Back Issues

Some highlights this week

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/30692

EDITORIAL:
- "The AIDS pandemic is part of the price we are paying for allowing unabated gender-based violence and inequality," says Stephen Lewis in a World Aids Day interview with Pambazuka News
- Is World Aids Day just a public relations exercise for governments and a funding opportunity for NGO's? asks the AIDS Consortium's Thomas Mathole
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- The second article in a Pambazuka News series on Economic Partnership Agreements looks at the impact of free trade on the lives of ordinary Kenyans
- No to Moism! Was the resounding cry of Kenya's recent referendum, says Maina Kiai from the Kenyan Human Rights Commission
- Current climate change talks are like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, write Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada
LETTERS: Reaping without sowing, smiling African women and an appeal to Meles Zenawi
BLOGGING AFRICA: What the bloggers of Africa are saying about World Aids Day
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem asks why some African rulers want to rule until they drop dead
BOOKS AND ARTS: A review of Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender and Human Rights
GLOBAL CALL TO ACTION AGAINST POVERTY: Gearing up to Hong Kong
CONFLICTS AND EMERGENCIES: Eritrea and Ethiopia border tension simmers; Genocide and companies that do business in Sudan; Death toll mounts for Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina victims
HUMAN RIGHTS: Human rights breaches by Uganda and Maldives demand commonwealth action; Four days in a Zimbabwean jail
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Hunger strike in Ethiopia; Museveni rival back in jail; Mugabe sweeps senate vote
WOMEN AND GENDER: Stopping domestic violence
DEVELOPMENT: Concern over WTO; Cotton farmers mobilise
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: Lack of coordination, leadership leads to missed 3 by 5 target
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Two reporters arrested in continuing crackdown on media in Ethiopia
INTERNET&TECHNOLOGY: Can ICTs be used for peace?
FUNDRAISING AND USEFUL RESOURCES: Human Rights Fellows Program for Angola and Mozambique
JOBS: Intitule du poste : Correspondant regional pour l'Afrique de l'Ouest Pambazuka News

World Aids Day 2005: Pambazuka News interview with Stephen Lewis

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/30689

On World Aids Day 2005, UN Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa Stephen Lewis - answering questions from Pambazuka News - adds his voice to those telling western leaders to keep their promises made on fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic, warning that 'resting easy' once promises are made is 'pure folly' and pointing to evidence of backsliding following G8 commitments earlier this year. In the interview, Lewis answers questions on the slow-footed global response to the epidemic, his often outspoken statements and where the 'big breakthrough' in the fight against HIV/Aids will come from. The gender dimension of the epidemic is a frequent theme, with Lewis concluding: 'I do think it's dawning on even the most regressive policy makers, though, that the AIDS pandemic is part of the price we are paying for allowing unabated gender-based violence and inequality. But that dawning awareness is excruciatingly slow, and we just don't have time for incremental progress. Entire countries run the risk of being depopulated of women!'


PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The theme of World Aids Day 2005 is 'Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise'. On World Aids Day 2005, what would you like your message to be about the fight against HIV/AIDS?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Without a doubt, I'd want to add my voice to those urging western leaders to keep the promises they've already made - including the solemn commitments of financial resources proffered as recently as last July, at the G8 Summit in Gleneagles. We are at a turning point, and the level of resources brought to bear on AIDS will decide which way we turn. It's now clear, though, that resting easy once promises of aid are made is pure folly: we needn't look further for evidence of backsliding on commitments than the replenishment conference of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, held just two months after the G8's promises to Africa were announced. In spite of the pledge to increase aid to Africa to $50 billion annually by 2010, and notwithstanding the G8's statement in support of universal HIV/AIDS treatment - that is, access to antiretroviral drugs for all who need them - the donors dealt a crippling blow to the Global Fund in September, giving it roughly half of the money it needs for 2006 and 2007. So yes, I think "keep the promise" is a timely message, and one that bears repeating over and again until it sinks in.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In a passage from your book 'Race Against Time' you say the following: "I'll devote every fiber of my body to defeating this viral contagion, but I cannot abide the willful inattention of so much of the international community. I cannot expunge from my mind the heartless indifference, the criminal neglect of the last decade, during which time countless people have gone to their graves - people who should still be walking the open savannah of Africa." What, in your mind, causes this inattention towards HIV/AIDS? Why are people able to read or hear about the pandemic, yet do so little about it? And how do politicians and policy makers justify their inaction?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Frankly, it's a mystery to me. I didn't understand when the world stood by and allowed the genocide in Rwanda to unfold before our eyes, and I can't comprehend now how it's humanly possible to do so much less than the minimum required to end the suffering inflicted by AIDS.

I think I understand why it is that such dramatic natural disasters as the tsunami provoke outpourings of concern: sudden catastrophes, particularly when they're captured on camera, attract attention and strike a sympathetic chord. With a surprise calamity of that magnitude, we suddenly see the world turned upside down, and follow the natural instinct to set things right again. The AIDS pandemic, on the other hand, is a long, drawn-out catastrophe. Although its mortality rates dwarf the tsunami's, which claimed some 200,000 lives compared with over 25 million deaths to AIDS so far - in an odd way, it seems that the very characteristics that make AIDS the worst plague in recorded history also mitigate against an urgent response. The inexorable nature of the AIDS pandemic, its slow-motion destruction, its longevity, its enormity: these are all characteristics that distinguish AIDS from other emergencies. For those in its grip, of course, the past history or projected future of the pandemic are of no consequence. For them, the suffering and death they face is the most urgent of emergencies.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: You have been vocal in your criticism of the policies and actions (or inactions) of many governments, both in the West as well as Africa. World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies have also come under attack for their inability to deal with the HIV/AIDS pandemic appropriately. Indeed, the very organization that you represent, the UN, and its leaders, have been fair game. Usually this type of criticism comes from outside of these organizations, but rarely from inside. Others in positions like yours are rarely willing or able to be so analytical and forthright when it comes to questioning these superpowers - how did you come to your analysis, and how are you able to be so vocal, without making enemies/getting fired?

STEPHEN LEWIS: My analysis is uncomplicated: with a staggering emergency like AIDS, the usual diplomatic proprieties simply don't apply. As envoy for AIDS in Africa, my job is to represent the African position, no matter how critical that requires me to be. I'll grant you that in the diplomatic arena, it's unexpected to hear opinions stripped bare of comfortable cushioning. But I feel confident that my colleagues are aware that my criticisms are always offered in the spirit of reform - which is a worthy as well as a loyal pursuit, and one that's currently high on everyone's agenda.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: News about the release of your recent book "Race Against Time" highlighted the rift between you and the South African government over their attitude to fighting the pandemic. While the honesty with which you have aired your concerns is refreshing, surely it can't be helpful to have such an open grievance between a government and a major agency responsible for fighting HIV/AIDS? What is it going to take to mend the rift?

STEPHEN LEWIS: Actually, I have a rather different view of disagreement: a rift isn't destructive if it's the result of an honest appraisal. On the contrary, the liberty - even the responsibility - to take issue with those in power is indispensable to real progress. In any case, the rift in question exists between me, individually, and members of the government of South Africa. The United Nations and its agencies continue to enjoy an amicable and productive relationship with the government.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: In a recent Globe and Mail article you say that you "want to be around for the breakthrough." What is the breakthrough? What is it going to take to put an end to this pandemic?

STEPHEN LEWIS: The ultimate breakthrough, of course, will be the release of a vaccine, the development of which must continue to command our utmost attention. Short of a vaccine, however, the big breakthrough in my mind will come with the achievement of universal access to treatment. Now that we have the drugs that can transform HIV/AIDS from a fatal disease to a chronic condition, and now that prices have been driven down to entirely affordable levels - the Clinton Foundation has negotiated generic drug prices for several countries that bring costs down to $140 per person per year - the big question is, when will the money materialize?

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: You speak often of gender inequality, and not just of the inequality faced by women in Africa. This inequality is found too in the powerful agencies, like the UN, for example, that represent these women. Women are barely represented in positions of power in various government and other administrations. What will it take for women to be meaningful players in determining their futures?

STEPHEN LEWIS: I've long believed that the desire for gender equality is the most difficult of all quests for equal rights - even more elusive and complex than racial equality. Gender inequality is universal, so I wouldn't presume to diminish this age-old injustice by suggesting that there are easy solutions. But to answer your question with regard to governments and bureaucracies - what will it take? - there are three common-sense prerequisites to gender equity and equality that seem to be fundamental. First, the notion that women will gradually arrive at equal representation by assuming positions of power through attrition is neither acceptable nor realistic. Men must be required to relinquish to women half the power they hold - power, incidentally, that was obtained under false premises, and is often retained by force. Second, all current-day gender equity targets that are set below 50 per cent should be recognized as inherently unjust. It is preposterous that half the world's population should settle for one-third representation, or for anything less than half. And third, gender inequality is a universal curse. It will require forceful action and strong leadership from the international community. That should start, I'd submit, with the establishment of an international agency dedicated entirely to supporting women in their own pursuit of justice, equality and self-determination.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: The following quote struck me as very interesting, especially in terms of your emotional ability to deal with this pandemic, given your involvement in the issue: "I'm not some sweet innocent. I'm 67 years old. I've learned something about politics, diplomacy and multilateralism. I thought I understood the way the world works. I don't." What has this learning process been like? What emotional toll has this work taken on you, and how do you counter it?

STEPHEN LEWIS: There is no question that this work provokes deep frustration and profound sadness. And yes, my frustration escalates to rage at times, and the sadness often feels irreconcilable. I think that's to be expected - there's just too much death, and it demolishes one's equilibrium. But my emotional turmoil is as nothing compared with what the millions of infected, dying and grieving people on the ground suffer every day. I suppose one learns how to counter the feelings of hopelessness by watching how the indefatigable people of Africa struggle through this horrendous pandemic, and by doing as they do. You persist.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: What motivates you?

STEPHEN LEWIS: My ideology is my motivator. I'm a democratic socialist; all my life, I've been driven to act by deep convictions, instilled in me from the time I could think coherent thoughts. The drive for social justice, for human rights, for equality, for recognition of the dignity of all humankind - these are the only pursuits that really matter.

PAMBAZUKA NEWS: Much of the attention in Africa placed on HIV/AIDS has been ABC (Abstinence, Be faithful, and use Condoms). But can the pandemic seriously be addressed without dealing with the question of power relations between men and women? Safe sex campaigns assume that women are in a position to negotiate on equal terms, when the reality is quite different. What is it going to take to make governments and policy makers realize this, and how should they address these issues?

STEPHEN LEWIS: The dreadful truth is that governments are being forced to come to that realization the hard way - and that's particularly, but not exclusively true of African governments. The statistics themselves tell a story of gender inequality gone berserk: a million more women are living with HIV now than in 2003, bringing the world total in 2005 to an incomprehensible 17.5 million HIV-positive women. More than three-quarters of those women are African. Young women and girls between the ages of 15 and 24 in sub-Saharan Africa are at least three times more likely to be infected than young males in the same age group. With disparities that pronounced, it's impossible to deny the straight line between cause and effect.

New studies show that even marriage can be a dangerous undertaking for young women, who are frequently wed to older and more sexually experienced men, or to husbands whose infidelity brings HIV infection into the marital bed. And as you mentioned, power relations between men and women can be so out of kilter that the idea of a wife negotiating safer sex with her husband is not even up for consideration.

I do think it's dawning on even the most regressive policy makers, though, that the AIDS pandemic is part of the price we are paying for allowing unabated gender-based violence and inequality. But that dawning awareness is excruciatingly slow, and we just don't have time for incremental progress. Entire countries run the risk of being depopulated of women! Nothing short of a global social movement demanding an immediate end to all forms of gender inequality can begin to reverse the trend.

Many thanks!

* Interview conducted by email. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Official website of the World AIDS Day campaign:

http://www.worldaidscampaign.org

Resources:

AVERT
http://www.avert.org/worldaid.htm

Africa AIDS Watch
http://www.africaaidswatch.org/

Treatment Action Campaign (South Africa)
http://www.tac.org.za

AIDS Education Global Information Centre
http://www.aegis.org/

Pan African Treatment Access Movement
http://www.patam.org/

Health Global Access Project
http://www.healthgap.org/

Joint UN/World Health Organisation AIDS Epidemic Update for 2005:

http://www.unaids.org/NetTools/Misc/DocInfo.aspx?LANG=en&href=http://gva-doc
-owl/WEBcontent/Documents/pub/Media/Press-Releases03/PR_EpiUpdate_Nov05_en.p
df

World AIDS day articles in Pambazuka:

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=184

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=185

http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?issue=134

EPAs: Why more free trade won't help Africa - Through the lens of Kenya

Kenya: from hope to decline

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/30693

Last week we published the first in a series of articles about the current negotiations over Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states and the European Union (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30549). In the first article, Stephen Hurt looked at the shifting power relations in international trade between the ACP states and the EU, showing how the current EPAs can be understood by looking at the historical relationship between the various groupings. The second article on the subject is based on a report by EcoNews Africa and Traidcraft and looks at the impact of free trade on the lives of ordinary Kenyans.


"During the past two decades, we have seen Kenya slide systematically in to the abyss of underdevelopment and hopelessness." - Kenya government paper, June 2003

"We liberalised excessively in the 1990s because of the IMF and World Bank. But it de-developed us. The levels of education collapsed. The generation of the 1990s is the lost generation."- Dr Mukhisa Kituyi, Kenya Minister for Trade, June 2005

In the 1970s Kenya's future looked bright. The economy was growing and industry starting to thrive. But the country's fortunes reversed when it was forced to follow the rigid economic regime imposed by rich nations. During the 1980s, in return for aid Kenya was put on a strict diet of 'liberalisation'. This involved reducing government support for farmers, cutting tariffs and de-regulating markets. Then in the 1990s as a condition of joining the WTO Kenya liberalised even further. Cheap, sometimes subsidized goods have flooded the markets - everything from clothes to shoes, sugar to steel.

The result has been a generation without education, massive unemployment and shattered industries. Thrown in to competition with powerful companies and countries, Kenya's fledgling industries and vulnerable farmers didn't stand a chance. Many went under. The government lost income and was prevented from stepping in to help. The human cost of the liberalisation experiment has been enormous. 56% of people live in poverty (48% in 1990); under 30% of people are in formal employment (78% in 1988); 48% of children are not vaccinated (31% in 1993), there are less children in school and an increase in child deaths.

More of the same

"A good government must be able protect the local industry. If it is not able to protect local industry it is killing its own people." - Tom Owuor, Trade Union Secretary, Kenya

Despite the evidence from countries like Kenya that unfettered trade liberalisation does not reduce poverty, rich nations continue to prescribe the same medicine. Conditions attached to aid and debt relief and WTO rules all force poor countries in to an economic straight-jacket.

Added to the table now are Economic Partnership Agreements. These are free trade deals that the European Union (EU) is negotiating with 77 of its former colonies (including Kenya) in Africa, the Caribbean and Pacific (ACP). The EU is demanding access to ACP markets for its goods. EPA negotiations started in 2002 and are due to come in to force in 2008.

From the start the ACP have voiced their objections. They say they are not strong enough to be thrown in to open competition with mighty EU industries. They've seen what liberalisation has done in the past. And they're not ready for more. But the EU isn't listening.

Many ACP countries rely on aid from the EU which makes it difficult for them to play hard ball. And with no alternatives on offer they have little choice. They may also have just one person negotiating several detailed aspects of trade on their behalf - they simply can't keep pace with the battery of EU negotiators.

Case studies from Kenya

Kenya has set out its own plan for cutting poverty. Traidcraft's studies reveal that an EPA will not help Kenya to hit its targets but would put millions of people at risk. And it's not just Traidcraft saying this. Even the EU's own independent study by Price Waterhouse Coopers says EPAs could cost Kenya dearly.

Slim pickings for cotton farmers

Meshack Oonje knows his cotton. He was once a wealthy cotton farmer and proud of his achievements. But now he struggles to get by. "We've seen a big change," says the elderly man, speaking from 30 years experience of farming.

Oonje remembers the three decades from independence to the 1980s when huge sums of money were spent developing cotton farming, ginneries, spinning and textile manufacturing industries. It was also a time when cooperatives were strong. "I farmed my 5 acres alone. From that I was able to raise money and pay dowry of 14 cows," says Oonje.

The profit from his small cotton farm provided enough for his 13 children. He bought another 11/2 acres of land, more cows and built two permanent houses with iron sheet roofing. "Everything I have has been built on cotton. But now there is no profit," he says, adding that farmers are paid less than half the suggested government price.

Oonje is amazed that cotton farmers do not get more support: "This cotton can turn our lives around in a couple of years. It's not one of those crops you wait for years to harvest. Cotton is the crop we know. We cannot abandon it," he says.

The industry is again in disarray as cheap goods flood the market and foreign direct investment relocates to cheaper destinations like China. Further liberalisation under free trade deals like EPAs threatens to destroy the investment in training and other initiatives that were meant to re-launch Kenya's cotton and textile industry.

The sector supports 140,000 people (compared to 200,000 in the 1980s). Production is currently at 20% of 1980s level despite the fact that increased production could benefit millions.

Free market 'madness' hurts dairy industry

John Njogu Wahome is earning a decent income for the first time in almost a decade. And he hopes the investment made in his cows will continue to pay off. Not so long ago a desperate Wahome fed fresh milk to the neighbourhood dogs. "Processors told us our milk was bad. What could we do? We gave it to the dogs," he says.

It's been a difficult few years for the Kenyan dairy industry. Cheap powdered milk imports glutted the market in the late 1990s and in 2001, putting local dairy farmers out of business. Unable to earn an income some farmers were forced to resort to extreme measures in a last-ditch effort to draw attention to their situation.

"Farmers threatened to burn down the processing factories in Nakuru," says Hellen Yego another dairy farmer. "Then they wrote to the government complaining of food dumping in Kenya." Following the protests and representations from farmers the Kenyan government increased tariffs on imported milk products limiting the flood of imports. This along with some internal restructuring has allowed the dairy industry to regain some muscle. "When we got into this free market, that was madness," Wahome says, "it hasn't helped me or any farmer of Kenya." Wahome's son had to miss five months of college in 2001 when the imports of milk were at their height.

Dairy farmers in Kenya understand that the industry has been inefficient in the past. But they believe given the time to regenerate, protected from the full impact of liberalisation the industry can compete internationally.

Stephen Ngososei has many years experience as an agriculturalist and a dairy farmer. He sees EPAs that may come on line in 2008 as a fresh danger coming in through another door. "The opening up of the market is a big threat. Our government must come up and say categorically that we are not ready." Having staggered back from one bout with liberalisation the Kenyan dairy industry may not survive another.

Hostages to free trade in sugar

Stranded hundreds of miles away from his home on the Tanzania border, Richard Omollo feels trapped. "It's as though I'm being held hostage in my own country," says the 34 year old Omollo who now depends on donations to survive.

Omollo worked as a clerk at Miwani Sugar Company until it was closed in 2000 after struggling for years against a flood of cheap imported sugar in the market. The best paying job he can find is casual work on nearby farms where he earns a mere 28p for working a 12-hour day. He needs to make at least #1.20 daily for his family to afford the absolute basics.

Primary education is free, but Omollo's four children do not go to school. "My children walk barefoot, they're nearly naked. So they can't go to school." Farmer Alice Akoth Okongo helps Omollo with food and a little cash when she can. Okongo blames sugar imports for the impossible struggles faced by the community in the area. "They want to kill us, to kill the factory."

Okongo says the way free markets are being handled has created mass poverty where it never existed before. The result is instability and soaring crime rates with prostitution becoming a way of life for women in Miwani who have no other means of earning an income.

Linet Muga is separated from her husband and survives with her five children on a three acre plot given to her by her parents. Linet and Alice are fighting hard to get the voice of the sugar farmers heard. In August 2004 they formed the Kenyan Women Sugar Cane Farmers Network. They are campaigning to their own government and wrote to the G8 ahead of the summit in Edinburgh.

But Linet cannot hide her anger: "The people making these rules should come to the ground and see how we live. We are very bitter. We are sad and we are stranded because we don't know what tomorrow will have for us. Will they come to help us when we are dead?"

The sugar industry directly employs 40,000 people and supports over 2 million people 20,000 jobs were lost during liberalization.

Back to basics for Kenyan leather industry

Peris Njeri sold a lot of leather when she first opened her small shop on the outskirts of Nairobi's central business district three years ago. The single mother bought leather supplies from several tanneries and retailed them to shoemakers for repairs.

Then the leather supplies became harder to find as tanneries across Kenya closed down. Njeri was eventually forced to find a place where she could do the tanning herself. "Business was not good. There was nowhere to get good quality leather," says Njeri who is a trained leather technologist. She turned to the Leather Development Centre in Kenya where she waits her turn for service. It is tiring and the chemicals are expensive, but this is Njeri's livelihood.

The number of people like Peris has swelled with the closure of the tanneries. In early 1990, there were 19 operational tanning companies in the country producing leather most of which was consumed by local leather industries. By 2005 that number was whittled down to 4. Many former employees are now struggling to set themselves up as independent tanners and traders, joining the queue with Njeri.

Closure of the tanneries is partly blamed on second-hand leather goods imports that have flooded the market following liberalisation in the 1990s. Workers like Peris are not blind to the huge changes that must be made locally but they are sure that with the right international policies the leather industry can be turned around. But in the current environment of unplanned and externally driven liberalisation the sector does not stand a chance.

90,000 jobs were lost in the sector after liberalisation of markets and government lost US$15.2 million in revenue. A revived sector could employ 100,000 more people.

Time for change

Further liberalisation under EPAs could devastate the lives of 750 million of the world's poorest people. Countries like Kenya are being forced to negotiate away their future and being wedged in to shoes which don't fit. Developing countries must be given the right to fight poverty using the economic tools that will work best for them. EPAs are up for review in 2006. It's vital we don't lose this chance to change the future of the negotiations.

The UK and EU governments must:

- respond to the concerns of ACP governments about EPAs; - push for changes to the EU's negotiating mandate so that they drop unfair demands for trade liberalisation and negotiations on issues that the ACP have already rejected - propose viable alternatives to EPAs that will help reduce poverty.

* This briefing is based on the report 'EPAs: through the lens of Kenya' produced by Traidcraft and EcoNews Africa. For a copy of the full report visit: www.traidcraft.co.uk/policy

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Lesson one in oranges and bananas: Listen to the People

Maina Kiai

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/30694

On November 21 Kenyans went to the polls to vote 'Yes' or 'No' to a new constitution. When the final results were announced the 'No' vote represented by an orange on the ballot paper trounced the 'Yes' vote characterized by a banana. The draft charter of the constitution being voted over had been the subject of bitter divisions in the country in the lead up to the vote. Maina Kiai from the Kenyan Human Rights Commission reflects on the lessons learnt from the referendum. He writes that Kenyans have clearly shown that they believe in the right to vote as a way of making decisions and that once again voters have firmly rejected the culture of Moism - characterized by patronage and divide and rule tactics. Kenya's politicians should take notice of the vote and listen to the people, he says.


The people's verdict in rejecting, ostensibly, the draft constitution is more than clear. I say "ostensibly" because I am not convinced that voters were voting only on the merits or demerits of the draft. Indeed, I would guess that quite a significant number were expressing their views much more on the other issues that have dominated the processes since the Bomas meeting as far back as 2003, than on the substance of the document. These issues included the sense of protecting our own; sending a protest message; unhappiness with the process; use of state resources; presence of perceived corrupt people in the cabinet; arrogance of the small clique in power; and exclusion of most Kenyans from the "warmth" of power.

Moreover, the one-month period for civic education was plainly inadequate to reach the millions of Kenyans, and the political class - on both sides - hijacked the process. Since Bomas, the issues have been more about politics, power, ethnicity, revenge and protection of old and new corruption, than about delivering a new constitution. And it has been about controlling the process, leading to the birth of a new constitution for Kenya, with both sides doing whatever they can to thwart the other's purported (and real) control of the different processes that emerged since 2003.

Of course there are real issues of substance dividing both sides, but way beyond these issues, is the question of control of the process that leads to the final document. This is on the basis that whoever controls the process will get what they want in the final document without the need for compromise and negotiations. And it is in this sphere that the political class - on both sides - outwits us all in being able to then sell their personal views as views of communities.

It has been argued previously that it is critical to remove the process and control the issue from the table so that we can genuinely discuss a draft without too much politics, and also giving time to genuine and expansive civic education on substance rather than politics. Could it be, for instance, that the 30,217 people in Tetu constituency who voted 'Yes' were all convinced on the substance of the document, as opposed to the 255 who voted 'No'? Or that the 29,974 people in Nyando who voted 'No' all disagreed with the merits of the entire document, as opposed to the 260 who voted 'Yes'?

These margins reflect more a "protection" and "our own" mentality than anything else, for even in the closest of families, there are always real divisions and difference of opinions on fundamental issues and the only way to overcome these differences is to project a need for togetherness as protection against a larger outside enemy. And in our referendum, the tribe and its perceived interests, and power swamped the contents of the draft.

Given the control factors and processes that led to the Wako Draft, it was not surprising that politics topped the agenda.

