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Featured This Week

Pambazuka News Editors

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/highlights/36864

FEATURED: Cheikh Tidiane Dièye introduces a special issue on trade and women's rights, arguing that women, more than any other group, suffer the weight of the constraints of poverty largely brought about by the world trade system
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
- Roselynn Musa points out that the voices of women and poor people are largely missing from trade policy negotiations
- Salma Maoulidi asks what does trade mean for women in the East Africa region.
- Mohau Pheko argues that the July collapse of World Trade Organisation talks aimed at fostering a global free trade regime is actually an unexpected bonus
- Facts, figures, questions and answers on trade and women, compiled by Pambazuka News Staff
PAN-AFRICAN POSTCARD: Tajudeen Abdul Raheem on the AU, the UN and the Sudanese government
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine interrogates the political situation in Zimbabwe, racism in South Africa, the Darfur Crisis
BOOKS AND ARTS: Reinventing Development
CONFLICT AND EMERGENCIES: Links to news on Sudan, Somalia, Uganda
HUMAN RIGHTS: Great Lakes Summit kicks off
WOMEN AND GENDER: Fact sheet on reforming gender architecture in the UN
REFUGEES AND FORCED MIGRATION: Spain vows to curb migrant wave
ELECTIONS AND GOVERNANCE: Will Congo explode?
DEVELOPMENT: Preface to global poverty or global justice
CORRUPTION: Firms admit paying bribes in world bank program
HEALTH AND HIV/AIDS: ARVS becoming big business
EDUCATION: Zim University to teach Chinese language and culture
RACISM & XENOPHOBIA: Complaint of racial division in the newsroom
ENVIRONMENT: Bringing the earth back to life
LAND AND LAND RIGHTS: Vice president’s daughter grabs farm
MEDIA AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Beyond propaganda
DIASPORA: Haiti, shocking Lancet study
INTERNET AND TECHNOLOGY: NEPAD’s IT project faces failure
PLUS: e-Newsletters and Mailings Lists; Fundraising and Useful Resources; Courses, Seminars and Workshops; Jobs.

The hopes and illusions of world trade liberalisation for women in Africa

Cheikh Tidiane Dièye

2006-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/36859

Africa has faced ten years of unfettered liberalisation that, argues Cheikh Tidiane Dièye, has left the continent on its knees. Women, more than any other group, suffer the weight of the constraints of poverty largely brought about by the world trade system. It is women that must play a crucial role in winning the struggle for a better trading system.


Even though over the last twenty years many African nations have adopted sometimes draconian economic reforms, the benefits of trade liberalisation that were promised have not materialised. On the other hand, developed nations have enjoyed 70% of the wealth generated by trade liberalisation. In some respects, world trade regulations, defined for the most part by industrialised countries during the Uruguay Round agreements between 1986 and 1994, have only increased Africa’s economic problems.

Before an “ambiguous consensus” [1] was reached at Doha, which was at the heart of the launch of the round of multilateral negotiations that tool place at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the “battle of Seattle” or “Seattle showdown” [2] revealed to the world the growing dissatisfaction of developing countries with regard to the WTO, whose way of working did not appear to respond to their profound desire for economic progress and development.

With the support of powerful groups of NGOs, they then put into practice their power to block negotiations by refusing to submit to a potential consensus. With this action that was previously unheard of, developing countries, and particularly those in Africa, managed to draw the attention of the international community and the representatives of multilateral institutions to the stark inequalities brought about by inequitable globalisation, whose consequences have been hundreds of millions of human beings being reduced to near total destitution and the almost irreversible destruction of the environment.

This is why in Seattle, while the United Nations and Europe were seeking to enter into a “Millennium Round” of large-scale negotiations concerning new and complex issues, particularly in relation to investment policy, competition, electronic commerce and standards in the areas of labour rights and the environment, a large number of African countries advocated a “Development Round” which would allow interlocutors to discuss the implementation of regulations from the Uruguay Round directly concerning developing countries and to urge industrialised countries to honour their commitments. In this way, these nations hoped finally to succeed in opening developed countries’ markets to their exports, eliminating other structural imbalances that were unfavourable to developing nations, removing tariff, non-tariff and technical barriers imposed on the exports of less developed countries, and developing and making official WTO technical aid and capacity building programmes.

From this perspective, the group of African countries proposed to renew and apply the “special and preferential” measures from the Uruguay agreements, which aimed to facilitate the integration of developing countries into the world trading system.

After Seattle failed, the fourth WTO ministerial conference was held in November 2001 at Doha, Qatar, and the members had a common desire to correct the malfunctioning of the multilateral trading system. The developed countries made promises, among which were to reduce or remove subsidies causing imbalances in global markets, to remove obstacles blocking developing countries’ products entering their markets, to recognise and make effective special and differential treatment, to facilitate poor countries’ access to essential drugs and to create the conditions necessary for the greater participation of these nations in trade negotiations through technical aid and capacity building.

On the other hand, the dogged will of the developed countries to defend the interests of some of their privileged citizens and their multinationals straight away took priority over ethical considerations and concerns for the survival of African populations: access to essential drugs for millions of sick Africans is still being blocked due to market interests; millions of farmers sink into poverty each day as a result of the North’s illegal subsidies [3]; and the pressure to increase the liberalisation of basic social services such as water, education, energy and healthcare is about to destroy what remains of African economies.

One of the most tangible characteristics of African poverty is its “femininity”. Statistics show that African women, more so than any other category, suffer the damaging effects of poverty and all the constraints brought about by the current structure of global economic and trade relations. In healthcare as well as education, access to land and economic resources, etc., African women have remained well below world averages.

In such a context, it is not difficult to establish a link between the situation of women in Africa and the world trade system, which, even if it is not the only explaining factor, is at the very least an important factor. The financial collapse of agriculture and African industries, caused by the combined effect of liberal policies imposed by international financial institutions and WTO rules, affects both rural and urban women, as it subjects them to chronic food insecurity, begging and the dangers of the informal economy in African towns and cities.

Greater liberalisation does not give rise to human development

Many studies have tried to establish a correlation between the level of openness to trade and increased economic growth and human development. In effect, there is no proof that the liberalisation of exchanges leads automatically to economic growth and human development. In a study [4] looking at the relationship between trade and sustainable human development, the UNDP drew an interesting comparison between two countries, in relation to their level of openness to world trade, to demonstrate such an assertion. These countries are Vietnam and Haiti.

Since the beginning of the 1980s, Vietnam has undertaken a progressive approach to reform. It is not a member country of the WTO. It has organised world trade at the level of the state, has maintained a monopoly over imports, and has preserved quantitative restrictions and high customs duties (30 to 50%) on imports of agricultural and industrial products. However, despite these measures being contrary to the “formulas” often advocated by those who hold neo-liberal doctrines, Vietnam has had spectacular success by achieving a growth rate higher than 8% per annum since the mid-1980s, which has earned the country a 12% increase in trade, a considerably reduced level of poverty, including in rural areas and in vulnerable groups (women and young people), and has attracted high levels of foreign direct investment.

Haiti, on the other hand, has become involved in an ambitious road to liberalisation and total openness since 1994/1995. The country has brought its customs tariffs down to a maximum of 15% and has removed all quantitative restrictions. For all this, Haiti’s economy has not evolved. Social indicators have even deteriorated and poverty has, in places, reached worrying levels. Although a member of the WTO, Haiti is one of the most marginal countries in terms of integration into world trade.

Looking at Africa, an analysis of the evolution of world trade over the last twenty years shows that the continent has unfortunately not profited from the benefits [5] that were granted and that, despite all the agreements and preferential schemes, Africa’s share of world trade has dropped significantly from 6% in 1980 to 2% in 2004. In effect, since 1980, African exports have increased at the average annual rate of 1.5%, whereas for the world as whole this increased by 5.8% per year.

The social consequences of such economic decline no longer need to be explained. In sub-Saharan Africa, women in certain areas produce up to 80% of basic food products and therefore play a decisive role in food security at the level of both the family and the nation. And in areas where cash crops predominate, reduced earnings resulting from reduced tariff protections and the large-scale entry of imported goods into national markets has exacerbated the vulnerability of women insofar as they have no other option other than to add to the swelling populations of shanty towns to work in order to survive in informal jobs and small trade.

In the industrial sector, WTO agreements concerning rules for market access for non-agricultural goods have imposed drastic cuts in customs duties, which was the only instrument there to protect African industries. This subjects a growing, and consequently vulnerable, African industry to direct confrontation with big corporations from the developed countries, which has quickly worked to the advantage of the latter. The most edifying example today is the African textile industry, in which countries with a definite relative advantage were obliged to cut hundreds of thousands of jobs even before the agreement on quotas was reached in December 2004. And since 2005, China’s powerful entry into the world textile market has heightened the pressure in this sector. Nigeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Ghana, Senegal and other countries are today experiencing the full force of the crisis in this industry, which has a high potential for employment, including a female workforce.

Even if the liberalisation of the textile industry has increased and diversified the supply of goods in African markets, where prices have also tended to drop, such an outcome cannot compensate for the long-term losses that the de-industrialisation of Africa will bring about. This de-industrialisation has only increased the informalisation of the economy by developing trade around goods produced elsewhere.

The WTO ten years on: economic opportunities or fresh risks?

The ten years of liberalisation under the aegis of the WTO needs to be assessed. Disregarding doctrine and squabbles between different schools of thought, it has been widely accepted that for African countries, trade liberalisation has not produced the results one hoped for.

Even if one has to admit that it is often difficult to measure the real impact of WTO rules on the situation of women in Africa, specific studies, of which there is a real shortage in this area, have concluded that this impact is most worrying when compared with the overall assessment of WTO rules on African populations.

Studies conducted into the liberalisation of the water sector in many African countries have shown that it is mainly women who carry the burden of the fresh constraints brought about by the privatisation of these strategic sectors. In the field of work, liberalisation has certainly increased the opportunities available to women in certain countries, but this usually takes place in very poor conditions and often pays much less.

It is remarkable that the mediocre results achieved for African nations after ten years of liberalisation under the aegis of the WTO has not led developed countries to reassess their positions and objectives. If the negotiations have today become bogged down in differences of opinion such that they have been indefinitely “suspended” by the Director of the WTO, this is not because the organisation is trying to take better account of the interests of developing nations, and Africans in particular. The present crisis is mainly down to the battle between the United States and the European Union on the one side, and the G20 [6] on the other. The battle is over the issue of parallelism [7] of forms. The developed countries are calling for the developing countries to impose drastic cuts in customs duties on industrial goods and to commit to the liberalisation of the trade in services, whereas the developing countries are calling for the other nations to reduce their agricultural subsidies.

Given the present crisis and the gloomy prospects at the WTO, the logical conclusion of an evaluation of its ten years of action should be “mission unaccomplished”.

And the question to ask now is what should be the alternative to the WTO? And what would the consequences of a long-term crisis at the WTO be for African people, and women in particular?

It is extremely tempting to respond in a simplistic way by saying that the failure of negotiations at the WTO could only be to the advantage of African countries due to the unfairness of the current rules. However, if one looks at the power relations at the WTO and in the system of world governance, it shows that such a stance does not stand up easily to clear analysis. The failure of trade negotiations would allow the status quo to gain acceptance once and for all, and would reinforce current trade relations, which are mostly to the detriment of African nations.

Therefore, on the contrary, we must relaunch multilateral negotiations and fight, so that the principle of special and differential treatment for African nations is put in place, made effective and made obligatory, in accordance with the Doha mandate in all areas of the negotiations.

Even if the negotiations have still not really advanced the cause of Africa, they at least allow African populations to hold an interest in them, place more popular pressure on governments and negotiators, provide a platform for African states and civil society organisations (NGOs, producer organisations, trade unions, women’s organisations, etc.) to denounce current trade rules and schemes, and reduce the pressure of governments in the North and multilateral institutions who advocate liberalisation in the interests of the rich.

Conclusion

The way in which trade is governed in today’s world leads to necessarily unfair results. But could it be otherwise in a game whose players are not equal?

Whilst the rules that have been set do not allow African nations to develop the means to compensate those who have been damaged by international trade, developed nations have implemented mechanisms to protect themselves from the dangers brought about by liberalisation.

In such a context, the Doha development agenda could only really achieve its goal of creating a framework for development if it allowed the creation of an international environment that guarantees African countries enough flexibility to implement national standards and policies. This would have the effect of helping these nations protect their populations, markets and institutions from the effects of the market.

Such an approach calls upon African leaders to act responsibly. If it is understood that the system governing world trade should take greater account of the opinions of vulnerable populations, one also needs to recognise that this task must first be carried out at the national level. Greater participation of various types of stakeholder, including politicians, NGOs, producer organisations, women, consumers, the private sector, etc., in the development of trade policy is without doubt a pre-requisite in order to make national interests known at WTO negotiations. From the perspective of gender [8], however, even though efforts have been made for years, there remains a serious shortfall that is holding back African negotiation strategies.

* Cheikh Tidiane Dieye is a socio-anthropologist who has been involved in trade and multilateral negotiations on behalf of Enda Tiers-monde, a member of the Africa Trade Network (ATN). He is co-editor of "Footbridges between trade and durable development", a news bulletin on the trade negotiations.

* This is a shortened version of the original French article, which was translated by Timothy Cleary. Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Notes

[1] See Passerelles n° 2 vol 3, November 2001 – January 2002
[2] From a book by Maude Barlow and Tony Clarke (“Global Showdown: How the New Activists are Fighting global corporate rule”, 2002), recounting the demonstrations of global citizens’ movements which prevented the launch of the WTO’s “Millenium Round”.
[3] Interesting studies conducted by NGOs such as Enda Third World, Oxfam and the ICSTD have shown the disastrous impact of American subsidies on the African cotton trade. On this, read the “White Paper on Cotton”, Enda Diapol, 2005.
[4] “Making Global Trade Work for People”, UNDP, 2003
[5] Among these relative benefits, one can cite in particular the unreciprocal trade preferences between the EU and the ACP which characterised the Lomé Convention, the flexibility offered to LDCs at the WTO and, more generally, to the generalised system of preferences.
[6] The G20 is a large group of negotiators based around the big developing countries exporting agricultural goods, such as India, Brazil, Argentina, China and South Africa. The group emerged just before the Cancun Confernece in 2003 and is fighting against subsidies in the North.
[7] This is a concept defended by the EU in particular in its commitments. Each group stands firm and asks the other groups to make the first commitments.
[8] Few African delegations at the WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong included women.

