(Photo: African Descent Summit)

Sources: Cumbre Mundial de los y las Afrodescendientes, El Telégrafo de Ecuador, AIM Digital, REL-UITA.

Eight hundred representatives from organizations in 44 countries in America, Africa, Europe and Asia attended the first World Summit for People of African Descent, which was held in La Ceiba, Honduras. They called for the creation of a permanent forum for the affairs of people of African descent in the sphere the international community.

The conference, which came to an end last Sunday, also resolved to set up "the International Coordination Committee of the World Summit for People of African Descent as a body to coordinate, monitor, mobilize, make proposals, organize and follow up on agreements and action, and to exert political influence” in the name of civil society organizations in these communities throughout the world.

Jatropha plantation in Mali.
(Photo: Eco-Carbone)

Source: Third World Network

As foreign capitals and hedge funds continue to make more forays into Africa's land resources, a study has unearthed some surprising findings about the identity of some of the principal investors, according to research by the US-based think-tank Oakland Institute.

Swathes of land in Africa are being snapped up by investors and hedge funds, often at the expense of local inhabitants, with promises of benefits that may not materialise, wrote journalist Chee Yoke Heong, researcher with the Third World Network, in an article about the report published by Third World Resurgence.

Palestinians stranded at the Rafah
border crossing to Egypt.
(Photo: Asmaa Waguih/IRIN)

Sources: Arabic Network for Human Rights InformationUN News Centre.

Eleven Egyptian human rights organizations condemned this week the Israeli attacks against the civil population of Gaza and against Egyptian military personnel in the last days, and demanded that the U.N. Security Council conduct "a fair investigation" with the aim to "bring those responsible to trial". One of the signatory groups is the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, focal point of Social Watch.

Demonstration in Misiones.
(Photo: Aborto Legal Argentina)

Sources:CELS, Misiones Online

In Argentina, in the province of Misiones, 10 civil society organizations have accused the health system and the courts of failing to enforce the right to an abortion of a 14 year old girl who was raped. The child’s parents tried to obtain an abortion from the medical services and from the law courts, but they were met with delays and the case dragged on past the thirteenth week of pregnancy, and they have now withdrawn the petition they submitted to the courts.

Source: SlateAfrique, IDRC

In the 10 years since the digital revolution got under way there have been more than 25 initiatives to fight female genital mutilation (FGM). The international campaign against this cruel practice, which is traditional in many parts of Africa, began 25 years ago but the spread of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the continent has made it possible to raise real awareness about this problem among the general population. According to a study by Environnement et Développement du Tiers Monde (ENDA Tiers-Monde), member of the Senegalese group of Social Watch, this campaign originated among young people, who use these technologies the most.

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