It was in this context that the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights spent considerable time and energy with various political actors, advocating a formula on the process that would not be controlled by either side. We argued that the political class needed to accept that the country was divided and that there was virtually no Kenyan who would not be perceived, rightly or wrongly, to be supporting one side or the other; and that therefore the only possible way to move from process issues and into content was to get five to seven eminent, credible, distinguished African constitutional law experts who are above reproach, to then craft a draft from the various views and existing drafts that exist in the country. This would include the collation of views by the Ghai Commission, the Ghai, Bomas, Ufungamano, Law Society of Kenya and the Federation of Women Lawyers (Fida) drafts to mention a few.

We were clear that we needed credible African experts who understand the African reality well, but who were also above Kenyan political control. And to ensure that no one said they were "appointed" by one side or the other, and that there was an accountability mechanism for these experts, we suggested that we approach Archbishop Desmond Tutu, or former South African president Nelson Mandela, and ask them to select the experts. Unfortunately our pleas fell on deaf ears all round.

I believe that the referendum outcome vindicates this approach and by rejecting the draft, we now have another opportunity to reconsider it. The key to building bridges lies not in the actual substance of any draft constitution; it lies in the process and the confidence around the process that we can generate. That way, we can then have debates on the contents without politics and power games, knowing that we can never all agree on the substance but at least this would ensure that we have a proper debate without politics and power intervening.

It will be tempting for the 'No' side, composed of Kenyan politicians, to interpret the vote as a mandate for them to lead and direct the process for a new constitution. This will be the road to ruin in as much as the Kiraitu approach led to ruin.

There are also other lessons that we can draw from this exercise to guide us into the future and bind us together. Important among them is that Kenyans have shown that they firmly believe in the right to vote as an indispensable tool in making decisions, or to send messages to the political class. I was very impressed by the calm and maturity exhibited by voters - in contradiction to the politicians. Even in areas where there were clear divergent views, the level of respect for the other side was overwhelming. This, despite the best efforts of politicians to incite violence and ethnic hatred; inflame passions; and raise our emotions. Clearly, our leaders have some lessons to learn from us, and we should now increase the pressure on them to start listening to us, rather than vice versa. This means that we, the public, must start holding our leaders accountable for breaking the law in trying to incite us to violence; hold them accountable for the misuse of state resources; and reject attempts to excite ethnic hatred through hate speech, for a start.

A third key lesson is that Kenyans, yet again after December 2002, rejected firmly the culture of Moism that has pervaded the political class in the country. This is the culture of patronage, the culture that views state resources as personal, the culture of divide and rule. This is the culture of decision-making by a small kitchen cabinet on the basis of their personal, not national, interests. It is the culture of arrogance and forcing issues down our throats, without the courtesy of explaining, simply because the State machinery is in their hands. And it is the culture of handouts as though money is the only thing that matters to us all. After a reasonable start in January 2003, and for about a year, key players in the Kibaki regime reverted to Moism as a way to maintain themselves in power, forgetting the reform promises they had made. Well, the voters have reminded us all - and I hope the victorious 'No' side learns this - that Moism is not just about Daniel Moi as a person: It is about a way of governing that is not only disrespectful, but also selfish, and cliquish.

I also draw the lesson that Kenyans want far more bolder and deeper reforms than have been carried out so far. In the early days of this regime, the support for reforms was amazing, and the bolder the better. It is time for the government to get back on this track. That must mean a complete "zero-tolerance" to corruption; a sweeping of the civil service including the retiring of those public servants - no matter how good - who have reached retirement age. With 65 per cent of the population being under the age of 30, few things affect the image of the government than its reliance on "old" men, when what it needs is energy.

It also means revamping the police to make it friendly not fearful; working to change attitudes in the public service; focusing more on delivery and accessibility; and bringing in more and competent women reflecting the face of the country, to high positions of governance. This necessarily means bringing in people from outside the government to serve (as public service should) from the private sector and civil society.

More reforms must also include more transparency and accountability to the people of Kenya. Nothing, for example, prohibits various politicians, government departments and agencies from holding public accountability forums where they submit their records to public scrutiny over and above the accountability to parliament. There are many questions that many of us still have from the referendum that we would like answered. For instance, how much was actually spent by the two sides in the campaigns? And where did the funds come from, outside the veil of "well-wishers"? Honesty in answering these questions will perhaps begin building some bridges between us the people and the political class on both sides.

The people of this country have many things to say, some good and some bad. They need to be listened to, even if one does not agree with them, and no matter how painful.

* Maina Kiai is the chairman of the Kenya National Human Rights Commission.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

* Read the report 'How and Where the Cause of Justice was Defeated in the Referendum Draft Constitution of 2005' for background information on the referendum.
http://www.mazinst.org/referendumdraft.html

Rearranging deck chairs on the climate change Titanic

Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/30695

Representatives from governments, green organisations and business are currently meeting in Montreal, Canada to thrash out how to deal with the threat posed by climate change. As the meeting takes place, worldwide protests are underway to call for international governments to develop workable emissions reduction programmes and policies. Patrick Bond and Rehana Dada critically examine South Africa's response to dealing with pollution and call for genuine solutions to a very real problem.


Climate change damage, the subject of a major Montreal 'Conference of Parties 11' which aims to update the Kyoto Protocol from November 28-December 9, is apparent to anyone following the news.

* The ferocity of recent Gulf Coast hurricanes was blamed by a leading British climate scientist upon a 3 degree (centigrade) rise in water temperatures.

* Frequent bleaching of Indian Ocean corals due to sea surface temperature rise is fast reaching lethal levels.

* Siberia's tundra is thawing, releasing unprecedented amounts of methane.

* Polar icecaps are melting, as are mountain glaciers across Africa.

* An estimated 37% of terrestrial species are likely to disappear due to global warming by 2050.

* Droughts and floods are intensifying.

Here in South Africa, society is slowly coming to grips with apartheid's responsibility for the world's worst relative overdose of greenhouse gases. Tragically, the post-apartheid government's neoliberal orientation has made the situation much worse.

The Kyoto Protocol aims to stabilise greenhouse gas emissions from 'developed' countries by 2012, at a level 5,2% lower than 1990 levels. That target won't be met, and most scientists agree that instead, a 60% reduction is needed to undo the severe climate damage now underway.

The 1997 Protocol came into effect in February 2005, but South Africa is not subject to emissions reduction targets at this stage. However, since we will be in future, some state officials, international financiers and local corporations - and even a few NGOs that should know better - are promoting a gimmick: Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which substitutes investments in carbon-reducing projects for genuine emissions reductions.

Critics include dozens of environmental justice networks that signed last year's 'Durban Declaration on Climate Justice' (http://www.carbontradewatch.org) against the CDM and especially trading carbon pollution rights.

Carbon trading justifies letting the US, European Union and Japan continue their emissions, in exchange for a small profit payout to dubious South African firms and municipalities for reductions in local carbon that we should be making in any event.

For example, landfill gas (40-60% methane) that escapes from Africa's largest dump, at Bisasar Road in the Durban residential suburb of Clare Estate should be captured, cleaned and the methane burned safely and cleanly for energy. The neighbourhood's residents are Indian and African; the vast dump's location smack in the middle of a residential area typified racist urban planning under apartheid.

Instead, Durban officials aim to burn the unprocessed landfill gas on site - in the process, raising the level of gas flaring by a factor of fifteen. Moreover, the Durban plan entails keeping the dangerous dump open at least another seven years so as to make the venture profitable, even though the ruling African National Congress had promised Bisasar Road's closure in 1996 due to community opposition.

The Durban bureaucrats' goal is to sell carbon credits via the World Bank to big corporations and Northern governments. But a famous community activist, cancer-stricken Sajida Khan, appears to have frightened the World Bank off for now.

Unfortunately, South Africa's Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism supports this form of carbon colonialism, which we term the 'privatisation of the air'. The government issued its National Climate Change Response Strategy in September 2004, arguing opportunistically that the 'CDM primarily presents a range of commercial opportunities, both big and small. This could be a very important source of foreign direct investment.'

Indeed, South Africa's five-fold increase in CO2 emissions since 1950 and 20% increase during the 1990s, can largely be blamed upon the attempt by state electricity company Eskom, the mining houses (led by Anglo American) and huge metals smelters (especially BHP Billiton) to brag of the world's cheapest electricity. Emitting twenty times the carbon tonnage per unit of economic output per person than even the United States, South African capital's reliance upon fossil fuels is scandalous.

Not only are vast carbon-based profits fleeing to the mining houses' offshore financial headquarters. There are very few jobs in these smelters, including the proposed $2.5 billion Coega aluminium project for which the notorious Canadian firm Alcan has been promised lucrative sweetheart deals from Eskom and other state agencies. Less than 1000 jobs will be created in the smelter, though it will consume more electricity than nearby Port Elizabeth, South Africa's fourth largest city.

Researchers at the University of Cape Town's Energy for Development Research Centre confirm that South Africa is 'the most vulnerable fossil fuel exporting country in the world'; scores extremely poorly 'on the indicators for carbon emissions per capita and energy intensity'; suffers a 'high dependence on coal for primary energy'; offers 'low energy prices' which in part is responsible for 'poor energy efficiency of individual sectors'; and risks developing a 'competitive disadvantage' by virtue of 'continued high energy intensity' which in the event of energy price rises 'can increase the cost of production'.

Aside from carbon trading, the main answer to the climate question provided by South African public enterprises minister Alec Erwin is to fast-track dangerous 'Pebble Bed' nuclear technology rejected by German producers like Siemens some years ago. That reckless strategy will continue to be fought by the superb environmental advocacy NGO Earthlife Africa, which has won two important preliminary court battles against Erwin and former environment minister Valli Moosa in the past year.

Although South Africa may be Africa's worst offender, other countries face similar problems. In Nigeria, powerful advocacy work by Iwerekhan community activists led the Federal High Court of Nigeria to judge gas flaring in Delta State a 'gross violation' of the right to life and dignity as promised in the Nigerian constitution (http://www.climatelaw.org/media/media/gas.flaring.suit.nov2005/ni.shell.nov05.decision.pdf). Yet the World Bank may give flaring mitigation official status as an investment in its Prototype Carbon Fund. According to the Climate Justice Programme, the proposed investments would justify flaring that should, in a just society, be outlawed outright, because they 'contain a toxic cocktail, including dioxins and particulates, and contribute to acid rain, respiratory illnesses, cancer and premature death', problems that the Nigerian court now considers a 'gross violation' of Iwerekhan people's human rights.

Whether in Nigeria, South Africa or elsewhere, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, wave, tidal and biomass are the only logical way forward for this century's energy system, but still get only a tiny pittance of government support.

Meantime, because of alleged 'resource constraints', Durban communities like Kennedy Road bordering Bisasar landfill - where impoverished people rely upon dump scavenging for income - are still denied basic services like electricity.

Hence there has arisen a new generation of municipal protests in South Africa, including a march by several thousand residents of shack settlements here in Durban on November 14. The week before, Durban city manager Mike Sutcliffe banned the march, showing that neo-liberalism and state repression are often two sides of the same coin. The community activists marched anyway, and the police attacked them, leading to more than 40 arrests and dozens of injuries from rubber bullets. The police also used live ammunition but fortunately no one was killed (http://southafrica.indymedia.org).

South Africa has witnessed nearly 900 illegal protests over inadequate municipal water, sanitation, electricity and housing services over the past year. President Thabo Mbeki passes the buck to local government, and hasn't yet shown any commitment to redirecting resource flows, which today so illogically favour the biggest corporate consumers of fossil fuels.

While Durban's Kennedy Road activists are promised a few jobs and bursaries by the municipality and World Bank, the plan to burn the landfill's methane gas on-site could release a cocktail of new toxins into the already-poisoned air. The generator's filters would never entirely contain the aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides, volatile organic compounds, dioxins and furans.

An even more dubious carbon trade is now being marketed in South Africa by another state agency, Sasol, which produces petroleum from coal. Sasol's attempt to earn carbon credits for its new Mozambique gas pipeline is based on claims that the huge investment would not have been viable without carbon finance. That this is a blatant fib was conceded offhandedly to researchers by a leading Sasol official in August, and is the sort of incident which discredits the idea of commodifying the air through unverifiable carbon reductions.

Aside from the World Bank, the cash-rich companies that most need these deals to protect future pollution profits are the oil majors, beneficiaries of windfall profits as the price per barrel soared from $11 in 1998 to more than $70 this year.

The Bank itself even admits in a new study that these and other extractive firms' depletion of Africa's natural resources drain the national wealth by hundreds of dollars per person each year (see Bond's analysis at http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2005-10/04bond.cfm)

In the process, the oil fields are attracting a new generation of US troops to bases being developed in the Gulf of Guinea. According to NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General James Jones, 'The carrier battle groups of the future and the expeditionary strike groups of the future may not spend six months in the Mediterranean Sea but I'll bet they'll spend half the time down the West Coast of Africa.'

Once again, Pretoria is amplifying the worst trends, as Human Science Research Council writers John Daniel and Jessica Lutchman recently concluded of sleazy oil deals that encompass the Sudanese and Equatorial Guinean dictatorships: 'In its scramble to acquire a share of this market, the ANC government has abandoned any regard to those ethical and human rights principles which it once proclaimed would form the basis of its foreign policy.'

Those ethical principles should be urgently revisited now, since our future generations' very survival is at stake. In South Africa, the National Climate Change Conference last month failed to engage seriously with these critiques, and will be looked back on by ecological historians as a large part of the problem.

At the world scale, the Montreal conference will probably also be considered a travesty by future generations. Tragically, although Friends of the Earth International has joined the critique of carbon trading, the other giant environmental NGOs - many of which like Greenpeace appear to have been co-opted by their relationships with big oil - believe in market solutions.

In contrast, the signatories to the 'Durban Declaration' of October 2004 (http://www.carbontradewatch.org) continue to oppose a bogus for-profit approach to a problem caused mainly by advanced industrial capitalism. South Africa is a big part of this dual dilemma - i.e., emitting huge amounts of carbon, and serving as a guinea pig for a World Bank band aid scam - and it is up to environmental and social activists here to ratchet up the pressure and insist upon genuine solutions.

* Bond (pbond@mail.ngo.za) and Dada (rehana@greenit.co.za) are editors of a new book, 'Trouble in the Air: Global Warming and the Privatised Atmosphere', from the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Civil Society (http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/files/CCS_ENERGYSERIES_1005_COMPLETE.pdf). Dada's documentary film on Bisasar Road aired nationally in South Africa last month.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Presidency in perpetuity

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/30682

In his weekly column, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem tackles three African presidents who appear to have ambitions to rule until they drop dead. Omar Bongo of Gabon, Yoweri Musevini of Uganda and Olushegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are either firmly entrenched as leaders for life or are busy manipulating electoral laws so they can serve beyond their given time. Abdul-Raheem asks why these leaders see it as their god-given right to rule and rule and rule...


The more Africa changes the more it remains the same at the level of leadership. While it is no longer an issue for debate that we should choose our own leaders in a democratic election there are many challenges in the processes that may make cynics proclaim that we are only making a distinction without any fundamental difference.

Our dictators have learnt how to repackage themselves with a veneer of electoral democracy that ensues that we 'vote without choosing' since the outcome often remains the same. In the past few years constitutionalism has also made a come back across Africa but - unwilling democrats that many of the leaders are - they have found ways of constitutionalising their illegitimacy by following a constitutional route to deny their peoples the democratic right to genuine changes and alternatives in public policy.

Take the cases of three presidents from different regions of Africa who have become the symbols of this constitutional gerymandering. The first one holds the dubious title of being Africa's longest –serving (I am not sure what services any more), President, El Hadj Omar Bongo of the oil-rich Central African state of Gabon. He has been in power since 1967 and has just secured for himself another seven-year term at the presidential palace, which will ensure that he remains in power till he is 75 years old (officially). After that term, if both nature and the ancestors have not called him home, we can be sure that there will be no shortage of footloose opportunists to orchestrate 'one more term'. Bongo has ensured that he runs and runs till he drops dead. This is where his presidential run and re-run interfaces with that of the second president, retired general Yoweri Kaguta Museveni of Uganda, whose onward march to another term was the subject of this column last week.

I got many responses from both the Museveni camp and even more from the anti-Museveni group on that article. The president's men and women typically become legalistic on the issue, arguing that now that Ugandans have spoken through a referendum and there has been appropriate change to the constitution, the President is not doing anything unconstitutional.

They overstate their democratic credentials by stating the seemingly obvious: Ugandan voters are supreme they say and whatever they decide is sacrosanct. It is a very beguiling democratic case even if democracy is the last thing on the minds of those pushing it. It is always amusing to me why Ugandans are supreme over the issue of Museveni running again but have neither been supreme on the key economic decisions of the government or the various wars the country has been involved in for the past two decades. Not even elected members of Parliament have any influence on the government's neo-liberal policies yet the people are supreme!

On the other side of the debate the anti 'sad term' camp think I have become too complacent about Museveni's self-succession. I had concluded my article last week matter-of-factly that five years will soon come to pass. But the fear of many in the opposition is that it is not just the next five years that Museveni and his cronies want but the next one, and the one after that and probably another one after that until the president gives up the ghost. In a sense self-succession in perpetuity - like Bongo's.

I must confess that I have no answer to that speculation because there is something that happens to our presidents once they enter office that they find ways and means of perpetuating themselves. People often blame opportunists around them but I think that is a lazy approach. There is no adviser that will compel an unwilling president to remain in office for a minute longer if he is not that inclined.

Unfortunately Museveni is not alone in the struggle for presidency in perpetuity. And that leads us to the third president, another retired general, Chief Mathew Aremu Olushegun Obasanjo. I have been in Nigeria for the past three weeks and the big political issue is about the quest for another term by President Obasanjo.

Like Museveni's supporters when his campaign first started to change the constitution, Obasanjo's people are saying the president has not decided either way. Like President Museveni, Obasanjo rarely addresses the issue directly and when he does he says defensively that the constitution does not allow him to go beyond two consecutive terms and he has pledged to uphold the constitution. However, as it happened in Uganda his agents and political contractors are busy pushing for constitutional amendments that will allow him to stand for another term and thereby constitutionalising his self-succession as has happened in Uganda.

It is obvious that the three compare notes on how to deceive their peoples. It is sad that, in spite of the new African Peer Review Mechanism, they do not compare notes on how to improve the lot of their peoples.

* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General-Secretary of the Pan African Movement, Kampala (Uganda) and Co-Director of Justice Africa

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: Churches want Mandela, Tutu, Maathai to help stem strife

2005-11-29

http://tinyurl.com/82a4d

Faith based organizations from the United States and Africa are to announce 10 to 15 names to be part of an Eminent Persons Ecumenical Programme for Africa, who will employ their moral authority to stem the widespread conflict in the continent, reports Africa Files. In the pool of 25 for selection are names like the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, former South African president Nelson Mandela, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Kenyan environmental and ecological campaigner Professor Wangari Maathai.

Chad: Universal Ratification Campaign (International Criminal Court)

2005-12-01

http://www.iccnow.org/urc/chad.htm

The Universal Ratification Campaign is a worldwide complementary effort devoted to urging members to redouble their efforts to promote universal acceptance of the International Criminal Court. Local actions are needed to promote awareness of the International Criminal Court; increase media coverage; urge governments to ratify or accede to the Rome Statute; adopt effective implementing legislation and ratify the ICC Agreement on Privileges and Immunities.

We ask you to visit our Ratification Campaign page where you can send a letter to the President of Chad urging Chad to ratify the Rome Statute.

This CICC Ratification Campaign page on Chad is accessible at the following link (and also in French: http://www.iccnow.org/francais/ActionCalendar.htm)

Zimbabwe: EU must act urgently

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/advocacy/30678

Please follow the link to find a petition to EU leaders to act on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe so that justice prevails.
PETITION

TO: The British Premier
His Excellency, Tony Blair
UK Presidency of the EU

From: Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition

DATE: 21st November 2005

REF: EU MUST URGENTLY ACT ON ZIMBABWE

Your Excellency, we write to draw your attention on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe with the hope that you will facilitate a discussion on the same when you chair an EU Heads of State meeting from 15 -16 December 2005, in Brussels.

There has been a latest wave of attacks targeted at civic leaders who continue to be subjected to degrading and inhumane treatment by President Mugabe's government.Dr Lovemore Madhuku , the Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly , Mr Wellington Chibebe , the Chairperson of the Crisis Coalition and Mr Lovemore Matombo , the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and several people were this month arrested after staging peaceful protests demanding the provision of Anti-Retroviral drugs and a new constitution.

Your Excellency, it has become extremely difficult to resort to local means to seek redress for torture victims and arbitrary arrests as the judiciary has been severely compromised. Because of the government's determination to hold on to power, Zimbabweans are subjected to all forms of coercion including destruction of their shelter under the guise of cleaning up the cities.

We are also concerned about the continued expulsion of vocal student leaders at government universities and polytechnics where Mr Mugabe is the Chancellor. The economic and political situation in Zimbabwe has continued to deteriorate whilst the government is unmoved about its responsibility in the process.

Our humblest submission, Your Excellency, is that you facilitate a discussion on the human rights situation in Zimbabwe so that justice prevails. The Government of Zimbabwe has made the country a pariah state, placing a high premium on power politics and ignoring the starving people and the effects of the HIV/Aids pandemic.

It is disheartening to note that even as the old women marched peacefully along the streets of Harare early this month to demand HIV/Aids drugs they were brutally treated by members of President Mugabe's security apparatus.

There are hundreds of thousands of people who urgently need food aid but government continues to fiddle. We are concerned that whilst many hospitals and health centres have run dry and equipment has become obsolete, one of the biggest hospitals, Harare Central Hospital is on the verge of closure.

Your Excellency, we are also concerned that even as the situation continues to deteriorate government is holding Senatorial elections whose outcome is already determined. The Senate elections are just meant to accommodate members of the ruling Zanu PF party who lost during the Parliamentary elections held in March this year.

We have faith in the EU and we hope that serious debate about the deteriorating economic situation in Zimbabwe will be undertaken. Specifically we want the EU to mount pressure on the Harare regime to agree to the following:

1)Show commitment to the rule of law and facilitate a process for the drafting of a new, people-driven, democratic constitution.

2)Repeal all obnoxious, apartheid-type legislation such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) which ahs been used by government to close five (5) independent newspapers and the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) Act.

3)An immediate end to all human rights violations, especially the arbitrary arrests and the inhumane and degrading treatment of civic activists.

Yours Sincerely

Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition

For more Information Contact Us:

Phillip Pasirayi (Mr) & Itai Zimunya (Mr)
Senior Program Officers (Advocacy and Information)
www.crisis.org.zw
E-mail: crisisinfo@yahoo.com
Mobile: +263 91 288 605
Tel: +263 4 793236

An open letter to Meles Zenawi

Your Excellency!

Samuel Belay

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30646

I read an article written by Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem (Political Deadlock in Ethiopia: Charting a path Forward) on your website (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=30323). I would like to congratulate him for a well-written article especially considering the situation, that is very hard to understand exactly what is going in Ethiopia for outsiders.

I thought I should take the opportunity to share with you an open letter that I wrote to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi three weeks ago. If you think it is appropriate, feel free to post it on your website.

An Open Letter to His Excellency Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

Your Excellency,

First of all, I apologise for writing this letter in English instead of in one of the Ethiopian languages. The only reasons are that I do not have appropriate Ethiopian software and the skills to use the software, and it is much quicker to edit electronically than to write by hand.

I am an ordinary Ethiopian citizen who has never been directly involved in politics and who has never written a letter or an article to a politician or to the general public through any means of communication. However, recent events in Ethiopia make it almost impossible not to do a lot of soul searching and not to express my opinion no matter how little difference such an opinion might make.

I keep asking myself two questions again and again in the last 6 months. How could things go so terribly wrong in Ethiopia perpetually? How could the ideals (freedom, liberty, democracy, no group dominating the other, etc.) that you and so many of your comrades and other Ethiopians fought for, get relegated to minor importance while new priorities like maintaining power cause so much damage and bloodshed and assume more importance?

Despite Ethiopia’s long and colourful historic past there are not many examples we could proudly talk about of government power changing hands peacefully. No matter high level of popular support that some Ethiopian leaders (including yourself) had enjoyed at one point or another none of them could technically and legitimately claim that their power to govern stemmed from the people.

Your Excellency,

When the Emperor was overthrown in 1974, many Ethiopians hoped that the change would be for the better. The excitement and the hope very quickly turned to despair when the Derg regime turned out to be one of the most ruthless dictators that Africa has ever seen. Although I was very young during the early years of the regime, the scar left behind due to the execution of so many young Ethiopian friends and relatives primarily because they had a different political inclination will never heal and will never be forgotten.

Most Ethiopians wanted to change the situation swiftly but they were initially powerless in the face of tyranny supported by seemingly one of the most powerful armies in Africa. However, Ethiopians always rise to the occasion when their freedoms are seriously threatened. It may have taken almost two decades to get rid of the regime but the Derg leaders never got breathing space being painfully reminded of people’s dissatisfaction almost every day.

You were the leading light, the thinker, the fighter, the organiser, etc. in this mammoth struggle against tyranny. The Ethiopian people defeated the Derg and said not again to one group dominating the other, not again to nepotism, tyranny, corruption, etc. The people of Addis Ababa, as indeed the people of almost all other cities and towns in Ethiopia, went out in their thousands to welcome the EPRDF fighters who heroically liberated Ethiopia from the terror of the Derg regime. They gave food and water to the EPRDF fighters and treated them as their children, brothers and sisters. They congratulated them for their achievements against all the odds. They received them with open arms and opened their homes and their hearts. How could those same fighters and their relations now shoot the heads and the chests of the same people and their relations of Addis Ababa who treated them as their family members only 14 years ago?