Gender issues in trade in Africa

Roselynn Musa

2006-10-04

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/36862

Substantially reducing poverty in Africa will require massive policy shifts, writes Roselynn Musa. This is unlikely to happen unless the voices of women and poor people, which are largely missing from trade policy negotiations, are heard and respected.


It has often been propositioned that ‘trade’ and not ‘aid’ is the catalyst that will plunge African countries from unending poverty to economic prosperity. There is no denying the fact that trade has brought benefits for African women particularly in generating a rise in employment opportunities, yet research into the impacts of trade policy on gender relations and equality paints a disturbing picture. Such research shows that trade under similar terms has different impacts on women and men and often affects women more negatively than positively in their position as workers, consumers, producers, and care givers within the domestic sphere. It also shows that even among women trade affects urban dwellers differently from rural dwellers and younger women differently from older women.

This paper therefore challenges the myth which claims that trade liberalisation brings many benefits at very little cost. Trade liberalisation can bring benefits to a country, but it is also true that trade liberalisation imposes heavy burdens on women as workers in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and in commercial agriculture. It discusses issues of gender and trade in Africa centering on employment, labour, privatization, salary gaps, and the impact of trade on productive and reproductive spheres. It concludes with steps that could be taken to promote gender equitable trade relations in Africa.

It is evident that trade liberalisation has different outcomes for men and women. These differential impacts relate to many of the most fundamental aspects of livelihoods and well-being, including employment, income, food security and access to health services. The outcomes differ across countries and regions and are based on the type of economic area and specific sector, measures, timing and sequencing of trade policies. They also cut across different sectors and sub-sectors of trade liberalisation: agriculture, services, clothing and textiles, and intellectual property.

Practically, the impacts of trade are felt by individual men and women as fluctuations in price (and hence availability of goods) and through changes in output (what people work to produce, how and under what conditions). The main argument of the proponents of free market policies, including some gender advocates, is that increased trade and investment liberalisation can improve a country’s economic growth, which in turn can increase women’s participation in the labour market. Consequently there have been increased employment opportunities in non-traditional agriculture such as cut flowers, and clothing and textiles, and the services sectors.

Trade may bring new employment and business opportunities, but existing inequalities such as low skills and gendered division of labour means that any adverse effect of trade liberalization - including impacts on the labour market and working conditions - are felt more by women than men.

The impacts of trade liberalisation may vary at different levels of the economy, and may differ between women and men. Yet the picture is often complex and contradictory. For example, African women have benefited from trade liberalisation by increasing their access to employment such as in the Economic Processing Zones (EPZs), but at the same time, African women have paid the price of adjustments in their roles in household management and traditional agriculture, which have been negatively impacted.

The inequality emanating from the differential impacts that trade has on women and men can be effectively addressed and government and other international players held accountable for existing commitments on women’s human rights conventions during trade negotiations. For example, the lack of a mechanism to hold the current trade and international financial regimes into account on women’s rights is evident. This is aggravated by the fact that these regimes did not exist at the time of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the resultant Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA) did not specifically address concerns around them and their implications on women’s lives.

Import liberalisation means decreasing tariffs payable to national governments on goods coming into the country. This usually leads to a drop in domestic revenue and consequently cuts in government spending. Such cuts disproportionately affect women, particularly cuts in social services such as health, provision of water, electricity and so forth.

Going back to the example of the consequences in a fall in prices of domestically produced goods due to the abundance of cheap imports, though women may benefit from lower prices of imported products, as small scale producers they face stiff competition with cheap imported goods. This is exacerbated by the fact that government policies of export promotion intended to cushion this effect may be detrimental for small scale producers (mainly women) as these tend to prioritise cash crops, which are mainly produced by men. By extension this has a negative effect on food security, an area for which women are largely responsible.

If we look at the issues of gender participation and governance and ask who was included in decision-making processes around trade issues at the national, sub-regional and regional levels we discover that women play very small roles. There is a wide gap in integration of gender analysis or consultation with women. As long as African women must still negotiate family and work responsibilities, they tend to engage in more informal sector, or home- based work. Women’s equal participation in trading activities is further hampered by concerns such as difficulty in accessing capital, lack of relevant training and skills or limited contacts with national and international trade networks. On this basis there is a need to recognise that women’ participation in international trade must be on terms that allow them the same choices as men and in conditions where they are equally involved in decision- making, with the same opportunities for growth for their businesses and exports.

The question to ask at this point is: How far have African governments’ commitments to gender equality in trade policy been translated into practice? In recent years, it has been viewed that foreign trade has assumed a prominent place in economic development strategies as a key to financing development in African countries, without adding further to their indebtedness.

In addition, expectations have been raised that by creating jobs, transferring new technologies and building linkages with the rest of the economy, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) will directly address the continents´ poverty challenge. Thus policy reforms aimed at improving the investment climate in African countries have increasingly been centred on attracting FDI without the desired results either in increasing FDI flows in productive sectors or in ensuring more rapid growth and poverty reduction. The continent at present accounts for just 2 to 3 per cent of global flows, down from a peak of 6 per cent in the mid-1970s. Even on a per capita basis, the gap between Africa and other developing regions widened significantly in the 1990s and remains very large.

Although there are signs of just a little advancement in Africa’s commitment to gender equality and gender mainstreaming, further steps need to be taken. Specifically, gender issues must be put in the trade and development agenda in a more coherent form, and trade policies should complement gender equality and development policies as enshrined in the Convention on The Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA)

It is widely understood that women make up the majority of workers in the EPZs where the labour and social concerns of women differ from those of men. Women workers in these factories are faced with issues of poor working conditions, and problems of managing both work and domestic responsibilities. Women are paid lower wages than men, partly due to persistent assumptions about women’s income being secondary, rather than primary in the household. They also face instability of employment and lack of access to training, healthcare or social security provisions, notably childcare. They are frequently hired on short-term contracts - or with no contract at all - to work very long hours with little or no job security and little consideration for occupational health. In order to compete and keep prices low, many of the increased costs and risks of doing business are increasingly borne by women, who are still expected to raise children and care for sick and elderly relatives, even when they are the ‘breadwinners’.

Despite the existence of corporate codes of conduct and international conventions in place to protect workers, governments are under pressure from local and foreign investors and from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Trade Organisation (WTO), and World Bank loan conditions to maintain flexibility in the supply chain. This has meant that labour standards are not universally enforced, resulting in short term contracts with little or no benefits.

Studies have shown that work in industries has had a positive effect on women’s self-esteem and decision-making within the family. Paid employment can improve women’s autonomy as well as their economic and social status. It can also shift power relations between women and men, including at the household level, and can improve women’s well-being, negotiating power and overall status.

However, the picture is not as clear-cut as this might suggest. The structure of domestic labour markets and global production chains is highly gendered. Despite the advantages, in many contexts trade liberalisation is coupled with persistent occupational segregation by sex, both vertical and horizontal (Horizontal segregation refers to the distribution of women and men across occupations. Vertical segregation refers to the distribution of men and women in the job hierarchy in terms of status and occupation.) Women not only supply a cheaper workforce, but are also supposedly more docile. And, because of the gendered division of labour, work with textiles, for example, fits in accordance with existing gender norms. Women therefore tend to have less skilled jobs than men; most of the time their wages are lower than men, and they often work in unhealthy and exploitative conditions characterised by incessant sexual harassment/ sexual blackmail.

At this point it is important to note the differentiated impact among women, due to differences based on age, class, race, geographical location or ethnicity. It is generally the poor and marginalised groups of women who are negatively affected by unemployment and the restructuring of labour markets. In reality, there are differentiated outcomes for women in their different roles and locations. For instance, in Ghana, women consumers in urban centres have benefited from the availability of cheaper foodstuffs because they are the net buyers of food. However, women farmers in rural areas, as the net producers of food, have been negatively affected by export-promotion policies that have mainly benefited men and large-scale farmers. They have also suffered, as have men farmers, from declining household incomes due to the increased competition with imports, reduced farm gate prices (price of goods as they are sold where they are produced) and declining commodity prices in international markets.

The policy reforms induced by trade liberalisation and the WTO regime have also resulted in a shrinking policy space that has altered the role of the state in profound ways. Some commentators argue that trade liberalisation has endangered the fiscal basis of the state as a result of tariff reductions combined with the tight constraints on budgets imposed by International Financial Institutions (IFIs). The most common policy response to these fiscal problems has been to increase domestic indirect taxation on goods and services, with a focus on value added tax (VAT). VAT can be particularly detrimental to women, both as consumers and in relation to their reproductive role, as it is often levied on goods for the household and labour-saving devices such as domestic appliances.

Fiscal austerity also has implications for spending on services such as health and education, which are essential for all, but particularly for women. It can also constrain the ability of governments to put in place social protection measures and safety nets to offset some of the negative impacts of liberalisation. These negative impacts are compounded by the undermining effects of international trade rules on national commitments to international conventions on human rights and gender equality.

In practice, service liberalisation is the ultimate outcome of the privatisation agenda carried out through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank programmes under structural adjustment and more recently through the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) mechanisms. Although proponents of liberalisation argue that this will reduce the price of services, it does raise a number of issues such as universal access to essential services that pertain to basic needs and rights that states are obliged to provide for their citizens. Experience has shown that when the costs of essential services rise, women typically make up for the shortfall in household resources and caring responsibilities. A government’s ability to regulate the quality of such services is critical to ensuring that the rules are applied in a manner that does not impede the achievement of national development objectives, especially in the area of gender equality.

Trade liberalisation therefore has an impact on women’s unpaid labour. In addition to having to take on added caring responsibilities with the reduction in social spending, the pressure to produce for export drives people out of subsistence farming where caring responsibilities could often be incorporated into productive work or shared among family members. Moreover, although paid employment outside the home can be an advantage to women in many ways, the work needed to reproduce and care for the labour force often means a double or even triple work burden, demonstrating that women working in such industries can suffer extreme stress over juggling their workloads. Women's unpaid work within the household further increases during periods of economic downturn,. When household incomes fall and there is less money available to pay for labour-saving devices or for assistance in caring roles for children or the elderly, women move in to make up the shortfall. These are also the times when women are more likely to take on informal work to boost domestic finances.

Recommendations

- There is a need for the collection of gender aggregated data and detailed research into the impact of trade liberalisation on gender relations and women’s lives.
- Trade review mechanisms and mainstream impact assessments can be used as entry points for gender analysis
- Capacity building is needed to help women participate in determining priorities for trade and employment policies.
- Development agencies and trade ministries need to ensure that market access programmes acknowledge the unequal power between women and men.
- Strategic alliances must be forged between gender equality advocates, trade justice activists and development actors working on policies and programmes.
- There is the need to focus on raising women’s skill levels to cope with the loss of domestic production and to adapt to new markets, as well as develop better tools to establish the gendered impacts of trade agreements.
- Programmes should be developed that promote women’s access to resources (land and credit).
- Attention should be paid to provision of services such as child care, mobile health clinic, maternity protection, paid sick leave etc to enable women to participate in trade activities.
International institutions engaged in trade related functions should be more accountable for defending women’s rights.
- Existing international agreements on women’s rights such as CEDAW and the BPfA should be upheld.
- Women should be provided with training as well as access to credit and finance and improving access to management, marketing and technological skills that will allow them to move beyond micro- credit schemes.
- Networks should be established for advocacy, training, information-sharing and awareness raising between women entrepreneurs, gender focused NGOs, government officials.
- Employers should promote women’s advancement, not limit this to low-skilled, low- paid jobs.
- Women workers should be empowered to defend their rights.
- Introduction of fair trade to ensure that women are paid a fair wage for their contribution to agricultural and production processes resulting in stability of income.
- All institutions dealing with trade policies and governments need to be made accountable and transparent.
- Policy-making should be made democratic and participatory.

The African continent remains by and large marginalized in the world economy, with over half of the population living under US$1 a day per person. If the major Millennium Development Goal of reducing poverty by half by the year 2015 is to be achieved in Africa, a major policy shift is required, both at the national and regional levels, to help boost growth and development in Africa. Policy changes are unlikely to occur unless there is a substantive democratization of policy-making at all levels. In particular, the voices of women and poor people, which are largely missing from trade policy negotiations, need to be heard and respected.

* Roselynn Musa works with African Women’s Development and Communications Network, FEMNET, Nairobi, Kenya. For the full version of this article, please click on the link below.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

References

African Union, (2004) The Road to Gender Equality in Africa: An Overview, Ethiopia

Barbara K (2002), Gender and Debt, Harare, AFRODAD

Beneria L et al, Engendering International Trade: Concepts. Policy and Action,

Edward O. et al, (2000) The Cost of Globalisation, Geneva

http://www bridge.ids.ac.uk

http://www.siyanda.org

http://www.twnafrica.org/gera.asp

http://www.unifenpacific .org/gender_tradehtml

Margaret S. et al, African Women and Development (1995), Johannesburg

Pheko, M. (2005) Gender and Trade Issues in Africa, Paper prepared for NEPAD Secretariat

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, (2004) Trade, Sustainable Development and Gender

UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Women’s Economic activities and Integration Network, report of meeting of focal points for Women’s Development Programme,

UNIFEM, Gender, Science and Development Working Paper Series

Van Starveren (2002) Gender and Trade Indicators, Brussels, WIDE

WIDE (2003) Feminist Challenges in a Globalised Economy, Brussels

Wiliams, M. (2002), Women in the Market: A manual for Popular Economic Literacy, , Brussels, WIDE

World Bank, 2001

What do women stand to gain from trade?

Salma Maoulidi

2006-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/36861

Trade, trade and more trade: That’s the winning formulae for a fulfilled life. But what does this mean for women in the East Africa region? How are their interests reflected in trading activities? Salma Maoulidi investigates.


Trade signifies an assortment of economic activities and transactions. Trade, for many in the Global South struggling to improve their economic status, is the new salvation. It is the magic equation to economic prosperity - do more of it and your Gross Domestic Product (GDP) goes up, winning you points in economic performance.

But like all prevailing economic formulas there is a catch: for any meaningful economic gains to be registered under the present trade regime, external trading must outweigh internal trading. In practical terms this means economies import more at the expense of local production, the latter becoming more prohibitive and less competitive on account of higher production and transaction costs. Conversely, countries fetch lower returns on exports following the devaluation of local currencies, making then too weak to trade competitively on the world market; and also because goods produced locally continue to have the inferior status of “raw materials” or unprocessed goods and are of a lesser value compared to processed goods.

