Dorothy-Grace Guerrero and Firoze Manji (ed) (2008) China’s New Role in Africa and the South: A search for a new perspective. 
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Pambazuka News 267: Protecting the rights of the disabled
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CONTENTS: 1. Highlights from this issue, 2. Features, 3. Comment & analysis, 4. Pan-African Postcard, 5. Letters, 6. Books & arts, 7. Blogging Africa, 8. Women & gender, 9. Human rights, 10. Refugees & forced migration, 11. Elections & governance, 12. Corruption, 13. Development, 14. Health & HIV/AIDS, 15. Education, 16. Racism & xenophobia, 17. Environment, 18. Land & land rights, 19. Media & freedom of expression, 20. Advocacy & campaigns, 21. News from the diaspora, 22. Conflict & emergencies, 23. Internet & technology, 24. eNewsletters & mailing lists, 25. Courses, seminars, & workshops, 26. Jobs
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Highlights from this issue
Featured This Week
2006-08-31
The Editors
FEATURED: The first-ever convention on the rights of persons with disabilities has been passed. Lina Lindblom explains what it means
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Eva Dadrian writes on the aftermath of the Lebanese conflict - and its implications for Africa
- Nnimmo Bassey argues for clean and renewable energy
LETTERS: A tribute to Bi Kidude
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem puffs about why he quit smoking and hasn't sold out!
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine interrogates the “keep the child alive” campaign. Ekine also questions Jeffrey Sachs’s developmental theories
BOOKS AND ARTS: Book review on the complexities of media regulations
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda
HUMAN RIGHTS: Statement from Sanctions Against Israel on Capitalism
WOMEN AND GENDER: Monuc troops among the most sex offenders
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Somalia’s refugees lose hope.
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Nigerian elections set for April
DEVELOPMENT: A primer on foreign aid
CORRUPTION: Corruption in humanitarian aid
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: AIDS message to change in South Africa
EDUCATION: Girls’ education under microscope
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: Racial profiling led to detention, harassment at airport
ENVIRONMENT: Satellite chronicles depleted continent
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Surviving the land invasions
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Threatened from everywhere
DIASPORA: First Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: Ministers to sign broadband agreement
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.
Features
Protecting the rights of the disabled
2006-10-04
Lina Lindblom
Friday 25 August saw a UN General Assembly committee approve a UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention is the first human rights treaty of the 21st century and is designed to encourage governments to pass legislation protecting people with disabilities and to eliminate discriminatory laws and practices. Lina Lindblom from the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities explores the implications for the 60 million people in Africa living with disabilities.
The first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century has just been finalised at the United Nations. It will serve to promote and protect the human rights of 650 million persons with disabilities around the world. In Africa, the decade between 1999 and 2009 has been proclaimed the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities by the African Union. The first-ever human rights convention for persons with disabilities will be an important tool for the Secretariat that facilitates the implementation of the African Decade’s plan of action.
Around 60 million persons with disabilities live in Africa. These individuals are barely visible in most African societies, and rarely appear to have voices or opinions about general issues that are brought to our attention by the media. The majority of them are excluded from schools, work opportunities and participation in development programs. The African disability movement’s struggle for human rights is essentially a fight against this exclusion and against the overwhelming poverty that it leads to.
The Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities advocates for the inclusion of disability into the existing development priorities of African Union member states, because the exclusion of disability from them perpetuates the poverty and despair of disabled Africans. The new convention constitutes a broad framework for disability, human rights and development. It will be increasingly important to associate any work on disability to the convention, including poverty reduction processes. The African Decade for Persons with Disabilities, 1999-2009, was proclaimed by the African Union to address the human rights and development needs of disabled Africans.
Representatives of DPOs and UN Agencies came up with a continental plan of action for the Decade. It was endorsed by the executive counsil of the AU in 2002. The government of the Republic of South Africa accepted to host the Secretariat of the African Decade in 2003, and the Secretariat was established in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2004. The Secretariat facilitates the implementation of the Continental Plan of Action through its African Decade Disability Programme (ADDP), a program primarily funded by the governments of Sweden and Denmark.
One of the working focuses of the disability movement has become to mainstream disability, i.e. to get disability and persons with disabilities included in the existing development community. It is about getting governments and development organisations to include disability into policies and programs, and to invite persons with disabilities to participate in the development of these policies and programs. The disability movement does not want separate, exclusionary processes, keeping them out of the mainstream societies.
If mainstreaming is a buzz word in the disability movement, how come they have designed a new and separate human rights convention just for persons with disabilities?, you may ask. Some within the movement are indeed wishing that disability had been inserted and mentioned in the existing human rights provisions instead, but most people are actively supporting the new convention. Petronella Linders, who works for the South African government and assisted the South African delegation to the convention deliberations in New York, explains that she believes that the convention will force countries to look at their own legislation from a disability point of view. In so doing, a separate convention can actually enhance and enforce mainstreaming of disability into national legislation. Before, the approach of many African governments has been to implement human rights provisions for persons with disabilities on an ad-hoc basis. Now there will be a legally binding document that governments must implement if they ratify it.
Thomas Ong’olo from Kenya, who works as a program manager at the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities, agrees. He says that the convention will be a crucial instrument “to remind governments that we are here”. So many times before, Africans with disabilities have simply been left out of the equation. It has also been argued that persons with disabilities find themselves in a legal disadvantage in relation to other vulnerable groups such as refugees and women, because the latter have the protection of single bodies of binding norms in thematic human rights conventions. The convention on the Rights of the Child has been the only one of the conventions to explicitly mention persons with disabilities. In the other ones, individuals with disabilities are only covered as being part of “vulnerable or marginalized groups”. Governments that ratify the new convention will be legally bound to treat persons with disabilities not just as a vulnerable group or a minority, but as subjects to the law with clearly defined rights.
The process of developing the new convention has been said to be very participatory and well functioning. More than 400 delegates and disability advocates from around the world have attended the eight sessions since 2002 at the United Nations in New York. One of the few serious problems mentioned is that many persons with disabilities and Disabled Persons’ Organizations (DPOs) from developing countries have not been able to attend the meetings, meaning that their issues and voices have not been adequately captured in the draft convention. This, again, is down to the issue of poverty. Many African DPOs have simply not had the money to send representatives to the United Nations headquarters in New York.
According to Phitalis Were Masakhwe, an international advisor on disability within the United Nations, there appears to be a wide gap between the wishes, needs and aspirations of persons with disabilities from poor developing countries and those from the so called developed world. In Africa and parts of Asia people would have wanted a convention that emphasizes their main challenges; poverty, disability and conflicts, and invisibility of disability in international development and cooperation, he says. Thomas Ong’olo of the African Decade Secretariat agrees. The benchmark of the discussions in New York has been set by the rich, he argues: “Sometimes the discussions may be around issues that are simply not relevant to most Africans, such as choice of services. Choosing the type of accessible transport you want to use or the exact time of pickup by that transport of your choice, is not an issue in developing countries. The main African issue is around basic survival.”
Implementation is the main concern now. International monitoring of the convention and international cooperation in the implementation process have been two of the most difficult issues to agree on during the eighth session of the convention committee. This is possibly an even bigger concern in Africa than in other parts of the world, because of the lack of capacity and funds at the national level. Many Africans worry that the convention will be just another document not put into practice by their governments. The money issue is the predominant concern here too. Putting the provisions of the convention into practice will be costly. Concerns have been raised that lack of money will hinder states to meet even the most urgent obligations. All countries will face costs, but it will be hardest for developing countries.
International cooperation must play an important part in this, Ambassador Don MacKay, who chairs the Ad Hoc Committee on the convention at the United Nations, says, for example in incorporating into development cooperation programmes elements to assist with disability related matters.
A worry is also that the DPOs are expected to monitor the governments in the implementation process, but many of these organisations in many countries are simply too weak. Training programs are taking place, but the problem remains. Much more capacity building and better structures are needed. In the five pilot countries of the African Decade Disability Program, [1]Decade Steering Committees (DSCs) have been established, comprised of representatives of government ministries, DPOs, civil society, media, experts on disability and international organizations. The private sector in the countries has been invited to participate. A partnership between the public and the private sectors is crucial for job creation and effective resource mobilization.
The major functions of the National Decade Steering Committees include playing a key role in the preparation of a comprehensive national plan and in the development of national policy. The committees also monitor the implementation of policies and programmes for persons with disabilities in their countries. The African Decade Secretariat’s plan is to facilitate the establishment of new committees in at least 15 other African countries by the end of 2009.[2] The mission of the Secretariat is to empower governments, DSCs, DPOs and development organisations to work in partnership to include disability and persons with disabilities into policies and programs in all sectors of society in Africa. This means that the emphasis is on capacitating these actors to work together. One of the Secretariat’s strengths is that we are able to learn from initiatives in one country, and bring them to (or avoid them in) another.
We are also engaging large international organisations in the struggle for mainstreaming. Our experience is that it often only takes one meeting, a small effort that brings large results if we manage to get them on board. One current new initiative is collaboration between the Secretariat and UNESCO, to train African journalists in how to report on disability issues in a way that respects their human rights and does not reproduce common stereotypes. Another is to collaborate with UNICEF to ensure that children with disabilities are included in their programs.
Prejudice, exclusion, stigmas and a tendency to still view disability within a charity perspective or a medical model, rather than within the human rights discourse, are all very real barriers to participation for persons with disabilities in Africa today. Combined with a high level of poverty, the African disability movement is facing an uphill struggle. There are positive signs and opportunities, however. The topic of disability and development has been featured in the development discourse for a couple of decades now. Many global and regional discussions and pledges abound to ensure that policies, programs and resources are accessible to persons with disabilities and inclusive of everyone.
