rights

United States-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Nigeria to prosecute those behind what it calls a massacre of at least 200 Christian villagers and end a cycle of impunity which has allowed instability to persist.

HRW’s West Africa senior researcher, Corinne Dufka, points out that, "This kind of terrible violence has left thousands dead in Plateau state in the past decade, but no one has been held accountable. It's time to draw a line in the sand."

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says that just over half of about four million people who fled the civil war in South Sudan have returned there after the 2005 peace agreement.

IOM spokesperson, Jean Philippe Chauzy, states that the pace of return slowed significantly after more than 1.47 million went home during the first two years, with just 160 000 going back in 2009.

The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI) has expressed deep disappointment with Minister of Arts and Culture, Lulu Xingwana’s attitude to freedom of expression.

In a press statement, the FXI argues that, “Her statement that the art exhibition of young female artist and lesbian activist, Zanele Muholi, of naked, black women embracing each other, is ‘immoral, offensive and against nation building’, is highly regrettable and is indicative of a blatant disregard and disrespect for the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.”

The Human Rights Watch (HRW), WITNESS and the Endorois lawyers have described a ruling by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights condemning the expulsion of the Endorois people from their land in Kenya as a major victory for indigenous peoples across Africa.

The Commission ruled that the Endorois' eviction from their traditional land for tourism development violated their human rights.

The controversy surrounding the voters’ register and a pending court case in which opposition parties dispute the outcome of the November 2009 presidential and national assembly election results in Namibia, is bad news for democracy in that country, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and for the African continent in general.

Impunity for past electoral violence is a major barrier to a free and fair election in Uganda in 2011, according to a summary of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) report.

The report points out that the perpetrators from all sides of the political spectrum have very rarely faced justice for crimes committed in past elections.

It further states that those responsible for earlier offences, as well as those contemplating crimes, will feel unconstrained in future elections barring new measures and increased enforcement.

The fears come after Atteridgeville residents attacked two Somali spaza shops on Monday night.

The attacks occurred after security workers, contracted by the Tshwane Metro Council, tore down 550 shacks at Itireleng settlement, next to Laudium, on Monday.

The shacks were demolished after the landowners, Pretoria Portland Cement, obtained a court order in December to have the land invaders evicted.

The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) today welcomed the victory of journalist Pennie Quinton and member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), an EFJ affiliate, following the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights which upheld her complaint against the use of terror laws to stop and search people without grounds for suspicion.

The European Court of Human Rights today ruled that powers under the Terrorism Act 2000 to stop and search people without grounds for suspicion violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.