Why sex is a factor in the trade equation

In simple terms, this forms the basic functioning of the current trade regime. Underneath this simplicity, however, lies a complex set of relationships that fundamentally influence the terms and players in trade deals, including women. Universally the world of business is seen to be off limits to women. Just as dominant religious and cultural ideologies persistently deny women proprietary rights, the business establishment has followed suit, recognizing more readily women’s role as producers, and as consumers, but not as owners and managers of productive enterprise.

Political independence has had minimal impact on the national and global economic profile in terms of wealth distribution. During colonial times in East Africa, the trading class was composed mainly of Indians and a few Arabs, who owned the local retail and wholesale shops. The main economic activities were, however, controlled by the settler farmer and colonial administration, mostly Europeans. As corporations take over economic activities, trade monopoly is no longer solely defined by race and ethnicity. Thus the local Indian or Arab retailer in East Africa is being replaced by the Chinese retailer/wholesaler; while an expert labour force from India and other parts of South East Asia take over industries and the service sector. A few indigenous entrepreneurs claim a stake in local and regional business, but for the most part Africans form the bulk of the unskilled labour force and remain the primary consumers.

The sex composition in the business world has remained unchanged, with women registering little success in penetrating global, regional and local markets. Women in trade and economic bodies are still under-represented. In Tanzania, for example, women are underrepresented in virtually all business chambers. The local bourse has very few women traders as do local industries. Regional Trade Agreements offer business opportunities beyond national boundaries but are, for the most part, not integrative of the needs of women. Trade frameworks like NEPAD or the East African Common Markets, while seemingly progressive, are rendered ineffective by constitutional frameworks that preserve gender inequalities at national levels. In many respects, therefore, women remain objects of sale, convenient conduits for furthering materialist aims and gains. They are yet to become the subject of trade regimes and investments.

The miracle of women friendly economic programmes

In view of the persistent exclusion of women in economic enterprise and the widespread belief that economic empowerment is critical towards raising the status of women, some quarters, either pioneering individuals or development organizations, have tried to redress the imbalance of players in economic enterprise. Many implement programmes aimed at the economic upliftment of women, programmes that vary minimally in approach in that they have micro-lending or micro-credit as the basis for women’s economic empowerment.

The theory of women and economic upliftment is, however, flawed as it does not see the woman as an independent economic investor or dealer. Indeed, whereas the imperialist business model focuses on accumulation in order to achieve profit maximization through serious capital injection, prevailing notions of women and entrepreneurship limit women’s economic engagement to the micro, the small business happening outside the margins of real business.

Essentially, the very concept of micro credit is restrictive. Other than suggesting that it is insignificant, and therefore of minimal consequence, in so far as volume and risk is concerned, it does not view women as serious accumulators of capital. Rather, the concern is to give women enough to help them and their families survive. Such an outlook has affected how women engage in business, their overwhelming motivation being aiding their families, not making serious money.

Indeed, women plough back most of the earnings and profits they get from productive activities into their families instead of expanding or diversifying their businesses (a fact a number of agencies have banked on to introduce or intensify micro-credit programmes targeting women). Because women’s economic activity is mainly concerned with improving the household and family welfare it is not perceived as a serious trade venture. Perhaps if women did not assume the greater burden of caring for the household, they would dare trade for profit as some younger unattached women do. They would vie to make money for the sake of making money, and not just for survival.

The terms of engagement under which most micro lending schemes operate are also limiting in that they require women to organize in collectives - in fives or tens - to qualify for lending or credit schemes. Indubitably, it proves more profitable for lending institutions to lend money to communities of women where they can maximize their turnover irrespective of whether women are making any money from the loans: continuous recruitment and policing of group members ensure high return rates. Hence, with very little investments women become effective mediums of cash generation and multiplication.

Women as objects or subjects of trade

In many respects, therefore, women are becoming the objects of trade. Businesses target women using both traditional as well as modern techniques. Economic liberalization has seen an influx of luxury items in Tanzania, the most significant being cosmetics. Images of the modern woman championed by the media, result in the dumping of cheap beauty products such as whitening creams, the health dimension of which is yet to be assessed. The promoters and chief distributors are men, while women are the willing or beleaguered consumers. Similarly, the home, the bastion of womanhood, remains the most effective sales point, luring women with the possibilities of stocking up on the newest and cheapest home gadgets on the market.

This is not to say that women are sitting idly by, oblivious to emerging economic opportunities under traditional and new trade regimes. Women may have been excluded from active trade but they have never shied away from trade. Indeed, in a number of African countries women are revered for their trading skills. For example, food and textile markets in West Africa are dominated by women. It is now customary, even in conservative areas, to see women traders - women running shops and bars in urban and provincial centres; women fish vendors in coastal areas and the Great Lakes areas and Zanzibar; women trading in foodstuffs and cereals in Manyara and Mbeya; women hawking goods in Moshi and Arusha; and women transporters in Tanga and Dar es Salaam. There is also an increase of women participating in national and international trade fairs, many sponsoring their own participation. Increasingly women are trying to build a niche for themselves in fields previously dominated by men.

Women make up a significant percentage of the 85% of Tanzanians engaged in agriculture, the mainstay of the economy. Also they form a sizeable percentage of the self-employed population engaged in the informal sector. Because women’s economic engagement is confined to the reproductive sector - in food production or preparation, hospitality, child caring, education, beauty and hygiene, and handicrafts - areas that affirm a woman’s sexual and reproductive role, they remain excluded from more lucrative productive enterprises like large-scale farming, horticulture or industry.

Even among the fastest growing sectors of the Tanzanian economy, like mining, women are under performing. Whereas there is an association of women miners representing the interest of a sizeable population of women in mines, few are miners or dealers in gemstones or in industries associated with mining. The bulk of the female population working in mines sells food or provides sex services. Women in the tourist industry fare no better. Men dominate the most lucrative services in the sector as tour and taxi operators, travel agencies, hotel owners and managers. Women assume low raking service jobs such as telephone operators, waitresses, chambermaids, cleaners, travel agent sales persons, and flight attendants. As is the case of women in the food industry, women in the tourist industry are pushed to prostitution to supplement meager incomes.

Economic success but at what price for women?

Increasing insecurity in their personal lives may make women reluctant participants in commerce. Micro credit programmes are replete with reports of husbands who appropriate loans or earnings, exacerbating levels of poverty among women. Similarly, little attention has been paid to the great physical risk women face on account of their economic success. Necessarily, economic success does not shield women from the threat of violence. A number of women experience acts of aggression on account of their business success. A case in point involves a popular female fish trader in Arusha market, Mama Terry, who was recently robbed in her home. A close male relative jealous of her business success paid the gangsters to “fix her”. Thankfully, when they attacked she had a sizeable amount of cash, in her possession. Distracted by the loot, the thugs left without harming her. Other women are not so lucky, falling victims to both sexual and physical violence after being gang robbed.

Clearly, the terms under which women can engage in productive economic activity should not surpass social expectation. Otherwise relatives and society at large reserve the right to apply some form of sanction to neutralize a woman’s economic mobility.

It is common for youth traders, frustrated by severe economic alienation, to physically and verbally attack women they perceive as successful. They feel such women “undermine their chances” to make it in a competitive business environment.

Sadly, models of “women of substance” in trade and business continue to be scarce, even among female business graduates. Interestingly, women with business education end up teaching or overseeing less fortunate women in micro-credit and lending programmes. Few actually venture into business. Moreover, instead of being at the forefront of an emancipatory trade and economic agenda, business professionals do very little to emancipate themselves and other women from economic bondage. Rather, they serve the dominant trade framework, becoming brokers for financial interest, urging on poor and less educated women to take on loans and subscribe to economic models that keep them on a leash of economic dependency and exploitation.

A few business savvy women serve as self-appointed advocates for women’s economic justice. They exercise vigilance over global processes that dictate the terms of trade for men and women in the global south. Nevertheless, they communicate via language and process far removed from the realities of women they represent: Their discourse is too technical, aimed at policy makers and academics. Whereas these women would have provided the link between professionalism and creativity in local enterprise, or with local governments, their oppositional stance serves to alienate women further from entrepreneurship, seeing it as too complex and mystical a venture.

Ultimately, women continue to miss out on role models in the business world. They miss being groomed by women with a conceptual and practical understanding of the system. They remain confused and intimidated by the jargon and procedures that restricts their spontaneity to venture and risk. They remain ignorant of terms and processes they can take advantage of because there is little interest all round to acquaint and translate these to women. As long as women’s induction to trade in the region remains microscopic, microminimized and micromanaged they will remain at the margins of trading blocks, earning just enough for their survival and that of their families. How then can such a trade development formula realistically contribute to women’s economic empowerment?

* Salma Maoulidi, is the Executive Director of Sahiba's Sisters Foundation, a women’s development network in Tanzania whose mission is to build women’s leadership and organizational capacity.

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Further reading

- Society for International Development, The State of East Africa Report 2006- Trends, Tensions and Contradictions: the Leadership Challenge, 2006

- Khadija Mohammed Hijja, Women and Tourism in Zanzibar, 2005(unpublished)

Collapse of WTO talks good for Africa; Good for women

Mohau Pheko

2006-09-15

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/36860

Far from being bad news for Africa, the July collapse of World Trade Organisation talks aimed at fostering a global free trade regime is actually an unexpected bonus. Out of the breakdown in negotiations should come a new trading system that is beneficial to Africa’s women, says Mohau Pheko.


The Collapse of the WTO Doha negotiations are good for Africa and women. This is an opportunity for Africa to move away from the myth that the Doha Round was a 'developmental round'. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the start, the aim of the developed countries was to push for greater market openings from the developing countries while making minimal concessions on their part. Invoking development was a cynical ploy.

The break down of the talks is a turning point for Africa to contribute to developing a multilateral trading system based on developing Africa, women's rights and sustainable development.

During July, in anticipation of the July 27-28 meeting of the World Trade Organisation's General Council, a major rescue effort was mounted to save the "Doha Round" of global trade negotiations from collapse. The most prominent of these efforts took place at the G8 Summit in St. Petersburg, where leaders of the world's most powerful economies called for a successful conclusion to the round, painting it as a “historic opportunity to generate economic growth, create potential for development, and raise living standards across the world."

The collapse of the Doha negotiations offers Africa a unique opportunity to review and reconsider the multilateral trading system as a whole, and to start with a new approach to a global trading system that will promote social and gender justice, women's empowerment and environmental sustainability. It also offers Africa some breathing space to reclaim the policy space that has been taken away in the process of negotiations.

Africa can expose the hyprocrisy of the lopsided trade in agriculture. Even if the United States had conceded to the terms of the WTO Director General's compromise on cutting its domestic support, this would still have left it with a massive US$20 billion worth of allowable subsidies. Even if the European Union had agreed to phase out its export subsidies, this would still have left it with 55 billion euros in other forms of export support. In return for such minimal concessions, the US, and EU, and other developed countries like Japan wanted radically reduced tariffs for their agricultural exports in Africa and developing country markets.

If these talks had been brought to a conclusion on such lopsided terms, it would result in African countries slashing farm tariffs while preventing them from maintaining food security. This is a recipe for massive expanded hunger and threatens to further impoverish millions of Africans.

The current deadlock was caused by developed countries, mainly the US, who were not willing or able to come up with steeper cuts in farm subsides. The collapse of the Doha negotiations creates a momentum for Africa to review the past negotiations and analyse the flaws in the WTO system in its entirety. The current neoliberal approach to the multilateral trading system subordinates the needs of African women and men to corporate-driven interests.

The bias of the Doha negotiations serves the private interests of the biggest corporations instead of benefiting the majority of Africa's people. Recent World Bank [1] and other studies such as that from the Carnegie Endowment Centre [2] highlight the fact that the current trade liberalisation agenda is not working for the majority of women and men, particularly those living in impoverished African countries, and that especially women “tend to be among the most vulnerable to adverse impacts” [3].

Trade can be a medium of development, but trade liberalisation is not a panacea to development, poverty eradication and gender equality. The time has come for Africa to take leadership and start with a new approach to a multilateral trading systems that will genuinely promote equitable, gender just and sustainable societies that benefit all women and men.

For this, international trade policy must be constrained and bound by existing international agreements that promote human rights and women's rights, ecological sustainability and human dignity and must aim to end poverty and promote well-being.

Trade policies can no longer be dictated by the interests of big corporations. Any further WTO negotiations should not undermine governments' commitments to implement domestic Bills or Rights and United Nations Conventions.

* Mohau Pheko is coordinator of the Gender and Trade Network. For Further Information: Write to: mohau@sn.apc.org

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Notes:

[1] A series of devastating reports on the potential outcomes of the Doha Round were published by the World Bank, the UN, and several think tanks including "Agricultural Trade Reform and the Doha Development Agenda", Kym Anderson and Will Martin et. al. World Bank Report, Nov.1, 2005

[2]"Winners and Losers: Impact of the Doha Round on Developing Countries", Sandra Polaski, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington DC, 2006

[3] "Global Overview Trade Sustainability Assessment of the Doha Development Agenda" from the EU, final draft report

What do women want?

Pambazuka News Editors

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/36863

What is the role of women in world trade?

Compared to 50 years ago, women represent an increasingly higher number of the world’s labour force, with many studies placing the number at over 50 percent. However, this doesn’t include women who work in the informal sector or the unpaid activities of women at the household level. On a broader level, women’s access to health care and education, for example, are profoundly influenced by national economic policy – meaning that if international economic best practice doesn’t take into account gender issues, then women are disadvantaged.

How does trade have an impact on women’s rights?

Trade liberalisation, which refers to the untaxed flow of goods and services between countries, has had positive and negative influences. Increasingly, the negative impacts of trade liberalisation, has made trade a central feature of advocacy work by gender activists. Women have gained jobs in the manufacturing sectors, but these jobs may not lead to positive social outcomes as women often work longer hours and are paid low wages. The opening of markets and the influx of cheaper goods have in some cases destroyed livelihoods, and it is women who have borne the brunt of these changes.

Have women’s rights been considered in international trade bodies?

The World Trade Organisation, an international rules-based and member driven organization which oversees a large number of agreements defining the "rules of trade" between its member states, has long been criticized for not including the voices of women, preferring to view trade as gender neutral. Moreover, its main decision making bodies are male-dominated. To this extent, nothing has been done to take into account or lessen the negative impact of trade liberalization on women’s rights. Despite increasingly loud voices, the WTO refuses to reform itself, has unclear rules about its decision making and operates in manner that is non-transparent.

What is the core of the problem? – Trade or the global economic system in which we conduct trade.