Some ten African countries, e.g. Ghana, Malawi, Kenya and South Africa, have developed White Papers on national disability strategies. These are model documents for the mainstreaming of disability. The African Union has taken important and promising initiatives in recent years, such as proclaiming the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities. However, Africans with disabilities are increasingly frustrated by the beautiful words, and want action. For this reason the establishment of the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities is an important step from talk to implementation.
The Decade was proclaimed in 1999. We only started our work at the Secretariat in 2004. We can regret the delay, but we choose to focus now on our role as facilitators of the implementation of the Continental Plan of Action, capacity building, awareness raising, continued struggle for mainstreaming of disability and against the poverty and exclusion of disabled Africans. Now we will be enforced with a new and important tool, the first-ever human rights convention for persons with disabilities.
* Lina Lindblom, communications officer at the Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Notes:
[1] The pilot countries are Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.
[2] Some African countries, e.g. Mali, Mauritania, Guinea Bissau and the DRC, have also set up their own Decade Steering Committees outside of the Secretariat’s programme.
For more information, see:
http://www.un.org/News/
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/enable/rights/ahc8.htm
Comment & analysis
Winds of Change in the Middle East?
2006-08-31
Eva Dadrian
The Middle-East is on fire, and it does not look as if the political situation is going to improve anytime soon. Eva Dadrian looks at Africa’s response to the conflict. She argues that those who know how it feels like to be at the receiving end of colonialism have always criticised Israel’s occupation of Palestine.
After 34 days of fighting, more than 1,200 civilian casualties, 15,000 homes destroyed, 80 bridges and 94 roads damaged, the two-week-old cease-fire between Israel and Hezballah is holding. Apart from being a human tragedy, the recent conflict is also an environmental disaster with massive oil spills resulting from the bombing of a power plant close to Beirut.
The question now is how UNIFIL (the United Nations International Forces in Lebanon) will fully implement the UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that asks for the two Israeli prisoners held by Hezballah to be handed over to the International Red Cross, and that Israel lifts its blockade of Lebanon?
Should the cease-fire and the arrival of the peacekeeping force be considered a victory for the international community? The UN knows, like everybody else, that UN peacekeepers will never be in a position to “impose peace”, let alone become peacemakers.
But, it is expected that in the coming weeks, armed with a tougher mandate than any UN peacekeeping force has ever enjoyed before, the multinational force of some 15,000 troops from Bangladesh, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, and many others, will attempt to consolidate this cease-fire. They are also expected to help in the clearing up and to carry out humanitarian operations. But will this really happen?
According to observers, the government and the people of Lebanon are determined to implement Resolution 1701. Also, they are expecting the Israeli government to do so. However, to date Israel has been reluctant to withdraw from Lebanese territories and lift its air, land and sea blockade on Lebanon, thus hampering not only humanitarian aid in reaching the country but also delaying a full environmental damage assessment of the Lebanon coastline. Environmentalists estimate that between 11 and 40 million litres of heavy fuel oil leaked into the sea following the Israeli bombardment of Jieh coastal power station, 28km south of Beirut. The pollution is estimated to extend at least 150km (90 miles) off-shore and has hit the tourism and fishing industries hard. One UN spokesperson has been reported as saying the damage could last "up to a century". Furthermore, the oil has hit a 150km stretch of coastline extending even into Syria.
Has the war achieved anything that would make either Israel, Hezballah, Washington and others involved front line or back stage, proud? Was all this destruction the only means to secure the safe release of Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, the two Israeli soldiers captured by Hezballah? Is it possible to believe that Mossad, the Israeli secret service, considered by many as the world’s “best and most efficient” in the field, would have not been capable of getting back the two kidnapped soldiers by more discreet and efficient means?
Most Israelis and many others in the region, in the Arab nations, say that the war was meant to reduce Hezballah’s growing power in Lebanon and dismantle its arsenal.
Do we need to admit that this war has had the opposite result? Not only has Israel not managed to destroy Hezballah, but Israel’s war on Lebanon has reinforced Hezballah’s aura in Lebanon and in the Arab world, thanks to the resistance and the resilience of Hezballah’s fighters. This war will go down in history as the only war fought and lost by the State of Israel since its creation. Do we need to become cynical and laugh because the two soldiers whose kidnapping is said to have sparked this conflict are still in Hezballah’s custody?
So what was really achieved by all the parties involved: Israel, Lebanon, Hezballah, Washington, Syria and Iran?
Analysts and politicians from Europe, US, Asia and Africa, have implied that the conflict between Hezballah and Israel had the potential to become a wider regional conflict. So was this meant to provoke Syria and Iran and drag them into direct confrontation with Israel? Was it to distract world public opinion from the failures in Iraq, the sectarian killings and the body bags returning home, or the failures in Afghanistan and the renewal of the old tribal conflicts there?
In fact, the entire region is at war. From the East Mediterranean shores to the borders of Pakistan (save Iran at the present time) the so-called “New Middle East” as envisaged by President Bush, Secretary of State Rice, PM Tony Blair and the like, is but conflicts, rubbles, destruction, broken lives and dismantled nations.
For argument sake, let’s transpose Israel’s action against Hezballah elsewhere in the world. For example, in Christian, white Europe imagine that Sweden, the pillar of European democracy, disagrees with the fascistic politics of the French Front National of Jean-Marie Le Pen. So, the Swedish government decides to bomb Paris and destroy all the French “departments” where the Front National has its offices. It does it with an arsenal of weaponry supplied by Germany!
Or at the height of the IRA bombings in mainland Britain, London decides to bomb Dublin once and for all? Would it have been possible?
After touring Beirut’s devastated Dahiyeh district, where he was booed by the residents, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is reported to have declared that “there is a lot of work to be done” and that the UN and international community would work effectively with all parties to “ensure that we do implement the resolution to the fullest and that we have a long-term peace in this region”.
The war in Lebanon was but another chapter in the Middle East conflict. And this conflict cannot and will not be resolved unless the Israeli-Palestinian question is resolved. Is it so difficult to secure a “long-lasting peace” that we have to accept today the small token of a “long-term” peace?
For the Israeli-Arab/Israeli-Palestinian question, one should look into the issue of colonialism, exactly in the same way as one would look into the Irish question and British colonialism in Africa.
Interestingly, those who know how it feels like to be at the receiving end of colonialism have always criticised Israel’s occupation of Palestine. For years, Africans have condemned Israel’s “colonial” policies in Palestine, and the recent conflict was yet another source of debates. Further, people took to the streets. Anti-war demonstrators marched in their hundreds through the streets of Gaborone (Botswana). The African Union strongly condemned what it described as Israel's “indiscriminate bombing”. This was particularly after the bombing of Qena, which the AU said “cannot be justified under any circumstances”.
In South Africa activists often liken Israel to Apartheid South Africa. The African National Congress condemned Israel for its disproportionate military action.
African politicians were not the only protestors. Many artists, writers and media people strongly expressed their views on the issue. At this year’s Zimbabwe International Film Festival (ZIFF) Israel’s war against Lebanon took centre stage. In its programme ZIFF had included the world acclaimed documentary “Paradise Now” – which was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards (Oscars) earlier this year and the winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film (USA).
In complete contrast to the strong position against the war and Israel's action taken by Africa south of the Sahara, North Africa and particularly Egypt, adopted a much milder position. Precaution was the name of the game when it came to analysing and discussing the causes of the war. Most mainstream Arab political analysts avoided criticising Egypt's position and President Mubarak's condemnation of Hezbollah's kidnapping of the 2 Israeli soldiers. Pointing a finger at Washington' policies for the region and criticising president Bush's administration for the moral, financial and arms support, to Israel, Egypt remained "unstained". The Arab street had a very different position. In Cairo, protestors called for the dissolution of the Camp David agreement between Israel and Egypt (1978-79) labelling it as the "leach" that is "tying up Egypt's hands and feet" in any decision concerning Israel's and Washington's policy for the Middle East conflict.
In Tunisia, at the international Carthage Festival, the Tunisian artist Lotfi Bouchnaq, cancelled the final programme to replace it with patriotic songs and music in solidarity with Lebanon and the Palestinian people.
One Israeli blogger has gone so far as to write, the Palestinians are victims of “a colonial type of oppression”. Their land is confiscated, their homes bulldozed, their olive groves uprooted, their youth disturbed by 50 years of wars, killings, bombs and displacements and their sons in Israeli jails. Aren’t these the real stigmata of colonialism as practised in the past by the colonial powers?
The 50 years of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have engendered resistance. Depending on the standpoint from which one views the political situation in the Middle East, Palestinians militants have become “freedom fighters” or “terrorists”. As political dialogue became a futile exercise, Palestinian militants have become “Islamic Terrorists”. However, in reality, the militants of Hamas and Hezballah are only “resisting” the occupation of their lands - Palestine for Hamas and South Lebanon for Hezballah – and refuse to accept Israel’s expansionist policy.
In the very early days of the conflict, As Safir, the Lebanese daily, published the translation of a “secret” report presented by Wayne Madison*, a journalist at the New Yorker, specialising in the political intricacies of Washington D.C. and the CIA. The report preceded an article published by the San Francisco Chronicle (July 21, 2006) under the title: ‘Israel set war plan more than a year ago, Strategy was put in motion as Hezbollah began gaining military strength in Lebanon’. Matthew Kalman, the author of this article, wrote the following: “Israel's military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago.
In the six years since Israel ended its military occupation of southern Lebanon, it watched warily as Hezbollah built up its military presence in the region. When Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers last week, the Israeli military was ready to react almost instantly”.
But the report presented by Wayne Madison has far more to reveal about the recent conflict. 1) The aggression against Lebanon was planned by key Israeli decision-makers and members of the Bush Administration during a meeting organised by the American Enterprise Institute, held at Beever-Creek-Colorado, on 17 and 18 June 2006.
