With Black History Month ending last month the issue of slavery is still as important as it was in the 19th century when Parliament finally prohibited the carrying of slaves in any British ship and passed the The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.  This was the turning point for the Abolitionists who still had to wait a further thirty years to achieve full emancipation throughout the British Empire. This movement to establish equality amongst man brought together a coalition of Christian abolitionists with different backgrounds and ideas for achieving their goals. Black and white, female and male, those pursuing political means, those advocating non-violent resistance, and those leading armed rebellion all came together as one. Remembering the achievements of diverse groups of actors who tirelessly worked to free men and women from the chains of slavery brings us to Mauritania: a country of where an estimated 10-20% of people remain enslaved today.

From November 26th to December 2nd 2012, Bangladesh Students' Society at the University of Manchester, in unity with Restless Beings, is dedicating an entire week of fundraising and awareness campaign to the most marginalised street children in Bangladesh.

Since the 100 kids campaign Restless Beings has been working behind the scenes to kick-start the Restless Beings Village.

With the recent implementation of an already “…overly cumbersome and intrusive regulatory process…complicated by delays and hurdles, including non-transparency in authorization of registration by the Home Ministry, the police, or the National Security Intelligence…” – Bangladesh is not an easy country to work with in order to move things along, no matter the urgency.

Nevertheless, our Bangladesh team has maintained contact with the street children of the area regularly; building and maintaining strong, healthy relationships.

We will bring to you some of the stories and journeys of the children we meet.

Ala Kachuu is a complicated crime with ambiguous issues of unspoken cultural and social norms. This practice is not only a non-consensual abduction of a girl's right to choose her life partner but also an abduction of that girl's life, dreams and future. Bride kidnaping in Kyrgyzstan further raises concerns of underage marriage and forced sexual intercourse since many of the abducted brides are less than 18 years old, the minimum legal age for marriage.

The mother of a recent victim voiced her traumatic episode to our Partner Rehabilitation Centre, Sezmin. The real identity of the victim cannot be revealed due to confidentiality reasons, therefore for the purpose of this article we shall refer to the victim as Salamat

Burma, or Myanmar, has received great interest in recent years from international leaders across the world. Hundreds of political prisoners- having spent years campaigning for a free democracy- have been released, most famously Aung San Suu Kyi of the National League for Democracy in November 2010. Further steps away from the vilified dictatorship to a free market democracy, appealing to foreign investors for capital and expertise, easing media censorship, passing labour laws allowing unions to be established have demonstrated a more reformist quasi civilian government taking office in March 2011, with Thein Sein as President.

The Global Day of Action calls for protection of the persecuted Rohingya, aid to reach casualties of the violence, access granted to international observers and ultimately citizenship for the stateless Rohingya. Having pushed for politicians and namely the Foreign Commonwealth Office to act in accordance with these aims, Foreign Office Minister for Burma, Hugo Swire shockingly defended the Burmese Governments handling of the situation whilst it is evident that there is state level complicity in the systematic attacks against the Rohingya, having long shifted from just inter communal violence.

Ramree Island, a normally peaceful serene island to the southern part of Arakan state this morning erupted in violence. Some 200 km from the main hub for the Rohingya in Maungdaw, Kyauk Ni Maw village is home to about 7,000 Rohingya and Kaman. As morning broke, Army personnel fired in the air in an attempt to bring calm from the onrushing Rakhine locals backed by some local authority...

In a disturbing development, overnight on Sunday (28th October) two mosques were bombed in Karen state in the townships of Kawkeriek and Kyone-Doe. The attacks which took place some 1,400 km from Arakan follow the fresh attacks against the Kaman Muslim community last week and a meeting held between monks and state officials a fortnight ago where it was decided that Karen Buddhists...

Over the weekend, updates and reports have been slow to come in as telephone contact has been almost impossible.  It seems perhaps the authorities exorcised some sort of temporary network block. On Saturday, in Kyauk Pyu town, where all Muslim houses were burned, the last of the Rohingya Muslims left for other safer areas.  It is confirmed that about 60 children...