A ruling by the African Commission on Human and People's Rights condemning the expulsion of the Endorois people from their land in Kenya is a major victory for indigenous peoples across Africa, Human Rights Watch, WITNESS, and the Endorois' lawyers said today. The Commission ruled on February 4, 2010 that the Endorois' eviction from their traditional land for tourism development violated their human rights.

When people buy diamond jewellery, they often want to convey love or commitment to someone dear and special. But, this jewellery, if it contains diamonds from the Marange diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe, could have a bloody past signifying mistreatment and abuse.

On February 3, 2010, the International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals chamber decided to reject the standard used to exclude genocide charges in the ICC's arrest warrant issued on March 4, 2009, for President Omar al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. The warrant raises a number of important issues.

The European Union should maintain its travel restrictions and asset freezes on President Robert Mugabe and his inner circle until Zimbabwe carries out the concrete human rights reforms set out in the 2008 Global Political Agreement.

Diamonds from the Marange fields of eastern Zimbabwe are mined under highly abusive conditions – the latest “blood diamonds” of the twenty-first century. To its credit, the Israeli government has tried to put pressure on Zimbabwe to improve these conditions. In the coming year, as chair of the global group that monitors the diamond industry, Israel will have the opportunity to do even more.

South Africa is rightfully proud of its Constitution. It is hailed as one of the most rights-respecting in the world. It was also the first in the world, and still one of very few, to explicitly prohibit unfair discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Violations of civil and political rights by Sudanese security forces throughout the country are seriously undermining prospects for free, fair, and credible elections in April 2010.

Nigeria's vice president should order an immediate criminal investigation into credible reports of a massacre of at least 150 Muslim residents of a town in central Nigeria.