I have been one of your admirers in the last 14 years. I believed, I guess as many other Ethiopians did, that you have had the intelligence, the determination and the foresight to lead the country to democracy, freedom and development. I believed that you were in such a fortunate position to have learned from the mistakes of your predecessors inside and outside Ethiopia. I have been prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt in some crucial areas (e.g. the handling of the good as well as the bad times with Eritrea) in which you have been heavily criticised by your opponents as well as within your own party.

* Please click on the link below for the rest of this letter.
Your Excellency,

When we were approaching the 2005 election, I and so many of my friends, family members and acquaintances hoped that for the first time in our history we would have the opportunity to choose our leaders. I hoped that we had a great leader in you who would compete fairly and who would gracefully and with humility accept victory or loss. I hoped that the interest of Ethiopia was deep in your heart rather than the desire to keep your Premiership at any cost. You keep saying your party won fairly and squarely but I can only hope that deep in your heart you know that nobody knew who won this election on the face of well-documented significant irregularities. I hope this [not knowing who really won] is the case because this has a serious implication in what is going to happen in Ethiopia at least in the short term.

Due to living and working abroad, I did not exercise my right to vote. Had I voted, I would probably have voted for one of the opposition parties not because I believed they would do better than EPRDF to develop Ethiopia but because I would have liked to see government power changing hands peacefully. I have not read the political and developmental programmes of EPRDF or the opposition parties, I do not know in person any of the EPRDF or the opposition leaders. However, had I observed government power changing hands peacefully in Ethiopia, I would have invested many days and weeks ahead of the 2010 election (hope we will have one!) to study the programmes and the leadership qualities of all parties and I would have voted for the party that convinced me that it has the best programmes and track record to further nurture democracy and to improve the quality of life of Ethiopians.

The hope for peaceful political progress or transition started collapsing only hours after most of the voting was closed when you declared a “state of emergency” in Addis Ababa. Though my friends were telling me that I was naïve, I was still prepared to give you the benefit of the doubt that your decision was perhaps based on good quality intelligence regarding a specific intended attack or rioting in Addis Ababa. Once again, it looks like I have been proved wrong or naïve!

The future of Ethiopia is now in your, and only your, hands. Never in our history one person had the power to make or break the country. This is not a time to flex military muscles. This is not time to adopt stubborn confrontation as the only tactic. This is not time to crash innocent, though frustrated and aggressive people, who express their dissatisfaction about the election results.

This is time for reflection and for humility. This is time for compromise. This is time for demonstrating good leadership, foresight and wisdom. You still have time to change the course of history in Ethiopia! If you reflect and compromise, it would be a sign of great leadership and vision instead of weakness; it would be a sign of humility and respect for human rights instead of defeat.

You have said on many occasions in the last few months that the current struggle in Ethiopia is between good and evil; between a democratically elected EPRDF government and sore losers in the form of CUD and UEDF; between people who aspire for democracy and development and a few individuals and groups bent on creating instability and destroying the constitution; etc. I had the privilege of talking to many Ethiopians who came from up and down the country (from Axum and Gondar in the north to Borena and Jinka in the south; from Jimma and Gimbi in the west to Harar and Dire Dawa in the east; and many towns in the centre including Addis Ababa) in a recent visit to Ethiopia. The people whom I spoke to also came from different ethnic and religious backgrounds and from different wealth groups. Almost all of them were amazingly willing to speak freely. You deserve a lot of credit for this free atmosphere. There were a couple of people who openly told me their support to EPRDF. However, most people whom I spoke to were expressing their frustration about their ‘stolen votes’ and they were willing to pay any sacrifices to redress the situation. Most of them were complaining that the opposition leaders have been too lenient in the actions (strikes, boycotts, etc.) that they were asking residents of Addis Ababa to perform peacefully. Some of them were suggesting that such calls for peaceful struggle should spread to their home areas outside Addis Ababa. None of these people appeared to me as criminal people who are bent on destroying the constitutional order in Ethiopia! Almost all of the people whom I spoke to are proud citizens who are genuinely concerned for Ethiopia’s future and for democracy. You will not do justice to the country if you ridicule such decent people as outlaws, criminal elements, etc. You will only succeed in polarising the Ethiopian people further if you continue to order the beating, detention and killing of people. Surely, you would not intend jailing or killing millions of people.

Your Excellency,

It may be difficult for you to admit that you have made mistakes at any point in your political career. In fact, I have never heard of you admitting a single mistake despite having such a huge responsibility of leading one of the poorest and most diverse countries out of poverty. Even when you reflected on the loss to the EPRDF of so many seats in the House of Representatives in the May 2005 election, you squarely and fully blamed those responsible for policy implementation. How wise it would be to do a bit more soul searching regarding some of the policies themselves for which you are directly responsible. How wise would it be to show a bit more remorse and humility to the Ethiopian people instead of telling the public on Government media that they are either with you or with those who are “trying to destroy the constitutional order”?

An interesting characteristic of yours that has come more to the open in recent months is your incredible ability to “cherry-pick” experiences elsewhere that support your argument when taken one at a time (in isolation). However, when all “picked cherries” are examined collectively, they only put big question marks around whether you are a true democrat. I wonder whether you genuinely believe that Ethiopians (and other people who are friends of Ethiopia) are of lower level of intelligence than yours. Please do not underestimate others.

A few examples of the “picked cherries” include the choice of the same individual as the head of the Election Board and the Supreme Court. In your letter responding to the EU Observation Mission preliminary report, you stated that the same person was heading the two organisations by accident or simple coincidence. You then tried to give examples of how a similar situation or accident could happen in other democratic countries. I am sure you appreciate that Ethiopians are interested in sowing the seeds of democracy and they need all the help they could get from their leaders to make that happen. The minimum confidence building measure that Ethiopians expect from their Prime Minister is appointing two different individuals to head perhaps the two most important organisations to nurture democracy in Ethiopia.

You also justified the decision to change the number of votes required to table an agenda for discussion at the House of Representatives by “cherry picking” from a few western democracies who may have such procedures. However, an average Ethiopian who is prepared to sacrifice everything including his or her life to promote democracy in Ethiopia expects from his/her Prime Minister a procedure that promotes debate in the House rather than one which stifles the voice of the opposition (the minority in a democratic system). Ethiopia needs a system that welcomes the opposition. You made similar motivational comments before the election regarding the need for a strong opposition but you are now being judged by your deeds rather than your words. Just imagine if you were the opposition and you worked so hard to increase the number of your seats from 12 to a couple of hundred and the ruling party tells you that you cannot table an agenda unless you have 274 supporting votes. Did you not go to the bush prepared to sacrifice your life to fight against such an injustice?

Add to the above, the change from regional to federal status of some revenue generating institutions in Addis Ababa that was enacted at the eleventh hour of the change of the City Administration from EPRDF to CUD. The collective message (all the cherries put together) you are sending to the people of Ethiopia is stifling the opposition rather than nurturing democracy!

Your Excellency!

Every night you go to bed, please think about your Ethiopian brothers and sisters that are being shot down almost every day in the streets of Addis Ababa and elsewhere in Ethiopia. They may be jobless, poor and a bit overzealous but they are citizens of this world with the same right to life as you and I have. Imagine that one of your lovely children was shot dead when s/he was driven from school to the Palace. Would you not want to know as soon as possible how that happened and who did it? Would you not cry for justice? They may not be as successful and as powerful as you are but other parents also want to know what happened to their children and who shot down their children. They want to know under whose order their children were gunned down. It is not beyond imagination that other parents also cry for justice. The minimum you could do to respect those who died, and their families, is to show a little bit of remorse and to urgently set up a truly independent inquiry to investigate the situations that led to these murders and take genuine actions.

You still have time to be immortal in Ethiopian history rather than to be remembered as one of those failed leaders in the chequered history of Ethiopia. It is not yet too late for you to be an icon of democracy and one of the greatest leaders that has led a poor country that is home to one out of every 80 people in the world into the path of irreversible democracy and development. However, the window of opportunity is closing down – fast. I can only hope that you will grab the opportunity!

I beg you pardon for diverting from the main topic here. While writing this letter, I have been watching news on TV. Despite 10 days of rioting and chaos and huge damage to property in Paris and elsewhere in France, the French Police shot at or killed not a single protestor. This is what I call respect for human rights or respect for citizens’ lives!

Yours respectfully,

Samuel Habtu Belay
belay_samuel@yahoo.co.uk

Congrats for Fahamu award

David Wickert

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30565

On behalf of Chapel & York may I congratulate you on your very well deserved award for the amazing work being undertaken by Fahamu (producers of Pambazuka News). Your work on behalf of those for whom technology can be either a life saving opportunity or an exclusion from development has made a difference to millions of underprivileged and excluded people in Africa. Long may your work continue!

Congrats for Fahamu award

Samir Ghabbour

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30569

It is my pleasure to congratulate you on the "Silicon Valley" Prize. Your dedication to fulfil your self-commissioned role in advancing knowledge of Africans about Africa is very much appreciated.

Reaping without sowing

S. Ngowi

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30629

I totally agree with Mr.Issa Shivji. I hope and pray that the responsible person/s will stop this chaos from happening. Otherwise, it is true, they will come and reap "without sowing". (Primitive accumulation of wealth means reaping without sowing by Issa Shivji, http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29962)

Smile, women of Africa, Smile

Tom Ole Sikar

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30563

It is a nice article (http://www.pambazuka.org/index.php?id=29962). However, see my comments after this paragraph: "How long will the women in Kenya have to camp on this renegade side of the Red Sea as they wait for the magic word 'ratification' to part the raging waters and usher them to that other side where gender discrimination, repulsive FGM, forced marriages and widow inheritance, domestic and sexual violence, etc. are a thing of the past?"

I am sorry to inform you that the other side of the Red Sea is composed of Ye-men, Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Arab world where women are grossly discriminated (against). I hope this is not the direction you want Kenyan women to head to.

Smile, women of Africa, smile

Sow Thierno

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/30564

Merci pour votre article qui nous intérresse beaucoup. Est-ce-que nous pouvons avoir la version française? Meilleures salutations.

Editors: Bientôt, nous espérons!

* Resisting Racism and Xenophobia: Global Perspectives on Race, Gender and Human Rights

by Faye Harrison, ed. (2005) Altamira Press

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/30615

‘Resisting Racism and Xenophobia’ is a collection of papers on a multitude of inequalities and injustices, all of which are related to racism. The book is edited by Faye Harrison, professor of African American Studies and Anthropology in Florida, who already made her mark in promoting justice, for example when she edited ‘Decolonizing Anthropology’ and more recently when she organised a group of academics to go to Durban, South Africa, to the UN World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) in 2001. In large part, the book contains contributions delivered at WCAR, but is also a response to the event that occurred almost immediately after the conference, namely September 11.

The introduction, written by the editor, is an activist’s overview of the struggle for human rights, its aims, concepts, obstacles, achievements, challenges. Encouraging is that this is of interest to anthropology. At second sight, this is not surprising, because anthropology includes the study of difference and identity. Because our ‘differences’ have an impact on our socio-economic - and psychological - status, anthropology on the one hand and politics or community development on the other, are interlinked. Hence Harrison’s opening statement by Mamphele Ramphele on the proximity of these disciplines (p.1).

Harrison reminds us of what opportunities the UN has afforded us such as the International Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) from 1969. She analyses the “diversity of racism”(p.8) and how different definitions point at different aspects of injustice. She explains why racism is also specifically a women’s issue, namely because “women bear the brunt of much of the discrimination perpetuated against racially subordinated people.”(p.10).

Casteism, another dimension and variant of racism, particularly in India, is discussed by Devaki Jain. She also gives us an interesting insight into the proceedings of WCAR. The “conference revealed the ugliness of the human species, what it can do to the Other”(p.36) and “The air at the venue was one of conflict, conflict between peoples within countries.”(ibid.) This is useful feedback for us as activists: Did people not feel a sense of togetherness in each of them having the opportunity to raise the respective aspects of injustice that they are subjected to?

Subhadra Mitra Channa gives a further insight into casteism as it operates in India against the Dalits and Dhobis, so-called ‘untouchables’ who face immense discrimination despite a constitutional ban on ‘untouchability’ decades ago.

A perspective from Aboriginal Australia is given by J. Maria Pederson who, like other Aboriginals, was not born a citizen of her own country (p. 67). Cheryl Fisher, another international human rights activist, speaks as a voice for rural African Americans, as opposed to the ‘urban voices’ that we hear more frequently. Helen Safa explains to us the link between marriage and racism in America: the American state itself is to be held accountable for the high incidence of black single mothers because they did not allow Blacks to get married and they did not enable black men to be sole breadwinners. Melissa Hargrove discusses the link between sex tourism and economics with racism. The governments of poorer countries such as the Caribbean view tourism as a tool for development but the tourism promotes exotic images of the black female. Given that concurrent structural adjustment programmes in her country reduce alternative (normal) opportunities to make an income she is forced to engage in “Structurally Adjusted Intercourse”(p.123).

Esther Njiro’s discussion of racism is on gender, HIV/AIDS and racism in Africa and with it opens up important topics within and beyond African feminism. Fatma Napoli and Mohamed Saleh’s aspect of racism under discussion is the situation of women in Zanzibar, which, as an island, experienced multiple colonisations and whose women experienced colonialisms parallel to and in addition to the colonisations that the men would experience, such as sexual abuse(s): colonized space and colonized bodies.

Philomena Okeke describes the struggle for “new Africans in diaspora”(p.175) in Canada, as opposed to those that have been in the diaspora since the onset of slavery, namely the African Americans. Her contribution is of particular significance to all those Africans from the continent who had to migrate in this lifetime, as this is a growing group but still neglected by academic literature on ‘black people in America’. Jan Delacourt discusses racism suffered by immigrants in Northern Italy. Haitian-born Gina Ulysse contributes a poem about her country of conceptual significance “My country in translation”(p. 209) revealing mechanisms of distortions, consequences of assumptions.
Camille Hazeur and Diana Hayman describe the faults and challenges of diversity training, an important topic as diversity training is one avenue of fighting racism, so we need to know what exactly is wrong with it and why.

The editor, Faye Harrison, gives a detailed analysis of the intersection of struggles for human rights being waged in the US South, a struggle that includes issues of and for various disadvantaged groups and individuals. Groups whose rights have been neglected – or never even established – form ‘evidence of injustice’. Hence her chapter is entitled: “What democracy looks like.”(p.229ff). Harrison also shows commonalities between the US South and the Global South throughout the chapter.

Finally, Fadwa El Guindi’s chapter on the struggle over Palestine, the crisis in the Middle East and the intensification of that crisis after September 11, illuminates the extent that victimisation has assumed.

The book is inspiring for all activists, insightful for all social scientists, educational for all who are not yet aware of the urgency of a global struggle against injustice. The book is unique in giving perspectives by and about voices from all the five continents of the globe. In this age of globalisation it is most useful and necessary to know how each one of us is affected. Reading the book is an inspiration to carry on our respective struggles and link up with one another.

* Reviewed by Ursula Troche. Ursula Troche is an Activist, Artist and Anthropologist. She does performance poetry on political issues; did Intercultural Therapy at Goldsmith's College; participated in a conference on Anthropologists Against Racism in the Czech Republic; founded Culture-Net-Work, and teaches adult education in Southall, West London.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa Yearbook 2004: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara

Edited by Andreas Mehler, Henning Melber, Klaas van Walraven. Leiden and Boston: Brill 2005, pp. xvi + 495

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/30567

Published for the first time, the "Africa Yearbook 2004" is the result of a joint undertaking by the African Studies Centre (Leiden), the Institute of African Affairs (Hamburg) and the Nordic Africa Institute (Uppsala) emerging from their collaboration within the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS). Articles on all countries of Sub Saharan Africa cover domestic political developments, foreign policy and socio-economic trends during the calendar year under review. The country cases are completed by introductory overview articles on all four sub-regions, focussing on major cross border developments and sub-regional organisations. Two more overview articles analyse continental developments and European-African relations. The length of each country article aims to reflect the appropriate relative political, economic, and/or demographic weight. A total of 49 authors from a variety of disciplines and countries with intimate local knowledge have contributed to this first volume, which seeks to establish a valid reference book for the years to come on a regular annual basis.

Trading the Absurd

New report by Carbon Trade Watch and filmed testimonies expose fundamental problems with carbon trade market

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/30696

Caroline shifts nervously in her chair and asks if this angle is OK. After reassurance she smiles shyly at the camera and begins to describe the impacts of fossil fuel company Sasol on her community in South Africa. "Sasol is one of the companies that are known for causing a lot of pollution in my community. People living in Sasolberg are suffering with many kinds of illnesses, respiratory and asthma," she says in a soft voice which belies the seriousness of her words. Her almost childlike voice could make you underestimate the power of this young woman. However she has been a vocal and effective community leader in the struggle against the activities of Sasol. Now she faces a new threat that comes, perversely, in the name of sustainable development.

Sasol are applying for carbon credits through the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol for a natural gas pipeline they want to build which will reduce pollution by avoiding opening a coal mine. It's a kind of climate blackmail where huge industries will only choose the better option for the environment if given huge financial rewards. Instead of the polluter paying, the polluter is compensated. But in the case of Sasol the problems don't end there. As Caroline gets into her flow, her smile disappears when she talks about the project. "I feel that Sasol should not be credited because projects in CDM should not benefit companies like Sasol that are not contributing towards sustainable development. People are sick and Sasol is not respecting the lives of the community." For her it is a betrayal of her struggle that the company that continues to damage her community is being rewarded by the international community when its core business remains unchanged.

Rhetoric and reality

The story of the Sasol CDM project does not end there but from here on the devil is in the detail. In theory the CDM sounds like a wonderful idea, making everybody with vested interests happy. The developing world theoretically gets some extra investment for renewable technology and the industrialized polluters get to carry on as usual. 'Win-win' as they say. But the reality of the emerging climate markets is far uglier than this rosy picture suggests. There are of course flaws in this logic. For one thing, CDM projects are supposed to be 'additional'. That is, the project shouldn't have been likely to happen anyway without the revenue from carbon credits. During an interview with researcher Graham Erion, a Sasol employee admitted that that wasn't the case with their project. "We would have done this project anyway" with the motivation for it was "mainly financial." Credits sold would be pure profit for the fossil fuel giant.

We begin to see why Caroline is angry. Sasol, however, is not the only fly in the CDM ointment. South Africa is full of examples of bad projects. Even WWF-accredited projects that use the best criteria (so-called 'Gold Standard') are riddled with problems, as exposed by Erion in his paper 'Low Hanging Fruit Always Rots First'.

The South Africa example is not an isolated case unique to that country. Projects all over the globe have come in for criticism lately, from HFC (a powerful greenhouse gas) projects in India to tree plantations in Ecuador. As the Centre for Science and the Environment in India state: "CDM cannot become an industry hobby-horse made for industry, by industry."

Criticism is not only coming from the Majority World. In the UK Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper warns that the UK Government is "doing accounting tricks with emissions trading." This wider critique of carbon trading schemes reflects concerns felt by African journalist Firoze Manji as he takes a seat to record his own feelings on carbon trading. As he waves his arms around frenetically, he looks mischievously into the camera exclaiming, "Imagine if you said well okay this year New York only had X number of murders and in Nairobi they had Y number of murders. So Nairobi has under-killed this year so it can sell off how many people can be killed somewhere else. I mean it's absurd." But such absurd logic is indeed what is being used to justify the global carbon trading shell game.

* You can download Graham Erion's paper free at www.carbontradewatch.org

* The filmed testimonies mentioned in the article are available online at www.raisedvoices.net and you can order a DVD or CDrom copy by contacting heidi@carbontradewatch.org

Africa Blog Roundup: World Aids Day in the Blogosphere

Sokari Ekine

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/30645

Today is World AIDS Day so I have chosen to focus on those African blogs that have written about HIV/AIDS from a range of perspectives.

Feminist African Sister – Feminist African Sister (http://feministafricansisters.blogspot.com/2005/11/bush-has-gone-too-far-this-time.html) criticises George Bush, who has extended the “GAG” rule which prevents funding from the US to any NGO that “perform abortions in cases other than a threat to the woman’s life, rape or incest; provide counselling and referral for abortion; or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in their country.”

Thus Bush has “Essentially, locking out large numbers of organizations in Kenya and structures, which could provide useful access to target communities at the highest risk i.e. women in the 15-24 age bracket”. The GAG rule has also been applied in Uganda and in Ghana where 647,000 “Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana clients will lose access to family planning services, counselling, and HIV/AIDS prevention education.” This is a slap in the face to the millions who are HIV+ or have AIDS in Africa and makes a mockery of the prevention campaigns which are designed so we can begin to see a reduction rather than increase in the numbers affected by this illness.

Soul on Ice - Soul on Ice (http://obifromsouthlondon.blogspot.com/2005/11/aids-in-africaaggression.html) writes that out of some 4.7 million HIV+ Africans only a mere 500,000 are presently receiving ARV drugs. He expresses his anger which is personalised as he explains how he lost his uncle’s family to the illness.

“I lost my uncle and his family some years ago to the dreaded disease and this put it all in perspective for me. Prior to that I'd viewed it as something that happens to other people. Damn I'd even doubted its existence like agnostics. It's like faced with such horrible things you switch to denial mode. And here we are worrying about more money for material stuff and an African woman in Malawi has to travel 20 miles once a week to pick up tablets that will keep her alive to give her five kids a chance in life. Fuck the West for keeping the beautiful continent poor and defenceless. Stupid patents on life saving drugs. And they want to moan about terrorists.”

Malawian blogger, afrika-aphukira - Afrika-aphukira (http://mlauzi.blogspot.com/2005/11/yesterday-and-global-hivaids-discourse.html) writes about the film “Yesterday”, a story about a South African couple who are HIV-positive. The film, which is an HBO (US based TV station) production, interestingly is in Zulu with English subtitles.

“The pride and depth of an African language in driving such a powerful social message should make African elites and policymakers think twice about their insistence on making English a language used by a tiny fraction of the population, the lingua franca of policy, business, politics, administration, and education.”

He does however have some criticisms of the film, which portrays Africans as being largely ignorant of the disease and fails to deal with issues such as racism and the capitalist mining industry.

“The movie leaves unmentioned issues such as the racist, apartheid era bio-war research suspected to have been aimed at blacks, dismissed as a conspiracy theory by dominant, mainstream views. Also unmentioned is the role played by the capitalist mining industry which sequestered male miners in hostels, away from their wives and families for months or years on end, a situation that facilitated the spread of HIV/AIDS. Thus the dominant ideologies keep framing the HIV-AIDS debate in the same terms of individual responsibility, ordinary villagers as ignorant and needing ‘education’, and Africans as more promiscuous than the rest of humanity.”

Eseme Udoekong's Africa - Eseme Udoekong's Africa (http://www.bbc.co.uk/africalives/myafrica/blogs/005009) focuses on AIDS from the perspective of alternative healing including “faith healing” in the Christian church.

“Now let's get back to the point of this discussion. For example, I believe in medication (orthodox/herbal) and divine healing, but I don't worship either as god. At times when I'm sick he that is in me can say, 'just pray and I pray'. Or 'take only water' or 'go to the hospital'. All that it takes me to be healed is obedience to his bidding. You cannot tell me that unless I see the Doctor I can't be healed when I have been enjoying such divine healing benevolence. It may be so or otherwise to other people, depending on one's mind set.”

Black Looks - Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/11/personal_story_.html) posts an interview she had with a woman who is HIV positive but lives in Europe (UK).

“For those of us who were diagnosed such a long time ago and are still alive - if I was in Africa I would have been dead a long time ago - we are the ‘lucky ones’, those living in Britain or the West. But the problem is we were told we were dying and then after about 10 or 15 years of ‘dying’ the doctors suddenly changed their story and said you are not dying anymore take these pills and get on with your life. And for many of us this has been very difficult. They try to equate having HIV nowadays in the West with medication, as being just like having any other kind of chronic illness like diabetes. But it will never be the same. Because if I had diabetes I wouldn't be concerned about revealing my identity and nationality, I wouldn't be afraid of my neighbours or employers knowing about my illness. Because HIV will never loose the shame and stigma that has always been attached to it. The pain and despair never goes away – it’s the worst thing that ever happened to me. I hate it. I know there are people who are HIV+ who are much worse off than me but I feel like the last 20 years I have lived HIV and little else - even though I am not dead in some ways I am.”

Kid’s Doc in Jos - Kid's Doc in Jos (http://www.ecwaevangel.org/blog/faith_71) based in Jos, Nigeria, writes about two of his patients, 15 month twins Faith and Favour, who are HIV positive. He writes that Faith is now sick with pneumonia and has lost a lot of weight.