2) During that meeting, US Vice-President Dick Cheney, Israel’s Prime Minister Ehoud Olmert, and Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehoud Barak, Shimon Pérès and Nathan Charansky were all present.
3) The two parties agreed on the following plan: the American Administration will provide ‘all the necessary assistance’ to Israel so that it (Israel) can put into execution Plan ‘Clear Infiltration’ formulated some 10 years ago. This plan dealt with ‘new strategies’ concerning global ‘matters of security’.
4) Clear Infiltration was in fact the “next” step to the invasion and occupation of Iraq. This was to be followed by wars in Palestine, Lebanon, then Syria and Iran.
5) To put the plan into motion, two steps were foreseen: the first was to last for four years and incorporated “secret activities from the Pentagon, the White House and Mossad, inside Lebanon” These secret activities included using booby-trapped vehicles to assassinate high-ranking Lebanese officials. The objective: forcing Syrian troops to withdraw from Lebanon. The author of the report mentions three names: Elie Hobaïka, former minister who was in charge of the Lebanese Forces and who sided with the Syrians, Georges Haoui, former secretary general of the Lebanese communist party and Rafiq Hariri, former Prime minister.
Whereas the second step included bombardment and then the invasion of Lebanon, observers reckon that somehow ‘Clear Infiltration’ has succeeded: invasion and occupation of Iraq, the assassination of Rafiq Hariri and other prominent Lebanese, bombardment and invasion of Lebanon have happened. ‘Plan Clear Infiltration’ would come into completion if Israel and Washington succeeded in removing Hezballah from South Lebanon and transferring them in the same way they had planned to “transfer” the Palestinians from the West Bank.
Notes:
* Wayne Madison, first journalist to reveal and write about the horrors of Abu Ghraib Prison in Iraq
* Eva Dadrian is an independent broadcaster and Political and Country Risk Analyst for print and broadcast media.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org
Unsustainable power
2006-08-31
Nnimmo Bassey
Nnimmo Bassey argues for clean and renewable energy. “The truth is that Nigeria has been immersed in the murky waters of energy crisis for many years now and with current groping in the corridors of power it does not seem that there is light at the end of the tunnel,” writes Bassey.
President Olusegun Obasanjo, while inaugurating the board of Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) which he chairs, declared among other things that although Nigeria was “unequivocally committed to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, the country cannot but embrace the global trend in the utilisation of nuclear energy for the generation of electricity."
Unless this trend is seen in the light of activities going on in Iran and South Korea, it is difficult to see new developments in the nuclear power generation sector as a popular move among nations. However, it is also thought that this commission will provide the answer to the “imminent energy crisis facing the country.”
The president must have been making a politician’s speech when he spoke about an imminent energy crisis facing the country. The truth is that Nigeria has been immersed in the murky waters of an energy crisis for many years now, and with the current groping in the corridors of power it does not seem that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
This writer fully agrees with the president that Nigeria should look for alternatives to existing oil and gas, hydro or thermal sources. But we think that looking at nuclear energy is a misstep and this thinking should be revisited and reversed.
When people think of nuclear power the pictures that come to mind are those of a cheap and clean energy option. Some analysts even suggest that nuclear energy is one of the solutions to climate change, as it would not lead to the release of greenhouse gases as fossil fuels do when they are used to generate energy. There is also the rather romantic view that the power plant would possibly be so small you could compare it to the size of an atom. In 1980, a presidential candidate in the United States of America was quoted as saying that the matter of nuclear waste ought not to worry anybody as “all the waste in a year from a nuclear plant can be stored under a desk.” (See the book, The Experts Speak, the Definitive Compendium of Authoritative Misinformation by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky).
At present, Britain has an estimated 470,000 cubic metres of radioactive waste. This includes 2,000 cubic metres of high-level waste at Sellafield, stored in surface vaults across the country. But the lack of any long-term disposal strategy has alarmed experts, who fear an accident or terror attack, according to a recent report published in the Guardian newspaper. Three years ago, the government set up the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to find a long-term solution to the nuclear waste problem. Their published report proposes that a concrete bunker, cut into solid rock at least 300 metres (1,000ft) underground, would be needed to store the waste. It is also reported that the ‘so-called "deep geological disposal" would require a repository that would take 35 years to build and 65 years to fill’. It sounds like this would not fit under a desk! And now the British government is currently planning to ask regions to compete to see who would provide the hole for this hazardous waste.
In return, the regions would have new projects provided as compensation. They would also be trained to act as monitors over the permanent hazard they would inevitably be exposed to. It reminds you of promises made to Niger Delta communities after their environment had been wrecked.
Cape Town’s chapter of Earthlife Africa, a South African environmental NGO, recently raised an alarm over alleged negligence by ESKOM at the Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in that country. Reports indicate that certain maintenance works may have been neglected at the power station for over ten years. The organization lamented this laxity saying “Safety at a nuclear power station is of the highest concern. The potential for accidents at nuclear power stations and the consequences of such accidents have been well illustrated by historic events at Chernobyl and inthe USA and Japan. These accidents have resulted in numerous deaths and environmental destruction as well as a legacy of radioactivity that isresponsible for illnesses and deaths until today.” Would Nigeria do better?
Conceiving of nuclear energy as clean energy is only possible if one turns a blind eye to the entire production cycle of the energy. This may be true when considering only reactor operations, but if we consider the process by which uranium is mined, transported and processed it becomes quite clear that this is not a clean energy form.
What about the uranium enrichment process, fuel fabrication, and the unavoidable long-term radioactive waste storage? Nuclear power stations may generate little greenhouse gas but their radioactive by-products are among the most toxic substances imaginable, and remain so for thousands of years. We see the dilemma for the British. Nigeria can simply not handle it.
Perhaps the president needs to take another look at nuclear power generation in Nigeria. It is still early in the day and this is the right time to retrace our steps. We need to look critically at how much we have failed as a nation at efforts to provide electricity supply through the rather conventional hydro and thermal generation systems. President Obasanjo has failed spectacularly to deliver on his first term promise on this matter. Nuclear energy is not a solution to the abysmal infrastructural deficit confronting us as a nation.
Nuclear power is basically about energy generation. Nuclear power reaches users through a power-grid system. In other words, it is not a wireless system. And if truth be told, the distribution grid in Nigeria is rather substandard. This is because of weak controls and because home owners often extend power lines to their properties with very little official oversight. This has engendered a situation where cables of diverse qualities reign in the land, and electricity transformers are often camouflaged by weeds. Thus, even if sufficient electricity power were to be generated today, we lack the infrastructure to deliver such power to users. Even if we were to have the power plants up and running in a couple of years, we are decades away from having a good enough power distribution network.
Another draw back is that there is a worldwide shortage of skilled manpower in this field. We can add to this concern the fact that we have a poor record of environmental safety and our emergency response mechanisms are still suspect. Nuclear energy is a ticking bomb and needs extreme care.
Besides, nuclear plants need to be shut down for periods of maintenance. Thus where such plants are in use, the country would still need to maintain an elaborate system of alternate plants thus adding to the overall costs outlay.
Why is Nigeria contemplating this energy system in a time when the world is concerned with developing sustainable energy and is gradually shifting away from nuclear energy? It is reported that industrialized countries such as Germany are moving towards more friendly energy sources. Indeed , a June 2006 report commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety suggests that “Europe could cut carbon emissions from electricity generation by 70 per cent and phase out nuclear power by 2050 using 'concentrating solar power' (CSP) generated in the Middle East and North Africa.”
It appears that if Nigeria pursues the nuclear energy path, she will end up with an unnecessary liability when the system is finally ready. I say this because the world would have shifted away from this unsustainable mode of energy generation.
Another matter that may not have been inserted into the decision-making matrix may be the fact that nuclear power stations require huge amounts of water for cooling the reactor’s core. Experts say that nuclear plants do not work particularly well in warm climes. In a nation where fire trucks often run dry and water hydrants are left literally dehydrated, it takes very little imagination to reach the conclusion that setting huge quantities of water aside for this purpose will only compound the water problem of the nation.
We have a penchant of saying that issues like this are of no consequence because we do not lay much stock in analyzing scenarios that indicate how we unnecessarily, but rather continuously, box ourselves into tight corners. We have a penchant of superstitiously repeating to ourselves that everything will be okay even when we are taking wrong decisions and sliding down precipitous slopes.
In addition, the nuclear industry is yet to sufficiently address any of the negative aspects of this power generation system. It is a dirty industry, it is an expensive venture and it is extremely hazardous. There is nothing to recommend it except that it may confer some sense of “power” on the nation to say that we are on the nuclear league.
Honestly, rather than waste the resources of the nation on this wild enterprise, the Nigerian government should take steps to popularize solar energy systems in the nation. Solar and wind power systems may be expensive at the onset, but these costs are quite likely to fall as the world turns more to it in the face of rising cost of fossil fuels and the harmful potential of nuclear plants.
Moreover, solar systems are safe, the energy is clean and the system is amendable to discrete small scale whereby even remote communities can be easily serviced. In fact with the demise of crude oil that will happen in a few decades, the oil giants who hold vested interests in solar power development will see the need to allow popular access as this will be the next profit spinner.
In his speech to the NAEC board, President Obasanjo pointed out that "The new policy initiative of the US Government on nuclear energy, The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership" seeks to popularise and expand the generation and use of electricity from nuclear plants around the world. It does appear to us that the government is once more buying into offshore economic policy thrusts. The entire idea is rigged to shore up an American industry that is set to face decline. It may be argued that the dream of nuclear electricity plants has been on the shelves for three decades now, but common wisdom dictates that we should let sleeping dogs lie!