There is nothing wrong with trade per se; in fact the cornerstone of human society is based on trade. To human beings, trade is a tool for survival. However, a problem arises when one group of people uses trade to exploit and oppress another group of people. From a feminist standpoint, this normally happens in a patriarchal society. A patriarchal society is a society based on the belief that women are inferior to men. The global economic system is shaped and influenced by patriarchal logic. Indirectly and directly, the global economic system cultivates and encourages misogynists attitudes in traders, which nine out of ten times tend to be men.

What is the Alternative? Or, as patriarchal society puts the question: What do women want?

Women want to be treated with dignity and respect. Lots of feminists have said this before, but women want an end to sex discrimination by job definition and sex-role stereotyping in the media. Like any “normally” functioning group of people on the planet, women want equity and self-management . Women want a good economy that accomplishes central economic functions without exploitation of women, people of colour and the environment; but most importantly, women want an economy that meet people’s needs and develop their potential, to paraphrase Michael Albert.

What’s the solution to these problems?

Most governments are already signatories to a host of international agreements committing them to gender equality. These include the UN’s Beijing Platform for Action, which requires that governments correct imbalances that any policy, including economic policy, might create.

Economic policies are often fostered on countries by International Financial Institutions and donors. Officially, consultation in the implementation of these policies does take place, but in reality economic policy should be formulated through a democratic process that takes into account the voices of local people and considers the existing power relations within society.


Fact and Figures: Women’s rights and trade

- "Thirteen countries - of which Burundi, Liberia, Nigeria, Somalia and Tanzania are a few - are in the same shape or worse off today than they were in 1990. For almost 40 countries the data is insufficient to say anything, which probably reflects an even worse situation for women." - Social Watch, an NGO watchdog system (Source: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/height.htm)

- ."...there is growing evidence that trade liberalization tends to disadvantage women, who constitute the majority of small-scale farmers in rural areas. According to the FAO, women make up about 44% of the formally documented agricultural work force in developing countries..." (Source: http://www.cid.harvard.edu/cidtrade/Papers/gibb.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20trade%20and%20women's%20rights%22)

- "Some 70-90% of the workers employed in export processing zones (EPZs) are women. Women also produce more than half of the world's household goods and their share of informal employment generally matches or exceeds men's." (Source: http://www.wto.org/English/tratop_e/dda_e/symp03_gwit_e.doc.)

- "In Senegal, tomato production used to provide rural households with a good living. But after liberalisation, the prices farmers received for their tomatoes halved, and tomato production fell from 73,000 tonnes in 1990 to just 20,000 tonnes in 1997." (Source: http://www.awid.org/go.php?list=analysis&prefix=analysis&item=00264)

- "A 2002 report by the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF) documents violence against women in agricultural industries in Kenya. Many women harvesting coffee and tea for export have kept silent about extreme sexual harassment—even rape—by their supervisors in order to keep their jobs." (Source: http://www.laborrights.org/publications/tradewomen1202.pdf#search=%22statistics%20on%20trade%20and%20women's%20rights%22)

- "98% of wealth on earth is in the hands of men, and only 2% belongs to women." (Source: http://www.whrnet.org/docs/issue-globalisation.html#Facts)

- "The 225 richest "persons" in the world, who are men, own the same capital as the 2,500 million poorest people. Of these 2,500 million poorest people, 80% are women." (Source: http://www.whrnet.org/docs/issue-globalisation.html#Facts)

- "One of the biggest problems with many economic policies is their failure to account for women's unpaid work. For many women, unpaid work, (including attending to children, cooking and small-scale farming) accounts for a large portion of their contribution to the economy." (Source: http://www.awid.org/publications/primers/factsissues6.pdf)

- "Women are increasingly at risk of working in highly exploitative and dangerous conditions because trade liberalization tends to increase their employment in the industrial sector, in commercial agriculture and in export processing zones, which are characterized by low rates of pay and sub-standard conditions." (Source: http://www.awid.org/publications/primers/factsissues4.pdf)

Previous special issues on trade

Globalisation, trade and justice
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/240

Trade and human rights
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/257

Will Africa stand firm in Hong Kong?
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/233

Economic Partnership Agreements: Territorial conquest by economic means
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/issue/216

Previous articles on women and trade

WTO: “Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose”
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/31085

Trade liberalisation, hunger and starvation
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/26551

Negotiating a fair deal: Are trade agreements with the EU beneficial to women?
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/28906

We are fatigued with charity, we know we can do it ourselves
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/28864

The AU and the Sudanese Government

Tajudeen Abdul Raheem

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/panafrican/36856

The African Union has given notice that it is not going to continue its Peace Mission beyond the end of this month when the mandate expires. Khartoum's initial response was more or less: “Good riddance” though it has now 'modified' its position to include impossible conditions under which it may 'allow' the African Union troops to remain.

The Sudanese government wants the Mission to be financed by itself and the Arab League. This is obviously a condition that the AU cannot accept and has rightly refused to countenance. In addition, the Sudanese government has categorically rejected the UN Security Council Resolution 1706.

The African Union Peace Keeping Mission in Darfur has been faced with many challenges. One, the experience is new and consequently there were lots of obstacles to be dealt with. Two, the mandate was too limited, and, therefore, it has been unable to embark on peace enforcement that could have saved more lives. In a sense, it is an AU mission based on the old OAU fudge. Three, it never had enough resources to carry out its limited mission effectively.

But by far the biggest challenge is the bad faith of the Sudanese government. Also, too many external interests have been impacting on the conflict.

These challenges have contributed to the misconception that Africans cannot resolve their problems themselves. The fact that the Mission was put together was a positive step towards confirming that Africans and our political leaders were no longer prepared to be indifferent to the suffering of other Africans.

That Rwanda and Nigeria both immediately offered troops was also an expression of this Pan African Solidarity. Rwanda knows only too well the consequences of apathy and indifference. On the other hand, the Nigerians have always regarded Africa as the “centre piece” of the country’s Foreign Policy and have always sought to put their money where their mouth is.

I am not enamoured by Obasanjo at all but I must concede that he has remained consistent on Pan African Issues. In the case of Sudan, Nigeria has been engaged from time immemorial largely because both countries are superficially similar but also because there is a long association between the peoples.

The North-South ethno-regional - racialist and religious fault lines in Sudan are very familiar to Nigeria. Therefore successive Nigerian governments have tried to be peace-makers in Sudan. There is also the fact that there are a significant number of Sudanese people who may be of Nigerian origin.

One of the most difficult challenges that the AU had to confront was the limited nature of their mandate. Due to this weakness, the Sudanese government was able to outmanoeuvre the AU. It played the AU against the UN / USA and got a weakened intervention force.

The Sudanese government also exploited the United States of America’s low credibility and the anti-Americanism that Bush’s war without end continues to generate among many Africans and peoples of the world. The US is the only government that has officially declared that what is happening in Darfur is nothing short of genocide.

This should have put an obligation on both the US government and the rest of the member states of the UN to abide by the Geneva Convention. Neither the US nor the other states have discharged that responsibility. The US cannot do so because nobody will believe it, especially after it waged a unilateral war on Afghanistan and Iraq.

In practice, the AU force has been toothless because of the limited mandate. This should be enough reason to review the way in which the Peace and Security Council (PSC) operates. It is not a case for abolition - rather it is a case for wider reform so that it is able to intervene effectively.

The issue of resources have to be dealt with seriously. Almost all organs of the Union are handicapped by lack of money, not just the PSC operations. It is simply unacceptable and should be indefensible that we cannot fund the AU on our own given the enormous resources wasted by governments across this continent.

Why are we able, ready and willing to spend money on Presidential vanities and unjust wars but have no resources for peace and development? Why should anybody take us seriously if we do not take ourselves seriously?

However, whatever internal resources we generate, should not mean that Africa cannot and should not avail itself of global resources both material and immaterial. We are part and parcel of the international community. Any threat to our peace and security is a threat to the rest of the international community.

Africans have been helping to make, keep and maintain peace across the world from Bosnia to Lebanon, and, therefore there is nothing wrong in asking others to help us too.

It is clear that extremist elements are now in control of policy in Khartoum. Whether President Bashir is a willing or unwilling prisoner is difficult to say categorically. Sometimes politicians prefer to be seen as ‘powerless’ even as they may be in full support of the unpopular direction their government may be embarking.

These extremists see peace negotiations as weakness. They fear that Darfur may be on the road to some form of independence, like the South. In that way of thinking they are willing to disorganise any peace negotiation.

It is telling that the key moderate voices of past negotiations are very quiet now. The most important of these voices is that of the second Vice President, Ali Osman Taha. As evidence to show that Bashir is firmly ensconced with his extremist hegemonists, he reportedly swore he will never allow the UN into Sudan and instead was prepared to go to Darfur and fight himself.

But the government is not the only villain. Some of the rebel leaders themselves do not want any peace resolution, and still others suffer from inflated opinions of themselves. Right from the start, many of the rebel leaders never wanted an AU force.

That ruse has now been exposed for what it is: bad faith by a government bent on killing its own peoples. There is a need for both the AU and the UN to call Khartoum's bluff.

By stating its exit date, the AU has already taken a clear position. The ball is now in the court of the UN whose July 31 resolution was made under the enforcement chapter of the UN Charter. AU members are also members of the UN and part of that decision. Therefore we may leave as the AU but return to protect fellow Africans as part of the UN Force.

• 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

Global: Join Africa Action

2006-09-04

http://www.africaaction.org/docs/flyer4.pdf

Join Africa Action, activists from around the country, religious leaders, students, and members of the Darfuri and Sudanese community at a gathering to mark the second anniversary of the Bush Administration's declaration that genocide is occurring in Darfur, Sudan.

Global:Expression of Concern By HIV Scientists

2006-09-07

http://www.aidstruth.org/letter-to-mbeki.php

We are members of the global scientific community working on HIV/AIDS who wish to express our deep concern at the response of the South African government to the HIV epidemic. HIV causes AIDS. Antiretrovirals are the only medications currently available that alleviate the consequences of HIV infection.

Africa: Information network launched for librarians

2006-09-04

http://www.uneca.org/disd/events/2006/wsis-library/main.html

Librarians from across Africa have launched an information exchange network to promote access to, and more effective use of, government information for democratic and economic development on the continent, following a workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, co-sponsored by the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

South Africa: Open Source software and open content

2006-09-04

http://www.sangonet.org.za/portal/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5120&Itemid=230

"We, South African civil society, petition you and our Government to adopt Free and Open Source software and open content wherever possible. As a developing country, South Africa, along with all the countries on the African continent, needs you and our Government to act as agents of positive change in our society and trigger shifts in the information and communications technology market dynamics."

The complexities of media regulation

John Barker

2006-09-04

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/letters/36718

Thanks for this review of Article 19's Broadcasting Pluralism and Diversity manual (http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/books/36699). Article 19 plans to produce a second edition of the manual next year and we will take into account Fackson Banda's comments. The manual has been published under the Creative Commons licence and we welcome comments, additions and practical examples of its use.

Reinventing Development: new spin on old story?

Book review

Firoze Manji

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/books/36857

Reinventing Development: Translating rights-based approaches from theory into practice. Paul Gready and Jonathan Ensor (eds) Zed Books £16.95 ISBN 1842776495

In the aftermath of the Second World War, mass mobilizations swept the African continent, as people in villages, farms and cities demanded the right of self-determination and an end to colonial subjugation. The independence governments that were subsequently swept into power proposed that the path to self-determination should be through what Western governments described as ‘development’, seen as the universal panacea for the problems of ‘underdevelopment’.

Despite the haziness of the term, it had a certain progressive ring – implicit in the idea of development was that of emancipation, which had inspired millions to support the movement for independence. And it was in this that the modern missionaries – the development NGOs – found their raison d’être.

By the end of the 20th century, the appeal of development had waned. Twenty years of structural adjustment programmes had reversed nearly all the gains of independence, removing the right of African people to determine their own social and economic policies, rendering their governments less and less accountable.

Development NGOs were experiencing a crisis of credibility as their development programmes came to be perceived as part of the so-called ‘Washington consensus’ agenda. Development had lost its emancipatory appeal. It was in need of reinvention.

Amartya Sen was probably among the first to recognize this in his call to reassert the link between development and freedom. [1] Others gradually took up the cry, until even the World Bank became a proponent of ‘the rights-based approach to development’.

The appeal was obvious: human rights has – as development once had – an association with something that is implicitly participatory and emancipatory. But has the new dogma changed anything in practice? Has it led to poverty being recognized as a massive human rights violation that kills millions prematurely every year? Has it resulted in bringing to account those who are responsible for and benefit from the impoverishment of humanity? Has it resulted in international agencies supporting movements claiming reparations for injustices? Has it meant resources being allocated to popular movements so they can exercise their collective power in support of their claims or defend themselves against attacks? What real difference has it made to the struggle for emancipation – the right to determine one’s one future?

With some notable exceptions, there were few answers to be found in this book. This collection of essays does, however, provide a remarkable insight into the current discourse among international development agencies about something that appears to be the new universal panacea for the poor. It shows that, like the term ‘development’ before it, the human rights approach to development has come to mean anything and everything to everyone.

For UNICEF, it is essentially an effective programming tool; for Oxfam International, it is business as usual, but recast using the new rhetoric. For CARE International in Rwanda, it provides a different analytical framework for its work but the solutions seem drearily similar to conventional approaches to development.

In Afghanistan, the rights-based approach is seen as necessary not so much to defend the rights of Afghanis but primarily as an advocacy tool (and, some might say, for strengthening negotiation for funds).

For ActionAid, the rights-based approach is radically different: they show that rights are fundamentally about enabling the poor and disenfranchised to organize, and thereby use their collective power in their own interest.

Instead of the traditional charitable and humanitarian response to the earthquake and communal violence in Gujarat, they understood the ‘need to take sides unambiguously with the poor’. The need for political action in relation to children’s participation is more cautiously acknowledged in Save the Children’s case study from Nepal.

Two valuable essays in this book seem strangely out of place. Ghalib Galant and Michelle Parlevliet from the South African Centre for Conflict Resolution make a strong argument for why conflict prevention and the struggle for human rights are inextricably linked – though how this relates to the rights-based approach to development is not made entirely clear. An excellent essay by Neil Jarman on human rights and peace-building in Northern Ireland discusses how human rights have moved to centre stage following the paramilitary ceasefire – though the term ‘rights-based approach to development’ is not once mentioned!

In addition to a series of case studies, there are more discursive essays on the concept of the rights-based approach – the introductory essay by the editors, an essay by Harsh Mander, an essay on rights and culture by Jonathan Ensor, and a helpful summary and conclusion by Olivia Ball. I was struck by the fact that none of these essays sought to address the nature and scale of human rights violations taking place in so-called developing countries.