“I admitted him (which we could do only because we have some supporters who have given money to help such children), ordered a bunch of labs and a bunch of medicines. Tomorrow Barb will make a care package of some oranges, yoghurt, cookies, and so on.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org

Africa: New era for women’s rights in Africa – groundbreaking Protocol enters into force

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/30657

Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a pan-African coalition working for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, celebrates the Protocol’s coming into force today (November 25) on International Day Against Violence Against Women, 30 days after the government of Togo became the 15th country to ratify.
Solidarity for African Women’s Rights (SOAWR), a pan-African coalition working for the popularization, ratification and domestication of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, celebrates the Protocol’s coming into force today (November 25) on International Day Against Violence Against Women, 30 days after the government of Togo became the 15th country to ratify.

“It is fitting that the Protocol comes into force today as NGOs across Africa launch their activities for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence,” said Faiza Mohamed of Equality Now, a SOAWR member. “We will use this period to push for universal ratification of the Protocol and to ensure that it is domesticated in order to give all women in Africa stronger protections against violence and discrimination,” she added.

The Protocol, adopted for ratification by the African Union in July 2003 establishes essential rights for women and girls across the continent and offers a series of advances in international law in the protection and promotion of women’s rights, including a call for the criminalization of female genital mutilation; the prohibition of abuse towards women in advertising and pornography; and the establishment of a broad range of economic and social welfare rights for women. It is also the first time that an international instrument specifically grants women the right to medical abortion in the case of rape, incest or threat to her health and life. In addition, the rights of particularly vulnerable groups of women, including widows, elderly women, disabled women, poor women, women from marginalized populations groups, and pregnant or nursing women in detention are specifically recognized.

Benin, Cape Verde, The Comoros, Djibouti, The Gambia, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Togo were the first 15 countries to ratify the Protocol. However, 38 states in the African Union have yet to ratify it.

The coming into force of the Protocol takes place just weeks after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the first woman elected president of an African nation. Johnson-Sirleaf’s victory has been welcomed by women’s rights activists as a sign of positive change for women in the continent.

“Africa is playing an important global role in paving the way for gender equality,” said Mohamed. “We believe these two events signal a shift in the right direction for the rights of women in Africa. However, we are urging all remaining member states of the AU to join these 15 countries and ratify the Protocol. Every government must show commitment and political will to securing the human rights of African women.”

For more information contact:
Equality Now – SOAWR Secretariat
Tel +254-20-2719832; +254-20-2719913
Fax.+254-20-2719868
Email: equalitynow@kenyaweb.com

Afrique: l’entrée en vigueur du protocole à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples relatifs aux droits des femmes en Afrique

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/30580

Aujourd’hui 25 novembre 2005, célébrons l’entrée en vigueur du protocole à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples relatifs aux droits des femmes en Afrique !

Ce 25 novembre 2005, le protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples relatif aux droits des femmes en Afrique entre en vigueur. C’est avec une joie immense que nous célébrons l’évènement, qui marque un tournant important dans l’histoire de la lutte des femmes africaines pour la reconnaissance et le respect de leurs droits humains fondamentaux. A partir de ce 25 novembre 2005, date que nous voulons graver en lettres d’or dans l’histoire de notre continent, s’appliquera désormais cet outil susceptible de rendre justice aux femmes et aux filles du continent.
Aujourd’hui 25 novembre 2005, célébrons l’entrée en vigueur du protocole à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples relatifs aux droits des femmes en Afrique !

Ce 25 novembre 2005, le protocole à la Charte Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples relatif aux droits des femmes en Afrique entre en vigueur. C’est avec une joie immense que nous célébrons l’évènement, qui marque un tournant important dans l’histoire de la lutte des femmes africaines pour la reconnaissance et le respect de leurs droits humains fondamentaux. A partir de ce 25 novembre 2005, date que nous voulons graver en lettres d’or dans l’histoire de notre continent, s’appliquera désormais cet outil susceptible de rendre justice aux femmes et aux filles du continent.

Le WiLDAF voudrait à l’occasion rendre un hommage mérité à toutes les femmes où qu’elles se trouvent et aux activistes des droits des femmes en général, pour le travail, le soutien, le courage et la persévérance dont ils et elles ont fait preuve durant ces dix (10) dernières années afin qu’aujourd’hui le protocole relatif aux droits des femmes ait une existence juridique et acquière force de loi.

Le WiLDAF salue les Etats ayant ratifié le protocole et dans lesquels l’instrument pourra donc s’appliquer. Il s’agit : du Bénin, du Cap Vert, des Comores, de Djibouti, de la Gambie, de la Libye, du Lesotho, du Mali, de Malawi, de la Namibie, du Nigeria, du Rwanda, de la République Sud Africaine, du Sénégal et du Togo. Nous saisissons également cette opportunité pour remercier les organisations suivantes actives dès le début du processus pour leur vision et leur engagement dès les premières heures, et pour leur implication active dans les différentes étapes du processus du protocole.

Il s’agit de : WiLDAF, African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies Union inter africaine des Droits de l’Homme (UIDH), le Réseau inter africain de lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes (RIAF-DLVF), le Conseil Sous-régional de lutte contre les pratiques Néfastes à la santé de la mère et de l’enfant (CPTN), Women in Law in Southern Africa Research Trust(WLSA), Women and Law in Eastern Africa (WLEA), Alliance des femmes de Carrière Juridique (Tunisie), Concertation des Collectifs d’associations Féminines de la sous -région des Grands Lacs, centre Africain pour le genre et le Développement (CAGED/CEA), Femmes Africa solidarité (FAS), Le Haut Commissariat des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés.

Nous nous réjouissons que d’autres organisations se soient jointes à l’action à la veille de la 2ème réunion des experts et saluons également leur détermination à apporter leur pierre au processus d’adoption ratification et mise en œuvre du protocole. Il est opportun, alors que nous célébrons l’entrée en vigueur, de rappeler en quelques mots le parcours de cet important instrument. Fruit d’une collaboration exemplaire entre la Commission Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples (CADHP) et les organisations de la société civile le protocole a été ressenti comme une priorité pour la promotion et la protection des droits des femmes africaines au cours d’un atelier en mars 1995 organisé par la Commission Africaine en collaboration avec le WiLDAF/FeDDAF et la Commission Internationale de Juristes basée à Genève.

Les recommandations de l’atelier préconisaient qu’un protocole sur les droits de la femme voit le jour et que soit nommé un Rapporteur spécial sur les droits de la femme. La Conférence de l’ancienne Organisation de l’Unité Africaine (OUA) a mandaté la Commission pour initier et coordonner le processus d’élaboration d’un avant projet de protocole. Un groupe de travail fût mis en place pour proposer un texte. Dès les débuts, le processus a été très participatif. Les organisations de la société civile se sont mobilisées pour enrichir la première version rédigée par le groupe de travail. La mobilisation s’est accrue tout le long du processus. Car de plus en plus d’organisations s’intéressaient à toutes les étapes d’élaboration du protocole. En effet, à une certaine étape du processus, le Comité Inter-Africain sur les Pratiques Traditionnelles ayant des Effets Néfastes sur la Santé des Femmes et des Enfants a soumis sa propre convention au Secrétariat de l’OUA.

Le Secrétariat a trouvé préférable d’intégrer ce projet relatif à un aspect spécifique des droits des femmes au projet de Protocole déjà existant et de soumettre un seul document à l’Assemblée Générale de l’OUA. Les nombreuses péripéties qui ont jalonné le processus ont parfois donné des sueurs froides à la société civile. La longue attente entre la première et la seconde réunion des experts, à cause des reports successifs faute de quorum, a été l’un des moments les plus durs. Mais les efforts de lobbying de la société civile et la détermination marquée par les responsables de l’Union Africaine en charge du dossier ont forcé la tenue de la deuxième réunion des experts.

Elle a été suivie de celle des ministres concernés par le protocole, du conseil des Ministres des affaires étrangères. Le conseil des Ministres des affaires étrangères qui s’est réuni en prélude au sommet des chefs d’Etats et de Gouvernements a ainsi inscrit le dossier du protocole à l’agenda de ce sommet en juillet 2003. Huit ans après le démarrage du processus, le protocole a donc finalement été adopté par les Chefs d’États. Une fois cette étape franchie, commença alors un autre combat qui est celui de son entrée en vigueur.

Pour y arriver 15 ratifications étaient nécessaires. L’optimisme qui animait les activistes des droits des femmes au lendemain de l’adoption du texte leur a fait croire que l’instrument pourrait entrer en vigueur au plus tard une année après son adoption c’est à dire en juillet 2004. Mais il a fallu bien désenchanter car un an après seul 3 pays avaient ratifié et déposé leur instrument de ratification auprès de l’Union Africaine. Une nouvelle campagne s’intensifia alors en direction des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernements pour une accélération du processus de ratification. Ces derniers adoptèrent lors de leur sommet de juillet 2004 une déclaration dite Déclaration solennelle sur l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes dans laquelle ils s’engagèrent à faire entrer en vigueur le protocole au plus tard à la fin de l’année 2004 et à s’assurer qu’il s’appliquera en 2005. Fort de cet engagement, les activistes des droits des femmes redoublèrent d’ardeur.

Une fois encore les attentes seront déçues. A la fin de l’année 2004, seul 3 autres pays rejoignirent la liste des premiers. Les organisations de femmes renforcèrent leurs stratégies de lobbying dès le début de l’année 2005. Cela fut payant, puisque à la date du 12 octobre 2005, le Togo ratifia, le protocole et déposa l’instrument de ratification le 26 du même mois faisant ainsi de lui le 15ème pays dont la ratification était attendue. Enfin le rêve est devenu une réalité ! C’est le lieu de rendre un hommage mérité à tous les partenaires qui nous ont soutenu tout au long du processus.

Je veux nommer le Centre Canadien d’étude et de coopération Internationale (CECI-DCF) qui a apporté son appui au WiLDAF et aux organisations de droits humains et associations féminines depuis la phase d’élaboration jusqu’à la veille de l’adoption du protocole. Nos remerciements vont également à Open Society Institute en Afrique de l’Ouest (OSIWA) pour son appui combien précieux durant la phase de ratification. Nos remerciements vont enfin à la GTZ qui nous a également soutenu. Pourquoi le protocole est-il aussi important ? Pour les femmes africaines, l’entrée en vigueur du protocole est une étape essentielle vers la reconnaissance de droits dont les violations quotidiennes sont source d’immenses souffrances. Le protocole offre, à l’instar de la Convention sur l’élimination de toutes les formes de discrimination à l’égard des femmes (CEDEF), un cadre juridique de référence permettant à divers acteurs ainsi qu’aux populations d’œuvrer au quotidien au respect effectif des droits des femmes. Mais plus que la CEDEF, le cadre juridique du protocole est le reflet des violations spécifiques aux femmes africaines.

Le préambule justifie l’adoption du protocole par la subsistance de discriminations à l’égard des femmes et de pratiques traditionnelles néfastes, et ce malgré les engagements pris par les États sur le plan international et régional. Il exprime également de manière solennelle l’adhésion des dirigeants au principe de l’égalité entre hommes et femmes. Au-delà de ces déclarations, le protocole permettra à travers ses dispositions de traiter des problèmes aussi cruciaux que les violations multiformes de droits dans les relations du mariage, les violences, graves atteintes à la vie, à l’intégrité physique et morale et à la sécurité des femmes et des filles, dont nul ne peut nier la réalité criarde dans nos sociétés. Alors que son entrée en vigueur coïncide avec le début de la campagne de 16 jours contre les violences faites aux femmes, c’est le lieu de souligner la place particulière que devra occuper désormais le protocole en tant que cadre et outil pour la lutte contre les violences faites aux femmes en Afrique.

L’entrée en vigueur du protocole offre un cadre irremplaçable pour mettre fin aux violations dont les femmes et les enfants, notamment les filles, sont victimes en période de conflits en tant que civils, réfugiés ou soldats, et de relever le défi de la paix en Afrique, condition sine qua non du développement. La lutte contre les pratiques traditionnelles néfastes à la santé des femmes et des filles a besoin du protocole qui donne des directives afin de les éliminer. Les droits économiques et sociaux aussi vitaux que le droit à la santé, y compris la santé de la reproduction, celui à l’éducation et les droits successoraux des veuves et des filles, qui sont quotidiennement bafoués par ignorance ou délibérément, seraient mieux protégés si les actions menées pouvaient s’appuyer sur les mesures adéquates comme celles préconisées par le protocole.

En définitive, il n’y a aucun doute que dans l’intérêt des centaines de milliers de femmes et de filles d’Afrique, le protocole relatif aux droits des femmes apportera un appui inestimable au travail des organisations de droits des femmes dans la lutte quotidienne pour un monde plus juste. Enfin, l’entrée en vigueur renforcera la crédibilité de l’UA qui a démontré son engagement à promouvoir la participation des femmes et l’égalité des sexes, notamment avec la parité au sein de la Commission de l’UA et de la représentation équitable des Juges de la Cour Africaine des Droits de l’Homme et des Peuples, de faire preuve de cohérence et de constance. L’entrée en vigueur du protocole marque, en somme, une étape décisive vers l’enracinement d’une culture de respect et d’exercice des droits humains des femmes dans les sociétés africaines. Nous sommes conscients que le travail doit continuer afin que le protocole connaisse une pleine application et qu’il serve véritablement à la protection des droits des femmes sur le continent. Nous nous engageons par conséquent à poursuivre à tous les niveaux la mobilisation. Notre travail visera à partir de maintenant à s’assurer que tous les 53 Etats Africains aient tous ratifié le protocole, que des réformes législatives sont amorcées, que les dispositions du protocole s’appliquent dans nos cours et tribunaux et enfin que tout litige dans lequel est impliquée une femme s’inspire et ait pour fondement les dispositions du protocole pour rendre justice.

Nous en appelons alors aux pays qui à ce jour n’ont pas ratifié le protocole de le faire sans délai et sans réserve afin que toutes les femmes du continent puissent bénéficier effectivement de cet instrument susceptible de favoriser leur épanouissement total et leur pleine participation à un développement durable Que le Burkina Faso, Guinée, Mauritanie, et Zambie qui ont déjà fait adopter par leur parlement la loi autorisant la ratification du protocole mettent instamment tout en œuvre pour faire déposer auprès de la Commission de l’Union Africaine l’instrument de ratification. Que les Etats qui ont ratifié le protocole avec des réserves lèvent ces réserves Nous convions tous les acteurs qui ont œuvré jusqu’à ce jour et d’autres qui voudront bien se joindre à nous de mettre tout en œuvre pour doter les organisations de droits des femmes et des droits humains en général de capacités nécessaires pour qu’elles puissent suivre et évaluer la mise en œuvre du protocole. Enfin nous voulons saisir l’occasion pour saluer l’élection de Mme Ellen JOHNSON-SIRLEAF à la présidence du Liberia. Cette élection est d’un bon augure pour l’application des dispositions du protocole notamment en son article 9.1a qui stipule que les femmes participent à toutes les élections sans aucune discrimination.

http://www.wildaf-ao.org/fr/article.php3?id_article=740

Global: Breaking the vicious cycle of violence and HIV/AIDS

2005-11-29

http://www.hrea.org/feature-events/vaw-day.php

Violence against women is the most pervasive violation of human rights, occurring every day, in every country and every region, regardless of income or level of development. Its true extent is unknown, owing to fear of reprisal for reporting, refusal by authorities to recognize, or knowledge that nothing will be done. However, WHO estimates that nearly one in four women will be raped, beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime — sometimes with fatal consequences.

Global: Landmark study on domestic violence

2005-11-29

http://www.who.int/gender/violence/who_multicountry_study/en/index.html

The first-ever World Health Organization (WHO) study on domestic violence reveals that intimate partner violence is the most common form of violence in women's lives - much more so than assault or rape by strangers or acquaintances. The study reports on the enormous toll physical and sexual violence by husbands and partners has on the health and well-being of women around the world and the extent to which partner violence is still largely hidden.

Global: Neolibs, neocons and gender justice: lessons from global negotiations

2005-11-29

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20257

This United Nations (UN) Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) (2005) paper reflects on the context within which the struggle for gender justice is played out in the global environment. It provides an analytical frame to explain the core of the tensions between gender justice and other elements of social/economic justice, and the strategic implications of the multiple sites in which gender relations operate. The paper specifically explores the interplay between the feminist agenda for gender justice and neoliberal economic thinking dominated by the Washington Consensus. The author comments on the implications for gender justice of the shift to a unipolar world order, and in particular, the movement from the neoliberal era to the neoconservative one.

Global: Three million girls a year undergo female genital cutting, says UN

2005-12-01

http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/122871/66/49568

An estimated three million girls in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East undergo genital mutilation every year, but the practice could be eliminated within a generation, says the UN Children's Fund.

Follow the link for: Razor's Edge - The Controversy of Female Genital Mutilation, OneWorld TV

Kenya: Global gag rule expands

2005-11-29

http://www.africafocus.org

The "Mexico City Policy," also known as the "Global Gag Rule" denies U.S. funding to foreign non-governmental organizations that work on safe abortion issues. It was reimposed by President George W. Bush in 2001, but in 2003 the administration said that the rule would not apply to funds for fighting HIV/AIDS. Now, according to the Center for Health and Gender Equity, the administration is reversing that policy in a new $193 million program in Kenya.

Kenya: Kaari Betty Murungi: Pioneering Kenya peace advocate

Urgent Action Fund press release

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/30687

Hon. Wangari Maathai blazed the trail for African and Kenyan women in regard to international recognition for peace activism. Betty Kaari Murungi has now followed in those footsteps. On November 11th 2005, in New York, Betty received the annual International Advocate for Peace Award which honours individuals who embody passion through their work in international conflict resolution. This award was founded by the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution which draws its name from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo, who was renowned for his integrity and social consciousness.
Hon. Wangari Maathai blazed the trail for African and Kenyan women in regard to international recognition for peace activism. Betty Kaari Murungi has now followed in those footsteps. On November 11th 2005, in New York, Betty received the annual International Advocate for Peace Award which honours individuals who embody passion through their work in international conflict resolution. This award was founded by the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution which draws its name from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Benjamin N. Cardozo, who was renowned for his integrity and social consciousness.

Betty Murungi accepted this award, whose past recipients include Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former US President Bill Clinton, on behalf of all the women of the Continent and particularly those whose lives have been permanently scarred by conflict – where through sexual violence, abduction and sexual slavery their bodies became the battleground over which the conflicts were fought. They are the unsung peace activists who often put aside their own suffering as they work for peace and justice. Her award celebrates the indefatigable, creative and innovative efforts by women on how to achieve and maintain peace – from the Women in Black movement founded by Israeli women and quickly and spontaneously duplicated around the world as a forum to say no to war and injustice - to the Sixth Clan initiative by Somali Women, to ensure their inclusion in peace negotiations to end the conflict in their country.

Ms. Murungi’s award is in recognition of her work in international conflict resolution and particularly in regard to justice for women in post-conflict justice mechanisms such as the Special Tribunal for Sierra Leone and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. It also recognises her work as part of the Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice, in advocating for the inclusion of a gender perspective in the International Criminal Court (ICC) – leading to an explicit inclusion of rape and other crimes of sexual and gender violence as war crimes and crimes against humanity, and measures to ensure participation and appropriate protection of victims and witnesses in the Court’s processes. As the ICC now undertakes investigations in DRC, Northern Uganda and Darfur in Sudan, all areas in which there have been rampant, vicious and insidious acts of sexual violence against women, a gendered approach by the Court should translate into huge gains for the women in so far as redress and justice for the crimes against them.

For more information, contact info@urgentactionfund-africa.or.ke

Nigeria: Violence against women must stop

2005-11-29

http://web.amnesty.org/actforwomen/nga-180705-action-eng

It was "Folake" who was jailed after she accused a man of rape. A domestic worker, she said her employer’s husband had forced her into his bedroom and made her watch a violent videotape before forcing her to have sex. A medical examination supported her allegation. Yet she was the one brought to court, charged with slander for making the accusation, and remanded in prison until her family could raise the bail money to have her released. The material evidence of the crime, handed over to the police, was later said to have disappeared. No charges were brought against the man she accused.

North Africa: Why did economic liberalization lead to feminization of the labor force in Morocco and de-feminization in Egypt?

2005-11-29

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20190

The purpose of this paper from the Center of Arab Women for Training and Research is to explain the different trajectories followed by Egypt and Morocco with regards to feminization of the labor force. While both have experienced significant informalization of their labor markets, Morocco has undergone noteworthy feminization of its work force, while Egypt (excepting the civil service) has largely de-feminized.

Rwanda: Survivors Fund calls on international community to do more to prevent use of sexual violence as weapon of war

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/wgender/30598

British-based charity Survivors Fund (SURF), which represents and supports survivors of the Rwandan genocide, called on the international community to do more to prevent the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war to mark today’s UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
British-based charity Survivors Fund (SURF), which represents and supports survivors of the Rwandan genocide, called on the international community to do more to prevent the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war to mark today’s UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

It is estimated that over 25,000 women in Rwanda were raped and deliberately infected by HIV+ genocidaires in a systematic programme of sexual violence during the 1994 genocide, to ensure that they survived only to die a slow death from AIDS. Sexual violence and HIV/AIDS is now being used as a weapon of war in Darfur, as women again are being targeted in the genocidal campaign that is still ongoing.

Survivors Fund Founder and Director Mary Kayitesi Blewitt said on the appeal: “As seen in Rwanda, and now in Darfur, sexual violence and HIV/AIDS is increasingly being exploited as a weapon of war. The international community, so silent and inactive during the genocide in Rwanda when 1 million people were killed in just 100 days, remains indecisive as to what action to take to protect the women of Darfur. It must take responsibility, and learn the lessons of 1994 and ensure that women at risk are protected from the threat and action of sexual violence.”

On 7th December, the First Lady of Rwanda, Mrs Jeanette Kagame, will formally launch the Survivors Fund programme, funded by the Department for International Development, to provide 2500 women survivors raped and infected with HIV in 1994 with antiretroviral treatment. The support is timely, as this most vulnerable group of survivors has been decimated through premature death from AIDS related illness.

But survivors now face the renewed threat of sexual violence, as well as death, from the very men who raped them and killed their families, as genocidaires are released back into the community. The country no longer has the resource to continue to keep these men incarcerated, and so by admitting guilt at a local gacaca (community-based) trial they are now free.

http://www.survivors-fund.org.uk

Africa/Global: Human Rights Watch Calls for Increased Support, Protections for Global AIDS Activists

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30691

AIDS activists around the world face frequent government repression and abuse and need substantially increased support and protections, said Human Rights Watch on World AIDS Day. "The few success stories we have in the global fight against AIDS are the result of the heroic efforts of courageous individuals mobilizing impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized populations to action," said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human Rights Watch. "But AIDS activists and outreach workers are often harassed or even jailed by their governments for simply standing up and speaking out about AIDS, and the international donor community is doing too little to protect them."

Human Rights Watch press release

(New York, December 1, 2005) — AIDS activists around the world face frequent government repression and abuse and need substantially increased support and protections, said Human Rights Watch on World AIDS Day.

"The few success stories we have in the global fight against AIDS are the result of the heroic efforts of courageous individuals mobilizing impoverished, marginalized, and stigmatized populations to action," said Joe Amon, director of the HIV/AIDS Program at Human Rights Watch. "But AIDS activists and outreach workers are often harassed or even jailed by their governments for simply standing up and speaking out about AIDS, and the international donor community is doing too little to protect them."

Human Rights Watch has documented numerous cases of AIDS activists and non-governmental organizations being harassed, intimidated, or jailed for their work. In China, government officials have jailed activists seeking to expose government complicity in a tainted blood scandal that infected millions of impoverished people with HIV in the 1990s. In India and Bangladesh, outreach workers delivering services to sex workers, to men who have sex with men, and to other hidden populations, have faced widespread police harassment and violence.

In Uganda, activists protesting the government's recent turn toward moralistic "abstinence-until-marriage" programs face intimidation from officials and accusations of immorality. In the Philippines, , police routinely arrest women and accuse them of prostitution for simply carrying condoms. In Russia, the parliament is considering legislation that would tighten government control over Russian and foreign non-governmental organizations, threatening vital outreach and education programs for injecting drug users and sex workers.

Activists have encountered government violence for doing nothing but demonstrating peacefully for access to health care. This year in Queenstown, South Africa, police fired rubber bullets and teargas at members of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) who were protesting the slow progress of the government's antiretroviral treatment program. Human Rights Watch has called for a full investigation into this incident.

"Bitter experience has shown that repressing civil society only fuels AIDS epidemics," said Amon. "Where repression rules the day, AIDS wins."

Since 2002, Human Rights Watch has honored six individuals or organizations for their courageous work defending the rights of people living with or affected by AIDS. They are:

Meena Seshu (2002) (2002) is founder and general secretary of SANGRAM, an organization based in Sangli, Maharashtra State, India, that has helped women in prostitution become AIDS educators among themselves and in the wider community.

Dr. Wan Yanhai (2002) is coordinator of the AIZHI (AIDS) Action Project, a nongovernmental organization he founded in 1994 that provides some of the only basic information on HIV/AIDS available to people in China through a widely used web site (www.aizhi.org).

AIDS Law Project (2003) is a pioneering organization that helps combat HIV/AIDS by protecting the rights of the millions affected by the disease in South Africa and that co-founded the Treatment Action Campaign.

The Thai Drug Users' Network (2004) has worked with few resources to help protect the human rights of drug users in Thailand since 2002, even during a brutal anti-drug crackdown that resulted in as many as 3,000 killings.

