Freelancers now make up nearly 45 percent of all journalists jailed worldwide, a dramatic recent increase that reflects the evolution of the global news business, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In its annual census of imprisoned journalists, CPJ found a total of 136 reporters, editors, and photojournalists behind bars on December 1, an increase of 11 from the 2008 tally.

Raising Voices invites applications for organizations in the Horn, East and Southern Africa interested in participating in an extensive, 3-year technical assistance partnership to prevent violence against women and HIV in their communities using the SASA! Activist Kit. Deadline for applications December 21st, 2009.

Several participants attending a forum on migration in the Arab and African regions have deplored the conditions in which migrants who are either in transit or in residence are treated.

Following this year’s theme for Worlds Aids day which calls for Universal Access and Human Rights, Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) has demanded non discriminatory HIVand Aids approaches to health care for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) people in Uganda.

In the year since the start of the first trial at the international war crimes court involving an alleged Congolese warlord, rape on a mass scale has continued unabated in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The UN has warned that the recent kidnapping of two aid workers in the northeastern town of Birao in Central African Republic will have a highly damaging impact on humanitarian activities in the remote, impoverished Vakaga region.

A new report, "The World Bank - Civil Society Engagement: Review of Fiscal Years 2007 to 2009" was launched at a reception on October 4 at the Annual Meetings in Istanbul. Some 100 CSO representatives and Bank staff attended. Senior Vice President Marwan Muasher made a few remarks in which he stressed how the review vividly documents the myriad forms of engagement between the Bank Group and civil society across the institution and globally.

Homophobia, hate crimes, and the fear of violence, are part of the daily experience of gay men, lesbian and bi women and trans diverse communities in Southern Africa.

The Journal of Media And Communication Studies (Jmcs) is a multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal published that will be monthly by Academic Journals (www.academicjournals.org/JMCS, JMCS is dedicated to increasing the depth of the subject across disciplines with the ultimate aim of expanding knowledge of the subject.

Your support can make a difference at a crucial time in the campaign to save the life of Aminatou Haidar known as the ‘Saharawi Ghandi’. Aminatou is a prominent human rights activist and former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize nominee. She is known for her non-violent resistance to the illegal occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco.

The African Union (AU) Wednesday expressed deep concerns over the lack of progress on key talks aimed at ending the political deadlock in Madagascar, following a coup in the Indian Ocean island in March 2009.

GAMCOTRAP, an NGO that promotes women's social, political, economic and cultural rights and focuses on sexual and reproductive health rights has marked the symbolic abandonment of the Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) practice.

Representatives of several humanitarian NGOs have called on the international community to raise FCFA 160 billion (US$ 368 million) in a bid to help impoverished people in the 15 ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) member countries and Mauritania.

Guinea’s capital is on edge following a botched assassination attempt on the head of the ruling junta, with residents bracing for further violence between out-of-control army factions. Pickup trucks carrying heavily armed soldiers moved through the quiet streets of the normally bustling city searching for suspects in the attack, with shops open only part-time and most residents staying indoors.

Uganda's government should reform the country's election laws to improve accountability for election-related crimes and reduce the risk of violence in the upcoming 2011 elections, Human Rights Watch has said in a report.

The discovery of oil in Chad was supposed to allieviate poverty and human suffering, but it's only enriched Western Oil companies and the local dictators.

Three Rwandan peacekeepers from the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur (UNAMID) were killed and others wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen while collecting water in the north of the strife-torn Sudanese region.

Twelve students from Fort Hare University in South Africa have expressed fears about returning home to Zimbabwe, saying they will be sent to prison for supporting the MDC.

The growth of cellphone use, particularly in the developing world, is providing health experts with a new channel of communication to provide family planning information.

Twenty-two developing countries have agreed to cut tariffs on manufactured goods in a bid to boost South-South trade in the absence of progress in the Doha Round.