Injustice, crimes against humanity, genocide, gender-based violence, child abuse, war, torture, occupation, the use of state sponsored terror and its mirror image of non-state terror – topics that are the normal focus of human rights discourse – were mentioned at best only peripherally, if at all. Do these subjects have no relevance to the discourse on rights and development? Their absence lends weight to the sense that the discourse on rights-based development is just a new spin on an old, and rather discredited, concept of development.

• Firoze Manji is Executive Director of Fahamu and editor of Pambazuka News.

• This article first appeared in the September edition of Alliance Magazine.
Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Notes:
[1] Amartya Sen (1999) Development as Freedom Oxford: OUP.

Global: An Hour With Legendary Folk Singer & Activist Pete Seeger

2006-09-06

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/04/1416217

Today we spend the hour with the legendary folk singer, banjo player, storyteller and activist Pete Seeger. For over 60 years Pete Seeger has been an American icon. In the 1940s, he performed in the Almanac Singers with Woody Guthrie as well as the Weavers. In the 1950s, he opposed Senator Joseph McCarthy's witch hunt and was almost jailed for refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Global: African ceremonies: 30 years of photography

2006-09-06

http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/

Presenting their latest work in Africa through still images and video film, Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher travel from the swamplands of the Nile in Sudan, to the Omo River in Ethiopia, and to the semi-desert of northern Kenya. Exploring the secret rituals of coming of age and the arts of courtship and seduction, Fisher and Beckwith seek out some of the most fascinating and visually powerful peoples who still retain their traditions on the African continent.

Review of African Blogs

Sokari Ekine

2006-09-06

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/36815

Zimbabwean blog ‘Enough is Enough’- Enough is Enough (http://enoughzimbabwe.org/tsvangirai-suprise-march-surprisingly-late)comments on opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai’s march from the MDC party headquarters to parliament last Friday. He wonders if the march, which was reported as being a “surprise”, was really that much of a surprise to the Zimbabwean authorities.

“What surprises me is that the police don’t perceive MDC to be a viable threat so they’ve essentially stopped monitoring the party and have started looking elsewhere for threats to the state. This despite Tsvangirai’s insistent protestations that this winter was going to be a ‘winter of discontent.’ With Zimbabwe’s winter gone and no protests led by the MDC, it’s surprising that the police or other government authorities weren’t expecting the march.”

'Ethiopundit' - Ethiopundit (http://ethiopundit.blogspot.com/2006/09/intellectuals-and-their-discontents.html) writes on the appropriation of intellectuals by the Meles Zenawi government to justify his continued rule in Ethiopia.

“As we discussed in Short Term Memory, Cheerleaders and Sachs & Violence, there is a long tradition of intellectuals 'adopting' African tyrants stretching back to those 'romantic' revolutionaries Nkrumah and Nyerere and their destruction of the Ghanaian and Tanzanian economies and societies. All that is needed from a tyrant is to speak the right progressive language while flattering their ferenji intellectual sponsors - even as boots stomp the faces of and impoverish the 'people' everyone pretends to be so concerned about.”

Ethiopundit makes an excellent point here that could be applied to other African leaders such as Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo whose appalling human rights record and negative strategy of “hit fire with fire” in the Niger Delta is ignored by the West. Obasanjo fits well into the above analysis. Ethiopundit goes on to say:

“The folks at Columbia fit squarely in that tradition of excusing oppressive governments with some variety of the old 'making the trains run on time' justifications for evils past. Take this sentence from the Initiative statement quoted in full above that describes a non-existent "remarkable degree of macroeconomic stability and good growth on average" in Ethiopia.”

Intellectualism in this case is a tool to justify the lack of political will by the West to take Zenawi’s dictatorship to task.

Kenya blog, 'Pandemonium Today' - Pandemonium (http://pandemoniumtoday.blogspot.com/2006/09/call-to-arms_115730230839858870.html) comments on the tendency to view Africa solely in terms of “corruption, greed, inefficiency, neglect, and political irresponsibility.” He believes that we as citizens also have to take responsibility and are at least partially to blame for the failures of our countries. He writes:

“I observe many people who will quickly denounce their country yet hang on to identification with it. Their nationality or place of origin will come second to their name when asked who they are yet, in the same breath they will let out a condemning supercilious cry, 'Africans!' What is pathetic is for us to think we stand above it all when this position itself mirrors the same denial and irresponsibility that several of our less-than-acceptable leaders exercise.”

South African blog, 'YBlog ZA' - YBlog ZA (http://128.241.192.81/blog.html) comments on what he considers to be the ridiculous conclusion of a recent opinion poll in South Africa claiming that South African Blacks are the biggest racists in the country.

“Yeah, well, there you have it. I knew there was something about them I didn't like. They're a bunch of bloody racists. Plus 94 Research tells me so and the Sunday Times, our largest-circulation paper, spells it out. The poll results headlined this past Sunday's edition, which was avidly snapped up by countless millions who've always suspected our black brothers and sisters of having it in for us... Not only are they racist, they're twice as fucking racist as we are. But this doesn't bother me. I am, after all, a blogger, a professional, and a hard man to boot. I have nothing to fear but blacks with white teeth and big guns. Given this, I decided to tackle the racists head on, and so beat a path to their favoured hangout, Muggers Alley, on Cape Town station's upper deck.”

An excellent piece that goes to the heart of how racism is constructed not only in South Africa but throughout the world.

'The Voice of Somaliland' - Voice of Somaliland (http://waridaad.blogspot.com/index.html) discusses why “Black Africa should resists Arab domination of the African Union.” He looks back historically at Arab racism towards Africans until the 2001 statement by Gaddafi to the Arab League calling on Arabs outside Africa to join the African Union. He describes the statement as “nothing but a declaration of race war on Africa. It is an invitation to more Arabs to invade and colonize Africa. Indeed, it is a call for the final phase of the 15 centuries old Arab lebensraum war on Afrikans - a war to Islamise and conquer all of Africa, from Cairo to the Cape and from Senegal to Somalia, and to then enslave or Arabise all the conquered Afrikans. In order to make that clear, it is necessary to first put his invitation in the context of the traditions of Arab melanophobia and negrophobia, and of Arab expansionist ambitions and conquests that go back to the time of prophet, Mohammed.”

One way of countering any notions of “conquest” by Arabs over Africa would be for Africa to reclaim the whole continent including North Africa or Arab speaking Africa as it’s own and end the divisive geographical markings that separate the continent into Sub Saharan Africa and North Africa.

'Sudan Reeves' - Sudan Reeves (http://www.sudanreeves.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=117) comments the UN’s paralysis and the unwillingness by the international community to act, as Khartoum readies itself to resume another onslaught against Darfur.

"The final moment of diplomatic truth for Darfur has at last arrived. All evidence suggests that the international community is prepared to acquiesce before the military onslaught Khartoum’s National Islamic Front is preparing for North Darfur, an offensive that will target both rebel military forces and non-Arab civilians who do not support the deeply flawed 'Darfur Peace Agreement' (May 5, 2006, Abuja, Nigeria). Fighting in North Darfur over the past two months has increasingly involved collaboration between the forces of Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) faction leader Minni Minawi (a member of the Zaghawa tribe and the only Darfuri signatory to the Abuja agreement) and Khartoum’s regular military. This collaboration has produced attacks that have focused primarily on Fur villages."

As Khartoum continues to vehemently refuse the deployment of UN troops even under a Security Council resolution, Reeves suggests that there is one alternative supported by Darfuris, both in the camps and in the Diaspora.

"...Non-consensual deployment of a robust international force, one fully adequate to protect endangered civilians and humanitarians, and to produce a military stand-down by the combatants."

He believes that the authority to take this route already exists in Chapter 7 of the UN Charter but that this takes courage and the political will that is lacking in the UN and international community.

"...Decides that the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is authorized to use all necessary means, in the areas of deployment of its forces and as it deems within its capabilities :to protect United Nations personnel, facilities, installations and equipment, to ensure the security and freedom of movement of United Nations personnel, humanitarian workers, assessment and evaluation commission personnel, to prevent disruption of the implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement by armed groups, without prejudice to the responsibility of the Government of the Sudan, to protect civilians under the threat of physical violence, in order to support early and effective implementation of the Darfur Peace Agreement, to prevent attacks and threats against civilians, to seize or collect, as appropriate, arms or related material whose presence in Darfur is a violation of the Agreements..."

'Black Looks' – Black Looks (http://www.blacklooks.org/2006/09/paradise_found.html)

‘Black Looks’ comments on the rising numbers of migrants from Africa landing in Spain, and the response of the Spanish government. Only last weekend, some 1,900 men and women landed in the Canaries. On Tuesday, the Spanish government issued a statement that it was no longer going to tolerate the continued arrival of immigrants from Africa and that their respective countries must begin to take responsibility and act to prevent people leaving in the first place. Two weeks ago the Senegalese government in an unprecedented move, signed an agreement with Spain which will allow the Spanish Guardia Civil to patrol Senegalese waters to prevent people from leaving in boats. However, ‘Black Looks’ points out that migrant labour from Africa has been beneficial to Spain and Europe as a whole and questions the rhetoric of the Spanish government in their calls for the end of illegal immigration.

“There are layers of realities around immigration in Spain and Europe as a whole. The country has benefited from the cheap Moroccan and West Africa labour on construction sights and in their agricultural sector which has resulted in a 2.6% growth in the economy over the past 10 years. Without immigrant labour it would have fallen by 0.6% annually. Similar growth figures apply for the whole of Europe. The Spanish government’s rhetoric that it will not tolerate the continued arrival of migrants cannot be taken very seriously as long as Spain continues to need cheap labour to produce cheap food. The difference between today and a year ago is the sheer numbers that are arriving such as the 1,900 since Friday.”

* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, www.blacklooks.org

* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Africa: AU essential to the political and economic development of Africa

US Congresman's statement

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/aumonitor/36852

Mr. President, the African Union is essential to the political and economic development of Africa’s diverse community of States. It has become clear that the AU represents a real commitment by its members to establishing a forum for political dialogue and to address the challenges and seize opportunities that are arising throughout the continent.
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD SENATE PAGE S8954 Sept. 5, 2006 AFRICAN UNION Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, the African Union is essential to the political and economic development of Africa’s diverse community of States. It has become clear that the AU represents a real commitment by its members to establishing a forum for political dialogue and to address the challenges and seize opportunities that are arising throughout the continent.

The AU plays three very specific roles that I will highlight as we consider the nomination of the United States’ first ambassador and as we renew our efforts to strengthen our relationship with the AU.

The AU is primed to serve as the primary forum for establishing peace and preventing conflict throughout the continent. I applaud the efforts of the leaders of the AU to establish a true capacity to prevent and end conflict that has devastated many parts of the continent for too long. The creation of the Peace and Security Council, PSC, within the AU is particularly valuable, and I hope this organ within the AU develops sufficient capacity to deal with the full range of conflict throughout the continent. It is essential that the PSC complete its work in developing a series of early warning systems and indicators so that it can be effective in preventing conflict. It also must develop a real capacity to respond to conflict should one occur. The Panel of the Wise, too, is an important source of moral authority and opportunity for prominent African leaders to engage in country-specific conflicts without sacrificing neutrality or threatening the sovereignty of a nation.

As we have learned from recent years in places such as Sudan and Somalia, it is critical that there be a way to identify, understand, and respond to the conditions that breed instability.
The United States should support this conflict prevention and resolution capacity and work closely with the AU to identify weaknesses or shortfalls that exist in maximizing the AU’s ability to fulfill these important functions.

The United States must also support the AU’s efforts to establish an African Standby Force that can participate in peace operations, intervention, and conflict monitoring. The AU and its members have proven a willingness and commitment to contributing military forces to AU-flagged missions throughout the continent. AU forces are operational in Darfur and in Burundi and have proven that they are willing to take on challenging assignments in nonpermissive environments. Unfortunately, the AU still does not have the capacity to fully implement the vision for the African Standby Force, nor to effectively complete its mission in Darfur.

The United States should assist the AU in developing a professional, deployment-ready standby force that can respond to conflict and that can participate in interventions to establish peace in areas already facing conflict. We must continue our efforts to help African militaries develop their capacity, while also urging the importance of the respect for human rights, civilian leadership, and fighting corruption.

Finally, the AU is playing an increasingly important role in defeating terrorist networks throughout the African continent. As terrorist networks exploit undergoverned or unstable areas throughout Africa, the AU can play an important role in helping member States develop internal capacity to defeat the conditions that allow terrorists to take root. The AU also can strengthen member-State networks to share information, best practices, and even capacity as it relates to understanding, and ultimately defeating, terrorist networks. The African Center for the Study and Research on Terrorism, ACSRT, a joint AU Commission/PSC structure, was launched in 2004 but lacks sufficient capacity to carry out its broad mission. It is a good first step, but it will need assistance from the United States, the European Union, and other members of the international community. Establishing this capacity must also be a priority for the AU’s member states.

There are a range of other challenges facing the AU, and there is no doubt a long list of priorities to be addressed. And while the United States has and will continue to support a range of AU efforts, it is essential that the U.S. Government structure its assistance to the AU to help empower it as an organization, support its priorities, and help to develop an internal capacity to plan for its growth and role in the coming years. I hope that the fact that we are sending our first ambassador to the AU will represent a heightened level of engagement with the AU and a renewed commitment to helping the AU, its member states, and the people of the African continent address the challenges of the 21st century.

Source: Government Printing Office From CQ Congressional Record Service Providing government documents on demand, in context.

©2006 Congressional Quarterly Inc. All Rights Reserved.

--
Nat Katin-Borland Program Assistant Middle East, Africa, Central Eurasia Programs Open Society Institute/Open Society Policy Center
1120 19th Street NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Phone: 202-721-5613 Fax: 202-530-0128 www.soros.org/initiatives/washington/ <http://www.soros.org/initiatives/washington/> www.opensocietypolicycenter.org <http://www.opensocietypolicycenter.org>

Funding African science – an invitation for ideas

Join the debate

2006-09-07

http://www.scidev.net/ausummit07

Building an effective and accountable way to fund science and technology across Africa is a major challenge facing the region's leaders and scientific communities. You are invited to join the debate. A few years ago, proposals for an African Science and Innovation Facility (ASIF) emerged from a group of African science ministers, meeting under the auspices of the New Partnership for Economic Development. This is the latest effort to build an institution that will meet the continent's science and technology needs, and its biggest challenge will be to avoid the fate of its predecessors. In January 2007, the African Union will hold its 8th annual summit, focusing on science, technology and innovation and organised with support from NEPAD. This autumn, a number of meetings will take place to prepare and discuss proposals including a model law to regulate biotechnology across the continent, the role of the African diaspora and a new financing facility to support African research. SciDev.Net has grouped its coverage of these issues, key documents relating to the summit, links, and an invitation to join our related discussion group. Join the debate at www.scidev.net/ausummit07

Sudan: AU peacekeepers asked to leave

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9453

Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesman Jamal Ibrahim said on Monday (September 3) that the African Union has no right to transfer its peacekeeping mission in Darfur to the U.N. and therefore they must leave by the end of September.