Humanitarian Action (2005) is a ground-breaking HIV/AIDS organization which has shown that providing outreach and care to Russia's most marginalized populations-such as syringe exchange for drug users, outreach to street-based sex workers, and medical services for street children-is the best way to stem the tide of HIV/AIDS.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/01/global12114.htm

Global: States Parties Must Assist Court in Fulfilling Its Mandate

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30651

The International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to raise its profile in the countries where it is conducting investigations, Human Rights Watch has declared. With the annual Assembly of States Parties (ASP) meeting scheduled to start on November 28, Human Rights Watch issued a paper outlining recommendations for enhancing operations.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) needs to raise its profile in the countries where it is conducting investigations, Human Rights Watch has declared. With the annual Assembly of States Parties (ASP) meeting scheduled to start on November 28, Human Rights Watch issued a paper outlining recommendations for enhancing operations.

“With three investigations already underway, the ICC is at a critical juncture,” said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “As the ICC develops its strategy, it needs to put victims and witnesses higher on its radar screen.”

The past year has been a momentous one for the ICC. In October it unsealed its first arrest warrants for Uganda. For the first time, the Security Council referred a situation in Sudan, a non-State party, to the court. The ICC has established field offices in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has begun to develop programs for witness and victim protection as well as victim participation in court proceedings. It is also formulating an institution-wide strategic plan for the next five years.
However, Human Rights Watch said, more needs to be done if the court is to meet the expectations of those for whom it is working. “To take full advantage of the lessons learned by the ad hoc tribunals, the ICC must not only perform the difficult tasks of conducting effective investigations and fair trials,” said Dicker. “It must bring a sense of justice to the communities where the crimes occurred.”

Unlike domestic courts, the ICC has to establish its legitimacy in polarized war-torn communities hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from The Hague. To fulfill its mission, it must engage the people most affected by its judicial work. “For the ICC’s efforts to bring redress to the victims, the Assembly of States Parties should assist the court in forging a strategic vision that will maximize its impact locally,” said Dicker.

The Assembly of States Parties has responsibility to provide management oversight to the court and ensure it functions effectively. In addition to providing financial support, Human Rights Watch is urging the ASP to help the court secure cooperation for its investigations and prosecutions. Currently, one hundred countries have ratified the Rome Statute establishing the court.

“The ASP needs to work with the court so the ICC can fulfill its mandate,” said Dicker. This takes more than financial support. It requires the political will to use diplomatic muscle on behalf of the court it has created.”

http://www.hrea.org

Morocco/ Western Sahara: Human rights defender on trial

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30582

Amnesty International announced (November 28) today that it is sending a delegate to observe the trial this week of seven human rights defenders from Western Sahara who the organization believes may be prisoners of conscience. They are standing trial together with seven other accused who are being prosecuted for participating in demonstrations against Moroccan rule.
Amnesty International announced (November 28) today that it is sending a delegate to observe the trial this week of seven human rights defenders from Western Sahara who the organization believes may be prisoners of conscience. They are standing trial together with seven other accused who are being prosecuted for participating in demonstrations against Moroccan rule.

Tunisian lawyer Samir Ben Amor will be representing Amnesty International at the trial proceedings, which are due to begin at the Court of Appeal in Laayoune on 30 November 2005. He is an experienced human rights advocate who previously was Amnesty International’s observer at the October 2003 trial of Algerian human rights activist
Salaheddine Sidhoum in Algiers.

Currently detained in Laayoune Civil Prison, the seven human rights defenders – Aminatou Haidar, Ali-Salem Tamek, Mohamed El-Moutaouakil, Houssein Lidri, Brahim Noumria, Larbi Messaoud and H’mad Hammad – were arrested between June and August 2005. They face charges of participating in and inciting violent protest activities and belonging to an unauthorized association, charges which they deny. Two of them allege that they were tortured during questioning.

Amnesty International is concerned that the seven and an eighth activist, Brahim Dahane, appear to have been targeted because of their leading roles as human rights defenders, as well as their public advocacy of self-determination for the people of Western Sahara. Most recently, all eight have been instrumental in collecting and disseminating information about human rights violations committed by Moroccan forces against Sahrawi protesters in the context of demonstrations in Laayoune and other towns and cities in Morocco and Western Sahara since May 2005.

Brahim Dahane, who was arrested on 30 October 2005, is also facing charges related to his human rights activities but his case remains under judicial investigation and he is expected to be brought to trial separately. Amnesty International believes he too may be a
prisoner of conscience.

Amnesty International’s concerns and recommendations regarding these cases are the focus of a newly released report Morocco/Western Sahara: Sahrawi human rights defenders under attack (AI Index: MDE29/008/2005), which can be consulted on Amnesty International’s website at the following address: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE290082005

The report also details cases of other Sahrawi human rights defenders who have been subject to harassment and intimidation by Moroccan security forces in recent months and allegations of humanrights violations against demonstrators, including the death in
suspicious circumstances of a protester in October 2005.

Background

Human rights activists in Western Sahara have repeatedly been targeted for their human rights work in recent years. Some have been prevented from traveling abroad to report on human rights violations, while others have been arbitrarily imprisoned.

Since May 2005, the territory of Western Sahara, particularly the town of Laayoune, has been rocked by a series of demonstrations. In many of them, demonstrators have expressed their support for the Polisario Front, which calls for an independent state in the
territory and has set up a self-proclaimed government-in-exile in refugee camps in south-western Algeria, or called for independence from Morocco. These views are anathema to the Moroccan authorities, who have responded in a heavy-handed manner to the protests,
exacerbating tensions.

Western Sahara is the subject of a territorial dispute between Morocco, which controversially annexed the territory in 1975 and claims sovereignty there, and the Polisario Front. Both parties have agreed that a referendum on the future status of Western Sahara should be organized under UN auspices, but this has been repeatedly
postponed and is yet to be held.

http://www.hrea.org

South Africa: FXI disturbed by growing number of state violations of the right to protest

Freedom of Expression Press Release

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30659

The Freedom of Expression Institute is disturbed at the growing number of violations of the right to protest by local authorities and the police. Mounting evidence suggests that more local governments are abusing their power to authorise or disallow gatherings to stifle dissent against their own performance. If this trend continues, then freedom of expression stands to be eroded at a time when it is needed most, namely in the run up to the local government elections. Given that a number of these violations involve local governments suppressing expressions of discontent around the state of service delivery, the freeness and fairness of local government elections may be adversely affected. This is because views expressed in these protests, that are crucial for communities to evaluate the performance of existing local governments, will be prevented from coming to light.
The Freedom of Expression Institute is disturbed at the growing number of violations of the right to protest by local authorities and the police. Mounting evidence suggests that more local governments are abusing their power to authorise or disallow gatherings to stifle dissent against their own performance. If this trend continues, then freedom of expression stands to be eroded at a time when it is needed most, namely in the run up to the local government elections. Given that a number of these violations involve local governments suppressing expressions of discontent around the state of service delivery, the freeness and fairness of local government elections may be adversely affected. This is because views expressed in these protests, that are crucial for communities to evaluate the performance of existing local governments, will be prevented from coming to light.

This concern has been amplified by yesterday's events at the Foreman Road settlement in Clare Estate, Durban, where police reportedly crushed a peaceful and unarmed demonstration of settlement dwellers. Reportedly, the protestors were demanding land and housing in the city, and protesting against forced removals and the ongoing removal of basic services from shack settlements. Police shot randomly into the group, including using live ammunition; police charged the crowd with riot shields, backed up by riot trucks, picking up individuals at random for arrest, and confiscating money, cell phones and cameras at gunpoint.

The Foreman Road residents followed due procedure in notifying the eThekwini Municipality of the march. The Municipality however, prohibited the march in flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Regulation of Gatherings Act on the basis that there would be no one from the Mayor's office to accept the Memorandum.

In a letter to the Municipality dated 10 November, the FXI argued that the prohibition of the march did not comply with the Gatherings Act or the Constitution. The Institute pointed out the ostensible reason for prohibiting the march, namely that ".the Officials from the Mayor's Office have advised that they have no feedback for your organisation ." was absurd, since section 5 (1) of the Gatherings Act only permits such a prohibition if there is a ".threat that a proposed gathering will result in serious disruption of vehicular or pedestrian traffic, injury to participants in the gathering or other persons, or extensive damage to property, and that the Police and the traffic officers in question will not be able to contain this threat.". The FXI further pointed out that there was no evidence that the prohibition was based on information obtained under oath as required by section 5(1) of the Act. In addition, as required by the Act, there was also no attempt to try and obtain any undertaking or to impose any condition on the march to avert such speculative threats. The FXI called on the Municipality to reverse its decision and grant permission for the march. The Municipality failed to do so.

The police's response to the gathering yesterday, that went ahead in any event, was unlawful in that the Gatherings Act requires them, even in the event of a prohibited march (as in this case), to ".Call upon the persons participating in the gathering or demonstration to disperse.". In addition, the Act notes that ".the degree of force which may be so used shall not be greater than is necessary for dispersing the persons gathered and shall be proportionate to the circumstances of the case and the object to be attained.". Clearly the police did not take these provisions seriously, resulting in what amounted to a police riot against the protestors.

The FXI, as a matter of policy, condemns the eThekwini Municipality's blatant disregard for the rights of marginalized communities to exercise their freedom of expression, in view of the fact that poor communities often have no other vehicle for expressing their discontent other than to march. If the reasons given by the eThekwini Municipality were to become the norm, then any institution targetted for protest action - including local governments themselves - could prevent the expression of dissent simply by refusing to accept the Memorandum.

The Foreman Road incident echoes concerns raised by research undertaken for the FXI, pointing to violations of the Regulation of Gatherings Act by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department, which has all but 'banned' certain social movements from marching. In addition, numerous legal protests have been broken up by the police, including two held by the FXI itself. These incidents suggest an emerging trend spreading in South Africa where community activists critical of the current status quo are being denied their constitutional rights to freedom of expression and assembly. A related emerging trends is that police officers appear to be ignorant of the Gatherings Act or, more worryingly, abuse the Act to prevent people from protesting and marching in public.

Local government elections will provide further opportunity for spontaneous demonstrations against the crisis of service delivery in many municipalities. On the basis of the emerging evidence, there is good reason to fear that local authorities and the police will rather brutally suppress protest against government instead of dealing with the underlying issues, namely rising community discontent with the state of local government service delivery.

http://www.ukzn.ac.za/ccs

Southern Africa: Death to death penalty

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30676

"We appeal to governments, Civil Society and the general public in the Southern African region where the death penalty is still retained to engage in informed dialogue on the need to abolish the death penalty." Follow the link for the statement made by organisations which participated in the Southern Africa Regional Death Penalty Workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana on 16 November 2005, under the auspices of the Southern African Legal Assistance Network (SALAN).
This statement is made by the organisations mentioned hereunder, participating in the Southern Africa Regional Death Penalty Workshop held in Gaborone, Botswana on 16 November 2005, under the auspices of the Southern African Legal Assistance Network (SALAN). We would like to raise the following critical issues in relation to the death penalty in the region, which were discussed during the workshop:

1.Abolition in the region - In the SADC sub-region, which is composed of 13 countries there are only 4 countries which have abolished the death penalty from their statutes – Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa and Namibia. However, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Botswana, DRC and Tanzania retain the death penalty in some form.

2.Execution – Execution of the death sentence is inhumane, degrading and cruel punishment. Despite international commitments by Southern African countries, they still persist in carrying out death sentences. In Tanzania, the last execution was in 1994, in Zambia it was in 1997, and in Botswana it was in 2003. We believe that appropriate punishment should fit the crime not duplicate it.

3.Anti-death penalty campaigns do not encourage criminality – We are concerned by the increasing incidences of crime in the region and do not promote the commission of crimes or any illegal activity. We acknowledge the efforts of governments in the region towards crime control. However, there is a need for effective, proportional and humane responses to crime.

4.Deterrent effect – There is no conclusive evidence that the death penalty serves any value as a deterrent.

5.Victim support - We actively work for, respect and support the rights and entitlements of victims of crime and their families. We are concerned that victims and their families do not have an active role in the criminal justice process beyond that of acting as State witnesses and do not have appropriate support mechanisms.

6.De facto moratoria - There have been instances in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia where the Presidents have not assented to the death sentences passed by the Courts leaving the status of the people on death row as indeterminate.

7.Secrecy surrounding the death penalty - The tendency of authorities to refuse to provide any information on death penalty cases, deters and prevents the maximum pursuit of people’s rights and justice, for example in clemency procedures. It also hampers efforts by NGOs towards abolition as there is little relevant information available on the operation of the death penalty.

8.Public opinion – We are concerned that governments in the region continue to use the excuse of popular support for the death penalty as a reason for its retention.

9.Criminal Justice Systems – No criminal justice system can guarantee an error-free determination of guilt. Mistakes have been known to happen even in very advanced and well resourced legal systems where innocent people have been executed, and were subsequently discovered not to have committed the offences for which they were convicted. No criminal justice system is free from an unacceptable element of arbitrariness in the imposition of the death penalty. This endangers the right to life as the death penalty is irreversible!

We appeal to governments, Civil Society and the general public in the Southern African region where the death penalty is still retained to engage in informed dialogue on the need to abolish the death penalty.

The members of the Southern African Legal Assistance Network (SALAN) are the following:
DITSHWANELO – The Botswana Centre for Human Rights - Botswana
Centre for Advice, Research & Education on Rights (CARER) - Malawi
Legal and Human Rights Centre (LHRC) - Tanzania
Liga Mocambique Dos Direitos Humanos (LDH) - Mozambique
Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) - Namibia
The Black Sash - South Africa
Legal Resources Centre (LRC) - South Africa
Zambia Civic Education Association (ZCEA) - Zambia
Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) - Zambia
Zanzibar Legal Services Centre (ZLSC) - Zanzibar
Legal Resources Foundation (LRF) – Zimbabwe

Partner organisations:
Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF)
Netherlands Institute for Southern Africa (NiZA)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Centre for Capital Punishment Studies (CCPS)

16 November 2005
Gaborone,Botswana

Uganda and Maldives: Human rights breaches by Uganda and Maldives demand immediate reference to CMAG, Forum says

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30677

Breaches of human rights principles by two member states warrant immediate reference to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), according to a communiqué by the Commonwealth Human Rights Forum. The forum’s report also urged an examination of breaches of the Harare Commonwealth Principles in Uganda and the Maldives. It also asked that the people and opposition in Zimbabwe not to be forsaken.
Breaches of human rights principles by two member states warrant immediate reference to the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), according to a communiqué by the Commonwealth Human Rights Forum. The forum’s report also urged an examination of breaches of the Harare Commonwealth Principles in Uganda and the Maldives. It also asked that the people and opposition in Zimbabwe not to be forsaken.

The forum concluded its two-day session just days before CHOGM. It also hosted an address by the Commonwealth Secretary General Donald McKinnon, who assured his audience that the Maldives and Uganda were subjects of the Secretariat activity and interest.

The theme of the Forum was linked to the CHOGM theme of “Networking the Commonwealth for Development”, with participants representing 15 countries for all Commonwealth regions focusing on “Networking for Human Rights.” Participants examined the reality of space available to civil society for human rights within member countries and the Commonwealth as an association. Participants, shared experiences and discussed how to raise the profile of human rights within the Commonwealth family.

Other issues raised included the need for a formal report-back to the next CHOGM on the implementation of Heads’ commitments for human rights made during the 2005 CHOGM in Malta. It was stressed that governments must ensure that human rights norms are not compromised using security as an excuse. A need was seen, too, for a Commonwealth Expert Group on Policing and for all Commonwealth member states to offer a standing invitation to UN rapporteurs and other UN investigators as a commitment to transparency.

The Commonwealth Human Rights Forum was held at the St. James Cavalier and was organised by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and Amnesty International Malta Group with funding by the Commonwealth Foundation and the British Council.

Nov. 24, 2005

Contact: +356 7992 3629

Zimbabwe: My four days inside Mugabe's prisons

2005-12-01

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id=7870

John 'Briggs' Bomba, International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Zimbabwe:

"I was among 120 people who were arrested on the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) led Action Against Poverty demonstration on Tuesday 8 November. Hundreds of people had protested against spiralling levels of poverty. Those arrested included township women with babies on their back (the youngest being only six weeks old), the disabled on crutches, HIV positive people demanding access to antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), workers demanding a living wage, unemployed youth and other activists. We spent a nightmarish four days and three nights behind bars in conditions not fit for wild dogs, for raising banners demanding food and water."

For John’s full account, follow the link.

Zimbabwe: Protection and assistance to the evicted denied

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/rights/30690

The Zimbabwean government is refusing to protect and assist hundreds of thousands of people displaced by its campaign of forced evictions, Human Rights Watch said in a report released this week. At the same time, Zimbabwe is deliberately obstructing efforts by international humanitarian agencies to provide assistance and protection to the displaced.

U.N., Other Humanitarian Agencies Need Unhindered Access to Hundreds of Thousands Displaced
Human Rights Watch press release

(Johannesburg, December 1, 2005) – The Zimbabwean government is refusing to protect and assist hundreds of thousands of people displaced by its campaign of forced evictions, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. At the same time, Zimbabwe is deliberately obstructing efforts by international humanitarian agencies to provide assistance and protection to the displaced.

The 61-page report, “Evicted and Forsaken: Internally Displaced Persons in the Aftermath of Operation Murambatsvina,” documents the government’s denial of assistance and protection to people internally displaced as a result of Operation Murambatsvina (“Clear the Filth”), which began in May. The report also examines the role of international agencies, and in particular the United Nations country team, in addressing the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

“The Zimbabwean government has created a humanitarian crisis in which hundreds of thousands of people are now living without food, water or shelter,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Not only have the Zimbabwean authorities refused to acknowledge the crisis, they have abandoned the men, women and children they forcibly evicted from their homes.”

Today, hundreds of thousands of displaced Zimbabweans are living outdoors in disused fields or in the bush, in rudimentary shelters made from the debris of destroyed houses, or are squeezed into tiny rooms with family members who have agreed to shelter them. The government has done nothing to provide them with food, water, sanitation and health services.
President Robert Mugabe’s government has also failed to address the desperate situation of vulnerable groups that were particularly hit hard by the evictions. These groups include widows, orphans, households headed by women or children, and the chronically ill or elderly. Some children have developed malnutrition due to lack of food, while others have fallen ill with pneumonia after months of sleeping out in the open. Following their forced eviction, hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS are no longer able to access life-saving treatment such as anti-retroviral medications or remedies for opportunistic infections.

The Zimbabwean authorities have engaged in a concerted effort to coerce those displaced by the evictions to leave the cities and move to the rural areas. In areas across the country, the national police have threatened, harassed or beaten the internally displaced, forcing them to relocate to rural areas where many have no homes or family and where social service provisions and economic opportunities are minimal. In addition, the government has tried to force relocation by denying assistance to those who choose to stay in the urban areas, and has used food packages as an incentive to compel families to move out of the cities.

In blatant disregard of its international obligations, the Zimbabwean government has denied international humanitarian agencies access to the majority of the internally displaced. The government has also deliberately obstructed the provision of international assistance and protection to these vulnerable people.

“Zimbabwe’s blocking of humanitarian assistance for its displaced population is unconscionable,” Takirambudde said. “Such actions threaten the very survival of these people.”

The report emphasizes that the obligation to protect and assist the displaced lies first with the Zimbabwean government. But Human Rights Watch also found flaws within the U.N.-led humanitarian assistance program in Zimbabwe. The problems include the U.N. country team’s failure to assess and monitor the situation of the internally displaced, and to devise a realistic response strategy that would take existing challenges into account. The team also has not paid sufficient attention to protection concerns in the planning and implementation of its programs.

U.N. agencies involved in humanitarian response in Zimbabwe have been reluctant to confront the government over its blatant disregard of the human rights of the displaced and to protest the continued obstruction of humanitarian assistance, claiming that quiet representation would be more effective for achieving its operations.

“While the U.N. cannot be held responsible for the Zimbabwean government’s recalcitrance, it does bear a responsibility to protect and assist the hundreds of thousands of displaced people whose fundamental rights are being violated,” Takirambudde said.

Human Rights Watch called on the Zimbabwean government to permit national and international humanitarian agencies full and unhindered access to these internally displaced persons and other victims of Operation Murambatsvina. The government should immediately provide the displaced persons with assistance and protection—including food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical services—or ensure them access to these services. Humanitarian agencies should give priority to the needs of vulnerable groups such as widows, children, the elderly and the chronically ill.

The report called on the U.N. country team to work in full compliance with its mandate to assist and protect the displaced and to advocate for the human rights of all those displaced by Operation Murambatsvina.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/12/01/zimbab12111.htm

Africa/Global: New report calls for integrated approach to HIV/AIDS involving refugees and host communities

2005-12-01

http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/news/opendoc.htm?tbl=NEWS&id=438dc0294

Refugees are people, and people are prone to catch HIV from each other – and then pass it on to others – unless they have some understanding of the disease and take the necessary precautions to prevent it spreading. However, traditional structures for dealing with refugees – from the camp management level up to the host and donor government policy-making levels – have tended to ignore the obvious: when it comes to HIV/AIDS, refugees should not be treated in isolation from the surrounding population. The UN refugee agency has been working closely with UNAIDS – of which it became a co-sponsor in June 2004 – to address these issues. Marking this year's World AIDS Day on, December 1, a jointly produced publication that is part of the UNAIDS 'Best Practice Collection' will be officially launched.

Africa: Money sent by African migrants rivals aid

2005-11-30

http://www.afrol.com/articles/17413

Every day, thousands of Africans living abroad line up in money-transfer offices to wire home the odd dollar they are able to save. From the US, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Belgium - the top sources of remittances to developing countries - the total of money sent is more than foreign development aid. Yet most of the money sent home by migrants is unrecorded, and therefore does not enter many countries' national statistics. Development planners increasingly stress the importance of tracking this money. That could help governments try to increase remittances as a source of development finance and better channel them into productive sectors.

Global: UNHCR – Violence against women is a priority

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/8hrhg

Violence is a common thread in the lives of refugees and displaced people all over the world. War, torture and persecution provide the grim background to their flight, while displacement and exile often engender more violence, reports Peace Women. For women refugees, the situation can be even worse than it is for men, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said combating violence against refugee women was one of his top priorities.

Ivory Coast: Tough living for war-displaced and their hosts

2005-11-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50362

Abidjan, the economic capital of the world’s top cocoa producer, has grown by some 933,000 war-displaced to an estimated population of four million, according to a new survey financed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Drawing on local custom, at least half of those uprooted found temporary or long-term shelter with relatives, the study found. Especially during the early chaotic months of the war, some people managed to absorb more than twenty relatives in their home.

Nigeria: UNHCR to spend $1.5m on reparation

2005-11-30

http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=11/30/2005&qrTitle=UNCHR%20to%20spend%20$1.5m%20on%20reparation&qrColumn=NATION

UNHCR Country Representative Alphafonso Malanda said that 1.5 million dollars would be spent to resettle internally displaced Nigerians and the reparation of Nigerians that sought refuge in Cameroun owing to conflicts. He said that the National Commission for Refugees had funded the reconstruction of destroyed structures and facilities of the affected communities so that the displaced Nigerians could return to their original abode.

Sudan: New IDPs seek refuge in Gereida, South Darfur

2005-12-01

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50438

Some 5,000 people have sought refuge in Gereida town over the past week, following violent clashes in the conflict-torn western Sudanese state of South Darfur that had already displaced 15,000, the international NGO Oxfam reported. "We are now estimating that between 18,000 and 20,000 IDPs [internally displaced persons] have newly arrived in Gereida, although the number hasn't been officially confirmed yet," Nicki Bennett, spokeswoman for Oxfam in Sudan, said on Wednesday.

Egypt: Banned Islamic group wins seats in elections

2005-12-01

http://allafrica.com/stories/200511291042.html

The Muslim Brotherhood obtained a record 76 seats in the second round of legislative elections held on November 27, despite arrests, intimidation and violence. Just like in the first round, the vote saw the advance of independent candidates connected with the Muslim Brotherhood group, which is banned from taking part in the elections. It, however, organised a campaign with the slogan: Islam is the solution.

Ethiopia: Prisoners' hunger strike

2005-12-01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4477414.stm

Three opposition leaders and a human rights activist in Ethiopia say they will go on hunger strike from Monday (November 28) in protest against their detention. The four were arrested at the beginning of this month during violent protests over May's disputed election results. They have not been formally charged but Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says they could be tried for treason. CUD leader Hailu Shawel and two top party officials say their detention is politically-motivated.

Gabon: Opposition claims early lead in Gabon vote

2005-11-29

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=257972

The final results from Gabon's presidential vote are expected on Tuesday, election officials said. Gabon's public television and two private channels reported results from several cities and departments that showed, as expected, that President Omar Bongo would defeat his four challengers, reports the Mail and Guardian. The 69-year-old Bongo, the longest-serving African leader, was supported by a political coalition of more than 40 parties and has maintained an iron grip on the media.

