KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 23 * 3671 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 23 * 3671 SUBSCRIBERS
UNDP Country Office in Ghana found the editorial note on Study Urges Overhaul of UN, IMF, World Bank very interesting, posted on KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 20. We would like to know what is the full title of the study and, if possible, we would like to get a copy of the study. Do you have any detailed information regarding the study? We visit the web-site you stated in the newsletter, but unfortunately, we have to say that it does not have a 'user-friendly' design, listing just code of file names, and we have no clue which is the said document.
OUR RESPONSE: Thank you for pointing out the problem with that link. Unfortunately the internet is a constantly changing place and a link that works today may not work tomorrow! Please get in touch with Eberhard Wenzel, Griffith University, Australia ([email protected]) who supplied the material.
Congratulations! Keep up the good work.
The Bram Fischer Visiting Professorship represents a major new endowment in the School of Law, University of Witwatersrand. Named for a leading human rights advocate, the Visiting Professorship is intended to advance a tradition of advocacy and scholarship in human rights that will ensure South Africa's vibrant constitutional democracy and influence students to regard human rights as an integral part of their practice of law. Internationally distinguished academics and practitioners will be appointed as Visiting Professors for a limited period of time. The Associate Professor / Senior Lecturer will be a full time postion on the same endowment. Apart from teaching, research and other duties the incumbent will help organize programmes for the Visiting Professor. He / she will, in addition, have the duties set out below.
Qualifications: A legal academic of stature and experience iwth a solid record of teaching, research and / or practice in the field of human rights; the ability to have an impact on the future development of human rights law; demonstrated commitment to advancing the cause of human rights, whether generally or in a specific field.
Duties: administration and development of new courses and curricula in Human Rights Law; an interest and involvement in the broader concerns of the Law School and the University.
Attractive package and salary negotiatable; annual bonus, generous leave, retirement fund, medical aid, car scheme, relocation allowance, 100% financial assistance towards dependents studies at Wits.
Enquiries: Professor Skeen, Head School of Law, Tel (011) 717-8411
This week marks the 40th anniversary of Amnesty International. The following text is extracted from the Foreword to AI’s Annual Report 2001 and written by Pierre Sane, former Secretary General.
The end of the Cold War was hailed by many as the start of a new world order that would bring freedom and prosperity for all. But for millions the reality has proved very different.
Globalization - the spread of the free market economy, multi-party political systems and technological change - has been accompanied by growing wealth for some, but destitution and despair for many.
Globalization did not start in the 1990s but its effects have intensified and become clearer over the past 10 years. Capital has always been mobile; what has changed is that the reliance of corporations on national states has become less and less important. Parallel with the concentration of wealth in the hands of multinational corporations has been the growing power of global economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organization (WTO).
Globalization has been accompanied by debt and poverty. More than 80 countries had a lower per capita income in 2000 than they had in 1990. At least 1.3 billion people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. Deregulation, privatization and the dismantling of social welfare provision have led to widening inequalities in many countries. In large parts of the world, corruption has increased, and personal, social and political insecurity has spread. The predictable and almost inevitable consequence of this growth in poverty has been a parallel escalation in violations of all human rights. The Berlin Wall may have crumbled, but the walls of poverty, intolerance and hypocrisy still stand.
However, it would be naive not to recognize the potential conflict between the pursuit of profit and the protection of human rights. For example, the proposed Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) would have restricted states' ability to regulate the conduct of multinational corporations. It would have limited the capacity of states to enforce certain human rights, while not imposing any binding obligations on multinational corporations to protect such rights. A broad coalition of non-governmental organizations, trade unions and political parties lobbied against the MAI, which in the event was shelved, temporarily at least.
Similarly, the World Bank, ostensibly working to alleviate poverty but heavily engaged in promoting deregulation and globalization, is in a position to exert great influence over national economic and political agendas. The World Bank disburses more funds than all the UN agencies put together.
In a world where globalization is undermining many nation states and bringing poverty to the forefront of the human rights agenda, the challenge for AI is to remain relevant. In my opinion, this means broadening our aim from the protection of civil and political rights to embrace all human rights. The indivisibility of human rights is not an abstraction: the context which gives rise to human rights violations is invariably complex and cannot be divorced from issues of wealth and status, injustice and impunity. We have to maintain our focus on the individual victim to articulate what indivisibility means in real life. And in real life, accountability extends beyond the police officer wielding a baton, not only to his or her political masters but also to those who profit from inequality. In the minds of the drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, freedom from fear and freedom from want have always been inseparable.
And the indivisible links between socio-economic and political rights have been mirrored in the emergence of a new network of protest movements. Globalization has brought together activists on issues such as child labour, the environment, anti-capitalism, Third World debt and human rights, creating an international, grassroots movement. Many of the groups that have come together to halt the proceedings of international financial institutions overcame long-standing divisions and diverging agendas using one of the much-vaunted advances of globalization - the Internet. A global solidarity movement to address the negative consequences of globalization is in the making. AI will bring its unique contribution to this endeavour.
