June 02, 2023
West Africa: Of the Sahel and the Merchants of Death
There is a tangled trafficking web that has been woven across the Sahel, which spans almost 6.000 kilometres from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, and is home to more than 300… Read more »
April 14, 2023
Africa: International Human Rights Law As a Tool to Stop Rising Homophobia in Africa
Imagine your government enacted a law where you and all people of your race or economic status were imprisoned for extended periods, with some facing the death penalty, simply for… Read more »
April 13, 2023
Africa: Should Internet Access Be Declared a Basic Human Right?
The United Nations defines human rights as "rights inherent to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status". Read more »
March 31, 2023
Africa: The Need for a Strong Legal Treaty On Business And Human Rights
The ongoing discussions on an internationally treaty, described as a "legally binding instrument" on business and human rights, remains one of the most neglected issues that should… Read more »
March 28, 2023
Zimbabwe: Press Freedom On Trial in Zimbabwe Ahead of Elections
With only a few months to go before national elections in Zimbabwe, press freedom advocates are raising concerns about stringent reporting conditions set by the government. Read more »
March 20, 2023
Africa: War Criminals & Military Aggressors Who Occupy Seats in the Security Council
Come April 1, a post-Ukraine Russia, will preside over the UN Security Council in a month-long presidency on the basis of alphabetical rotation. Read more »
March 13, 2023
Africa: 'Outright Hatred' Towards Muslims, Risen to 'Epidemic Proportions'
Islamophobia is a 'fear, prejudice and hatred of Muslims that leads to provocation, hostility and intolerance by means of threatening, harassment, abuse, incitement and… Read more »
Africa: Parliamentarians Pledge to Act On Grim Realities of Child Marriage, Gender-Based Violence
Child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV), sexuality education, religion, and tradition came under the spotlight during a conference, Arab and Asian Parliamentarians' Meeting to… Read more »
March 06, 2023
Nigeria: Nigeria's Unbanked, Poor Get Reprieve After Court Rules Naira Deadline Unconstitutional
Nigerians confronted by hardships over the scarcity of the newly redesigned naira notes in conjunction with the country's cashless policy introduced by the apex bank have had a… Read more »
February 10, 2023
Eswatini: eSwatini - Democracy a Matter of Life and Death
Thulani Maseko knew speaking out in Eswatini was a risky business. An activist and well-known human rights lawyer, he'd previously spent 14 months in jail for criticising the… Read more »
January 23, 2023
South Africa: We Want to Be Legal - We're Not 'Zama Zama' Criminals, Say Artisanal Miners
Mining towns across South Africa have become hostage to a booming but bloody illegal mining economy. Read more »
December 12, 2022
Africa: European Court of Justice Ruling is Major Blow to Fight Against Illegal Fishing
The author is Executive Director, Financial Transparency Coalition Read more »
November 30, 2022
East Africa: Legal Recognition of East African Sign Languages Key Towards Inclusion
Since the onset of the Covid19 pandemic, at least two deaf people were shot and killed in Uganda by state law enforcement officers. Their 'crime' was being deaf and uneducated.… Read more »
November 02, 2022
Africa: Half of World's Illegal Vessels Operate in African Waters - Report
As a new report lays bare the massive financial costs to developing states of illegal fishing, campaigners are hoping that drawing attention to the practice's devastating economic… Read more »
October 21, 2022
Rwanda: Tracking Social Media to Uncover Ivory Trafficking in Rwanda
Every morning, Valerie Mukamazimpaka, a businesswoman selling various food products from Rubavu, a district in Northwestern Rwanda, wakes up early morning to cross "Petite… Read more »
September 22, 2022
Kenya: The New Cold War Over Access to Safe Abortion in Kenya
Fatuma is a 24 year old girl from Korogocho, an informal settlement in Nairobi. She died in December 2021, from complications arising from an unsafe abortion. Her friend and a few… Read more »
September 07, 2022
Zimbabwe: Sand Poachers Fueling Environmental Harm
In Chitungwiza, right next to the highway, 36-year-old Nesbit Gavanga and his five colleagues use shovels as they load trucks with sand. Read more »
August 29, 2022
South Sudan: Will Diplomat Accused of Rape Be Prosecuted At Home?
When UN diplomats are charged with civil or criminal offenses - from traffic violations to sexual abuse -- they avoid prosecution and civil law suits under cover of diplomatic… Read more »
August 10, 2022
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Makes First Journalist Arrests Under Cybersecurity Law
Zimbabwe's press freedom credentials suffered further criticism with the arrest of two journalists from a privately-owned newspaper charged with transmitting "false data messages." Read more »
August 03, 2022
Africa: The Politics of the Hangman's Noose - Judge, Jury & Executioner
A spike in state-sanctioned executions worldwide - including in Iran, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and more recently Myanmar - has triggered strong condemnations from the United… Read more »
August 01, 2022
Malawi: Climate Change Is Putting Women & Girls At Greater Risk of Sexual Violence #AfricaClimateCrisis
It is often those least responsible for causing climate change that suffer the most from the impacts. And such is the case with women and girls in Malawi - one of the world's… Read more »
August 05, 2014
Africa: Activists Urge Obama to Act On Extractive Industries Law
As the three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit got underway here Monday, anti-corruption activists urged President Barack Obama to prod a key U.S. agency to issue long-awaited… Read more »
November 28, 2009
Mauritania: Women Struggle for Equality, Says Rights Lawyer
Mauritania formally adopted the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2001, but in the eight years since, it has had limited effect on the status… Read more »
June 23, 2008
Chad: 'Africa's Pinochet' Still Eluding Justice
Two years after the African Union mandated Senegal to conduct the trial of Chadian dictator Hissenè Habré, who is accused of thousands of political murders during his… Read more »
August 10, 2007
Guinea Bissau: African Paradise for South American Traffickers
Guinea-Bissau has become the first African narco-state, where South American traffickers have set up their headquarters and hideouts for large-scale cocaine smuggling operations… Read more »