Kenya: Nobel laureate appeals for calm in Kenya

2005-11-29

http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=258038

South Africa’s Mail and Guardian reports that Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai on Tuesday urged Kenya's bickering political leaders to show restraint in a crisis of authority that has raised fears of unrest in East Africa's most stable nation. Hoping to trade on respect earned when she won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, Maathai urged Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki and the opposition to cool tensions that erupted after last week's rejection of a new Constitution. "Leaders must now remove the barrier which divided Kenyans and now threatens justice and security," she told reporters at a news conference in Nairobi.

Kenya: Refreshed ultimatum for Constitution

2005-11-29

http://allafrica.com/stories/200511290761.html

The Orange Democratic Movement has put together a new document which gives President Kibaki 180 days to deliver a new constitution. "Now that the proposed constitution has been rejected, we urge the President to fulfill his original promise and deliver a people's constitution within 180 days." "It will be a constitution that will secure democracy and social progress to the people of Kenya, our children, grandchildren and generations to come," they said. They said the rejection of the proposed constitution had given Kenyans an opportunity of reconsidering the issues which were not negotiated and that Kenyans would no longer tolerate individual MPs being given ministerial responsibilities without their parties' consent as this undermined the democratic process.

South Africa: Insults fly as SACP and ANC clash

2005-12-01

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=6&art_id=vn20051130065548297C664639

Open verbal war broke out on Tuesday November 29 night between the Western Cape ANC and its key alliance partner, the SA Communist Party, with the SACP accusing "elements" of the ANC leadership of being racist and corrupt, and the ANC hitting back, calling the accusations "childish", "tragic" and devoid of truth. The communists were acting as though they were in heaven and everyone else was in hell, the ANC charged. The extraordinary verbal battle between the two parties came as tensions rise in the ANC ahead of next year's local government elections and against the backdrop of a drawn-out and debilitating regional fight for the heart and soul of the party.

Uganda: Museveni's rival returns to jail

2005-12-01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4481576.stm

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has appeared in the High Court to sign bail papers, but then returned to jail. He is charged with treason, but is also accused of terrorism in a military court for which he is now being held. A constitutional court is now to decide whether it's legal for the two courts to try him simultaneously.

Zimbabwe: MDC leader suspended

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/dh689

Zimbabwe's embattled leading opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has suspended its own leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, from his position, according to internal party correspondence. In a letter obtained by Agence France-Presse on Monday, MDC vice-president Gibson Sibanda said a national disciplinary committee met last week and resolved to suspend Tsvangirai from his position as president with "immediate effect". Sibanda said the suspension is for misconduct charges, including violation of the party's constitution, as reported by the Mail and Guardian.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe's party sweeps Senate poll

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/83fk7

President Robert Mugabe's party in Zimbabwe has won all but seven seats in a controversial new Senate, crushing the challenge posed by a severely weakened opposition party, final results showed on Monday, November 28. According to final results announced by the official electoral commission, the ruling party secured 43 seats in the 66-seat Upper House, while the main opposition party won seven. With an additional 10 seats in the Senate reserved for traditional chiefs loyal to Mugabe, and six others to be appointed by the president, the results confirm the ruling party's dominance of both Houses of Parliament, reports the Mail and Guardian.

Africa: Despotism hinders Africa's development, PAP hears

2005-11-28

http://www.odiousdebts.org/odiousdebts/index.cfm?DSP=content&ContentID=14186

Corruption and despotism were highlighted during an introspective session of the Pan African Parliament on Friday as key stumbling blocks to the continent's development. Along with ignorance, these had replaced the evils imposed on Africa by colonialism and imperialism, United Kingdom High Commissioner to South Africa Paul Boateng told a parliamentary sitting in Midrand.

Ghana: Anti-corruption newsletter launched

2005-11-30

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=119351&src=dcn

The Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition has launched its quarterly newsletter in Accra. Speaking at the launch, the Chairman of the Coalition, Reverend Fred Deegbe, said that although people perceive corruption in the country to be high, they are not actively involved in the crusade. This he said is because of the lack of understanding of the real issues at stake. He said the Anti-Corruption Dialogue newsletter is expected to serve as an instrument for promoting the anti-corruption agenda.

Mozambique: Red tape and graft the major threat to growth

2005-11-28

http://za.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=businessNews&storyID=2005-11-28T105241Z_01_BAN839160_RTRIDST_0_OZABS-ECONOMY-MOZAMBIQUE-20051128.XML

Red tape, archaic laws and corruption are seen as major threats to Mozambique's reform agenda, which has won the country stable economic growth and acclaim from international lenders, analysts said on Monday, reports Reuters. Analysts say a growth average of 8 percent annually over the past decade has yet to deliver a solution for poverty, and further reforms and investment were required to bolster this southern African country of 18 million people.

Nigeria: Nigerian ex-police chief jailed in corruption case

2005-11-28

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=119304&src=dcn

Nigeria convicted a former police chief in a $150 million money-laundering case on Tuesday, but anti-corruption campaigners said the jail term was so short it undermined the war on graft. Tafa Balogun, the most senior official to be convicted in a corruption case, will spend six months in jail as his eight sentences of six months each are to run concurrently. He was fined 4 million naira, while about $150 million in cash and property will be confiscated by government.

South Africa: Zuma should still be ANC president, says youth league

2005-11-28

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=qw1133174340547B252

Jacob Zuma should still become president of the African National Congress, the ANC Youth League said on Monday. This follows statements by the SA Communist Party and the Congress of SA Trade Unions that they had never said they wanted Zuma to be the president of the ANC. Although Zuma would go to trial on corruption charges and was facing an allegation of rape, he should be considered innocent until proven otherwise.

Africa: African Finance Ministers Seek Total Debt Cancellation

2005-12-01

http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=34190

African Finance Ministers have recommended 100 per cent debt relief for non-Highly Indebted Poor Countries (non-HIPC) facing special economic difficulties. Making the recommendation at a two-day consultative meeting in Tunis, the ministers, who did not give names of such countries, said discussions on total debt cancellations for the countries would be made at the meeting of deputies of African Development Fund (ADF) and International Development Association (IDA) in Washington next month.

Burundi: New debt relief from African Development Bank

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/a6hum

The African Development Bank (ADB) Group said Burundi had met the conditions needed to qualify for US $226.01 million ($149.35 million in Net Present Value terms) in debt relief. "This amount will save up to 90 percent of Burundi's debt service obligations annually until February 2043," the bank said in a statement following a decision by its board of directors and those of the African Development Fund, one of the bank's entities. The ADB share of debt relief is equivalent to 18 percent of the relief being offered by all of Burundi's creditors, according to AlertNet.

Global: Concerns over draft Ministerial text

2005-12-01

http://www.twnside.org.sg/title2/twninfo301.htm

The draft ministerial text for the upcoming WTO heads of state meeting in Hong Kong put forward on 26 November by the WTO Director-General and the General Council chair received, at the informal heads of delegation meeting on Monday, some pleasantries over the so-called 'bottom up' approach on how the text was put together, with several developing countries however highlighting the fact that many parts of the current draft did not enjoy the agreement of all members.

Global: Sugar deal 'bitter blow' to poor

2005-11-29

http://www.actionaid.org

Agreement between European farm ministers on a new EU sugar regime will throw many people in developing countries into poverty, the international development agency ActionAid warned. The 36 per cent price reduction in EU sugar agreed as part of the deal, phased in over four years from 2006, is almost double the cut the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific group of sugar-producing countries were prepared to accept - they had requested a 19 per cent cut over eight years. At the same time, the EC is limiting the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) access to EU markets for sugar under the Everything But Arms (EBA) proposal.

Global: What did the WSIS achieve for ICTs and Development?

2005-11-29

http://www.id21.org/viewpoints/WSISNov05.html

Richard Heeks from the University of Manchester reflects on the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) which was held in Tunis on 16-18 November 2005. The WSIS focused on the usual suspects: financing, Internet governance, human rights and the $100 laptop. But according to Heeks, these took the spotlight away from the crucial issues such as: The IT Sector; Resources for Action; Independent Research and; BIG new ideas. These were absent from the debate and should be pushed to centre stage. However, he still says: "I hope there are similar events in future. It was a unique, invigorating experience. And - whatever the missing elements - it was a rare opportunity for thousands to focus on, and learn more about, that central transformative force in development: technology."

Kenya: African cotton farmers meeting

2005-12-01

http://www.actionaid.org.uk

On December 7 and 8 ActionAid International (Kenya) will host a Pre-Hong Kong meeting for Cotton Farmers in Africa to be held at the Pan Africa hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. The Sixth World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference is scheduled to take place from 13th – 18th December 2005 in Hong Kong. It is expected that fundamental issues with far reaching implications on the development of African agriculture are going to be part of the agenda for discussion. All sub-sectors in agriculture are going to be affected in one way or the other by decisions to be made during this crucial and important conference. One such sub-sector at the heart of most African farmers is cotton which is an important element of the on-going negotiations in agriculture. In view of the above, ActionAid International Kenya will be organizing a meeting in Nairobi whose overriding goal is to mobilize cotton producers from around Africa to voice out their concerns ahead of the forthcoming WTO meeting. The outcome of the meeting will be presented to the delegates attending the WTO meeting for advocacy and lobbying purposes during the Ministerial conference.

Zimbabwe: Zim pays further $10m to IMF

2005-11-29

http://africa.iafrica.com/african_business/625325.htm

Zimbabwe last Friday paid an additional $10-million to the International Monetary Fund as it seeks to move out of the red, with only $25-million now outstanding under the critical General Resources Account, the state-controlled Zimbabwe Herald newspaper reported on Monday. It said Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono had confirmed the payment at the weekend, adding that a total of $67-million had also been paid towards the procurement of fuel, grain, power imports, seed and other critical requirements. The payment to the Bretton Woods institution brings to $155-million the amount paid by the country this year alone, it added.

Africa/Global: Lack of Coordination, Leadership Led To Missed 3 by 5 Target, Treatment Advocacy Coalition Report Says

2005-12-01

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=33991

The World Health Organization will miss its 3 by 5 Initiative target of treating three million HIV-positive people in developing countries with antiretroviral drugs by the end of this year because of a lack of cooperation and coordination internationally and a lack of national leadership, according to a report released on Monday by a coalition of HIV/AIDS treatment advocates, the New York Times reports. The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition, a group of 600 treatment advocates from more than 100 countries, produced the report, titled "Missing the Target -- A Report on HIV/AIDS Treatment Access from the Frontlines," which aims to identify challenges to treatment access and provide solutions to overcome them.

Africa: Contraception for Women and Couples with HIV

2005-11-29

http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Training/trainmat/ARVmodule.htm

Increased access to antiretroviral (ARV) therapy and the resulting improvements in health have given many clients with HIV a renewed optimism about the future. As personal situations improve, these clients may reconsider their reproductive options — some deciding whether to have children, others resuming sexual activity while wanting to avoid pregnancy. As a result, demand for contraception among clients with HIV, especially those on ARV therapy, is expected to increase.

Africa: More Africans dying of poverty, disease

Kenneth Kwama

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/30604

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that eighty percent of the 11 million deaths that occur in Africa each year are as a result of preventable diseases. Dr Dick Johnson, an economist with the WHO, told a regional conference comprising regional health ministers and experts converging on Kampala that HIV/Aids, lower respiratory tract infection, malaria and diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for more than half of these deaths.
Kampala
More Africans dying of poverty, disease
By Kenneth Kwama
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that eighty percent of the 11
million deaths that occur in Africa each year are as a result of
preventable diseases.
Dr Dick Johnson, an economist with the WHO, told a regional conference
comprising regional health ministers and experts converging on Kampala
that HIV/Aids, lower respiratory tract infection, malaria and
diarrhoeal diseases are responsible for more than half of these
deaths.
"This heavy burden of disease has contributed significantly to
Africa's chronically poor economic performance and poverty," he said.
British charity Save the Children-UK told participants at the meeting
that research in East and Central Africa had shown abolition of user
fees could greatly improve health care and reduce death rates.
"These studies show that the current system of financing health care
is excluding between thirty and sixty per cent of the population,
especially the poor, from accessing health care and we hope the
conference will come up with better ways of paying for health care,"
said Sophie Witter, a researcher with the organisation.
Regina Keith, a senior health adviser also with the organisation, said
further research had indicated making essential health care services
free at the point of access could save the lives of up to a quarter of
a million children under five.
The conference, convened by WHO and Save the Children-UK amongst other
development partners, is discussing ways to improve Fair and
sustainable health financing (FSHF) in Africa.
Uganda's minister of health Jim Muhwezi said preventable diseases have
been a major worry in the region where preventive and curative
technology is known, but not affordable.
"Due to public outcry, Uganda abolished user fees in 2001. Our
challenges are how to fund this policy. It is timely for experts to
meet and advise on how we can solve ealth financing bottlenecks," he
said.

Africa: The pharmaceutical industry and access to ARVs in Africa

Health Action International briefing paper

2005-11-30

http://www.haiafrica.org/downloads/Fact_sheet_pharma_and_ARV_access.pdf

"The private pharmaceutical industry remains the most important source for the global supply of ARVs today. While the research-based pharmaceutical companies have been responsible for development of many of the medicines used to treat HIV/AIDS, the generic industry for its part has contributed enormously to making widespread treatment possible in the developing world, because of their innovative fixed dose combination tablets (FDCs) and their more affordable prices relative to their brand-name equivalents. FDCs mean that all the required medicines can be combined into one pill which often patients take just once or twice a day."

Africa: Women Who Suffer Domestic Violence Experience Long-Lasting Health Problems, Report Says

2005-11-29

http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=33946

Women who suffer physical abuse from intimate partners - the most common form of violence perpetrated against women worldwide - experience serious health consequences, according to a report released last Thursday by the World Health Organization, the AP/Boston Globe reports. The survey of 24,000 women in 10 countries found that women who suffer domestic abuse were twice as likely as other women to suffer health problems, including pain, dizziness, gynecological and mental health problems, which persist after the abuse has stopped, the report says.

Lesotho: Lesotho to offer free HIV tests

2005-11-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4480108.stm

The government of Lesotho is to offer free HIV testing to all its citizens in a bid to reverse the spread of Aids. In what is believed to be the first programme of its kind in the world, every villager in the tiny, mountainous kingdom will be offered a test. Under the scheme, local leaders will be consulted on how best to offer HIV tests to everyone.

South Africa: End State Sanctioned Denial

Treatment Action Campaign Briefing

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/hivaids/30656

"The Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) have filed court papers against the Minister of Health, the Medicines Control Council (MCC), the Western Cape MEC for Health, as well as pharmaceutical proprietor Matthias Rath and several of his employees and associates, including AIDS denialists Anthony Brink, David Rasnick and Sam Mhlongo (Professor of Family Medicine, MEDUNSA). This briefing explains why. In addition to Rath, his employees and associates, we are also suing our government and certain statutory bodies. We do so with great reluctance. But it is our mandate and duty to protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. The Minister and the statutory bodies that she oversees have had ample opportunity to avoid this litigation but have chosen not to."

End State Sanctioned Denial!


A TAC briefing on why TAC and SAMA are taking the Minister of
Health to court


The Treatment Action Campaign and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) have filed court papers against the Minister of Health, the Medicines Control Council (MCC), the Western Cape MEC for Health, as well as pharmaceutical proprietor Matthias Rath and several of his employees and associates, including AIDS denialists Anthony Brink, David Rasnick and Sam Mhlongo (Professor of Family Medicine, MEDUNSA). This briefing explains why.

In addition to Rath, his employees and associates, we are also suing our government and certain statutory bodies. We do so with great reluctance. But it is our mandate and duty to protect the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS. The Minister and the statutory bodies that she oversees have had ample opportunity to avoid this litigation but have chosen not to.

Over 5 million people live with HIV in South Africa. Over 300,000 people died of AIDS last year and more will die this year. It is crucial if we are to make progress against the epidemic that government officials convey accurate information about the disease, especially its prevention and treatment. The scientifically bogus messages engulfing South African society about HIV is leading to confusion and numerous avoidable deaths.


The Minister of Health: A track record of supporting AIDS denialists


The Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, has a track record of supporting AIDS denialists, including Roberto Girraldo, Tine van der Maas and Matthias Rath. Despite a Cabinet decision in November 2003 to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment, the only scientifically proven medicines to reverse the course of AIDS, she has not once encouraged people to seek such treatment. Her exaggeration of the side-effects of ARVs has discouraged people from using them. On numerous occasions she has encouraged people to seek unproven treatments for AIDS including garlic, African potatoes, olive oil and multivitamins.

The consequence of this has been public confusion. Such confusion is likely to have caused many avoidable premature deaths.

The right of patients to receive accurate information is described in the recently adopted National Health Act. Irrespective of Tshabalala-Msimang's personal opinions, it is her duty as Minister of Health, i.e. an appointed public official, to convey to the public accurate information on HIV, including its prevention and treatment, based on the current scientific consensus. This means she must encourage people to get tested for HIV and, if necessary, get treated using the best available medicines at public health facilities including using opportunistic infection drugs and ARVs.


Matthias Rath's illegal activities


Since at least November 2004, the German pharmaceutical proprietor Matthias Rath has been openly conducting illegal activities in South Africa to the knowledge of the Minister, Western Cape provincial health department and the Medicines Control Council. These include:

* making false claims about medicines, including that vitamins
(which he sells) reverse the course of AIDS and that
antiretrovirals make AIDS worse;
* distributing medicines (since 2005), unregistered for the
treatment of HIV, with the purpose of treating people with HIV and
in doing so persuading them not to seek the services of the public
health system; and
* conducting an experiment (since 2005) on humans without the
authorisation of the Medicines Control Council

The above activities are in contravention of the Medicines Act (1968). Furthermore Rath has been representing himself as a medical doctor while carrying out these duties, even though he is not registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) or any other professional statutory body. This is illegal.

A number of people have died directly as a result of Rath's illegal activities. TAC has analysed some of these deaths in an article available on our website, www.tac.org.za Possibly many more people have died because of the confusion he has created.

Rath's activities are not only illegal; they also directly contradict government policy, in particular the Operational Plan for HIV/AIDS Care, Management and Treatment (Operational Plan) adopted by Cabinet on 19 November 2003.


TAC's efforts to get state authorities to stop Rath's activities


TAC has been trying to get the relevant state authorities to take action against Rath since February 2005. Our efforts included alerting the MCC in February, filing a complaint with the HPCSA which lead to them filing a complaint with the Khayelitsha police, meeting with Department of Health law enforcement agents in April, submitting a detailed affidavit presenting evidence of Rath's illegal activities to the Department of Health's Law Enforcement Unit in May and writing several letters to the MCC, Minister of Health and Western Cape MEC for Health. We have also held several demonstrations highlighting Rath's dangerous activities.

Other organisations including Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), as well as a group of about 200 Western Cape doctors have also tried to get government to stop the illegal activities of Rath. Individuals, including journalist Terry Bell, have also laid complaints with the MCC.

Rath has been condemned by the United Nations, SAMA, MSF, Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, SACC, COSATU, SACP, Harvard School of Medicine, ANC MPs Kader Asmal and Ben Turok, ANC Western Cape Health Portfolio Committee member Saadiq Kariem and many others. He has been ordered to withdraw unsubstantiated claims in his adverts by the Advertising Standards Authority of South Africa (ASASA) as well as the British equivalent of ASASA. He has at least two court judgments against him in Germany for making unsubstantiated claims about vitamin supplements in adverts. He also has a court ruling against him in Holland for defamation. The US Food and Drug Administration has cautioned him for making unproven claims about his vitamins.


Government’s failure to act


Despite the TAC’s and others' efforts to get government to act, nothing systematic has been done to stop the illegal activities of Rath. On the contrary, the Minister of Health's actions could only have emboldened him. For example:

* Despite having numerous opportunities to condemn Rath, the
Minister of Health has never done so. For example, at an Imbizo in
Khayelitsha addressed by the Minister of Health on 16 April,
numerous members of the community asked the Minister to condemn
the activities of Rath. She refused to do so.

* In an answer to a question in Parliament on 15 June 2005, the
Minister admitted to having had a meeting alone with Rath on 16
April 2005, and said that they “discussed his concern for people
infected with HIV and suffering from the impact of AIDS”. She said
she would “only distance myself from Dr Rath if it can be
demonstrated that the vitamin supplements that he is prescribing
are poisonous for people infected with HIV.”

* She allowed Rath's agents, David Rasnick and Sam Mhlongo, to
present their claims to the National Health Council on 23
September 2005.

* A Rath publication, You Can!, states “The Dr. Rath Health
Foundation Africa has the support of our Minister of Health and
our Government.” The Minister of Health has not distanced herself
from this statement.

* In various radio interviews, the Director-General of Health has
made confusing, unscientific statements about Rath's drugs and
antiretrovirals (see TAC founding affidavit or www.health-e.org.za
for details). His statements can only be interpreted as supportive
of Rath.

* The Minister of Health has also appeared supportingly in a
propaganda video produced by another pseudo-scientist, Tine van
der Maas. Van der Maas claims that her recipes treat AIDS, as well
as other diseases such as diabetes. The Minister has shown this
video in some forums. The production of the video was in part
supported by the Rath Foundation.


The Medicines Control Council and the MEC for Health in the Western Cape have likewise failed to take any concerted action against Rath. Our court papers, however, do not seek any order against them, unless they oppose the application, in which case we will ask the court for costs.


What is in the TAC/SAMA court papers?


The Notice of Motion asks the court to find that Matthias Rath and his foundation are breaching the law by conducting an illegal clinical trial and distributing medicines in violation of the Medicines Act. We seek an interdict against Rath, his foundation and various Rath agents to stop them from continuing these illegal activities and to stop them from publishing false claims in adverts (including pamphlets and posters) about their products.

We also ask the court to find that the Minister of Health and Director-General have a duty to take measures against these illegal activities. Therefore, we ask the court to order them to report to the court, within a month of judgment, what steps they have taken to ensure the requested court order against Rath and his agents is carried out.

The main *founding affidavit* presents the evidence that Rath and his agents have broken the law, as well as evidence of the state's failure to act. It explains the following affidavits:

*Robert Dorrington*, head of the Centre for Actuarial Research at UCT, describes the state of the HIV epidemic in South Africa and its effect on mortality.

*Francois Venter*, President of the Southern African HIV Clinicians Society, has provided an affidavit explaining the science of HIV. He explains that there is scientific consensus that antiretrovirals are the only treatments currently available that reverse the course of AIDS. He also explains that although there is evidence that multivitamins slow down progression to AIDS, they are not a substitute for antiretroviral treatment. He points out that Rath does not prescribe the same vitamins in the same dosages as those that have been found to be useful for people with HIV. He also describes some of the poor logic and factual distortions of AIDS denialists. Venter also describes the false claims made by Rath and his agents in advertising.

*Andrew Gray*, an expert pharmacologist at the Nelson Mandela Medical School, UKZN, explains that in his view Rath's drugs are being sold in violation of the Medicines Act.

*Leslie London*, a professor at UCT's medical school and an expert in public health and bioethics, contends that Rath's clinical trial is illegal and unethical.

Affidavits by *Nandipha Ntsholo* and others (some of whom wish to remain anonymous) explain that they visited Rath clinics and were treated as part of a human experiment.

*Zondani Magwebu* and another deponent (who wishes to remain anonymous) describe how close members died who were being treated by Rath and/or his agents.

*Peter Saranchuk*, an MSF doctor working in Khayelitsha, and Kevin Rebe, an HIV doctor at GF Jooste Hospital, explain how their patients were confused by Rath and/or his agents. In Saranchuk's case, one patient he was treating died as a result of the patient's delay in seeking assistance from the public health system.

*Marta Darder* of MSF explains the efforts she made to get the relevant authorities to act against the illegal activities of Rath.

*Marius Otto*, representing SAMA, explains SAMA's interest in protecting public health.


The issue of choice


It has been alleged that TAC is denying people choices by taking action against Rath. This is not true. The Minister of Health, like all elected and appointed public officials, has a duty to provide the public with scientifically accurate information on HIV treatment, not choices between proven treatments and unproven ones. Individuals then have the choice to follow her advice or ignore it. The same is true for pharmaceutical proprietors. They may not make unproven claims about their products because doing so results in people making poorly informed choices.


TAC's position on proper nutrition


TAC supports government's policy of ensuring proper nutrition for people living with HIV including providing food parcels, vitamin supplements and social grants. Good nutrition extends the lives of people with HIV and delays the onset of AIDS. But vitamins are not a substitute for ARVs and should not be prescribed in untested doses, as is being done by Rath and people who work for him.


What TAC hopes to achieve


TAC hopes to bring about an end to the politically supported campaign of AIDS denialism, misinformation and pseudo-science. Yet again we call on the Minister of Health to end her support of Rath, his agents and other pseudo-scientists by agreeing to act decisively against such people. We urge the Minister to not let untested claims fool her. We have lost too many lives because of AIDS denialism. It is time for the Minister to lead, not to confuse.