Divisions within many societies have deepened in recent years, and in some have degenerated into open conflict. Far from the fall of the Berlin Wall marking "the end of history", we have witnessed a resurgence of bitter wars in which countless lives have been ruined and lost. In the past decade there have been tragic conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and other parts of former Yugoslavia, in Chechnya, East Timor, Algeria, Somalia, Central Africa, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Faced with the mass violations of human rights committed during such conflicts, and especially the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, AI was forced to re-evaluate some of its working methods and its policies. Many of AI's campaigning and research techniques were developed in the Cold War era of individual prisoners of conscience faced with a monolithic state apparatus. But the scale, the ferocity and the speed of these disasters demanded new approaches. AI developed new internal mechanisms to respond to human rights crises more rapidly and forcefully, and grappled with difficult issues such as "humanitarian" military intervention and sanctions. Our members expanded AI's mandate in the light of the increasing number of conflicts with complex internal and international dimensions. Central to our approach has been the belief, borne out in each succeeding crisis, that impunity is the poison that allows human rights violations to spread, to recur or to re-emerge.
I am confident that new audiences will find a home in a multifaceted mass human rights movement, and that together we will rise to these challenges. The forces ranged against us may be formidable. However, the outrage at injustice that led to the founding of AI 40 years ago continues to inspire and motivate millions of people determined to build a better world.
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 21 * 3135 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 21 * 3135 SUBSCRIBERS
I want to thank you for the noble work you are doing for African non-profit. I read about an international conference of the Canadian Council for Refugees and I applied to participate. I am pleased to inform you that I delivered a paper on trafficking on women and girls to participants from over 120 countries. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for the newsletter. Look forward to reading
exciting stuffs on the different subjects you mentioned.
I find your compilation of news quite impressive especially its broad coverage of high quality news services such as SABC, the Guardian Unlimited, etc.
Regarding your answer on possible word attachments, it seems that if users can read MIME messages they would be by the same token capable of reading attachments (attachments of any length are a cornerstone of MIME as opposed to UU-encoding); however Word is a proprietary format making it difficult to read on Linux/KDE or even for those Win95 or MacOS/X users who don't want to upgrade; but given the length of your message it would be nice to have it in a public format such as HTML with the possibility to navigate
the content table.
A side question though regarding your copyright: since most of the information is taken from other sources, shouldn't it be instead something like "reproduced under fair use", or if your intention is that it is further copied "Reproduction and sharing of the information in this newsletter is encouraged" to add an adequate copyright such as:
GP(c) General Public Copyright 2001, may be copied, changed or adapted by anyone as long as the copy remains under General Public Copyright without restriction.
OUR RESPONSE: Thank you for your thoughtful comments - we would love to see more messages like this coming in from our readers. Your thinking about newsletter formatting is right on target - however we will have to learn more about the computers and software that our subscribers use before we can make a decision to switch from plain text e-mails to HTML or another format. An alternative would be to offer options to our subscribers - HTML, plain text, possibly even Adobe Acrobat PDF.
Your suggestion regarding "(c) vs GP(c)" is also a good one. Our fear is that while those in the Open Source community will appreciate and understand what a "General Public Copyright" is, there is still some sensitisation work to do to convey the message to our wider readership in Africa. We want to encourage our subscribers to use information from the newsletter in their publications, and all we ask in return is that when they use it in full, they acknowledge the source. So rather than take on GP(c) we will most likely promote "fair use" language which we have already in some parts of the newsletter website.
COSATU and the Communication Workers’ Union (CWU) have made a joint submission on the Intended Telecommunication Policy Directions, gazetted on 23 March 2001. The submission’s approach to telecommunications policy rests on: Accessibility and affordability of telecommunications services to working people and the poor; The direct interests of our members in the telecommunications sector; The importance of this sector for South Africa’s economic development.
Ethiopian security forces have used excessive force in dealing with student protests and are using the protests as an excuse for cracking down on all government critics, Human Rights Watch charged today. Attacks by security forces on Addis Ababa University, in Ethiopia's capital, have led to forty-one deaths, hundreds of injuries, and the detention of over two thousand students and scores of government critics since April 17.
A plain language guide to Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper.
South Africa tax malaria prevention - why did South Africa sign the Abuja declaration?
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), a member of the OMCT network, that the government is engaged in cruel and inhumane actions against street children in Addis Ababa.
Due to the recent conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia, children who do not have parents or economically strong relatives to support them are forced to discontinue their education. The streets, churches, mosques, bus and taxi stations of cities in Ethiopia are crowded by a increasing number of these defenseless citizens.
More than 80 percent of blood donated by students and teachers in Kenya's Nyanza Province schools has the HIV virus that causes AIDS, according to health officials. Nyanza Provincial Commissioner, Peter Raburu, said that despite extensive sensitisation campaigns in the region, the rate at which pupils were contracting the disease was worrying.
Every December thousands of children around the globe celebrate a special day: the International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB). The key to the yearly event is participation by children and adolescents, and we invite television and radio networks around the world to continue their extraordinary work by taking up a new challenge for 2001.