Again, I regret to say that I totally disagree with the president’s thinking that nuclear power would uplift the citizenry to a state of prosperity. It will rather expose our hapless citizenry to untold dangers apart from being another uneconomic sinkhole.
The World Bank, in its internal report on climate change, categorised nuclear energy as clean energy and announced plans to support it. The document, which was leaked to an environmental NGO, shows that the Bank lays a lot of emphasis on what poor countries could do to reduce greenhouse emissions, and says little about what the huge polluters should do. Although the bank keeps harping on the need for clean and renewable energy, it has not slowed down on its continual funding of oil and gas projects. Could Nigeria’s nuclear dream have been concocted by alchemists at the World Bank?
We have already squandered borrowed resources that rightly belong to future generations. Let us not make the problem worse.
Pan-African Postcard
From now on I say: not in my name
2006-08-31
Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
Early in July I was in Banjul, the capital of the country that dubs itself ‘the smiling coast of Africa’, for the AU Summit. A year had elapsed since I last saw many of the political elite who make it a point to attend these gatherings. I am referring to the media professionals and the NGO types.
Many of my friends, especially those in the AU whom I had branded as ‘bureaucrats of our Union’ ‘AUcrats’, and ‘AUrats’ were already waiting to confirm if it was indeed true that I had recently joined the UN Millennium campaign.
I had to keep reminding myself that it was in fact the truth. I couldn’t help thinking that either there was something wrong with me or them. Of all possible employers, it had to be the UN! Crowds of people wanted to exchange business cards with me. They did not want my new business card to correspond with me. Believe it or not, they wanted to keep my card as a souvenir. For them, the card represented ‘Taju joining the system’ or ‘Tajudeen selling out’.
The AUcrats had a field day taunting me as a latter day ‘UNOcrat’ and ‘UNORat’. All my attempts to convince them that I am still within the CSO community, for the UN Millenium Campaign is meant to empower citizens of the world, went unheeded. One of them even boasted to me that I would be saying ALUTA STOPEE instead of ALUTA CONTINUA soon! Time will definitely tell.
I was barely two months in the Campaign but somehow people were looking for evidence that I have mellowed or been bought over. Those who have not received my weekly column now believe that it must be because the UN has put an end to my writing career. Many now look for evidence in my writing that I have had a paradigm shift in my political worldview.
I had arrived in Banjul with an even bigger change in my public persona. After two decades of serious Piping I had given up smoking. The obligatory pipe dangling from my mouth was no longer there.
It was the second day of the Summit when one of the sisters observed that ‘something has changed about you’. Those present chorused: ‘He has joined the UN’ but she disappointed them by saying that my detour into what many of them regarded as ‘behind enemy lines’ was not it. Someone also observed that I had lost a few pounds. Thanks to the craze for losing weight these days, it could have been misinterpreted as evidence that ‘the man is going’ as we euphemistically refer to people suspected of living with AIDS in Uganda. But my weight loss was not due to any dietary change but the result of a serious bout of Malaria.
The sister asked people to guess what could be amiss about my physical appearance. It was not like I was wearing a three-piece suit and a tie in tropical conditions. So what were they supposed to be looking for?
I was in my “Acting Big Man” full Nigerian National Regal Attire. That did not come as a surprise to many, for an enduring popular aspect of the AU razzmatazz is the orchestrated display of colourful African dresses with the West Africans, invariably leading the pack. However, there seems to be increasing competition for the lead role from other regions, especially Southern African women.
So if there was nothing amiss with clothes, what then was the problem? Finally, with the smugness of the only one who knows and the sense of discovery comparable to Newton discovering the Laws of Gravity, she shouted: “Look at him! The pipe is missing.”
Everybody started demanding to know where the pipe was. Instead of congratulating me, they wanted to know why I had stopped smoking.
I had stopped smoking over a year earlier. I must emphasise that I had not stopped because I had realised that smoking was dangerous and bad for my health. Every smoker knows that (and does not care about the legal warning) just as alcoholics know that liquor is not good for their health.
When it comes to alcohol there is still a half hearted debate about whether alcohol is good when drunk in moderation. There is no such debate about smoking. Those who smoke pipes delude themselves that they smoke less. But the truth is that it is the same nicotine.
So, the message should not be ‘smoke less’ but ‘do not smoke at all’. Even now that I have stopped the impact of my previous smoking will be with me till the grave. And what is frightening is that my second-hand smoke might have affected someone else’s health.
It is often said that smokers are the only true Socialists left because they share their smoke with you whether you like it or not. This is why smoking ceases to be a matter of personal choice.
Suppose I had designs to poison my family or circle of friends or whole community, wouldn’t the State be compelled to put me behind bars? Yet smokers are doing this every time they smoke.
I am no latter day convert to ‘no smoking evangelism’. I do not wish to preach to people. I still miss the buzz and elation of bonding with complete strangers, the cancer friendships, the emotional release and other feelings that go with smoking. I am still very tolerant towards my former comrades. But I hope for those still in the Club that the puff they are now blowing is their last one.
What prompted the change was a plea from my older daughter, Aida, 10.
On a wintry morning, I was taking her and her younger sister, Ayesha, 6, to their school in North London. I rolled down my window for my first puff of the day (which any smoker cherishes. I must add that at the time our house had become a Talibanesque no smoking, no drinking Sharia Zone!).
Out of the blue, Aida said: “Baba do you know that you will not see me graduate?” I was shocked and asked why she was talking death at 8.00am. She said: “Because you are smoking.” And proceeded to reel out all the medical, social and environmental reasons befitting kids brought up on ICTs. Gone were our days of ‘do as you are told’, ‘do not speak unless you are spoken to’ and grandfather of all indiscipline, to correct the Mzee!
I was happy and saddened at the same time. I was happy that my 10 year old daughter was confident that she was going to graduate, but sad that my lifestyle was making her feel that her father might not be there. The buzz, the urge and everything that goes with that puff drained out of me that morning and ever since I have not filled up the pipe again.
Africa is far away from the litigations nightmare of the US that makes long-term smokers go to court to prosecute tobacco makers for not warning them that smoking is bad for their health!
Be that as it may, it is a scandal that tobacco companies just like oil companies and other corporations get away with serial murders in Africa and other Third World countries. It is not just their exploitation of the environment and people, but that most of their adverts would not have been broadcast or published in the West.
Tobacco and alcohol advertising are still booming in the poorer countries, where both political corruption and weak regulatory capacities allow big corporations to do what they like. They also present themselves as “partners- in-development” because of the economic contributions they make to tobacco growing countries. They have loads of money to advertise, and the media is financially dependent on this.
Governments may be compromised, and media owners reluctant to act but as individuals there are little things we can do. For me the least of the actions I can take begins with the picture editors at New Vision newspapers in Uganda, the original publishers of this column.
With this article I am making a public break with the tolerated poison industry that the tobacco industry represents. I am no longer active in the fraternity. I may not be able to stop the British American Tobacco and other tobacco companies but at least I can demand that The New Vision no longer uses a picture of me with a pipe.
I hope my good friends Owori Charles, Kevin and Sue O’Connor in the East African branches of the anti-smoking lobby ‘Tobacco or Health’ and others who have written to me take this as a public atonement and a determination to affirm life instead of being an accessory to my own death and that of others. There should be nothing glamorous about smoking. The tobacco corporations have too much money to convince and confuse the public about their merchandise. So, it would be an act of making the rich even richer on my part were I to appear with a pipe every week in my newspaper column.
From now on I say: not in my name.
* 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 or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Letters
A tribute to Bi Kidude
2006-08-31
Anonymous
I enjoyed reading ‘Drum Rider’ (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/36217). What powerful poetry! It was penned with excruciating clarity; it’s raw, painful, beautiful, but most importantly it is the truth. I honour Bi Kidude for living her extraordinary life to the fullest and sharing her divine gift of music with the world. Also, I want to thank Shailja Patel, who penned ‘Drum Rider’ for her keen observations and the power and artistry of her words. Thank you Pambazuka for sharing with us the works of these courageous artists.
Congratulations
2006-08-31
Theodore Kasongo Kamwimbi (Fellows Programme Coordinator)
Many thanks and congratulations for this thorough contribution to the work we are doing for a better society (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/364710).
Our brothers and Sisters in the DRC deserve a better future
2006-08-31
André M.Yimga (Former ICTJ/IJR Fellow) Programme Officer Human Rights League Bafoussam Cameroon
Many thanks for raising these issues in your well-argued paper (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/36471). Our brothers and sisters in the DRC deserve a better future. And Africa's future lies in the political stability of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Books & arts
The complexities of media regulation
2006-08-31
Fackson Banda
Book Review: Article 19. 2006. Broadcasting pluralism and diversity: training manual for African regulators. London: Article 19. 112 pp. ISBN: 1-902598-82-2.
The 1990s saw the unfolding of the process of liberalisation, a facet of economic globalisation, across sub-Saharan Africa. This process had significant, albeit differing, implications for the broadcasting landscape. For one thing, there was an emergence of commercial and community broadcasting projects, posing a challenge to the hitherto monolithic broadcasting systems extant in most countries. For another, the process of technological convergence was tugging at telecommunications and broadcasting policy-makers, presenting them with new problems and possibilities. Underpinning all these developments was the value of democracy and democratisation.
Which is why the manual by Article 19, under the banner of the Global Campaign for Free Expression, is a propitious contribution to the escalating debates about media regulation and its desirability for the transitional democracies of Africa.
Chapter 1 explores the principles underpinning broadcast media regulation, not least freedom of expression, freedom of information, diversity and pluralism, media access and editorial independence. It also ratchets up the regulatory challenges posed by digitalisation and convergence, arguing that this presents opportunities for expanding the broadcasting-communicative space. Chapter 2 analyses the structure and functionality of broadcasting regulatory bodies. It emphasises the importance of independent and accountable regulators, endowed with the necessary powers and funds to operate effectively. Chapter 3 discusses regulatory aspects relating to the licensing of broadcasters: the necessity of a licence; eligibility for a licence; the three-tier broadcasting licensing system; the licensing process itself; and the licence conditions that must apply.