Spokespeople:

English and Xhosa
Sipho Mthathi (General Secretary): 021 788 3507
Linda Mafu (National Organiser): 021 788 3507
Vuyiseka Dubula (Western Cape Treatment Literacy Co-ordinator): 082 763 3005
Luyanda Ngonyama (Gauteng Co-ordinator): 011 339 8421
Mandla Majola (Khayelitsha District Co-ordinator): 072 424 7181

English and Zulu
Nokhwezi Hoboyi (Equal Treatment Co-editor): 072 064 4157
Johanna Ncala (Gauteng Treatment Literacy Co-ordinator): 082 735 4265

Sotho
Pholokgolo Ramothwala (Limpopo Provincial Co-ordinator): 084 300 7006

Afrikaans
Fredaline Booysen (Western Cape Organiser): 021 447 2593


[END OF TAC/SAMA LITIGATION AGAINST MOH]

Swaziland: Hospitals run out of ARVs

2005-11-29

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50180

Swaziland is facing a serious breakdown in the supply of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for patients with HIV, and some hospitals acknowledge that stocks ran out weeks ago. Sporadic ARV shortages have been reported at the main government hospital in the capital, Mbabane, and at the provincial government hospital in Siteki in eastern Swaziland.

West Africa: Even low HIV rate countries in need of attention

2005-11-29

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50230

As the UN launched its annual report on global AIDS statistics on Monday, activists warned that West African countries with low HIV/AIDS rates could not afford to be complacent. "We must not wait for the AIDS pandemic to shoot up before we react," said Baba Goumbala, executive secretary of the country’s National Alliance Against AIDS (ANCS), a group of Senegalese NGOs and community-based associations.

Africa: Science needs more training networks

2005-11-29

http://tinyurl.com/76ye9

Due to donor priorities, efforts to build science capacity in Africa have tended to focus on health and agriculture. Two South African initiatives have bucked the trend — they are home-grown, and focus on physics and mathematics. This editorial in Nature says the National Astrophysics and Space Science programme (NASSP) and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) are having significant impacts in South Africa and across the continent, according to SciDev.

Burundi: No school fees for primary students in Burundi, but what about quality?

2005-12-01

http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/rdr.cfm?doc=DOC20339

This commentary from an Eldis Editor looks at how the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, has taken the brave step of dropping fees for primary school, thereby making access to primary education easier for many children in the country. But what about the education sector's ability to cope with a sudden increase in demand for education? Are there enough teachers? Is there enough money? And, as the student to teacher ratio will inevitably increase, what happens to the quality of education these children will receive?

Global: Education for Rural People (ERP)Tool Kit

2005-11-29

http://www.comminit.com/materials/ma2005/materials-2408.html

This toolkit is structured as a website providing a wide range of educational materials and other resources designed for use by "rural teachers, instructors, trainers, parents, researchers, extensionists and others involved in formal and non formal education for rural people". Most of these resources are available online and are produced by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Global: Educational Equity and Mother Tongue-based Teaching

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/bkvk3

This new UNESCO publication argues that language, specifically the language used in schools, is one of the principal mechanisms through which inequality in education is reproduced. It shows how the learner’s mother tongue holds the key to making schooling more inclusive for all disadvantaged groups, especially for girls and women.

Global: Efforts to achieve gender parity in primary education off track, Unicef says

2005-12-01

http://www.oneworld.net/link/gotoarticle/addhit/122947/66/49568

The world is set to miss its target of getting as many girls as boys into schools by the end of this year, the UN children’s fund (Unicef) said. In a new study, Unicef said that efforts to achieve gender parity in primary education were off track, despite progress in many nations.

Global: Literacy at top of high-level meeting agenda in Beijing

2005-11-29

http://tinyurl.com/dybgs

Education ministers from 22 countries along with representatives from the main donor nations, multilateral agencies and civil society will meet next week in Beijing, China (28-30 November) to discuss ways of accelerating progress towards the six Education for All (EFA) goals set by over 160 countries at the World Education Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in 2000, reports UNESCO.

Nigeria: The Impact of Oral Tradition on Contemporary Children's Fiction in Nigeria

2005-11-29

http://www.comminit.com/strategicthinking/st2005/thinking-1154.html

This paper examines how oral tradition - "verbal arts or oral literature, customs, belief and other institutions, arts including games, as well as musical instruments" - can be used to foster reading on the part of the African child. Research examined written prose, some of it in the Nigerian indigenous language (Yoruba), in an effort to explore linguistic and cultural differences of child authors (ages 7-15) based on the way they tell their stories. Findings suggest that African children can be stimulated to read if they are first told a story; storytelling should be encouraged, the author urges, especially in the primary and lower secondary schools.

Ivory Coast: Zoro suffers more racist abuse

2005-11-29

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/4476412.stm

Messina's Ivorian defender Marc Zoro was reduced to tears on Sunday, after being subjected to racial abuse by the visiting fans of Inter Milan, in the Italian Serie A. The 21-year-old was targetted when he went to collect the ball near the away supporters' section and after a chorus of monkey chants he decided he would take no more part in the game. Inter's Brazilian striker Adriano went over to console Zoro before he broke down in tears.

South Africa: Justice by the colour bar

2005-12-01

http://www.africasia.com/newafrican/na.php?ID=748

Eleven years after South Africa’s miraculous transition from apartheid, the spectre of race has reared itself in the judiciary, the very institution that is tasked with upholding the rule of law. Both black and white judges are now accusing each other of racism in their rulings, reports the New African.

Africa: Nations moving to create single power pool

2005-11-29

http://www.miningweekly.co.za/?show=78079

African nations are moving toward creating a single power pool, overcoming geographical hurdles in order to light and develop the world's poorest continent, a senior energy industry official said on Friday, November 25. Joshua Kofi, the president of African energy consortium UPDEA, which coordinates power projects on the continent, said the five existing regional power pools would be integrated into one within five to 10 years.

Democratic Republic of Congo: New logging thrust into rainforests

2005-11-29

http://www.rainforestfoundationuk.org/s-Campaign%20News

Among other direct and underlying causes of deforestation, Africa's rainforest ecosystems are threatened by logging, as are virtually all of the world's remaining large, contiguous rainforests. These biodiversity rich rainforests provide critical habitat not only to local indigenous but all of the Earth's peoples and species. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the threat has become a reality.

Global: Kyoto talks begin amid warnings

2005-11-29

http://cooltech.iafrica.com/science/630844.htm

Envoys from more than 180 nations on Monday held crucial talks in Montreal on the UN Kyoto Protocol on curbing greenhouse gases, amid warnings from scientists and environmentalists that climate change could have profound consequences. Experts pointed out that developing countries like China and India will now have to contribute to anti-pollution controls. Further, the present commitment period does not include the planet's worst polluter, the United States, which walked away from the protocol in 2001 because of the high cost of meeting its Kyoto targets.

South Africa: Sappi Saiccor to expand its polluting pulp mill?

2005-11-29

http://www.chrislang.blogspot.com

South African pulp and paper company Sappi is planning to increase the capacity of its Sappi Saiccor mill by more than 200,000 tons a year. Sappi Saiccor is the largest producer of chemical cellulose (dissolvable pulp) in the world. Its mill at Umkomaas, about 50 kilometres south of Durban Port currently produces about 600,000 tons of chemical cellulose a year. The chemical cellulose is used to produce things like cigarette filters, sweet wrappers, an additive to washing powder that stops dirt
sticking to clothes and the stuff that makes vitamin tablets stick together. Almost all of Saiccor's cellulose is exported.

Southern Africa: Studies predict drier southern Africa

2005-12-01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4479640.stm

Two new studies based on computer models of global climate change predict arid regions of Africa will only grow drier. The studies suggest changing water temperatures in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans may reduce the amount of rainfall in the Sahel region and southern Africa.

Sudan: Escalating Violence over Merowe Dam

2005-12-01

http://www.irn.org/programs/merowe/index.php?id=051130appeal.html

This is an update about disturbing developments regarding the Merowe Dam Project in Northern Sudan. This dam - the largest hydropower project under construction in Africa - is currently being built by Chinese and Western companies. About 50,000 people are supposed to be displaced to barren places in the Nubian desert for the project. In recent days, tensions around the dam project have escalated. On November 29, violence erupted on Sherri Island, a Nile island that will be submerged by the Merowe reservoir. Massive protests broke out when security forces tried to arrest representatives of the dam-affected communities on this island. In the ensuing scuffles, the office of the dam authority was set afire, and the government officials had to flee the island. According to unconfirmed reports, the government has dispatched three battalions to the area to quash the unrest.

Uganda: Oil palm plantations at the cost of pristine rainforests in Bugala

2005-11-29

http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/220/464984

The growing trend of establishing plantations of oil palm has taken its toll primarily on tropical forests, where this palm finds enough soil, water and solar energy to fill its needs. The typical procedure is to log a certain area of forest and then establish the plantation aimed at the production of oil and kernel oil. But it also happens that plantation companies may "clear" the entire forest by setting it on fire.

Southern Africa: Women’s land ownership critical for economic independence

2005-12-01

http://www.times.co.zm/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1133205257

In Southern Africa, women’s ability to access, own and control means of production such as land and livestock is severely limited by cultural practices and customary laws. This in turn has devastating impacts on their economic independence and ability to move out of poverty. Yet women’s access to land for food production is critical to the welfare of the entire region as it is women who are primarily responsible for maintaining households. Women provide 70-to 80 per cent of all agricultural labour and 90 per cent of all labour involving food production in the region. But they own only a fraction of the land, and constitute the majority of the population living in poverty.

Ethiopia: Two reporters arrested in continuing crackdown on media

2005-11-29

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50384

Ethiopian authorities have arrested two more journalists, bringing the total number seized since bloody political protests erupted early this month to 12, a media watchdog agency reported on Monday. Private newspapers have been prevented from printing, and journalists had gone into hiding after the crackdown, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

Global: OpenAir Radio - World music, culture and current affairs

2005-11-29

http://www.openair.org.uk/

Openair Radio, the new community radio station at the School of Oriental and African Studies, launches its first ever FM broadcast on 101.4FM from 28 November – 16 December to Central London and London Borough of Camden. Webcasting is also available. OpenAir Radio is a ground-breaking initiative set up by students and alumni at the School of Oriental and African Studies in collaboration with the professional media, whilst drawing in community organisations based in the London Borough of Camden.

Somalia: President asked to intercede on behalf of journalist forced into hiding in Puntland

2005-11-29

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=15687

Reporters Without Borders has voiced growing concern about the unacceptable way the authorities in the autonomous northeastern region of Puntland have been treating radio STN editor Awale Jama Salad, who has been forced to go into hiding after being arrested and threatened several times by the police. The organisation has written to President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed of Somalia’s transitional federal government (TFG) reminding him of his responsibilities “as guarantor of the rule of law, the safety of citizens and the free practice of journalism in Somalia” and pointing out that his influence is still decisive in Puntland, of which he is the former leader, and nothing is done there without his consent.

South Africa: Radio conference on media and child abuse

2005-11-29

http://www.journalism.co.za/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=3374

The Media Monitoring Project (MMP), Save the Children Sweden and SAfm have announced the broadcast of South Africa's first ever 'radio conference' on the media's role in covering child abuse. Hosted by Jeremy Maggs, Media@SAfm presenter, the conference will feature a panel of local and international media and children's rights experts who will contextualise the representation of children and abused children in the media and unpack the South African complaints process. Each conference session will be followed by a roundtable discussion allowing for listener interaction.

Uganda: Government threatens to close privately-owned radio stations

2005-11-29

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/70705/?PHPSESSID=530435cfd2b5cd3f7db20bca520ec445

Reporters Without Borders has protested to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni after the country's privately-owned radio stations were threatened with closure if they broadcast debates or talk-shows about the trial of opposition leader Kizza Besigye, which has just begun. Expressing its full support for the radio stations, the press freedom organisation said they could not ignore a major national event, no matter how embarrassing it was for the government.

Chad: President Deby lobs fresh ‘destabilisation’ charges at Sudan

2005-11-30

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=50367

Sudan continues to provide arms and logistical support to Chadian rebels, despite several appeals by the Chadian government, President Idriss Deby said on Monday. “We have proof. The Sudanese government has armed [rebels], put vehicles at their disposal, given them logistics and communications materials,” Deby told Radio France Internationale. “The Sudanese government is complicit.”

Eritrea/Ethiopia: Talks held as border tension simmers

2005-11-30

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/7ee78639bddc40bb5029be416287876d.htm

Ethiopia and Eritrea traded blame for the rising tensions along their shared border on Friday, but vowed not to ignite another war, the United Nations said on Saturday. Military commanders from the two countries met in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, at UN-hosted talks amid growing concern that their border stalemate could lead to renewed conflict. The closed-door talks were held two days after the UN Security Council threatened to impose sanctions against the two countries if they continued to engage in activities that aggravated the border standoff.

Niger: Niger says no food crisis, threatens to expel NGOs

2005-11-30

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L2967279.htm

Niger accused aid agencies such as the World Food Programme of exaggerating the threat of severe food shortages next year to boost their funds and threatened to expel any organisation operating without government blessing. Health Minister Ary Ibrahim said reports of a looming crisis were aimed at harming Niger, after a World Food Programme dossier warned last week that millions of people could face severe food shortages if donor countries let aid funding slip.

Sudan: Calls for African states to sideline Sudan in AU presidency

The Darfur Consortium press release

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/conflict/30630

The Darfur Consortium, a coalition of more than 30 Africa-based and Africa-focused NGOs committed to working for a sustainable solution to the ongoing crisis in Darfur, joined other civil society groups in calling on member states of the Africa Union to reconsider their decision to confer the Presidency of the African Union to Sudan in January. In a letter, issued on the occasion of the 38th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held in Banjul, The Gambia, the coalition pointed out that the government of Sudan has borne responsibility for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Darfur and that the situation in Darfur remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
DARFUR CONSORTIUM CALLS ON AFRICAN STATES NOT TO PASS AU PRESIDENCY TO SUDAN

Contact: Dismas Nkunda (in Banjul) +220-70-190-073
(in Kampala) +256-78-310-404

(BANJUL, November 25, 2005) The Darfur Consortium, a coalition of more than 30 Africa-based and Africa-focused NGOs committed to working for a sustainable solution to the ongoing crisis in Darfur, joined other civil society groups in calling on member states of the Africa Union to reconsider their decision to confer the Presidency of the African Union to Sudan in January.

In a letter, issued on the occasion of the 38th Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights held in Banjul, The Gambia, the coalition pointed out that the government of Sudan has borne responsibility for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Darfur and that the situation in Darfur remains one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

"Conferring the honor of hosting this summit on the Sudanese government under these circumstances would undermine the credibility of the AU," said Dismas Nkunda, a spokesman of the Darfur Consortium.

Further, the coalition urged African states to oppose the Sudanese bid for the AU Presidency, which will be decided by a final vote at the next Summit. The letter argues that handing over the Presidency to Sudan could put the future of the ongoing Abuja peace talks in serious jeopardy.

The AU Presidency has been playing a key role in steering the talks under the Chairmanship of Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo in Abuja. The Sudanese government, as a party to the conflict, is unable to credibly play such a role. Without competent mediation, the entire peace negotiations might collapse.

ENDS

Sudan: Genocide and companies that do business in Sudan

2005-11-30

http://platform.blogs.com/passionofthepresent/2005/11/service_identif.html

The continuing genocide in Darfur in western Sudan has spurred several states to pass Sudan divestment legislation, which bars state pension funds from investing in companies doing business in the Sudan. In response, KLD Research and Analytics Inc. in Boston has launched the Sudan Compliance Service. Companies on the list include: Alcatel, a Paris-based telecommunications firm, Total SA, a Courbevoie, France-based oil company, and Siemens AG, a Munich, Germany-based technology company.

Uganda: Government welcomes rebel overture

2005-12-01

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4484444.stm

Ugandan Interior Minister Ruhakana Rugunda has welcomed a call for peace talks by the deputy commander of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army. He said that if the overture was serious it was a welcome development. The government will seize any opportunity to bring the suffering of people in northern Uganda to an end," he told the BBC. The LRA has fought for 19 years. Peace talks were attempted a year ago, but broke down. "The government is waiting and the government will be ready to meet a delegation of the Lords Resistance Army anytime. So the government is ready," he said.

Zimbabwe: Death toll mounts for Zimbabwe's Operation Murambatsvina victims

2005-11-30

http://www.sokwanele.com/articles/sokwanele/deathtollmountsforopmurambatsvinavictims_25no2005.html

If anyone thought for a moment that the suffering caused by Operation Murambatsvina ("Sweep away the filth") was over, or had abated, they would be seriously mistaken. Nothing could be farther from the truth, reports Sokwanele, a Zimbabwean civic action support group. Six months on from the initial brutal assault which saw 700,000 people in cities across the country losing either their homes, their sources of income or both and a further 2.4 million affected in varying degrees, the misery of the victims continues. Indeed for many it has only intensified in the ensuing months. And the death toll among the internally displaced persons (IDPs) increases week by week.

Africa/Global: Can ICTs be used for peace?

2005-11-30

http://www.ict4peace.org/fs-search/download/ict4peace_ebook.pdf?version_id=9470

This report aims to answer the following question: do ICTs have a special role in promoting peace? The examples of ICT use in warfare are well-known: propaganda, intelligence, communications and ICT-enabled weapons systems. But can ICTs be used in other ways, by other actors, to diffuse a situation leading to conflict, help end a conflict, or allow the stabilisation of a postconflict situation?

Africa/Global: UN debut for $100 laptop for poor

2005-11-30

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4445060.stm

A prototype of a cheap and robust laptop for pupils has been welcomed as an "expression of global solidarity" by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The green machine was showcased for the first time by MIT's Nicholas Negroponte at the UN net summit in Tunis. He plans to have millions of $100 machines in production within a year.

Africa: Join the Geekcorp, see the world

2005-11-30

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=735&s=news

Geekcorps uses volunteers for four month stretches to contribute to ICT projects in developing parts of the world. Geekcorps takes care of most of the costs associated with volunteering, including air travel, lodging, inoculations and a meagre salary. In return for your time, Geekcorps promises adventure, excitement and foreign travel. Geekcorps currently has 3 500 willing geeks on its books, but is currently recruiting for a foray into Africa in 2006.

Africa: ‘Fahamu’s innovations benefit humanity’

Fahamu press release

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/internet/30642

Fahamu, the Kenyan led human rights organisation, has been awarded a Silicon Valley technology award at a recent high profile ceremony in San Jose, California. Fahamu was one of five winners of the Microsoft Education Award, and beat stiff international competition from 85 entries. The Tech Museum Awards go to the "best of the best technologists whose innovations benefit humanity". The Tech Museum Awards honour organisations that use technology to address critical issues facing humankind today. Located in Silicon Valley, The Tech Museum encourages people to engage in technological innovation.
PRESS RELEASE*
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

‘Fahamu’s innovations benefit humanity’


Oxford, UK, 24 November 2005 –Fahamu, the Kenyan led human rights organisation, has been awarded a Silicon Valley technology award at a recent high profile ceremony in San Jose, California. Fahamu was one of five winners of the Microsoft Education Award, and beat stiff international competition from 85 entries.

The Tech Museum Awards go to the "best of the best technologists whose innovations benefit humanity". The Tech Museum Awards honour organisations that use technology to address critical issues facing humankind today. Located in Silicon Valley, The Tech Museum encourages people to engage in technological innovation.

An Oxford and South Africa-based organisation, Fahamu supports the struggle for human rights and social justice in Africa. Fahamu was recognised for its distance-learning courses, which were developed in collaboration with Oxford University.

These courses are designed for low specification computers and for civil society organisations based in areas where access to the internet is limited. The themes of the training programmes range from human rights, advocacy, leadership and management to fundraising, the media and genocide, as well as gender and conflict.

Fahamu has conducted training programmes for the Kenya National Commission for Human Rights based in Nairobi.
more.../
“This is a recognition by Silicon Valley of the importance of human rights in Africa,” said Firoze Manji, the Director of Fahamu. “It is a tribute to the many human rights activists who have been involved in the development of these learning materials.”

“This is acknowledgement of the power of the technology we have developed, which is now being used by leading institutions such as the UN High Commission for Human Rights, Article 19, the University of Oxford and others,” said Becky Faith, Fahamu’s Production Manager.

In addition to producing training materials, Fahamu stimulates debate, discussion and analysis on social justice in Africa through its authoritative weekly newsletter, Pambazuka News, which provides cutting-edge commentary on politics and current affairs.

For more information, contact:

Firoze Manji, Director of Fahamu
Tel: + 44 (0)1865 727006; +44 (0)7786 628686
Email: firoze@fahamu.org
Website: www.fahamu.org

more.../





Notes to Editors:

1. Fahamu means ‘understanding’ or ‘consciousness’ in Swahili, a local language which is widely spoken in East Africa.

2. The 25 winners of the Tech Museum Awards were honoured for their application of technology to better the human condition in the categories of environment, economic development, education, equality and health. Now in their fourth year, the awards are a joint effort between the academic world and the corporate sector. Sponsors of these highly prized awards include Microsoft, Intel and Accenture. www.techawards.org

3. Pambazuka News (http://www.pambazuka.org) is a weekly electronic newsletter on social justice in Africa, and is published by Fahamu.

Uganda: Uganda pioneers in healthcare information system

2005-11-30

http://www.digitalopportunity.org/article/view/122941/1/

Uganda has become the first country in the world to benefit from a healthcare information system that manages, measures and monitors the distribution of Anti retroviral drugs (ARVs). Harvey Stewart, the chief executive of Rocky Mountain Technology Group (RMTG), said the government approached them for a system which can block misuse of ARVs and improve distribution and accountability to donors satisfaction.

Global: American Bar Association - Human Rights Committee weekly newsletter

2005-12-01

http://tinyurl.com/c9rpc

Our newsletter is a forum for posting information of interest to human rights attorneys, activists and educators. People can subscribe to our free weekly newsletter by visiting the following link.

Global: Community radio for development

2005-11-29

http://www.id21.org/communityradio

id21 is holding an email discussion on community radio for development. The impact of new information and communication technologies on development is a subject of extensive international debate. Most discussion focuses on the Internet but development planners and practitioners have recently begun to realise that poor people are more likely to tune into traditional media, such as the radio, for access to information and voice.

Global: Habitat Jam

2005-11-29

http://tinyurl.com/85vg9

Through this online event, thousands of people around the world will be connected in real time over the Internet to discuss and develop solutions to key urban issues. Attempting a new form of global problem-solving that promises to empower people to take charge of decisions that affect their lives, Habitat Jam will try to achieve unprecedented global conversation and collaboration.

Angola/Mozambique: Human Rights Fellows Program for Angola and Mozambique

New deadline for applications: December 4, 2005

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/30639

The Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Open Society Justice Initiative (the Justice Initiative) are pleased to invite applications for the Human Rights Fellows Program for the 2006-2008 session.

This program was launched in 2003 by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA) and the Open Society Justice Initiative, in collaboration with Conectas Human Rights, the Open Society Foundation (South Africa) and South African, Mozambican and Angolan Civic organizations.

The Fellows Program is 20 months in duration and involves both academic study and practical experience in human rights/public interest advocacy. Up to six human rights lawyers and activists from Angola and Mozambique will be selected to participate. Candidates must be nominated by human rights NGOs based in Angola or Mozambique.

For further information, please visit http://www.conectasur.org/pt/noticia.php?cod=890 or write to julia.neiva@conectas.org

Human security perspectives journal special issue on human security and human rights education

Call for papers

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/30641

The Human Security Perspective is an online journal that wishes to enhance the concept of human security by contributing to the development of the global human security agenda and by providing an active forum for exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge and information in the field of human security. The main topic of the third issue of the journal will be dedicated to "HUMAN SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION". The Editorial Committee welcomes original scientific papers addressing this topic.
CALL FOR PAPERS FOR THE HUMAN SECURITY PERSPECTIVES JOURNAL
SPECIAL ISSUE: HUMAN SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

The Human Security Perspective is an online journal that wishes to enhance the concept of human security by contributing to the development of the global human security agenda and by providing an active forum for exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge and information in the field of human security.

The Human Security Perspective born as a follow up of the "International Summer Academy on Human Rights and Human Security" held in Graz in September 2003. The intensive discussion on the human security topic continued online after the end of the Summer Academy and the idea of a joint project in the area of human security as a follow-up evolved.

What we wanted was a forum to which we all can contribute with our personal experience and views and to keep the discussion on human security up. The journal wishes to enhance the concept of human security by contributing to the development of the global human security agenda and by providing an active forum for exchanging ideas, sharing knowledge and information, and opening a floor to discussions.

The main topic of the third issue of the journal will be dedicated to "HUMAN SECURITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION". The Editorial Committee welcomes original scientific papers addressing this topic.