South Africa: Sexual Offences Bill altered

Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce

2006-09-07

http://www.sweat.org.za/

7th September 2006 -- 2:30pm Sexual Offences Bill altered just days before finalisation Yesterday, the Justice Portfolio Committee added a new provision to the Sexual Offences Bill effectively aimed at criminalising the clients of sex workers.
Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce Press Statement

7th September 2006 -- 2:30pm Sexual Offences Bill altered just days before finalisation Yesterday, the Justice Portfolio Committee added a new provision to the Sexual Offences Bill effectively aimed at criminalising the clients of sex workers.

This provision has not been subject to public participation along with the rest of the bill and SWEAT, who has been working with sex workers for 11 years, is gravely concerned about the possible wide ranging and extremely prejudicial consequences of including this provision in the current bill.

This provision will impact on the human rights of sex workers. We feel that Parliament would be remiss should it do so without having properly considered the requisite contextual information.

This Sexual Offences Bill has never dealt with sex work. There is a separate Law Reform Commission enquiry and we have been awaiting that report since December 2002. In relation to the current bill, a discussion paper and report was released by the Law Reform Commission followed by extensive public participation in the form of written and oral submissions before the parliamentary portfolio committee.

This was followed by deliberations by the committee where the submissions were discussed.

At no stage have issues pertaining to sex work been deliberated upon nor has there been any form of open submissions or debate on this issue. It is completely irregular for this provision to have been inserted at such a late stage without any regard for due process whatsoever.

The issues pertaining to adult sex work have been recognised by the Constitutional Court as complex and requiring of serious legislative consideration, which in turn requires proper public participation. For such a section to be inserted, and possibly passed, would fly in the face of the recent Constitutional Court decision in relation to the validity of certain provisions in the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act and may well be unconstitutional.

The South African Law Reform Commission separated sections of the Sexual Offences Act relating to adult sex work precisely in order to afford this complex issue a separate review.

SWEAT calls on the parliamentary portfolio committee to remove this proposed provision from the Bill.

Africa: Women’s Rights Big Priority for Ghanaian Judge

2006-09-05

http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=323517&apc_state=henh

A former lecturer in criminal law, gender law and international human rights law at the University of Ghana, Judge Kuenyehia has co-authored several books and influential papers on how law is interpreted and implemented throughout her continent. She has sought to encourage African women to gain a better understanding of the law, setting up networks of female professionals who go out into communities to promote awareness of legal rights and issues.

Global: Fact sheet on reforming gender architecture in the UN

2006-09-04

http://www.agenda.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1512&Itemid=147

Throughout this process, women's groups from around the world have urged the creation of a well-resourced, independent women's entity that would have normative, operational and oversight capacity, and universal country presence. It is the best way to ensure the effective implementation of gender equality goals and gender mainstreaming throughout the UN system.

Global: Ghastly Disease Feeds Off a Ghastlier Oppression

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/inequal/gender/2006/0825genderunequal.htm

Stephen Lewis, the UN special envoy for AIDS in Africa, explains the "paramount" need for an expanded UN agency to address global women's rights. This Inter Press Service article describes women and girls as victims of gender-violence, genital mutilation, rape and illiteracy.

Global: The Nobel women's initiative

2006-09-04

http://www.agenda.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1509&Itemid=147

The Nobel Women's Initiative was established in 2006 by sister Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Betty Williams. We five women -- representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa -- have decided to bring together our extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.

Somalia: Women's Courage Goes Unrewarded

2006-09-06

http://tinyurl.com/p5paq

During 15 years of chaos, they became breadwinners, then peacemakers. Now their new freedoms are threatened. Her face is soft and round, cocooned in a loose blue cotton hijab. Her eyes, black onyx full of mystery: a Somalian Mona Lisa. But Maryam Mohammed covers her smile with hennaed fingers, casts her eyes downward, a picture of shy anxiety, the last person you'd expect to do the most dangerous job in one of the most dangerous cities on Earth, reports the LA Times.

South Africa: Labour Pains

2006-09-04

http://www.naledi.org.za/pubs/2006/Labour_Pains_Overview.pdf

This book has been titled Labour Pains to reflect the intensity of the struggle for gender equality in the trade union movement and society. Women in labour carry the double burden of paid work and unpaid work in the home. Black working class women are oppressed as black people, as women and as workers. They also face a ‘struggle within the struggle’ as they are forced to confront sexism in their won unions as well as in the workplace and at home.

Zimbabwe: Victory for WOZA

2006-09-04

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=3&linkid=8&id=2148

The 63 members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) charged with breaching the peace while conducting a peaceful Valentine's Day protest outside Parliament on February 14, 2006, have been found not guilty. The Provincial Magistrate read out a 10-minute ruling after a 14-day trial that saw four police officers and 55 women take the stand to testify.

Great Lakes: Humanitarian issues key to restoring peace

2006-09-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55406

Lasting solutions are needed for the humanitarian problems of gender-based violence, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), a senior United Nations (UN) official said on Tuesday. This would help restore peace and stability to the region, Ibrahima Fall, the Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, said in Nairobi, Kenya, at the opening of a three-day regional conference on peace and security.

Global: Are NGOs playing both sides of the human rights abuse debate?

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/business/2006/0718contrarian.htm

The author of this Ethical Corporation piece argues that NGOs should not blame multinational firms for human rights violations but instead seek accountability from states. However, such an argument overlooks how big companies sometimes push governments for "favorable deals" that further corporate interests.

Global: Rights for disabled close

2006-09-04

http://tinyurl.com/ovfky

For 650 million people with disabilities - roughly 10 percent of the world’s population - a new U.N. treaty which would extend international human rights to this traditionally marginalised sector of society is finally within reach. After four years and eight sessions of negotiations, the United Nations‘ Convention to Protect the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was finalised last Friday (September 1) by the U.N.

Angola: Paying the price for diamonds

2006-09-04

http://tinyurl.com/ptp2a

Angola's soaring economic growth from its diamonds and oil exports comes with worsening human rights and health, two separate reports warn. Alleged problems are said to include security companies' "profoundly sadistic" human-rights violations in Angola's diamond-rich eastern region, reports the Financial Times.

DRC: Leader charged for recruiting child soldiers

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/intljustice/icc/investigations/drc/2006/0828lubanga.htm

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has officially charged former militia leader Thomas Lubanga for forcefully recruiting children as soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war. Although the war began in 1998, the ICC can only indict Lubanga for crimes committed after the Court's inception in 2002.

Ghana: Gay conference banned

2006-09-04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5305658.stm

Ghana's government has banned a conference for gay men and lesbians due to take place there later this month (September). Information Minister Kwamena Bartels said as homosexuality was illegal in Ghana the gathering was not permitted. "Government does not condone any such activity which violently offends the culture, morality and heritage of the entire people of Ghana," he said.

Zimbabwe: Police warn against unlawful protests

2006-09-04

http://www.zwnews.com/

Police in Harare have issued a stern warning to the main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which is planning to hold countrywide protests against poor pay and living conditions this month. On Sunday police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena told the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper that police were ready to deal with any unlawful acts after the ZCTUs general council set September 13 as the date for long-awaited street marches.

Africa: Countries probe AIDS asylum bids

2006-09-04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5310314.stm

South Africa says it is investigating reports that 137 women among its delegation to an Aids conference in Canada are applying for refugee status. A total of 151 delegates - including El Salvadorans, Eritreans, Zimbabweans and Ugandans - have applied, a Canadian newspaper reported. An immigration lawyer said the women were facing severe discrimination.

Global: Internal Displacement and the Protection of Property

2006-09-06

http://www.brook.edu/fp/projects/idp/articles/200607_kalin_property.htm

One particular risk internally displaced persons and refugees face is the loss of property left behind and the inabilility to recover it. In fact, destruction of property has become an instrument of warfare or even ethnic cleansing in many civil wars, and resistance to return often takes the form of refusal to evict persons who have taken over their houses or apartments, or to refuse compensation for destroyed property.

Great Lakes: Humanitarian issues key to restoring peace, UN official says

2006-09-06

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/6c3f6875a6117f9b71bf97e9c37e5d3e.htm

Lasting solutions are needed for the humanitarian problems of gender-based violence, refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), Ibrahima Fall, the Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General for the Great Lakes region, said in Nairobi, Kenya, at the opening of a three-day regional conference on peace and security.

Nigeria: Some refugees shun voluntary repatriation

2006-09-05

http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=469616

Some Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees in Nigeria have attributed their seeming reluctance to return home to inadequate incentives, loss of loved ones, insecurity back home and pursuit of education. Since 2004, when the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, launched a voluntary repatriation programme for the thousands of refugees, barely 670 of them have returned home.

Spain: Vow to curb migrant wave

2006-09-04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5313560.stm

The Spanish government has said it will not tolerate the continued arrival of African migrants on its shores. Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega called on African countries to help cut off the flow of migrants, and to take them back again. She was speaking after a weekend in which more than 1,400 Africans landed on the Canary Islands alone.

Togo: Refugees beginning returning home but many still reluctant

2006-09-04

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55344

Nearly half of the 40,000 refugees who fled Togo during post-election violence last year have left refugee camps in Benin and Ghana, and the Togolese government says it plans to repatriate those remaining. The Togolese High Commissioner for Repatriation and Humanitarian Action (HCRHA) said it had repatriated 3,000 refugees and another 1,000 had requested repatriation. Fifteen-thousand have voluntarily returned.

Côte d’Ivoire: Talks fail to resolve election stand-off

2006-09-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55421

A mini-summit of Cote d'Ivoire's main political leaders ended in disagreement after participants failed to reach consensus on preparations for delayed elections aimed at restoring peace in the divided country. "The Yamoussoukro summit has failed," said spokesman for the New Forces rebels, Sidiki Konate, late on Tuesday.

Burundi: Vice president resigns, attacking ruling party chairman

2006-09-06

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55415

Burundi's second vice president, Alice Nzomukunda, resigned on Tuesday in protest at interference by the chairman of the ruling party. "The government's hands are tied by [the chairman] Hussein Radjabu," Nzomukunda said at a news conference in the capital, Bujumbura. Alice Nzomukunda was Burundi's second highest ranking official in the ruling party.

Côte d’Ivoire: New round of peace talks

2006-09-04

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55390

The main parties in Cote d'Ivoire’s conflict were set to gather on Tuesday (September 5) for a fresh round of talks on the faltering peace process ahead of a key United Nations meeting in New York later this month. President Laurent Gbagbo is to meet with rebel New Forces leader Guillaume Soro and the two main opposition leaders, Alassane Ouattara and Henri Konan Bedie.

Guinea: Conte reduces Ministers’ lifestyle

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9377

President Lansana Conte has taken a set of measures aimed at reducing the state’s lifestyle by withdrawing service vehicles to replace them with Toyota Corolla cars. About 30 Guinean government officials on Saturday received their new vehicles against the handing back of the sparkling "SUVs".

DRC: Will Congo explode?

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/congo/2006/0829explode.htm

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo prepares for the run-off presidential election, political and ethnic tensions look set to "hit an all time high." This East African article warns of "major ramifications for the stability of countries in East and Central Africa" should the election spark a return to militia based violence.

Gambia: Jammeh reiterates his confidence in victory

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9565

President Yahya Jammeh Monday (Seotember 4) told party supporters at Sabakh Sanjal constituency, about 200 kilometres from Banjul the capital, on his campaign trail for the September 22 presidential elections that neither coup d’etat nor elections will remove him from power. “

South Africa: Zuma moves in on Mbeki

2006-09-06

http://www.afrika.no/noop/page.php?p=Detailed/12693.html&d=1

The political hurricane blasting ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma towards the presidency of the party and the country has dramatically intensified. To the roaring, chanting approval of more than a thousand delegates at the congress of SA's biggest teaching union, Zuma launched a fierce attack on key policies of President Thabo Mbeki, whom he accuses of leading a political conspiracy against him.

Global: Firms admit paying bribes in World Bank program

2006-09-06

http://tinyurl.com/p74f8

A "healthy" number of companies have admitted paying bribes under a new World Bank disclosure program, which encourages firms that have worked on bank-funded projects to report corruption or fraud. From cash handouts to forking out for luxury travel, sports utility vehicles and schooling for children of government officials, companies are revealing that bribes are part of doing business in some developing countries, reports Reuters.

Gambia: Alliance promises to stamp out corruption

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9492

The United Democratic Party (UDP)-led alliance will stamp out corruption if it is voted in to office, said Henry Gomez, the leader of the Gambia Party for Democracy and Development[GPDP], which is a member of the alliance during an interview with APA Monday (September 4).

Ethiopia: China discusses anti-corruption cooperation

2006-09-04

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=122766&src=dcn

The Chinese government attaches considerable importance to international cooperation in the fight against corruption, and is willing to do more in this regard, said a senior legislator on Monday (September 4) in Beijing.

Kenya: NEPAD faults state over corruption

2006-09-04

http://admin.corisweb.org/index.php?fuseaction=news.view&id=122765&src=dcn

Corruption and tribalism are derailing economic growth, the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) has said. Dr Grace Ongile, Nepad executive director, said unless the Government eradicated the vices, last year’s 5.8 per cent economic growth was likely to drift back to negative in a few years.

South Africa: Tensions grow on eve of corruption trial of fired deputy president

2006-09-04

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/04/africa/AF_GEN_South_Africa_Corruption_Trial.php

Thousands of supporters of former Deputy President Jacob Zuma are expected to converge overnight to support him as he faces corruption charges Tuesday (August 5) in South Africa's most explosive trial since apartheid. The trial comes as Zuma has stepped up his campaign to succeed President Thabo Mbeki when he steps down in 2009, arguing that the accusations are a political plot to destroy him and that the case should be thrown out.