Chapter 4 isolates the regulation of content for specific discussion, giving the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) as a useful model in this regard. Lastly, chapter 5 examines the nature of complaints and sanctions meted out by regulatory agencies, noting that these must generally be proportionate to the ‘offence’ committed (p. 80). The rest of the manual is devoted to ‘further resources’, appendices and ‘notes for trainers’ (pp. 93-112).
The manual is a decidedly easy read -- this is its first striking feature, as soon as you start flipping through the pages. It is a step-by-step training resource. Apart from being a simplified read, the manual is didactic. This is evident in three devices used to engage the reader. There are three types of box, each focusing on one of the following: ‘brainstorm’; ‘discussion point’ and ‘revision point.’ These serve as participatory tools, engaging the reader in deeper and more critical reflection on the subject. It is this simplicity of argumentation and exposition that makes this training manual stand out from most of the other written pierces of discourse on broadcast media regulation.
This very simplicity is also its major weakness. Admittedly, this is not an academic treatise to bother about ‘theorising’ broadcasting regulation. By definition, a manual is essentially instructional. But the ‘instructions’ therein are informed by some ‘theoretical’ principles evolved over time. Which is why one is at liberty to ‘theoretically’ interrogate some of the assumptions implicit in the manual, such as, for example, the apparent dislocation of the regulators from their social and political structures. Media regulation is a heavily politicised activity. It is not surprising that Horwitz postulates six theories – ‘public interest’, ‘regulatory failure’, ‘conspiracy’, ‘economic capture-conspiracy’, ‘organisational’ and ‘capitalist state’ theories -- to explain the dynamics of media regulation (Horwitz, RB. 1997. Theories of media regulation, in The political economy of the media edited by P. Golding & G. Murdock. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar).
Examples abound in which some, or all, of these theories are applicable. Only recently the South African minister of communications attempted to introduce an amendment to the ICASA Act 2000 that would make the state have a stronger say in the appointment of councillors of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Had this motion become law, the regulatory authority would have been ‘captured’ by the state machinery. Furthermore, human agency suggests that regulatory bureaucrats are susceptible to even subtler controls than those alluded to by the manual. Of course, we need not belabour the fact that the Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) has resulted in a heavily regulated media regime. In such a situation, broadcasting ‘deregulation’ would be preferable to ‘regulation’. But, for understandable reasons, it is beyond the scope of this manual to delve into the political contextualisation of media regulation in Africa.
Apart from this substantive observation, the other problematic aspects of the manual are editorial. Firstly, many of the details in the map on page 18 are blurred. The explanatory key is completely illegible. Secondly, page 69 has one glaring conceptual error. In trying to explain the ‘quantitative’ definition of ‘local content’, the author confuses it with the ‘qualitative’ aspect of local content requirements. Thirdly, here and there, one notices some typographical errors (for examples of this, see pages 29, 42 and 54).
These shortcomings do not, in any way, derogate from the integrity of the manual as a resource worth reading by all those who would understand the complexities of media regulation.
* Professor Fackson Banda is the SABMiller Chair of Media & Democracy,
School of Journalism & Media Studies, Rhodes University.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Global: Betjeman's jilted lovers
2006-08-30
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/biography/story/0,,1860770,00.html
To anyone not involved in the febrile business of writing biography, the recent row over John Betjeman's literary remains must seem like a storm in a rather fine porcelain teacup (it would be hard to imagine Betjeman with a mug). Two years ago, AN Wilson, who has recently published a one-volume biography of the late poet laureate, received a transcript of what appeared to be a passionate letter, written by Betjeman, to a woman called Honor Tracy.
Blogging Africa
African Blogs This Week
2006-08-29
Sokari Ekine
Mshairi Mshairi (http://www.mshairi.com/blog/2006/08/29/we-are-all-african/)comments on Hollywood’s latest fad: the appropriation of Africa and Africans by big names such as Angelina Jolie, Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow (who appears in a photo with the words “I am African” written across the picture for the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ AIDS project). Mshairi questions the motives behind both the project and the likes of Paltrow and others.
In the case of the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ project, the big names claim that each one of us can claim a genetic link to Africa. “The reason why Ms. Paltrow has the lines on her cheek and the words - I AM AFRICAN on the image – according to the ‘Keep a Child Alive’ website, is because ‘each and every one of us contains DNA that can be traced back to our African ancestors’. This sounds great and is obviously meant to be a trigger to get people to donate funds for AIDS orphans, as we are all one big happy family. Read their website though, and you can detect an uncomfortable and clear separation between ‘them’ and ‘us’ in their literature."
For the moment they have chosen to appropriate Africa and identify as Africans. This is insulting and arrogant as they use Africa to promote their careers and accumulate even more privilege and wealth under the guise of raising funds for AIDS or whatever charity of the moment they choose to support. How about they put their money where their mouths are and really do something concrete and lasting with the millions of surplus dollars in their bank accounts? And do this with humility and respect.
The Moor Next Door The Moor Next Door (http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2006/08/right-to-be-almost-naked.html)comments on the opposition to Muslim women participating in beauty pageants because “it brings a slur against Islam”.
“What's the fact that Muslim women wear swimsuits in their countries got to do with it? The clerics would tell you those women were shouting 'slurs' at Islam too. That's not an argument against them, mind your own business is. There's nothing Islamic (or Christian, or Abrahamic generally, for that matter) about swimsuits or bikinis. They're debauchery to most everyone (almost everyone), not just Muslims; that's why people like them, because they're not supposed to. That's what makes them 'hot'. It's an animal urge. It's not about being Muslim it's about being human.”
He personally does not approve of beauty pageants, not on religious grounds but because they are essentially a non-event.
“They contribute nothing of value to society except the image of women as objects. I am of the backward and fundamentalist school of thought that people ought to get real jobs (you know, work), go to school, and work within society to some beneficial end, instead of prancing around in their underpants or less. (I know some people think, Well some of the girls use the pageant as a way to advance their humanitarian or charitable agendas, but if their ideas were so great, why would they need to get naked for it? When was the last time a porn star or beauty queen achieved her goals of world peace or limiting some blight on society?)”
Beauty pageants not only objectify women’s bodies but they also indulge the fantasies of men. They are completely meaningless exhibitions that promote specific measures of beauty that are unrealistic, racist and highly offensive.
Jeffrey Sachs is once again the subject of African Bullets and Honey. - African Bullets and Honey (http://bulletsandhoney.blogspot.com/2006/08/less-kids-in-africa-equals-better.html) This time, it is an environmental campaign to help poor Africans and people from the Middle East “whose numbers are rising too fast”.
“Allowing that people in the rich countries live on about $30,000 per year, well above the global average of $10,000, which itself is substantially more than most Africans consume and earn, his suggestion is that giving birth to less poor people is the best course of action in the future. Sachs is worried not about the suffering of the unborn poor should they live like their parents in scarcity and ill health but rather that they may actually manage to fulfil their economic aspirations. At present growth rates by 2050, according to UN forecasts (not usually worth the paper they are printed on by the way), world population will be 9 billion with 2.5 billion of this number born in the poor countries. If this 'surplus' somehow finds a way to earn and consume today's $10,000 average, it would by Sachs calculations cause untold environmental stresses especially due to the fact that cruel fate has chosen to locate 'biodiversity hotspots' among the unwashed masses.”
Possibly he is concerned that the minority world’s resources will be compromised by the growth in the majority world who already consume less than one-third of what the minority world consumes! He should be out there campaigning in the West against its over consumption and the mounds of waste it produces every year instead of producing patronising lectures towards Africa on population growth.
The Concoction - The Concoction (http://theconcoction.blogspot.com/2006/08/get-food-but-you-may-be-raped.html) reports on the failure of the Sudan peace agreement to bring about any change in the Darfur region. Writing specifically on the rape of women, she comments that whilst laws exist on the conduct of wars, sufficient attention has not been given to rape.
“Reports of militias raping civilian women is one constant disaster that comes out of the Darfur civil war. Fetching fire wood or water often ends up in the women being raped. Just imagine running to the grocery store to get a gallon of milk and there is a very high possibility of you being raped. Just imagine.”
Chippla’s Weblog - Chippla's Weblog posts on the expulsion of oil companies from Chad for failing to pay their taxes. This is a particularly interesting story on two counts. First, a leader of an oil producing country has called the multinationals operating within its borders to account for their actions. Second, the response of the international media to the expulsion is that it is a negative move, with Reuters describing President Idriss Deby’s decision negatively as “oil resource nationalism”. Well of course it is, as ultimately it will benefit Chad more than the multinationals.
Chippla writes:
“President Idriss Deby may be an abuser of his country's constitution and the ruler of the most corrupt country in the world, but on this issue he seems to be thinking. The brain cells of the Chadian representatives who signed the initial oil deal need to be checked. This reminds one of the silly gas deals signed between the government of Bolivia and some American companies in the past. It is better for Chad not to be an oil exporter, than for it to export oil only for the bulk of the proceeds to find its way out of the country. A classical example of how foreign investment, meant to improve the economic situation in African nations, ends up sucking such nations dry.”
For too long these multinational companies have got away with their dirty deeds in Africa and elsewhere. For once, Idriss Deby has done something right. Imagine if all of Africa's oil producers acted as one and took a similar line instead of kowtowing to the likes of Shell, Chevron and Elf? We need oil money and oil for that matter, but not at any price.