Deadline for the submission of the papers is the 31 January 2005. If You wish to publish an article please contact Ursula Prinzl and Maddalena Vivona at the following email address: hs-perspectives@etc-graz.at

The Editorial Committee Members,

Klaus Kapuy
Vuk Maksimovic
Akpobibibo Onduku
Ursula Prinzl
Anke Sembacher
Aliaksandr Sharf
Maddalena Vivona
Christian Wlaschütz



Barbara Schmiedl
European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC)
Schubertstraße 29
A-8010 Graz
Austria
Tel: 0043 316 322888 21
Fax: 0043 316 322888 4
Website: www.etc-graz.at
E-mail: barbara.schmiedl@etc-graz.at

QuickGuides: Special offer for Pambazuka News readers

2005-11-28

http://www.quickguidesonline.com

QuickGuides are 24 page books, readable in an hour, covering the fundraising and management needs of both large and small organisations. QuickGuides are the perfect way to learn about a subject quickly and easily, and because they are written and reviewed by knowledgeable professionals from all around the world they will be useful wherever you operate as they are not country specific. At £8 or US$14 per book, QuickGuides are accessible to all, and you can build your own library of expertise. And as a reader of Pambazuka News, you can take advantage of a special promotion of 3 books for the price of 2 until the end of March 2006. QuickGuides are a resource you can't afford not to have. Quote ref: pambazuka and order online now at our online bookshop www.quickguidesonline.com

World watches Sudan peace process

2005-12-01

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/30688

Forced Migration Review's special issue on "Sudan: prospects of peace" is launched on 30th November with launches in London, Khartoum and Juba. "Sudan: prospects for peace" offers a wide range of opinion on the inclusiveness of the peace process, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement's prospects for success, feasibility of plans to assist the return of IDPs and refugees and recovery and development strategies. Many of the 38 authors regret the inability to negotiate peace in Darfur, the ongoing crisis in Eastern Sudan, exclusion of women from the peace process and the significant delays in merging the northern and southern armies and delivering funding pledged by the international community in Oslo in April.
World watches Sudan peace process

Forced Migration Review's special issue on "Sudan: prospects of peace" is
launched on 30th November with launches in London, Khartoum and Juba.

"Sudan: prospects for peace" offers a wide range of opinion on the
inclusiveness of the peace process, the Comprehensive Peace Agreement's
prospects for success, feasibility of plans to assist the return of IDPs and
refugees and recovery and development strategies. Many of the 38 authors
regret the inability to negotiate peace in Darfur, the ongoing crisis in
Eastern Sudan, exclusion of women from the peace process and the significant
delays in merging the northern and southern armies and delivering funding
pledged by the international community in Oslo in April.

The Editors express qualified optimism: "If Sudanese can return home with
dignity, if gross inequalities in distribution of wealth and provision of
services can be redressed, if Sudanese women are given space to contribute to
its recovery and if Sudan can leap up the human development ladder to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals, the Sudanese will have much to teach other
countries emerging from the shadow of war."

Nine thousand copies will be distributed in Sudan thanks to financial
assistance from the US Institute of Peace, UNDP and UNICEF. The FMR Editors
are grateful for logistical assistance from the Government of National Unity,
the Government of Southern Sudan and the UN.

Each of the three launch events on 30th November includes a panel discussion
focusing on displacement, return and the prospects for peace in Sudan. Details
of speakers are available from the Editors.

The Khartoum event is being attended by several members of the Government of
National Unity, members of the National Assembly, senior staff from UN
agencies and representatives of leading civil society organisations and
international NGOs. The debate on plans for IDP return and reintegration will
be widely publicised in the Sudanese press.

The full text of articles is now online at: http://www.fmreview.org/sudan.htm
(English edition) and at http://www.hijra.org.uk/sudan.htm (Arabic edition).

If you usually receive FMR, your copy will be mailed to you shortly.
Otherwise, if you wish to obtain a hard copy, please contact the Editors at
fmr@qeh.ox.ac.uk or on +44 1865 280700.

Call for Applications: Distance learning course on campaigning for access to information

2005-11-28

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/30568

Global free expression group Article 19 and the human rights organization Fahamu invite applications for a distance learning course on Campaigning for Access to Information to be held from 3 January 2006 to February 2006. Combining the freedom of information campaigning expertise of Article 19 with the extensive distance learning experience of Fahamu, this course is meant for people and organizations from a broad spectrum of areas in Africa who have an interest in the issue of access to information. This includes but is not limited to: trade unions, residents' organisations, environmental groups, women's groups, development organisations, human rights organisations and many others. This course looks at why access to information is important, what an access to information law should contain, and how to set about campaigning for one.
Call for Applications: Distance learning course on campaigning for access to information

Learn The Why, What And How Of Access To Information

Global free expression group Article 19 and the human rights organization Fahamu invite applications for a distance learning course on Campaigning for Access to Information to be held from 3 January 2006 to February 2006.

Combining the freedom of information campaigning expertise of Article 19 with the extensive distance learning experience of Fahamu, this course is meant for people and organizations from a broad spectrum of areas in Africa who have an interest in the issue of access to information. This includes but is not limited to: trade unions, residents' organisations, environmental groups, women's groups, development organisations, human rights organisations and many others.

This course looks at why access to information is important, what an access to information law should contain, and how to set about campaigning for one.

While several countries in Southern Africa have draft laws to access to information in place, South Africa is the only country in the region that has a proper access to information law. But even when a law or a draft law is in place, it is important to have the ability to critique the laws in order to make sure that they have included the best provisions possible. And then it is crucial to ensure that the law is implemented properly.

This distance course lasts for seven weeks. Six weeks are spent working through a specially designed interactive CDROM, completing exercises and discussing the issues by email with others who are doing the course. The final week is devoted to an assignment that will involve designing a campaign plan for access to information in your country. This not only entails considering campaigning strategy and tactics, but also the substantive access to information issues that you are likely to encounter in your own country. It is intended that the product of this assignment will be something that you and your organisation can use in the future to help guide your campaigning work. You will be guided throughout the course by an online course tutor.

There are 15 sponsored places available on this course. Every participant who successfully completes this course will be awarded a certificate from Article 19 and Fahamu.

Applicants should send a one page summary CV, with a letter of 500 words explaining why they should be selected for this course. Applications should be sent to info@fahamu.org

For further information (including course dates, fees and registration forms please contact:


Hilary Isaac
EMAIL: info @ fahamu.org

* Fahamu (www.fahamu.org) is committed to serving the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change and that promote and protect human rights. Fahamu has extensive experience in distance learning for human rights organisations.

* Article 19 (www.article19.org/) works worldwide to combat censorship by promoting freedom of expression and access to official information.

Free Training for African Women

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/30640

The Africa Educational Trust is running a part-time training programme for African women on “Researching the Needs, Presenting and Representing Women in the Community”. Two courses are offered through this programme.
Free Training for African Women

“Researching the Needs, Presenting and Representing Women in the Community”

The Africa Educational Trust is running a part-time training programme for African women on “Researching the Needs, Presenting and Representing Women in the Community”. Two courses are offered through this programme.

During Year 1 a course was offered on Community Action Research and Presentation. This course is now completed.

In Year 2 the Trust will be offering a one-year course on Community Advocacy. Applications are invited from African women working or volunteering with community or refugee groups for acceptance on the course. The course will involve twelve days formal training (every fortnight) and distance learning.


Course: Year 1 - Community Action Research and Presentation
January to December 2005 (Completed)

Year 2 - Community Advocacy
January to December 2006 (places available)

Qualification: Year 1 and 2 - Certificate in Community Research and
Representation

Year 2 – Certificate in Community Advocacy

(Certificate of Accreditation issued by LOCN)



For further information and an application form please contact:
May Omona
Project Co-ordinator
Phone: 020 7836 5075 / 7940
Fax: 020 7379 0090
Email: m.omona@africaeducationaltrust.org

January 2006 International Conference on Land, Poverty, Social Justice and Development

9-10 and 12-14 January 2006, ISS, The Hague

2005-11-29

http://www.iss.nl/land/conference/document

A Joint Project of the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) and the Inter-Church Organization for Development and Cooperation (ICCO), the general objective of the conference is to contribute toward a critical understanding of the contemporary mainstream land policies in the context of the imperatives of poverty eradication, social justice and development in developing countries and transition economies. The conference aims to promote debates that have the rigor of scientific enquiry and reasoning, and at the same time sensitive to the socio-political urgency of land policy questions in the contemporary context.

Winter -Spring Seminar Schedule 2006 for UPEACE Institute for Media, Peace and Security

2005-11-30

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/30638

The Institute for Media, Peace and Security of the University for Peace is organizing three two-day Seminars in Geneva, Switzerland with top media experts on the following topics:
- Media, Conflict Prevention & Peacebuilding - January 24-25, 2006
- Media Challenges in UN Peacekeeping - March 7-8, 2006
- Media and Genocide: Rwanda & Bosnia - April 5-6, 2006.
Winter -Spring Seminar Schedule 2006 for UPEACE Institute for Media, Peace and Security

The Institute for Media, Peace and Security of the University for Peace is organizing three two-day Seminars in Geneva, Switzerland (download poster) with top media experts on the following topics:


Media, Conflict Prevention & Peacebuilding - January 24-25, 2006
Intensive introduction to the study of interactions between media, conflict, peace and security. Frontline case studies, using TV news clips, documentaries and articles, help participants draw practical lessons and test theories of media in wartime. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 16 December 2005.

Jim Bittermann is CNN's senior European correspondent. For CNN he covered NATO air strikes on Kosovo in 1998 and many of the decade's major international stories in Eastern Europe, Northern and Western Africa. He won a national news Emmy Award for his coverage of the 1988 Sudan famine.

John Owen is a long-time journalist and national TV news editor who currently is a visiting professor of journalism at City University, London. He is also executive producer of NewsXchange, the international broadcast conference group underwritten by the European Broadcasting Union. He is also first chair of the Frontline Club Forum.

Media Challenges in UN Peacekeeping - March 7-8, 2006
Viewing UN peacekeeping from headquarters and the field, this course illustrates vividly the problems of both
media and peacekeepers, and shows how reporting deeply affects outcomes. Participants acquire new tools
to plan and/or assess such UN missions. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 13 February 2006.

Dr. Ingrid Lehmann was a Director of the UN Department of Public Information in Vienna from 1991-2003. She previously served on the political staff of two UN peacekeeping missions. Her book, Peacekeeping and
Public Information - Caught in the Crossfire, is a standard work in this field.

Media and Genocide: Rwanda & Bosnia - April 5-6, 2006
Piercing, ground-breaking analysis of how ethnic rivalries, scheming politicians and manipulated media caused the most appalling genocides since World War II. The seminar also dissects how world media, plus Western electoral concerns, allowed mass murder to happen. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS 15 March 2006.

Dr. Gerald Caplan - Author of Rwanda: The Preventable Genocide, report of the International Panel of Eminent Persons to Investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, named by the Organization of African Unity, now the African Union. He founded Remembering Rwanda and teaches a course on the genocide to Rwandans in Rwanda.

Dr. Nel Ruigrok - Assistant professor at the University of Amsterdam, specializing in international media issues. Co-author of a report on Dutch media and the Srebrenica massacre (Dutch UN troops were to protect the UN “safe haven” in Srebrenica.) Author of the book: Journalism of Attachment: Dutch Newspapers During the Bosnian War.

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Why attend? To understand how media in conflict situations influence policy and on-the-ground decisions.

Who should attend? Anyone dealing with, or working in, the media before, during or after conflict.

What will you learn? Principles, complexities and lessons of landmark events where media significantly shaped conflict or peace.

Admission: Please complete and send the application form to University for Peace, Ms.Sophie Hemne at shemne@upeace.ch . Click here to download the application form or visit www.mediapeace.org for further details.

Fees: CHF 500/seminar (includes lunch and learning
materials).

Special offer: Sign up for more than one course and get a 10% reduction on the total price.

*Intitulé du poste : Correspondant régional pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest Pambazuka News

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/30579

Pambazuka News est la newsletter électronique hebdomadaire de référence. À la pointe du combat pour la justice sociale en Afrique, elle fournit des commentaires incisifs et des analyses en profondeur sur différents sujets comme la politique et les questions d’actualité, le développement, les droits de l’homme, les réfugiés, les questions de genre et la culture en Afrique.

Pambazuka News offre un tour d’horizon hebdomadaire exhaustif des informations sur les droits de l’homme, les conflits, la santé, l’environnement, les affaires sociales, le développement, l’Internet, la littérature et les arts en Afrique. Pambazuka News est produit par Fahamu (www.fahamu.org), une organisation qui utilise les technologies de la communications et de l’information pour couvrir les besoins des organismes et des mouvements sociaux qui aspirent a un changement social progressif.

Nous sommes à la recherche d’une personne motivée, indépendante et sensible aux problèmes de société afin de se joindre à notre équipe en tant que : CORRESPONDANT RÉGIONAL.
* Intitulé du poste : Correspondant régional pour l’Afrique de l’Ouest
Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org)

Temps partiel

Information sur Pambazuka News et Fahamu

Pambazuka News est la newsletter électronique hebdomadaire de référence. À la pointe du combat pour la justice sociale en Afrique, elle fournit des commentaires incisifs et des analyses en profondeur sur différents sujets comme la politique et les questions d’actualité, le développement, les droits de l’homme, les réfugiés, les questions de genre et la culture en Afrique.

Pambazuka News offre un tour d’horizon hebdomadaire exhaustif des informations sur les droits de l’homme, les conflits, la santé, l’environnement, les affaires sociales, le développement, l’Internet, la littérature et les arts en Afrique. Pambazuka News est produit par Fahamu (www.fahamu.org), une organisation qui utilise les technologies de la communications et de l’information pour couvrir les besoins des organismes et des mouvements sociaux qui aspirent a un changement social progressif.

Nous sommes à la recherche d’une personne motivée, indépendante et sensible aux problèmes de société afin de se joindre à notre équipe en tant que : CORRESPONDANT RÉGIONAL.

Responsabilités : En tant que membre de l’équipe de Pambazuka news, et en étroite collaboration avec notre bureau de Cape Town, Afrique du Sud, vos responsabilités seront les suivantes :

- Recherche et rédaction de matériel pour la newsletter hebdomadaire ainsi que pour le site Internet ;
- Recherche, recrutement et/ou interview de sources d’informations pertinentes pour des articles destinés à la publication dans la newsletter ou sur le site Internet ;
- Compte-rendu d’événements capitaux survenant dans la région ;
- Suivi des sources d’information pertinentes;
- Développement de relations suivies avec les sources d’information au sein de sa région désignée et extension de la portée de Pambazuka News ;
- Développement de contacts avec les médias appropriés dans sa région et liaison avec ceux-ci lorsque nécessaire.

Critères personnels

Vous devrez être sensible aux problèmes de société et posséder d’excellentes qualités rédactionnelles. Nous sommes à la recherche d’un candidat doté des compétences et qualités suivantes :

Qualités essentielles

- Expérience dans la recherche ou le journalisme au sein d’un environnement académique, médiatique ou de recherche ;
- Compétences en rédaction, correction et recrutement de sources ;
- Français courant, écrit et parlé, et une bonne maîtrise de l’Anglais ;
- Preuve tangible d’un intérêt réel ainsi que d’un véritable engagement pour promotion de la justice sociale et la défense dune cause ;
- Familiarité avec l’Internet en tant qu’outil de recherche, de compte-rendu et de communication ;
- Capacité à travailler en dehors de toute supervision directe ;
- Avoir accès à l’Internet ;
- Connaître les nouveaux types de médias et le potentiel qu’offre la technologie à l’activisme social ;
- Excellente connaissance et bonne compréhension des affaires africaines ainsi que des débats actuels autour du développement de l’Afrique ;
- Une expérience du travail en Afrique, surtout dans les médias serait un avantage ;
- Capacité à respecter des délais ;
- Résider et/ou travailler dans la région ;
- Mobilité géographique occasionnelle ;

Qualités désirables :

- Un diplôme de journalisme ou dans quelque autre domaine adéquat ;
- Connaissance du secteur de la société civile en Afrique ;
- Engagement direct en tant que militant dans la région ;
- Connaissance des opérations de l’Union Africaine, et des autres corps régionaux.

Il s’agit d’un contrat initial à durée déterminée de six mois, renouvelable pour une durée pouvant se monter à deux ans suivant performance et disponibilité de fonds. Nous considérons que le poste demande un engagement de deux à trois jours par semaine. La rémunération sera proportionnelle à l’expérience.

Si vous pensez avoir le profil requis, veuillez envoyer une lettre de motivation d’une page accompagnée d’un CV de deux pages à : editor@pambazuka.org La date butoir/délai pour les dépôts de candidatures est le 10 Decembre 2005. Veuillez prendre note que seuls les candidats sélectionnés seront contactés. Il sera demandé aux candidats sélectionnés de passer un test court.

Pambazuka News (www.pambazuka.org)

Job Title: Regional Correspondent: West Africa

Reporting to: The Editor, Pambazuka News

Part-time

About Pambazuka News and Fahamu

Pambazuka News is the authoritative electronic weekly newsletter and platform for social justice in Africa providing cutting edge commentary and in-depth analysis on politics and current affairs, development, human rights, refugees, gender issues and culture in Africa.

Pambazuka News offers a comprehensive weekly round-up of news on human rights, conflict, health, environment, social welfare, development, the internet, literature and arts in Africa. Pambazuka News is produced by Fahamu (www.fahamu.org), an organisation that uses information and communication technologies to serve the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change.

We are looking for a motivated, independent and socially conscious individual to join our team as REGIONAL CORRESPONDENT.

Responsibilities: As part of the Pambazuka News team, and in close contact with our office in Cape Town, South Africa, your responsibilities will involve:

- Researching and writing material for the weekly newsletter and website;
- Researching, commissioning and/or interviewing relevant sources for articles to be published in the newsletter and on the website;
- Reporting on key events in the region;
- Monitoring of relevant information sources;
- Developing relationships with sources of information in your assigned region and extending the reach of Pambazuka News;
- Developing contacts with relevant media in your area and liaising with them where necessary.

Person specifications

You must be a socially committed individual with excellent writing skills. We are seeking someone with the following skills and qualities:

Essential:

- Experience as a researcher or journalist in an academic, media or development field;
- Writing, editing and commissioning skills;
- Fluency in French written and spoken, and good command of English;
- Proven track record, interest and commitment to social justice and advocacy;
- Familiarity with the internet as a research, reporting and communicating tool;
- Ability to work without direct supervision;
- Access to the internet;
- Knowledge of new media and the potential of technology for social activism;
- Excellent general knowledge and a good understanding of African affairs and the current debates around Africa’s development;
- Experience of working in Africa, especially in the media, would be an advantage;
- Ability to meet tight deadlines;
- Be living and/or working in the region.
- Willing to travel occasionally

Desirable:

- A degree in journalism or other relevant field;
- Knowledge of the civil society sector in Africa;
- Direct engagement as an activist in the region;
- Knowledge of operations of African Union, and other regional bodies.

This is for a fixed period of six months in the first instance, renewable for up to 2 years depending on performance and the availability of funds. We envisage that the position will require a commitment of two to three days per week. Remuneration will be commensurate with experience.

If you believe you fit the above details please send a one-page covering letter and two-page CV to editor@pambazuka.org The deadline date for applications is 10 December 2005. Please note that only short-listed candidates will be contacted. Short listed candidates will be required to complete a short test.

DRC: Content Supervisor

War Child Holland

2005-11-29

http://www.warchild.nl

The War Child team (a programme team of 8 national staff lead by an expatriate Head of Mission) supports a number of local partners. These are local child and youth-oriented NGOs as well as schools. The Content Supervisor is responsible for the quality and content of War Child Holland’s programme in DRC as well as for its development.

Kenya: Regional Policy & Advocacy Coordinator

Oxfam

2005-11-29

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/issues/panafrica/index.htm

A challenging job and a unique opportunity to make a real impact on poverty and suffering and channel your passion to influencing policy makers to protect and advance the human rights of poor communities. These are some of the things you can look forward to when you join us at Oxfam as the Regional Policy & Advocacy Coordinator (RPAC).

Kenya: Team Leader, HIV/AIDS

The International Rescue Committee

2005-11-29

http://ircjobs.org/jobs_details1.asp?Job_id=57985&Page_Id=0&Published=1

IRC Kenya is seeking an experienced team leader with significant proposal writing experience to assist in the writing of a health/HIV proposal.

South Africa: Civil Society Index (CSI) Programme Manager

CIVICUS

2005-11-29

http://www.civicus.org/new/jobs_info.asp?id=344

The CSI is an international action-research initiative, which provides civil society stakeholders with a diagnostic tool for assessing the current state of civil society on a country level and creating a basis for dialogue, joint reflection and action. CIVICUS is recruiting a successor to the current CSI Project Manager, to take the lead in the evaluation, redesign and subsequent implementation of the CSI in 2006 and beyond. The position is based at the CIVICUS head office in Johannesburg, South Africa.

South Africa: Office manager/Financial assistant

Crisis Group

2005-11-29

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/jobs/30589

The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, with over 110 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. We are currently looking for a highly motivated, independent thinking staff member who will be located in Pretoria, South Africa.
South Africa: Office manager/Financial assistant – Crisis Group

The International Crisis Group (Crisis Group) is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, with over 110 staff members on five continents, working through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. We are currently looking for a highly motivated, independent thinking staff member who will be located in Pretoria, South Africa.

OFFICE MANAGER/ FINANCIAL ASSISTANT FOR THE SOUTHERN AFRICA PROJECT
Role:

Working under the supervision of the Southern Africa Project Director, you will assist the team in overall office and financial management. The position will be based in our centrally located office in Pretoria.
Responsibilities - office management:
Ensure that Crisis Group financial records are kept up to date, submit these records to headquarters in Brussels, maintain an accurate record of financial transactions, and undertake banking duties as necessary;
Assist in the correct transmission of payroll matters for this small office;
Provide assistance to Crisis Group personnel and board members visiting the Pretoria office and coordinate timely advocacy meetings for visiting staff members;
Organise specific events for the office as requested;
Maintain equipment at the Crisis Group office, including computers, printer, fax etc.;
Coordinate the distribution of Crisis Group reports, including the maintenance of a computerised distribution list;
Oversee the functioning of the office including payment of bills, ensuring the office is kept clean and orderly, and other duties as necessary;
Provide assistance to Crisis Group staff members with all administrative issues;
Assist both project managers with travel arrangements and setting up appointments; and
Provide other administrative support as necessary.

Candidate profile:

South African national or person with legal right to work in South Africa;
A degree in administration or equivalent combined with experience in working with research-based NGO.
Experience in maintaining financial records;
Good IT knowledge – be able to give firsthand support;
An excellent verbal and written command of English, any other South African language; and
Good knowledge of Southern Africa.

Applications must be in English and include: a CV, cover letter outlining motivation for the job, providing start date and last salary earned, and the contact details of three references. In the cover letter, the candidate should briefly describe how he/she meets the position qualifications. Please refer to Crisis Group's website for more information on our organisation on: http://www.crisisgroup.org

Please send applications by email to open_positions@crisisgroup.org to the attention of Ms Johanna van der Hoeven, Human Resources Director.

The closing date for applications is 5 December 2005.

Africa/Global: GCAP wins international social justice award

2005-11-29

http://www.solidar.org/DocList.asp?SectionID=27&tod=22552

One of this year’s recipients of Solidar’s Silver Rose Award, which celebrates the outstanding achievements of individuals and organisations active in the fight for social justice, was the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) campaign. Co-chair of the GCAP International Facilitation Group, Kumi Naidoo, received the Award on 8 November on behalf of the global alliance that has worked tirelessly in 2005 in fighting towards poverty reduction. Every year, Solidar receives nominations from around the world from people or organisations working in civil society who dedicate their work to bringing about a fairer and more just society.

Global: Lesson for Life

2005-12-01

http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/apps/nl/content3.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=1008683&content_id={C5151402-C1F2-4A84-B76E-6E9A14A03BDF}&notoc=1

Organised by the Global Movement for Children and supported by the World AIDS Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty, Lesson for Life, is a 'lesson' on HIV, AIDS and the effect of the crisis on chidren. In 2004, 67 countries from all around the world, working in coalitions of organisations ranging from National AIDS Trusts to international and local NGOs ran the Lesson for Life. 4.3 million people took part. From schools to youth centres, sports clubs to village squares, the Lesson for Life involved everyone, everywhere. For a listing of global events, follow the link.

Global: Ross regrets his silence over 'patronising' Live8

2005-11-29

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/music/news/article329734.ece

Five months ago, Jonathan Ross was the media anchorman for the Live8 Concert in Hyde Park where a line-up of famous artists performed to raise awareness of Third World debt. But this weekend, the television presenter was sounding a rather different note. Speaking to the singer, Damon Albarn, on his chat show, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, he admitted he was filled with "regret" at not having spoken out against the lack of African performers at the event on 6 July and singling out bands such as Velvet Revolver and Pink Floyd's reunion as part of his criticism.

Kenya: Campaign launched to demand fair world trade

2005-12-01

http://www.timesnews.co.ke/01dec05/nwsstory/news4.html

The Kenya Civil Society Coalition on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has launched a campaign for a common platform to secure trade justice for Africa. At the forthcoming World Trade Organisation (WTO) Inter-Ministerial Conference, slated between December 13 and 18, the Global Call for Action Against Poverty (GCAP- Kenya), urges that the delegation to represent Kenya at the talks and put emphasis on the country’s right to food security and freedom from dumping.

Zambia: Road show making a Big Noise for Making Trade Fair

2005-11-29

http://tinyurl.com/bnj6a

“It is time that the double standards and the rigged rules of global trade is changed to work for all, not just for a few powerful and rich nations” said Irene Banda, from a popular trade campaigning Zambian organisation. “We have mobilized more than 1 million Zambian people to petition the WTO- leaders, meeting in Hong Kong in December.” Reported by the Millennium Campaign, the group will be traveling with James “Chamanyazi” Ngoma, across Zambia, from today, (November 28) and for next week, to inform and mobilize more support against unjust trade practices in Zambia and internationally. The Organisation Development and Community Management Trust (ODCMT) joined the Oxfam International Big Noise for Making Trade Fair campaign in 2002.

Fahamu