Zimbabwe: No political will to tackle corruption, MDC

2006-09-04

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=7&linkid=12&id=2143

Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has scoffed at the arrest of the head of Zimbabwe's state-run grain company on charges of corruption saying government's blitz was only harvesting "small fish." Samuel Muvuti, the acting chief executive officer of the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), was arrested and charged under the country's Prevention of Corruption Act.

Global: Africa calls on Brown to block IMF reforms

2006-09-04

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/economics/story/0,,1861647,00.html

Gordon Brown was at the centre of a row over the future of the International Monetary Fund as it emerged that Africa was seeking to block reforms giving four leading developing countries a bigger say in the running of the Washington-based organisation.

Global: High-level summit in New York to review African development progress

2006-09-04

http://www.bendingthearc.com/communication.asp?id=62

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the United Nations and the African Business Roundtable will join forces in New York next month to review progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal in Africa.

Global: Preface to "Global Poverty or Global Justice?"

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/politics/2006/06globaljustice.htm

Looking at structures of power and inequality in the world, this preface discusses obstacles to and prospects for achieving global justice. The lack of international democratic processes and institutions greatly impedes global justice, but it conveniently suits the interests of the "present masters of mankind".

Global: Southern NGOs Want Greater Say in Agreements with EU

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/ngos/int/eu/2006/0423southern.htm

NGOs from African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries expressed concerns about the ongoing free trade talks between their governments and the EU. At an April 2006 conference in Brussels, groups urged the EU to regularly provide information and consult with NGOs on development and poverty eradication.

Global: The IMF is still the rich world's viceroy

2006-09-05

http://business.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1865172,00.html

The glacier has begun to creak. In the world's most powerful dictatorship we detect the merest hint of a thaw. I am not talking about China or Uzbekistan, Burma or North Korea. This state runs no torture chambers or labour camps. No one is executed, though plenty starve to death as a result of its policies.

Nigeria: Lagos, the mega-city of slums

2006-09-06

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55410

Canoes glide through the black, stinking water as children run along an overhead maze of precarious walkways through Makoko, a growing slum on stilts in Nigeria’s sprawling commercial capital, Lagos. Many of the original residents of Makoko are fishermen attracted from across the region to hopes of a better life in Nigeria, West Africa’s oil-rich economic powerhouse.

Africa: WHO adopts resolutions

2006-09-04

http://www.afro.who.int/

The fifty-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa ended Friday (September 1) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with the adoption of seven resolutions aimed at scaling up action in critical areas that are key to improving the health and socio-economic situation in Africa.

Global: Can intellectual property rights improve access to medicines?

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/health/h1cg3g2.html

Markets for pharmaceutical products are adjusting to major changes in international trade, intellectual property protection and drug registration requirements. Can the strengthening of intellectual property protection and registration standards improve access to medicines in developing countries?

Global: Treating diseases of poverty

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/health/h1at2g1.html

While new drugs and vaccines are needed to treat diseases of poverty, not enough is being invested in developing these products because of the lack of a demand or market for them. Advance price or purchase commitments potentially offer a solution, yet a number of structure and design issues first need to be resolved.

Global: Adolescents denied right to protect themselves from AIDS

2006-09-04

http://www.hrea.org

Adolescents in the developing world are being denied the right to protect themselves from AIDS, says a new publication by the children's agency Plan. It says young people are taking risks, even when they are well informed about HIV and AIDS.

Liberia: Breathing life into ailing healthcare system

2006-09-04

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55375

Some three million people live in Liberia, but after a decade and a half of warfare there are only 34 government doctors catering for their healthcare needs. Fighting destroyed 95 percent of Liberia’s healthcare facilities and the number of trained government doctors in the country dropped from 400 to less then 20 at the civil war’s end in 2003, according Liberia's National Human Development Report.

South Africa: ARVs becoming big business

2006-09-06

http://www.afrika.no/noop/page.php?p=Detailed/12695.html&d=1

Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer has five times as many South African patients using its anti-retroviral (ARV) products as it had just more than a year ago. Despite the Department of Health only procuring R83-million-worth of ARVs from Aspen in those 16 months, company CEO Stephen Saad says it has seen the number of South African patients using its ARVs grow from 20 000 a year ago to 100 000, a 500% increase.

Zambia: Advocacy groups put HIV/AIDS on the election agenda

2006-09-04

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55395

Advocacy groups in Zambia are forcing HIV/AIDS issues onto the agenda in the run-up to this month's general election. "All election candidates should make clear their personal commitment to tackling HIV and AIDS because we want Zambian politicians to take a leading role in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic. We want them to tell us what they will do about the pandemic if we elect them to office, because they should recognise that HIV is as much an election issue as a better economy or improved education."

Africa: Getting to school

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=4&i=insights63art2&u=44feeedc

Physical mobility and transport barriers that prevent rural children from attending primary school can be substantial but are often complex and hidden. The situation is particularly severe in sub-Saharan Africa where, with few exceptions, more than half the children in any age group fail to attend school regularly.

Africa: Secondary schooling crisis - can NGOs help?

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=2&i=e1kl1g1&u=44feef37

African education policymakers have failed to meet growing demand for secondary schooling. Budgetary provision for secondary education has stalled or declined and fewer pupils are moving from primary to secondary level.

Ethiopia : Recruitment of 600 Nigerian Professionals

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9572

Ethiopia has asked the Nigerian government to allow it engage the services of 600 Nigerian teachers, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Ethiopia, Olusegun Akinsanya said here Tuesday (September 5). Akinsanya told journalists in Addis Ababa, the capital that the Ethiopian government wanted to recruit the teachers to teach in the 12 new universities being constructed throughout the country.

Uganda: Teaching large classes

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=1&i=e3mo3g1&u=44feef37

Educationalists know that large classes have a negative impact. Yet they don’t know enough about how skilled teachers still manage to cope with huge student numbers. The high pupil-to-teacher ratios in developing countries will not disappear.

Zambia: Local heroes building school

2006-09-06

http://www.afrika.no/noop/page.php?p=Detailed/12697.html&d=1

The last time the Zambian government built a secondary school was in 1979. So the community of Kachembe took charge. The women fetched sand from the river 2km away and carried it, bucket by bucket, on their heads to the site they had chosen for their school. The men dug the foundations and made the bricks.

Zimbabwe: University to Teach Chinese Language, Culture

2006-09-04

http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-09-01-voa43.cfm

Zimbabwe's largest university will soon begin teaching Chinese, in the latest example of increased ties between the Beijing and Harare governments. Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reports that Chinese and Zimbabwean officials signed a deal to introduce Chinese language and culture instruction at the University of Zimbabwe.

Global: CNN's Vice President of Racism and associates

2006-09-04

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEN20060831&articleId=3107

Move over Bill, Chris, Michelle, Rush, Sean, & Company. Make way for a worthy challenger to the title of leader of the racist rant pack holding court weekday evenings on his hourly show on CNN.

Global: Why does ethnic diversity undermine public goods provision?

2006-09-04

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/indigenous/rc/ItemDetail.do?itemId=1071589

"Why Does Ethnic Diversity Undermine Public Goods Provision?: An Experimental Approach" was written by Jeremy Weinstein, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University, and Non-Resident Fellow, Center for Global Development.

South Africa: Complaints of racial divisions in the newsroom

FXI letter to the executive staff of Media24 publishing group

2006-09-04

http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/76665/

"Mr Lewis had been an employee of Media24, working as a page sub for certain of its Cape Town publications. He has complained of racial divisions in the newsroom in which he worked and of various forms of racism in the company. We do not wish to engage with the merits of this complaint."

Côte d’Ivoire:Hundreds hospitalised after breathing toxic fumes

2006-09-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55428

Hundreds of people have been admitted to hospital after breathing toxic fumes from poisonous waste dumped in residential areas of Cote d'Ivoire's main city, Abidjan. On Tuesday, hundreds of the city's residents threw up barricades in protest, prompting the government to appeal on national television for roads to be cleared so that medical personnel could get through.

Africa: Atlas of lakes

2006-09-04

http://tinyurl.com/ncg8w

The dramatic and in some cases damaging environmental changes sweeping Africa's lakes are brought into sharp focus in a new atlas. Produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Africa's Lakes: Atlas of Our Changing Environment compares and contrasts spectacular satellite images of the past few decades with contemporary ones.

Global: Illegal logging and forest livelihoods

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/nr/n4aw1g1.html

Forest-dependent poor people often struggle to uphold their claims to resources in the face of discriminatory legal frameworks and powerful private forestry companies. Are efforts to enhance governance in the forest sector helping to support poor people in claiming their legal rights, or working to further marginalise their interests?

Global: Third of the World Population Faces Water Scarcity

2006-09-04

http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/envronmt/2006/0821waterstudy.htm

At the August 2006 World Water Week in Stockholm, researchers presented initial findings from the "Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture" carried out by 700 experts over five years. In 2000, researchers had predicted that water scarcity would affect one third of the world's population by 2025.

Kenya: Bringing the earth back to life

2006-09-06

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.

Senegal: Changing farming systems to adapt to climate change

2006-09-06

http://www.id21.org/zinter/id21zinter.exe?a=0&i=s3ms1g1&u=44feeedc

In the last decade, discussions on the effects of climate change have become more intense. They mostly focus on reducing emissions in industrialised nations, but learning how to adapt to climate change is equally important. What lessons can policymakers learn from experiences to date?

Kenya: New fence to separate haves from have-nots

2006-09-04

http://www.afrika.no/noop/page.php?p=Detailed/12651.html&d=1

An on-going project to erect a 400-kilometre long electric fence in Kenya's Laikipia district is being seen as a ploy to separate white ranchers from peasants. The project is part of a grand scheme to set up a series of mega-conservation sites along the Rift Valley.

Zimbabwe: Vice President's daughter grabs farm

2006-09-04

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/viewinfo.cfm?linkcategoryid=3&linkid=8&id=2122

Kumbirai Madzima, the daughter of vice-president, Joyce Mujuru, and her husband Tapiwa have reportedly kicked farmer Darryl Zietmann off his property, Ashcott farm, situated on prime agricultural land about 150km northeast of Harare.

Zimbabwe: Tribunal to rule soon on seized farms

2006-09-04

http://www.kubatana.net/html/archive/landr/060728bafrica.asp?sector=LANDR

Eleven dispossessed Zimbabwean farmers of Dutch origin are poised to take their case for compensation for confiscated land to an international tribunal, reports Business Day, Johannesburg.

Global:Beyond Propaganda

2006-09-07

http://www.medialens.org/

On May 25, one of us spent several minutes laughing on the phone with a friend of ours, an environmental journalist. We were looking at the homepage of the Independent website - a newspaper that has made huge efforts to present itself as a radical campaigning force for action on climate change.

Global: Freedom of Information around the World 2006

2006-09-04

http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/rc/ItemDetail.do?itemId=1071238

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.

Niger: Journalists jailed for PM slur

2006-09-04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5306566.stm

Two Niger journalists have been jailed for 18 months over an article which criticised PM Hama Amadou. The publisher and editor of Le Republicain, Maman Abou and Omar Keita Lalo, were also fined $10,000 (£5,250) for spreading false news. The article said Mr Amadou preferred ties with Iran to those with the West.

South Africa: Misa condemns destruction of photographs

2006-09-06

http://www.afrika.no/noop/page.php?p=Detailed/12691.html&d=1

The Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) has condemned bodyguards' destruction of media photographs of President Thabo Mbeki entering a Pretoria Medi-Clinic. This amounted to "gross censorship unacceptable under South Africa's Constitution", Misa-South Africa's chairperson Raymond Louw said.

Zimbabwe: Harare Presses Ahead With Wiretapping Legislation

2006-09-04

http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/Communication-Interception.cfm

A senior Zimbabwe official said Wednesday (August 30) that Harare is determined to press ahead with draft legislation that would allow authorities to monitor phone calls and Internet communications, despite public hearing testimony from opposition politicians, media representatives, human rights groups and others that the bill should be scuttled.

Haiti: Shocking Lancet Study: 8,000 Murders, 35,000 Rapes and Sexual Assaults

2006-09-06

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/31/144231

A shocking new report in the British medical journal the Lancet on human rights abuses in Haiti finds that 8,000 people were murdered and 35,000 women and girls raped during the U.S.-backed coup regime that followed Jean Bertrand Aristide. Those responsible included Haitian police, United Nations peacekeepers and anti-Lavalas gangs.

Middle-East: A genocide is taking place in Gaza

2006-09-05

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5656.shtml

A genocide is taking place in Gaza. This morning, 2 September, another three citizens of Gaza were killed and a whole family wounded in Beit Hanoun. This is the morning reap, before the end of day many more will be massacred. An average of eight Palestinian die daily in the Israeli attacks on the Strip. Most of them are children. Hundreds are maimed, wounded and paralyzed.

Middle-East: Always the victim - Israel's present wars

2006-09-06

http://www.stateofnature.org/alwaysTheVictim.html

In the Israeli discourse, Israel has always been the innocent victim of vicious aggression from its neighbors. This perception of reality has only intensified with its two recent wars - against the Palestinians in Gaza and against Lebanon. On this view, in both cases Israel has manifested its good will - it ended the occupation of the Gaza strip in 2005, just as it ended the occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000.

Darfur: Indiscriminate Bombing Warrants U.N. Sanctions

2006-09-07

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/HRW/7b012930742053dd643774a8661b0b7d.htm

Sources on the ground indicate that the government of Sudan is indiscriminately bombing civilian-occupied villages in rebel-held North Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. The bombing campaign comes as Khartoum is threatening to eject African Union peacekeepers and stymieing efforts to deploy a U.N. force to the region, and should trigger sanctions against senior Sudanese government officials.

Sudan: Diplomatic Denialism?

2006-09-07

http://www.africafocus.org/country/sudan.php

"This is no way to run a peacekeeping operation. Morale is low, we cannot pay our troops and the [Sudanese] government makes sure we are unable to do our job." - Senior African Union official

SUDAN: Heightened tension and frustration in Darfur

2006-09-07

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55399

Where once the bunkers and razor wire of an African Union (AU) peacekeeping base dominated the plain in front of Tawilla town, now only a small water tower reveals the whereabouts of their camp, swallowed up in a sea of makeshift shelters.

UGANDA: Rebel leader warns war crimes indictments could derail peace process

2006-09-07

http://www.irinnews.org/frontpage.asp

A senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) says peace talks with the Ugandan government could fail if the International Criminal Court (ICC) does not lift indictments against five rebel leaders wanted for crimes against humanity. "The ICC must revoke the indictment," said Vincent Otti, the LRA's second in command, who, with the group's leader, Joseph Kony, and three other commanders, is wanted by the ICC.

