ownership, publishing, governance, reporting, editing, photojournalism, and broadcast production.

The UN refugee agency said on Friday (25 March) that up to one million people may have been displaced by the fighting in Cote d'Ivoire as more people fled their homes in Abidjan amid fears of all out war. 'There is escalating insecurity in Ivory Coast's Abidjan, we're seeing a sharp rise in displacement,' said Melissa Fleming spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The Commission for Gender Equality says the Employment Equity Act needs to be reviewed. The call came after it emerged that black women had not significantly progressed in occupying positions of executive management in the corporate sector. The latest Women in Leadership Census 2011, which the Businesswomen’s Association (BWA) presented on Thursday (24 March), showed the percentage of female executive managers had increased, but the number of black women appointed had decreased. The census focuses on JSE-listed companies, state-owned enterprises and government departments.

'Women farmers have a wealth of knowledge about agriculture and biodiversity and significant contributions to make to debates about food security, food sovereignty and the right to food,' says this paper from Isis International entitled 'Women - Right to Food, Food Security, Food Sovereignty'. 'More than ever, organising women farmers has become an important strategy towards a clearer understanding of the issues, enhanced knowledge and capacities, and stronger solidarity. Many of these tasks begin with making men understand women by providing gender-sensitivity among husbands, leaders of farmers’ organisations, and other members of the communities.'

The main challengers in Benin's disputed presidential vote have filed appeals over results showing incumbent Boni Yayi won with 53 per cent, the constitutional court said Saturday (26 March). Tension has risen in the small west African country since the vote, with police firing tear gas to disperse opposition protesters in the economic capital Cotonou on Thursday (24 March).

The Nigerian woman with a famous last name is now 64 and could be home with her grandchildren, but she is here instead, at a dilapidated police barracks urging officers' wives to take a stand. 'This is time to say enough is enough,' said Yemisi Ransome-Kuti, a cousin of the late Fela Kuti, the iconic Nigerian musician, and a longtime activist for democracy and women's rights. Ransome-Kuti has now decided to take her struggle to the campaign trail by running for senate under an opposition party banner in the economic capital Lagos.

Amnesty International has called on the Egyptian authorities to investigate serious allegations of torture, including forced ‘virginity tests’, inflicted by the army on women protesters arrested in Tahrir Square earlier this month. After army officers violently cleared the square of protesters on 9 March, at least 18 women were held in military detention. Amnesty International has been told by women protesters that they were beaten, given electric shocks, subjected to strip searches while being photographed by male soldiers, then forced to submit to ‘virginity checks’ and threatened with prostitution charges.

Ethiopia has little time for critics of its large-scale land-leasing policy, insisting the millions of dollars of foreign investment will create jobs, improve domestic agricultural expertise and reduce both poverty and the country’s chronic food insecurity. The policy, part of a five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, has led to the cheap leasing of thousands of square kilometres. Detractors complain of forcible relocation of local pastoralist populations, poorly paid work on the new farms, environmental degradation and a failure to deliver on promises of better infrastructure.

Hundreds of women from several West African nations converged at the ECOWAS Commission headquarters in Abuja, Nigeria, Wednesday, to demand immediate action from West African leaders holding their summit here 23-24 March. Wearing white T-shirts with the inscription 'West African women demand peace in Cote d'Ivoire', they chanted slogans backing their demand and carried placards seeking urgent action in the West African nation that is now in the throes of post-election crisis that is threatening to push the country into war.

Parliament this week, has been labelled inhumane, ill-conceived and draconian by lawyers and human rights activists, who say that asylum-seekers and refugees will be hard hit by it. 'The Bill favours the rich at the expense of the vulnerable,' said Fatima Khan, the director of the University of Cape Town's refugee rights project. Khan said the Bill allowed for asylum-seekers to be pre-screened at South Africa's border, in spite of the fact that immigration officials were not qualified to do this.

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), a leading non-profit that uses international law to defend the right to a healthy planet, has announced the release of a new report, 'Fossilized Thinking: The World Bank, Eskom, and the Real Cost of Coal'. The report examines the economics underlying the Bank’s $3 billion loan to support a massive new coal-fired plant in South Africa. Specifically, the report evaluates whether the Bank adequately considered the impacts the 4,800 MW Eskom Project will have on human health and the environment and the likely economic costs of these impacts. The Bank’s operational policies require that these ‘externalities’ be taken into account to determine whether a project’s long-term economic benefits outweigh its costs. CIEL’s analysis reveals that, at least in this case, the Bank failed to adequately address and quantify important negative environmental effects, such as water scarcity and quality, air quality, and transboundary impacts.

In Ghana, a local bamboo bike industry is emerging to deliver a sustainable and affordable form of transportation that satisfies local needs and suitable for export. Compared to the production of traditional metal bicycles, bamboo bikes require less electricity and no hazardous chemicals.

Swaziland's government, feeling the pinch of a growing financial crisis, has suspended this quarter’s pensions for the elderly and redirected the money to pay the school fees of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). '[Government] will utilise the funds allocated for the elderly grants, since they have R46 million (US$6.5 million) in that account currently, with a view that it shall be reimbursed timeously,' said a finance ministry report to parliament explaining how the R38 million ($5.4 million) bill for OVC school fees would be met.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that because of their weakened immune system, people living with HIV are less able to fight infection and are more likely to develop active TB. In the streets of Bulawayo, this well-known connection is slowing the fight against both diseases. The two diseases are like evil twins. Co-infection rapidly increases the mortality rate and untreated sufferers of both HIV and TB are the most infectious, posing the greatest risk to those around them.

The successful candidate will have a strong track record of proven leadership ability and be capable of juggling many priority projects working independently. This individual should possess the capacity to assess, analyse and design strategic organisational structures, programs and processes and handle the organisation’s day-to-day operations.

Police in Algeria's capital have used teargas to disperse a crowd of young men who threw stones and petrol bombs to try to stop bulldozers demolishing dozens of illegally built homes. Wednesday's (23 March) riot was unusually violent and took place at a time when Algerian authorities are wary of any sign of contagion from the unrest elsewhere in the Arab world. A police spokesman said 50 officers were injured in the clashes. Reporters on the spot said the demonstrators replied with iron bars and stones.

The American Embassy believed in March 2007 that President Kibaki's government planned to arrest opposition leader Raila Odinga over the controversial Artur Brothers, according to Wikileaks. 'Post (the embassy) has various pieces of evidence suggesting that the men are associated with either State House or one of the 'first families' and Kamlesh Pattni, the man behind the Goldenberg scandal,' said the cable from ambassador Michael Ranneberger dated 14 March 2007.

Amnesty International has urged the Nigerian authorities to act to stem a rising tide of political, ethnic and religious violence that risks threatening the stability of April elections. In a short report entitled 'Loss of life, insecurity and impunity in the run up to Nigeria’s elections' highlights how hundreds of people have been killed in politically-motivated, communal and sectarian violence across Nigeria ahead of presidential and parliamentary polls.