Black Looks - Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/08/beauty_is_skin_deep.html) points to a video made by a 16 year old African American girl which addresses the taboo subject of skin tone within the African/Black community. The short film interviews young women about their Blackness and hair texture and how this impacts on their self-esteem. The film-maker, Kiri Davis uses a doll experiment with young male and female children where they are asked to choose whether they like the black doll or white doll, which one is good and which is bad. In the final scene of this section, a child is asked which one resembles her. She is hesitant as she has just chosen the white doll as “good” and then realizes that it is the black doll that is in her image, and she reluctantly pushes it forward as her choice. A very powerful and disturbing film but made even more brilliant in that it is made by a 16 year old.
* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org
Women & gender
Global: UNIFEM Annual Report, 2005-2006
2006-08-30
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender/rc/ItemDetail.do?itemId=1071409
"The UNIFEM Annual Report 2005-2006 report celebrates UNIFEM's 30th anniversary, highlighting the organization's accomplishments over the past "30 Years of Challenge, 30 Years of Change." It provides examples of UNIFEM's initiatives around the world to defend women's human rights, promote their political participation, empower them to participate in the global market, and combat gender-based violence."
Burkina Faso: Women's Protocol Ratified
2006-08-30
http://www.wildaf-ao.org
On August 9, 2006, Burkina Faso deposited its instruments of ratification with African Union. We can now count 20 ratifications and 42 signatures of the protocol to the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (ACHPR).
DRC: Monuc troops among the worst sex offenders
2006-08-29
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55297
The United Nations has conducted more investigations into sexual exploitation and abuse by its peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) than in any other country, according to figures recently released by the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Out of a total of 313 investigations of civilian and military staff since the beginning of 2004, 202 have been carried out in the DRC, UN News said on Friday (August 25).
Nigeria: Senate Begins Consideration of Bill To Domesticate CEDAW
2006-08-28
Press Release
On Tuesday 22nd August 2006, history was made by the Nigerian Senate following its first reading of an Executive Bill for the domestication of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
On Tuesday 22nd August 2006, history was made by the Nigerian Senate following its first reading of an Executive Bill for the domestication of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). The development is indeed a milestone considering the 21 years of tireless sensitization, social and legislative advocacy by relevant stakeholders in Nigeria’s human and women’s rights community in close consort with the Nigeria’s Gender machinery, (even before the establishment of the Women’s Commission and later the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs) the Justice Ministry and Development Partners.
Nigeria signed the United Nations CEDAW Convention in 1984 and ratified same in 1985. Furthermore, Nigeria signed and ratified the Optional Protocol to CEDAW in 2000 and 2004 respectively thereby consolidating its commitment to the obligations of the Treaty. However, and even though Nigeria has shown a sustained compliance with the provisions of Article 18 of the CEDAW Convention in submitting the statutory periodic reports, its failure to domesticate the Convention has remained a source of concern on the extent of its commitment to women’s rights protection. As a leading African State Party to the Convention, domestication is not only long over due but its absence is no longer tenable given the costly implications it has to the image and opportunities of support for Nigeria at the UN and other international fora.
The First Reading was witnessed by the Hon. Minister for Women Affairs Hajiya Inna Maryam Ciroma and the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Safiya Muhammaed Iliyasu representatives of Development Partners, including OSIWA, the main sponsors of the CIRDDOC CEDAW Domestication Project, National Democratic Institute (NDI), National Human Rights Commission, Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Global Rights, and UNICEF. NGOs represented were WRAPA, CIRDDOC and CISLAC. The Bill has been sent to the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for consideration. CIRDDOC and WRAPA are making contact with the Committee to identify ways in which civil society organizations may input in the Committee processes.
Once we ascertain the work plan of the Committee especially dates and venue of consideration, you shall be informed of the Public Hearing on the Bill. Please lobby your contacts at the National Assembly to support the Committee work and the eventual passage of the Bill. CIRDDOC and WRAPA are still working hard to get the Bill listed for hearing at the House of Representatives.
Thanks to Saudatu Mahdi and WRAPA for mobilising and facilitating attendance of stakeholders to the Senate Hearing. Thanks also to Rafsanjani Awwal Musa for assisting with all the groundwork. Finally, it is instructive to commend the Senate and its leadership for this development which is an opportunity to have the name of this legislature written in gold for fast tracking the domestication of CEDAW in Nigeria.
The struggle continues!!!
Oby Nwankwo Saudatu Mahdi
CIRDDOC WRAPA
More...
Sudan: Sexual violence spikes around South Darfur camp
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55263
More than 200 women have been sexually assaulted in the past five weeks alone around Kalma camp, Darfur’s largest for internally displaced persons (IDPs), the International Rescue Committee (IRC) warned on Thursday (August 24). "All these women have been subjected to sexual assault; some women say they have been raped," Nicky Smith, IRC country representative for Sudan, told IRIN.
Human rights
Algeria: Amnesty deadline expiring
2006-08-28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5292500.stm
Amnesty was extended to jailed suspects as well as those at large. A six-month amnesty offered by Algeria to Islamic militants on condition of surrender expires on Monday (August 28). There have been calls for an extension since fewer than 300 have come forward. Militants have been promised immunity from prosecution provided they have not been involved in serious crimes such as massacres, rapes and bombings.
DRC: War crime charge for Congo rebel
2006-08-28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5293094.stm
The leader of a Democratic Republic of Congo militia has become the first war crimes suspect to be charged at the International Criminal Court. Thomas Lubanga, who led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) militia group based in eastern DR Congo, is accused of recruiting child soldiers. International human rights groups argue that charges of murder, torture and rape should be brought against him.
South Africa: Parliament delays child rights bill
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55112
Comprehensive legislation that would prevent child criminals from mixing with adult offenders and provide rehabilitation alternatives remains unenacted nearly three years after its preparation. The Child Justice Bill, which received widespread public backing in 2003 and enjoyed cross-party support, had seemingly dropped off parliament's schedule, child rights organisations said.
South Africa: Support for strike from Sanctions Against Israel Coalition
2006-08-30
Sanctions Against Israel Coalition: Press Release
The Sanctions Against Israel Coalition hereby pledges our unconditional support for the national strikes in the cleaning sector and at Shoprite. The rampant super-exploitation in these sectors reflect the crisis of capitalism and its inability to meet the basic needs of the majority. The massive income gap at Shoprite is one of the contributors to making South Africa the exploitation capital of the world [the Gini co-efficient is of the highest].
The Sanctions Against Israel Coalition hereby pledges our unconditional support for the national strikes in the cleaning sector and at Shoprite. The rampant super-exploitation in these sectors reflect the crisis of capitalism and its inability to meet the basic needs of the majority. The massive income gap at Shoprite is one of the contributors to making South Africa the exploitation capital of the world [the Gini co-efficient is of the highest]. It is on the backs of the sweat of the workers at Shoprite that the compant has grown to set up shop for exploitation of workers in 17 countries.
The cleaning sector reflects the drive of the capitalists for outsourcing and dividing workers to enable higher profits on the back of greater exploitation of workers. In all cases where workers have been outsourced, working conditions have deteriorated; workers have been largely stripped of pension and other benefits won through long years of struggle. On the other side of the same coin, Shoprite builds their empire on the back of casual labour. These are the concrete, violent , yet unreported, conditions that workers endure in South Africa. The increase offered by the cleaning companies amount to $0.03 per hour while the CEO of Shoprite earns $8.4 million per annum.
The SA government long ago promised an investigation into the effects of outsourcing. The workers are waiting while top ANC members open up contract companies that ride the outsourcing bandwagon. The demands of the working class are put on hold while the ruling party tops enjoy conspicuous consumption. We call on Cosatu to action its slogan "AN INJURY TO ONE IS AN INJURY TO ALL"; we call on Nactu and independent unions to also embark on solidarity actions. We call for the setting up of strike support committees across the country to strengthen the strikes for the workers legitimate demands, on wages and conditions of employment.
for further comment Shaheed Mahomed Co-ordinator SANCTIONS AGAINST ISRAEL COALITION
PH 021 4476777
More...
Sudan: Deepening Crisis in Darfur
2006-08-28
http://tinyurl.com/l9sa7
This assessment two months after the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) shows that there has been no improvement in the situation of human rights in Darfur. The DPA calls on all parties to respect and promote human rights, however the agreement is meaningless if the parties by their actions continue to violate the very principles they are meant to promote.
Uganda: Fewer 'night commuters' but children still vulnerable
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55082
The number of children in northern Uganda who take refuge in towns every night from their rural homes for fear of being abducted by rebels has dropped but thousands of children are still vulnerable, aid workers said.
West Africa: Child labour and cocoa production
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22545&Resource=f1children
This report discusses the extent to which children work in cocoa production, and in what parts of the production process they are involved. The authors analyse the involvement of children in the production of cocoa in Cote D'Iviore and Ghana with the aim of providing a basis for improved understanding of the situation for cocoa farmers and the children working in this sector.
Zimbabwe:"Meltdown" - Murambatsvina one year on
2006-08-31
http://www.solidaritypeacetrust.org/reports/meltdown.pdf
The report serves as chilling reading on how the people of Zimbabwe who had their houses torn down by the Government Operation Murambatsvina last year, still have no access to housing or other facilities.
Refugees & forced migration
Burundi: Refugees face challenges of identity, land ownership on return
2006-08-29
http://tinyurl.com/l2mbj
There are big challenges facing those returnees who fled Burundi in 1972 – some 60,000 since the Burundian government signed a peace agreement with rebel factions in 2000. These challenges – including identity, language skills, and land ownership – are particularly acute for people who fled overseas to escape the first major surge of violence in 1972, and for children born in Tanzania.