Côte d’Ivoire: Civil society proposes 24-month transition

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9547

Ivorian civil society on Monday (September 3) proposed a 24-month transition in Cote d’Ivoire within the backdrop of the UN security council’s session on the Ivorian crisis slated at its New York headquarters, the Ivorian civil society Convention (CSCI) announced in a statement copied Monday to APA.

Nigeria: Government cracks down on Biafra separatist resurgence

2006-09-04

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=55385

Armed soldiers shielded behind sandbags stand guard on both ends of the bridge over the River Niger and into Onitsha, a sprawling trading town of more than one million people in southeastern Nigeria. Vehicles entering the city are subjected to searches, ostensibly for weapons and signs of membership in the separatist Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB), blamed for a recent series of violent incidents in the city.

Somalia: Key talks begin

2006-09-04

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5307824.stm

Direct talks between Somalia's interim government and rival Islamists have begun in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, with power-sharing high on the agenda. The sides have not met since June when the Union of Islamic Courts seized control of the capital, Mogadishu, and then many central and southern regions.

Sudan: UN accepts peacekeepers resolution

2006-09-04

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060831/D8JRMJ200.html

The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution Thursday (August 31) that would give the United Nations authority over peacekeepers in Darfur as soon as Sudan's government gives its consent - which it has so far refused to do. The resolution is meant to give more power and funding to a force, now run by the African Union, that has been unable to stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Darfur.

Gambia: Gamtel paves the way to cyberspace

2006-09-05

http://www.cipaco.org/article.php3?id_article=984&lang=fr

GAMTEL is the primary provider of telecommunications and related services in The Gambia. The company’s main objective is to be a leader in providing world-class communications services.

Malawi: NEPAD’s IT project faces failure

2006-09-05

http://www.apanews.net/article_eng.php3?id_article=9559

The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD)’s Information and Technology (ICT) broadband infrastructure network could fail if most African countries do not sign the project’s protocol, press reports said. The Daily Times of Malawi reported that out of 23 NEPAD member states, only six countries have signed the protocol, a development which experts say may jeopardise the project.

Nigeria: VOIP critical for developing world

2006-09-04

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1128&s=news

Ernest Ndukwe, executive vice chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has described Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as the engine that will drive telephony in developing countries like Nigeria. Speaking at the first day of the three-day VoIP forum in Lagos, Ndukwe said the commission had recently conducted a study into the Nigerian telecommunications market.

South Africa: Telecoms Action Group

2006-09-04

http://www.tectonic.co.za/view.php?id=1117&s=news

August 18 marked the launch of a campaign to spread consumer awareness about telecommunications in South Africa. The campaign is inspired by successful consumer advocacy campaigns such as the Spread Firefox campaign, where thousands of grassroots activists pledged money to take out a double-page spread in the New York Times telling the world that there was an open source alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer.

Africa: The September issue of ReConnect Africa is now online

2006-09-04

http://www.reconnectafrica.com/

The September issue of ReConnect Africa is now online. Connecting Africa to the global world, ReConnect Africa is a unique online publication and portal that provides readily accessible information, articles, interviews and jobs in Africa.

Africa: Agenda issue #68 now available

2006-09-04

http://www.agenda.org.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1471&Itemid=147

This journal highlights that culture is superimposed on many aspects that deal with women's rights, even in contexts that one would not expect the culture discourse to be prominent in. Contributors unanimously raise attitudes towards women and girls as being a grave concern, and we debate culture with relation to gender and inequality.

Global: The Association for Rural Advancement

2006-09-06

http://www.afra.co.za/

The Association for Rural Advancement (AFRA) is pleased to announce the launch of it’s new website: www.afra.co.za <http://www.afra.co.za> Your comments and feedback will be welcome.

Global: ARTICLE 19 Spring/ Summer 2006 Newsletter

2006-09-06

http://www.article19.org/

From the newsletter: Iranian colleagues was explaining why he had just shaved away his beard. Another colleague, from India, agreed that he was considering doing the same thing or at least having a “clean” shave. This was not a fashion driven conversation. It was fear: fear of being singled out, of being picked on; fear of being pulled aside in a queue; fear of being forced to leave a plane.

Global: Special offer for Pambazuka News readers

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/fundraising/36854

QuickGuides are 24 page books, readable in an hour, covering the fundraising and management needs of both large and small organisations. QuickGuides are the perfect way to learn about a subject quickly and easily, and because they are written and reviewed by knowledgeable professionals from all around the world they will be useful wherever you operate as they are not country specific. And with 6 new titles to add to our current 22 and more planned for 2007 - from sources of funding to events planning, motivating staff to marketing – it’s all there. At £8 or US$14 per book, QuickGuides are accessible to all, and you can build your own library of expertise. And as a reader of Pambazuka News, you can take advantage of a special promotion of 3 books for the price of 2 until the end of October 2006. Or for £125 you can buy an entire library of all 28 titles. QuickGuides are a resource you can’t afford not to have. Quote ref: pambazuka and order online now at our online bookshop.
http://www.quickguidesonline.com

Africa: Investment Climate and Business Environment Research Fund

2006-09-05

http://www.trustafrica.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=69&lang=en

The International Development Research Centre and TrustAfrica have established an Investment Climate and Business Environment (ICBE) Research Fund which will make available up to US$2.8 million through various initiatives and rounds of funding for researchers in private sector development based in African universities, business schools, and independent research institutions.

Global: UN Democracy Fund first grants to benefit civil society

2006-09-04

http://www.un.org/democracyfund

The United Nations Democracy Fund has unveiled its first beneficiaries, awarding $36 million in grants to 125 projects around the world that range from promoting voter registration to encouraging judicial reform, supporting female parliamentarians and teaching human rights awareness in schools.

Africa: Call for Poetry

Agenda Issue #70 - Human Trafficking

2006-09-06

http://www.agenda.org.za

Agenda requests poetry contributions that explore the crime of human trafficking, especially affecting women and girl-children. Contributions will be considered for publication in issue 60, working title "Human Trafficking".

Global: Urban Film Series Call for Films, Volunteers and Participants for 2007 Programs

2006-09-04

http://www.urbanfilmseries.com/

Next Generation Awareness Foundation, Inc. Seeks Notable Films, Documentaries and Participants for Consideration for its 2007 Programs

Global: International Activist Award

2006-09-04

http://www.gleitsman.org/intForm.html

The Gleitsman Foundation invites nominations for the 2007 International Activist Award, which honours exceptional individuals whose vision and courage inspire others to join with them in confronting and challenging injustice. The award is open to anyone residing outside of the United States. The 2007 Award will honour those who have struggled to correct social injustice

Global: Call for Papers

International NGO Journal

2006-09-06

http://www.academicjournals.org/ingoj

The International NGO Journal (INGOJ) is currently accepting manuscripts for publication. INGOJ was founded to publish proposals, appraisals and reports of NGO projects. The aim is to have centralized information for NGO activities where stakeholders including beneficiaries of NGO services can find useful information about ongoing projects and where to obtain particular assistance.

Global: The September issue of Alliance has just been published

2006-09-06

http://www.allavida.org/alliance/alliancehome.html

Following the 2006 Skoll World Forum, which focused on social capital markets, this Alliance special feature takes forward debates from the Forum and looks at the full spectrum of funds available for social change, from grant funding to fully commercial financial instruments.

Global: Action Without Borders

2006-09-06

http://www.idealist.org/

We regularly work with individuals around the world who are interested in connecting with the nonprofit organizations through volunteer opportunities, internships, and job openings.

US: Emerging Leaders International Fellows Programme

2006-09-04

http://philanthropy.org/programs/intnl_fellows_program.html

The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society is pleased to announce a unique fellowship opportunity: the spring 2007 Emerging Leaders International Fellows Programme. The programme provides leadership training through applied research and professional mentorships for young scholar-practitioners in the nonprofit sector.

Global: Short course on refugees and migrants, and a rights-based approach to development

2006-09-07

http://pambazuka.org/en/category/courses/36855

This ten day advanced course is designed for practitioners from government, inter-governmental non-governmental agencies, donors and community representatives in the Middle East and Africa with institutional responsibilities in the field of refugees and migration. The participants will explore the practical implications and challenges of applying the much-touted human rights approach to policy making in real situations.
Global: Short course on refugees and migrants, and a rights-based approach to development

This ten day advanced course is designed for practitioners from government, inter-governmental non-governmental agencies, donors and community representatives in the Middle East and Africa with institutional responsibilities in the field of refugees and migration. The participants will explore the practical implications and challenges of applying the much-touted human rights approach to policy making in real situations. The course will be both theoretical and practical, drawing on the wealth of lessons arising from trial and error, to determine the best-possible development outcomes for hosts, refugees, and migrants. Participants will take away new skills and techniques to apply in their own context.
SHORT COURSE
Refugees and Migrants, and a Rights-based Approach to Development
8–17 January 2007
Forced Migration and Refugee Studies (FMRS) at the American University in Cairo (AUC)

This ten day advanced course is designed for practitioners from government, inter-governmental non-governmental agencies, donors and community representatives in the Middle East and Africa with institutional responsibilities in the field of refugees and migration. The participants will explore the practical implications and challenges of applying the much-touted human rights approach to policy making in real situations. The course will be both theoretical and practical, drawing on the wealth of lessons arising from trial and error, to determine the best-possible development outcomes for hosts, refugees, and migrants. Participants will take away new skills and techniques to apply in their own context.

Course outline:
The Message of Human Rights
General and Specific Binding Sources and Standards
International and Comparative Guidance
Localizing and Indigenizing the Norms
Implementing, Monitoring, and Reporting
The Role(s) of Donors
Understanding “Integration”
Practicum: Applying the Human Rights Tools

Instructors include:
Dr. Amin Mekki Medani, Arab Organization for Human Rights
Joseph Schechla, Housing and Land Rights Network
Anthony Rutabanzibwa, ILO (Tanzania)
Dr. Lana Baydas, OHCHR
Michael Kagan, AMERA (Egypt)
Dr. Abrar Chowbury, The Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit--RMMRU (Bangladesh)
Dr. Barbara E. Harrell-Bond, FMRS/AUC

Selection criteria: This course is limited to 25 participants.

Apply Now: Send your curriculum vitae and a letter explaining your work and how the course will be relevant or to your studies by email to Sara Sadek, ssadek@aucegypt.edu or fax +20 (0)2 797–6629.

Costs: Tuition $200 (waivers are subject to application by senior persons otherwise unable to attend).

Deadline for applications: 1 November 2006.

Successful applicants will be notified by 10 November and information about visas and accommodation costs will be sent at that time.

Course Sponsors: Migration, Globalisation and Poverty, Sussex Centre for Migration Research (SCMR), University of Sussex, and funded by DFiD. The Development Research Centre (DRC) on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty was established in June 2003, in recognition of the complex relationship between migration, forced migration, and poverty. The DRC examines migration flows in which poor people themselves are most represented and how migration impacts variously on their livelihoods, rights and levels of social protection. Migration DRC is a partnership between institutions in South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. We undertake the research, capacity building and dialogue necessary for evidence-based and pro-poor migration policies. http://www.migrationdrc.org/partners/sussex.html

Global: "Labour and Development” programme starts in January 2007

2006-09-04

http://www.global-labour-university.org/

Within the Global Labour University network, a cooperation between the International Labour Movement, academic institutions, foundations and the ILO two Master programmes on Labour and Globalization for trade unionists are offered in 2007. The duration of the programmes is one year.

Cameroon: African rights group seminar

2006-09-04

http://www.civicus.org/new/media/CameroonSeminar.doc

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, an organ of the African Union will be organising a 'Regional Sensitisation Seminar on the Rights of Indigenous Populations and Communities in Africa'. The Seminar is the first in a series of Regional Seminars earmarked by the African Commission’s Working Group on Indigenous Populations and Communities in Africa

UK: INTRAC Conference on Civil Society and Capacity Building

2006-09-04

http://www.intrac.org

Six years into the new millennium and the world feels like a very different place from the last years of the twentieth century. For those engaged in civil society capacity building, these changes are felt as increasing pressures for conformity with the orthodoxies of the aid industry.

Global: Global Programmes Manager

World Aids Campaign

2006-09-05

http://www.actionappointments.co.za/

Our client, the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) is a partnership-led global effort holding policymakers to account on their promises on AIDS.It supports the advocacy and campaign activities of a range of agencies, many outside the mainstream development sector. The WAC works at national and international levels bringing diverse campaigning voices together within a long-term and focused effort.

Egypt: Program Officer

Ford Foundation - Sexuality and Reproductive Health Assets Building and Community Development Program

2006-09-04

http://www.comminit.com/vacancy2826.html

The Program Officer will be responsible for developing, monitoring and evaluating the Ford Foundation’s work in the field of Sexuality and Reproductive Health (SRH) in the Middle East and North Africa region, with special focus on Egypt and Palestine

South Africa: Director

Soul Beat Africa

2006-09-04

http://www.soulcity.org.za

Soul Beat Africa is an exciting organisation using information and communication technologies to create opportunities for those involved in development communication in Africa to share what they are doing, thinking and experiencing and to discuss and review each others work to improve the impact of communication on African development.

Sudan: Country Director

Fellowship for African Relief

2006-09-04

http://www.comminit.com/vacancy2837.html

Working in Sudan since 1985 FAR has been involved in a number of programs including emergency relief to refugees and IDP populations, agro forestry schemes, health and nutrition programs, food security and income generating activities. FAR headquarters are in Khartoum with field offices in 5 other locations, staffed mainly by local personnel. FAR’s vision is to empower the people of Sudan.

Uganda: Gender Based violence coordinator

International Rescue Committee

2006-09-04

http://www.IRCjobs.org.

The GBV Coordinator will be responsible for the development, implementation, standardization, and evaluation of all GBV-related activities. Primary duties in the first 4-6 months will include the establishment of the GBV sector, the initiation of the GBV pilot program in Northern Uganda and supervision of the GBV projects in the refugee settlements.

Uganda: Africa Human Rights Defenders Coordinator

Amnesty International

2006-09-04

http://web.amnesty.org/jobs/index/31082006-AFR0610

The Africa Programme of Amnesty International (AI), International Secretariat is seeking a dynamic person to fill the post of Africa Human Rights Defenders Coordinator based in AI's Africa Regional Office in Kampala, Uganda. As the Africa Human Rights Defenders Coordinator, you will coordinate AI's program of work for the protection of Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Africa.

Fahamu