Participants wrapping up the two-day "Stakeholders in Migration" conference on migration in West Africa organised by non-profit Open Society Institute (OSI) said clandestine migration from sub-Saharan Africa to North Africa and Europe has prompted increased border crackdowns, abuses and killings of migrants.

FOUR Ugandan girls are stranded in Iraq after they were taken there by illegal agents. This comes only three months after the US issued a report indicating that Uganda is both a source and destination for human trafficking. In particular the report points out that some companies export labour to Iraq and then confiscate the recruits' passports to deny them freedom.

What is the current status of the Lubanga case?

Kenya Bureau of Standards has pledged to support consumers' rights protection organisations by providing free training.

Has the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights bitten more than it can swallow?

Last week, Libya became the first African country to receive apologies and compensation from a former colonial power.

The team looking into last year's presidential poll results indicated Thursday that its report will show widespread and systematic incompetence throughout Kenya's electoral system.

Mining companies have been accused of human rights abuse in communities of their operation, according to a report released by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ghana.

The return of peace to northern Uganda has prompted many formerly displaced people to return home, but resettling into the villages has proved tough for landmine survivors.

U.S. documentary filmmaker Andrew Berends was filming women going to the market in a public waterside area of Port Harcourt, Nigeria, when he was detained by the Nigerian military, according to e-mails sent by the journalist to his editor. In the e-mails, which have been reviewed by the Committee to Protect Journalists, Berends said a sergeant had given him permission to film in the area.

Seventeen survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda have been murdered mysteriously, since the beginning of the year, according to the main organization of Genocide Survivors (IBUKA), reports Hirondelle Agency

Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC faction has reportedly forwarded video clips of police arresting MDC MPs at the reconvening of Parliament last week to South African President Thabo Mbeki - the SADC appointed facilitator in Zimbabwe's power sharing talks.

JED welcomes the 28 August 2008 ruling by the Kinshasa/Gombe Peace Court acquitting Achille Kadima Mulamba, publication director of the Kinshasa-based weekly "Africa News", who has been facing legal action since 2 July for defamation of the governor of Equateur province, José Makila, a member of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) led by Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba.

Reporters Without Borders condemns a decision by the National Press and Publications Council (NPPC) on 1 September 2008 to suspend two privately-owned English-language national dailies based in the south of the country, "The Citizen" and "Sudan Tribune", for an indefinite period.

ANHRI reports from the Borg Al-Arab prison, in the Alexandrian desert, that Karim Amer, an author imprisoned for exercising his freedom of expression, has been subjected to significant ill-treatment.

On 29 August 2008, Zambia's former ambassador to Libya, Mbita Chitala, threatened journalists working for the state-owned "Zambia Daily Mail" newspaper with being fired if they did not publish his articles.

The Liberian Senate has moved to ban print journalists from having access to its main chambers. The move is said to be upon the recommendation of the Senate Committee on Rules, Order and Administration.

Three journalists working for "Zambeze" newspaper, an independent publication, charged for allegedly defaming the Prime Minister of Mozambique, Luísa Diogo, and of threatening state security, have been sentenced to 6 months in prison, converted to a monetary fine of 30 Mozambican Meticais (US$1.20). The ruling was made on 29 August 2008.

In the boardroom of UWONET in Ntinda Minister's Village, a small group of AIDS activists sits waiting to vent their frustration over the increasing stigmatisation of HIV-positive persons in Uganda.

The following is a special briefing on U.S.-Libya relations by C. David Welch, the United States Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, and Robert Wood, Deputy Spokesman for the U.S. State Department. It took place on September 2 in Washington, DC ahead of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Libya.

During her historic visit to Libya this week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should press the Libyan government and leader Mu`ammar al-Qadhafi to release political prisoners, abolish laws that imprison peaceful critics, and end the use of torture, Human Rights Watch said today.

A week ago African immigrants of Zimbabwean, Mozambican and Malawian origin were attacked by men with guns and iron bars in Alexanda South Africa, chanting xenophobic slogans such "kick the foreigners out".

A three-day sensitization workshop for legal practitioners and administrators on human rights procedures for women opened on Wednesday, 11 June, 2008, at Jerma Beach Hotel and Resort in Kololi.

From the beginning, on 25 August, the trial of Lieutenant-Colonel Ephrem Setako, accused of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Chamber has heard, sometimes while complaining, very long testimonies of people convicted or prosecuted for their involvement in the 1994 genocide.

The lawyers of three of the nine Rwandan officials targeted by arrest warrants issued in 2006 by French Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere criticized during a press conference Thursday morning in Brussels the "inadmissible" way in which French justice ensured the overview of this case.