Kenya: Somali's refugees lose hope of going home
2006-08-29
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=68&art_id=qw1156668660994R131
For the Somali refugees who have been in Dadaab longest, the recent takeover of much of southern Somalia by Islamic militants has sapped any lingering hope they had of going home. They watch the new arrivals stream in - 18 000 so far this year - with the air of experience. "The people who come here now, they think they are going back to Somalia very soon, or that they'll be resettled in another country," said Qarad Ismal Sagal, 34, who has been at Dadaab for 15 years.
Somalia: Heavy rains displace thousands
2006-08-30
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1990012,00.html
Heavy rains pounded the Somali capital early on Tuesday, flooding vast swathes of the city, destroying dozens of makeshift homes and sending thousands fleeing for higher ground. Residents said that many of those hit by the floods were internally displaced people who had fled deadly conflict and crippling drought in their home villages in southern Somalia for the past months.
South Africa: Refugees in SA face job curbs, court told
2006-08-30
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/national.aspx?ID=BD4A259934
The Constitutional Court in South Africa has weighed arguments from two parties on the question of whether it is correct to discriminate against refugees who want to enter the private security industry. Twelve refugees have launched a challenge against a provision of the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority Act.
Sudan: Displaced again and again
2006-08-30
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/actcar/115693028258.htm
In recent months, following attacks by armed militias in Chad, hundreds of refugees from Darfur have fled back across the border into Sudan. Too afraid of the militias to return to their villages, they are sheltering in the town of Juguma. Twenty kilometers from the Chadian border, the town of Juguma is like a pregnant woman; it provides and protects and has somewhat expanded.
Uganda: Preparing to start a new life
2006-08-30
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55329
Attacks on civilians by the rebels that have wreaked havoc across the region have decreased considerably, according to the Ugandan army. The security situation should improve even more rapidly if the cessation of hostilities agreement between the rebels and the Ugandan government lasts. However, the humanitarian effects of the conflict are still evident across the region.
Zimbabwe: No help for Zimbabwe's homeless
2006-08-30
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5296570.stm
Church leaders say that almost nothing has been done to house 700,000 people in Zimbabwe who lost their homes and livelihoods in demolitions last year. Operation Murambatsvina, which the government said was a campaign to clean up cities, was condemned by the UN.
Elections & governance
Malawi: Standoff over new public prosecutions director
2006-08-30
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55325
Malawi's parliament is stalling the appointment of a new director of public prosecutions until President Bingu wa Mutharika explains why he fired the previous prosecutor. Earlier this month Mutharika gave prosecutions director Ishmael Wadi 24 hours notice after he dropped corruption charges against Malawi's former president, Bakili Maluzi.
Nigeria: Elections set for April
2006-08-30
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5295778.stm
Nigeria has announced that elections to choose a successor to President Olusegun Obasanjo and a new national assembly will be held on 21 April 2007. Voting for state governors and regional assemblies will take place on 14 April.
Nigeria: Security Agents Raid Atiku Campaign Office
2006-08-30
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608300044.html
Security operatives in an early morning operation, yesterday, raided the Asokoro District, Abuja office of the National Development Project (NDP), the political resource centre of Vice President Atiku Abubakar, seizing an American information technology (IT) expert there. He was, however, released a few hours later.
South Africa: Anti-mercenary bill will hamper humanitarian work
2006-08-30
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55271
South Africa is poised to toughen already stringent laws against citizens serving as mercenaries in foreign wars and conflicts, but critics say the new legislation cuts too deeply and will hamper legitimate humanitarian operations.
South Africa: Cosatu Pours Cold Water On SACP Split From ANC
2006-08-30
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608300047.html
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) will not support a South African Communist Party (SACP) breakaway from the tripartite alliance. Rather, it will work towards a new-look, "pro-poor" African National Congress (ANC) leadership to lead the party after President Thabo Mbeki steps down from the ANC presidency next year.
Zambia: Malpractice Reports Flood Electoral Body
2006-08-30
http://allafrica.com/stories/200608300035.html
The Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) has been flooded with complaints by individuals, candidates and political parties of violations of the code of conduct, it has been learnt. Chairperson, Ireen Mambilima, said in Lusaka that the commission had taken the reports seriously and was giving each of it due consideration, while in some cases parties involved had been summoned to the commission to answer charges.
Zimbabwe: An opposition strategy
2006-08-30
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3535&l=1
To avoid an explosion in Zimbabwe that could cost thousands of lives and shatter Southern Africa, the opposition may need to launch a risky strategy of nationwide, non-violent protest. The country is more polarised today than ever, and in many ways, prospects for change seem to be slipping further away.
Corruption
Global: Corruption in humanitarian aid - a double disaster
2006-08-28
http://tinyurl.com/kyvxn
To address corruption in relief and reconstruction efforts following natural disasters and civil conflicts, Transparency International (TI) seeks to prevent corruption in humanitarian assistance by expanding its work in this area, starting with the publication of a report to help humanitarian aid providers identify and combat corruption in their activities.
Global: Keeping water clean
2006-08-28
http://tinyurl.com/hkn3c
The pervasiveness of corruption in the water sector, a natural resource vital for basic existence, spurred the world’s leading anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI), and five leading water organisations to join forces and fight corruption through the Water Integrity Network (WIN), launched today (August 21).
Central African Republic: Court convicts absent ex-president
2006-08-30
http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L2963965
A Central African Republic court convicted deposed President Ange Felix Patasse of fraud in a one-day trial on Tuesday (August 29) , sentencing him and two co-accused in absentia to 20 years of hard labour. Patasse, who lives in Togo after being overthrown in a 2003 military coup by current president Francois Bozize, has refused to recognise the authority of the court.
Guinea: Ratification of AU convention on corruption
2006-08-28
http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=122607&src=pub
The National Assembly on Monday, 14th August, ratified the African Union Convention on preventing and combating corruption during the third meeting of the National Assembly in the 2006 legislative session.
Nigeria: MPs arrested after siege
2006-08-28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5285544.stm
Two Nigerian state legislators have been arrested by anti-corruption officials, after a dramatic siege at the Federal Court in the capital. Speaker of Plateau State Assembly Simon Lalong and his deputy Usman Musa went to the court after being confronted by officials in Abuja.
Development
Global: A primer on foreign aid
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22508&Resource=f1aid
This new working paper explores trends in aid, the motivations for aid, its impacts, and debates about reforming aid. It begins by examining aid magnitudes and who gives and receives aid. It discusses the multiple motivations and objectives of aid, some of which conflict with each other.
Global: Official aid giving no longer a Northern phenomenon
2006-08-28
http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=4&i=s9aah1g1&u=44f33c6d
More donor governments are engaging in humanitarian action. In 1994, 16 states provided assistance to the war-torn Balkans, but a decade later 92 nations responded to the Indian Ocean tsunami. However, many of the new players chose to not follow the usual disbursement patterns of Western donors.
Global: Progress towards the MDGs
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22583&Resource=f1aid
This report considers progress made by the international community towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDG's). The authors assert that there are significant challenges ahead if the MDG's are to be met by 20015, however they note that certain goals are within reach.
Senegal: Honouring the Memory of Guy Mhone
2006-08-29
http://www.codesria.org/Links/Home/honouring_memory_mhone.pdf
On 1 March, 2005, the distinguished development economist and, as of the time of his death, member of the Executive Committee of CODESRIA, Professor Guy Mhone, passed away in a Pretoria, South Africa, hospital to which he had been admitted a few days earlier for what was expected to be a minor medical procedure.
Health & HIV/AIDS
Africa: WHO urges greater preparedness for avian flu
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55292
The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday (August 28) warned that unless African countries are adequately prepared, a pandemic of avian influenza would remain a threat to the continent.
Global: How to care for tuberculosis patients
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22585&Resource=f1health
This document, published by the Stop TB Partnership, describes the level of care that all practitioners should seek to achieve in managing patients who have, or who are suspected of having, tuberculosis (TB). It states that the basic principles of care for persons with, or suspected of having, tuberculosis are the same worldwide: a diagnosis should be established promptly and accurately; standardised treatments of proven efficacy should be used with appropriate treatment support and supervision; the response to treatment should be monitored; and essential public health responsibilities must be carried out.
Cote D'Ivoire: Outbreaks of cholera reported
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55298
A string of cholera outbreaks have spread through Cote d’Ivoire this year, with the most recent hitting the country’s economic capital, Abidjan, and leading the minister of health to declare an epidemic. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that statistics provided by Medecins Sans Frontieres/Holland showed that there have been 321 cases of cholera in the western part of the country since the beginning of the year, including two deaths.
South Africa: Aids message to change
2006-08-28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5283238.stm
South Africa's government says it needs to find new strategies for communicating its message on HIV/Aids. The announcement comes as activists called for a "day of action" to try to get the health minister to resign. The government has been criticised for recommending natural cures as well as anti-retroviral drugs to Aids patients.
South Africa: Centre for the Study of AIDS
2006-08-29
http://www.csa.za.org/
The Centre for the Study of AIDS, University of Pretoria is proud to announce the launch of its sixth AIDS Review – What’s Cooking? by Jimmy Pieterse and Barry van Wyk on Thursday, 31 August at the Innovation Hub in Pretoria.
Zambia: Bridging the gap between traditional and western medicine
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55303
Zambia's HIV/AIDS pandemic is helping to bridge the divide between traditional healers and practitioners of western medicine. Earlier this year the government commissioned the first clinical trials of remedies dispensed by traditional healers who claimed to have found an AIDS cure, fostering closer relations between the two groups of practitioners. About one in five sexually active Zambian adults is infected with HIV/AIDS.
Education
Africa: Evidence of returns to schooling from household surveys
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22336&Resource=f1educ
In the last two decades, many countries in Africa have had difficulty extending primary and secondary schooling to an increasing fraction of their youth, or in building high quality university training and parallel research institutions. Opinion is divided on how to refocus resources and determine priorities to improve the prospects for the future.
