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As the one-year anniversary marking the coup approaches, plans for a referendum on the new draft constitution is underway and an election is predicted for December. But the military junta governing the country continues to pass laws that contradict their promises for democratic change. (3-AUG-07)
  

The opening of the Copa América football competition on 26 June, one month after the forced closure of the audiovisual group Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), sparked protests as journalists took to the streets to demand the reinstatement of RCTV’s licence. (26-JULY-07) Photo: Gobierno Bolivariano de Venezuela

After traveling from camps in what they call their ´long march´ home, 15,000 ethnic Nepalese refugees –Lhotshampas — are stuck at the border of Nepal and India, waiting to return to their homes in Bhutan. Checkpoints have been sealed since 15 June and, following rising tension between the border police and refugees, three people are dead and 100 are injured. (11-JULY-07)
 

Freedom of expression advocates around the world celebrated the release of  Alan Johnston on the morning of 4 July. The BBC Gaza correspondent was held in captivity for 114 days by the Army of Islam group, raising new concerns about the safety of journalists in conflict zones. (4-JULY-07)
  

Carlos Reyes-Manzo and Bill Samuel’s photography exhibit, Children of the Clouds, at Foyles Bookshop in London is a showcase of the Saharawi refugees’ lives in the arid landscape of the Sahara desert, where they have lived in exile for more than 25 years.  The exhibit, which ends 23 June, showcases photos taken in January and February at four refugee camps in the Tindouf area of Algeria.  (15-JUNE-07)
 

As Egypt’s record on human rights continues to take a downturn, the country has put in a bid for a seat on the United Nation’s Human Rights Council. Egyptian and international rights organisations have joined together to oppose the bid, citing Egypt’s repeated refusal to allow the UN’s independent expert on torture visit the country. On 2 May, Al-Jazeera journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment following her reports on torture in the country. The sentence sent a chilling message to journalists and activists marking World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. (18-MAY-07)
 

ARTICLE 19, the global campaign for free expression, has voiced grave concern about the state of press freedom in Azerbaijan following recent arrests and attacks on journalists in the country. The latest cases include the arrest of Eynulla Fatullayev, pictured right, founder and senior editor of Realny Republic of Azerbaijan and Gundelik Republic of Azerbaijan, and the violent attack on Deputy Editor Uzeir Jafarov of Gundelik Azerbaijan. Fatullayev´s previous newspaper, the Monitor, was shut down following the killing of its editor-in-chief, Elmar Huseynov, in March 2005. (10-MAY-07) Photo from Az Free Speech
 

This year’s World Press Freedom Day was marked by journalists, non-governmental organisations, educators, campaigners and media professionals, who gathered at Portcullis House in London. UNESCO, who hosted the event, put forth the motion ´world media freedom is in retreat´. The OSCE´s Miklos Haraszti was among those who spoke for the motion; those debating against included political blogger Iain Dale. (04-MAY-07)
 

This year the UK commemorates the Act of Abolition that ended the transatlantic slave trade in British territories. The 2006 Anti Slavery Award honoured modern day abolitionist James Aguer, right, for his work in freeing slaves abducted in the war in the Republic of the Sudan, coming as a timely reminder of the continuing existence of slavery in the contemporary world. There are perhaps few countries whose history has been so intricately linked to slavery, and it is not over yet. (01-MAY-07)