Africa: Teaching teachers about ICTs
2006-08-28
http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=2&i=e4cj1g1&u=44f33c22
African teacher training institutions are doing little to train teachers how to incorporate information and communication technologies (ICTs) into their teaching practice. Teacher training institutions and schools need better resources to ensure that ICTs are properly integrated into education.
Global: Experiences with technical and vocational education and training
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22560&Resource=f1educ
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) has fueled phenomenal economic growth in some countries and fallen short of expectations in others. Whilst TVET is still seen as second-class education by many, globalisation has prompted many governments to take a renewed interest.
Cameroon: Celestial Solutions for Material Problems
2006-08-28
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=34293
Crumbling campuses, inadequate equipment, a lack of bursaries: the problems facing Cameroonian students are numerous -- and they're not only compromising the education that students receive. These difficulties have also laid the ground for sects and religious groups to flourish on campuses.
Guinea: Girls' education under the microscope
2006-08-28
http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=1&i=e2na2g1&u=44f33c22
Guinea has made steady progress in increasing primary school enrolment, especially of girls. Yet, schools are overcrowded and the quality of education is poor. Local communities must be key partners with national and international organisations if there is to be further progress in increasing girls’ participation.
Racism & xenophobia
Middle-East: Israel on the Slide
2006-08-30
http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn08262006.html
In the aftermath of the Lebanon disaster you can open up the Israeli press, particularly the Hebrew language editions, and find fierce assaults on the country's elites from left, right and center. The overall panorama is one of chickens of all ages coming home to roost. Small pustules highlight larger rot.
South Africa: Feet washed in apartheid apology
2006-08-28
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5292302.stm
A prominent South African clergyman and opponent of apartheid has told how an apartheid-era minister washed his feet in a gesture of contrition. Rev Frank Chikane survived a murder attempt in the 1980s. He said he was grateful for the gesture made earlier this month by ex-minister Adriaan Vlok.
US: Racial Profiling Led to Detention, Harassment at Airport
2006-08-30
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/25/142252
Middle Eastern, South Asian and Muslim passengers say they are increasingly victims of racial profiling and are being detained and harassed at airports.
Environment
Global: Population Matters!
2006-08-28
Press Release
There is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth worldwide, together with the effects of high consumption levels in developed countries, pose substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs. Yet, population has been virtually ignored at a political level for the past decade.
POPULATION MATTERS!
September 2006 – January 2007
All Welcome
The Impact of Population Growth on the Millennium Development Goals Forum Series to complement the 2006 Parliamentary Hearings
There is overwhelming evidence that rapid population growth worldwide, together with the effects of high consumption levels in developed countries, pose substantial challenges to the attainment of the MDGs.
Yet, population has been virtually ignored at a political level for the past decade. Since the term ‘population’ became increasingly tarnished by the brush of ‘coercion’ and ‘control’ during the 1980s it has remained politically sensitive. The link between poverty and population growth has been downplayed and financial and political support for population stabilisation has diminished.
Population is now beginning to re-emerge in the media and into political discourse, most recently in relation to climate change issues. The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Population and Sustainability Network (PSN) want to build on this growing interest and increase dialogue between policy, action (Government and NGOs) and academic research on the topic of Population, about which many have remained silent for so long.
Each Forum will be chaired by a member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health (APPG), with contributions from two distinguished speakers, and concluding remarks from a third speaker.
1. Population, Poverty and the MDGs Tuesday 12th September, 6.00 – 7.30pm Goldsmiths Lecture Theatre, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street MDG addressed: Goal 1 to halve poverty and hunger
2. Gender, women’s empowerment and universal access to education – The impact of population growth Tuesday 26th September, 6.00 – 7.30pm The Elvin Hall, Institute for Education, 20 Bedford Way MDGs addressed: Goal 2 – Education and Goal 3 – Gender and women’s empowerment.
3. Contraception, population growth and the link with maternal and child mortality Tuesday 10th October, 6.00 – 7.30pm The Elvin Hall, the Institute of Education MDGs addressed: Goal 4 – Child mortality; Goal 5 – maternal mortality
4. AIDS and population – joined up working?
Tuesday 24th October, 6.00 – 7.30pm Gavin de Beer Lecture Theatre, Anatomy Building, UCL, Gower Street MDG addressed: Goal 6 – AIDS and other infectious diseases.
5. Environmental sustainability and population Tuesday 7th November, 6.15 – 7.45pm Room B34 Birkbeck College, Mallet Street MDG addressed: Goal 7 – Environmental sustainability and the targets of increased water security and sustainable development.
6. States and individuals: population and the discourse of rights Tuesday 28th November, 6.00 – 7.30pm Brunei Gallery, SOAS, Thornhaugh Street To examine key current barriers to implementation of population policies relevant to the attainment of the MDGs
7. Population: how do we tackle it in the 21st century?
Tuesday 12th December, 6.30 – 8.00pm (note time)
Old Lecture Theatre, London School of Economics Challenges: What Next?
The final Population Forum:
Population: The Word that Dares to Speak its Name Again
- From Research to Action at the Houses of Parliament, January 30th 2007 The culmination of the series will be a high profile Population Forum to be held at the Houses of Parliament. The event will be organised jointly with the APPG.
The event will summarise the issues and in particular the actions/solutions, identified both through the Forum series and through the Hearings process. We envisage a heavy media presence with the aim of providing messages on what the UK, other governments and NGOs and others should be doing to tackle population growth, over-consumption and the attainment of the MDGs.
Summaries of each of the Forum sessions and of the final Forum will be posted on the web-sites of LSHTM, the Population and Sustainability Network and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health.
For more information, please contact Huyette Shillingford: Huyette.Shillingford@lshtm.ac.uk or Catherine Budgett-Meakin: cbm@populationandsustainability.org Series funded by DFID Research Programme Consortium on Reproductive Health and Rights
More...
Global: The happy planet index
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22558&Resource=f1biodiv
The success of economic and social policies is commonly measured by reference to countries’ economic performance, using measures such as gross domestic product. In putting forward the Happy Planet Index (HPI) as an alternative measure of success, this report argues for greater attention to environmental and quality of life consequences of government policies.
Global: Recommendations for minimising the impact of climate change
2006-08-28
http://www.eldis.org/cf/search/disp/DocDisplay.cfm?Doc=DOC22460&Resource=f1biodiv
Failing to limit our emissions of carbon dioxide will have severe consequences for the world’s oceans. This report contends that the marine environment is doubly affected: continuing warming and ongoing acidification both pose threats. Accordingly, proactive and resolute action is needed in order to ensure that the oceans do not overstep critical system limits.
Africa: Satellites Chronicle a Depleted Continent
2006-08-28
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=34453
The U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) believes that the growing environmental degradation of Africa is perhaps most starkly reflected in satellite images beamed from the skies. And so, the Nairobi-based U.N. agency introduced a new atlas at an international water conference here which shows "the dramatic and damaging" environmental changes sweeping across the beleaguered African continent.
Kenya: Bringing the earth back to life
2006-08-28
http://www.id21.org/nr/n5fp1g1.html
The Western Kenyan highlands are one of the poorest regions in the world, with low agricultural yields and widespread poverty. Many experts believe restoring soil fertility is vital for improving agricultural production. Government and non-governmental organisations encourage and sustain the use of these techniques.
South Africa: Power plan for a dark age
2006-08-28
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=281966&area=/insight/insight__national/
Eskom is planning up to 15 extra coal-fired power stations to cater for South Africa’s soaring electri¬city demand -- which would at least double South Africa’s contribution to global climate change. Eskom coal specia¬list Johan Dempers identified the Waterberg in Limpopo as a new expansion area. He reportedly told a coal conference in Lephalale there was potential for eight new Eskom power stations in the Waterberg coalfields over the next 20 years.
Land & land rights
Global: HIV/AIDS and land rights
2006-08-30
https://www.awid.org
The HIV/AIDS phenomenon may force society to reconsider the rights it accords women. Although human rights may be universal and inherent in every human being, their practical realization tends to be dependent on the prevailing ruling class. Feminists have long asserted that women have the right of sovereignty over their own bodies and the right to own property.
Zimbabwe: Surviving the land invasions
2006-08-28
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55265
After the initial chaos of Zimbabwe's farm invasions, a tenuous truce based on a survival philosophy of negotiations, barter and political alliances has left about 600 white farmers on their land. Sustained by a belief that things "will get better", after nearly 4,000 other white farmers were driven off their land by the ZANU-PF government's fast-track land redistribution programme that started in 2000, these diehards are overcoming the insecurity that their farms can be taken in an instant.
Media & freedom of expression
Africa: Threatened from everywhere
2006-08-30
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34309
Concerns about restrictions on press freedom in Africa have surfaced again, this during a two-day conference held in Kenya that attracted over 100 media representatives from across the continent. The August 8-9 gathering took place in the capital, Nairobi. It was organised in part by the United Nations-affiliated University for Peace.
Global: Gender for Journalists Tooklit
2006-08-30
http://www.cpu.org.uk/cpu-toolkits/gender_reporting/index.html
The Commonwealth Press Union has put together a toolkit on Gender for Journalists. This is an interesting toolkit for those organisations who collect human rights news and disseminate the same as well as for those who prepare annual reports compilations, from news sources. This toolkit is designed to help journalists in the newsroom to understand the term ‘gender’ and to adopt the best practice when writing about gender issues.
Global: Freedom of Information around the World 2006
2006-08-30
http://www.civicus.org/new/media/global_survey2006.pdf
The international advocacy organisation freedominfo.org has just released its report Freedom of Information Around the World 2006: A Global Survey of Access to Government Records Laws. The report provides an overview of access to information laws from dozens of countries.