A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) projects that deaths caused by HIV/AIDS* in the ten most affected African countries will reduce the labour force by as much as 26 percent by 2020. The report estimates that since 1985 some 7 million agricultural workers have died from AIDS related diseases in 27 severely affected African countries. An estimated 16 million more deaths are reported likely in the next two decades. The report, prepared for the 27th Session of the Committee on World Food Security, meeting in Rome 28 May - 1 June, says: "Throughout history, few crises have presented such a threat to human health and social and economic progress as does the HIV/AIDS epidemic."
Save The Children's State of the World’s Mothers 2001 – in its unique “Mothers’ Index” first presented last year – offers critical information on the status of mothers and children around the world. With the introduction of a new “Girls’ Investment Index,” this year’s report zeroes in on the quality of girls’ and young women’s lives today, and thus provides an indication of how the next generation of mothers and children will fare. By offering critical information about the world’s two billion mothers, this report helps to focus attention on the very real needs of mothers – and their children – and to suggest actions needed to support women who are raising the world’s future generations.
Last week's World Press Freedom Day 2001 was a unique occasion - the 10th Anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration on media freedom in Africa. UNESCO sponsored a conference on 3 May 2001 to review the original Declaration, and participants took the opportunity to issue a new document: the Windhoek Charter on Broadcasting in Africa, which recognizes the unique challenges faced in the development of a pluralistic and diverse broadcasting environment on the African continent.
MediaChannel.org - news, reports, resources and opinion. Featuring content from over 660 media-issues groups worldwide.
Huge stocks of toxic pesticide waste are a serious problem in almost all developing countries and in many countries in transition. More than 500 000 tonnes of old and unused pesticides that have been banned or have expired threaten the environment and the health of millions of people in these countries, FAO warns in a new report. The figures are dramatically higher than previous estimates of around 100 000 tonnes.
Powell Announces Trip to Africa to 'Highlight U.S. Concern' over HIV/AIDS; NIAID Announces Plan to Combat 'Deadly Troika' of HIV, Malaria, TB; Botswana Goes from 'Hopeless to Hopeful' with Arrival of Free AIDS Drugs; Annan Meets With U.S. Officials to Discuss AIDS Trust Fund; Actress Elizabeth Taylor Discusses AIDS Activism in AOL Chat.
A 44-gallon drum of fuel and a funnel is the roadside symbol of the government's deregulation of Zimbabwe's fuel supply industry. The move has not resulted in chains of new service stations criss-crossing the country, but rather illicit boot sales of fuel that has raised serious safety and environmental concerns, industry sources told IRIN.
A final report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on mortality rates in eastern DRC says the level and indiscriminate nature of violence since August 1998 is disturbing. It is estimated that one in every eight households has experienced a violent death since the start of the war, about 40 percent of which are women and children. The report stressed that the mortality rate in eastern DRC was extraordinarily high.
Egypt: Telecom Egypt to pay fees, not buy mobile licence; Uganda: Media Organisation to Get Website Swaziland: Government Asked to Review Decision to Ban Newspaper And Magazine.
Mining in rebel-held eastern Congo is driving eastern lowland gorillas closer to extinction and destroying outstanding national parks, the World Wide Fund for Nature said yesterday. Thousands of miners seeking the highly prized mineral colombo tantalite, known as coltan, have invaded and severely damaged the forests in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in eastern Congo, WWF said.
Jack Straw is facing a legal challenge over his decision to help Nigerian officials to trace more than Dollars 2bn allegedly looted from the African country's public funds by General Sani Abacha, the former leader who died in June 1998.
The state media swamped its audiences with stories about the late Minister of Youth, Development, Gender and Employment Creation Border Gezi. All the media reported the disruptions to the May Day workers’ celebrations, but the state-owned media took the opportunity to discredit the ZCTU and blame the violence on “opposition political hooligans” .
A crisis in the availability of reproductive health supplies, in particular contraceptives and condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention, is threatening human rights and the realization of the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, delegates at "Meeting the Reproductive Health Challenge: Securing Contraceptives and Condoms for HIV/AIDS Prevention," conference in Istanbul heard (3-5 May 2001).
The Social Welfare Research Institute at Boston College in conjunction with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, has released a study of the charitable giving habits of wealthy high-tech executives that suggests that high-tech donors' initial dedication to philanthropy is "an indication of an emerging fuller commitment" to the field.
The Centre for Study of African Economies and the Department for International Development co-hosted a special seminar on 14 December 2000 to mark the Official Visit of H.E. President Chissano of Mozambique to the United Kingdom. The meeting was addressed by H.E. Joaquim Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique, the Rt Hon. Clare Short MP, Secretary of State for International Development and David Bevan of CSAE and Fellow, St John’s College, Oxford who has worked extensively on the design of policy reform programmes in African countries.
The Prime Minister's Cabinet Office in the UK is working on a project to develop a more effective approach to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria in developing countries, identify which policy measures might best deliver solutions at an affordable price to developing countries and produce a framework for a more effective partnership between governments and the private sector, including the pharmaceutical industry and the voluntary sector, to combat these diseases in developing countries.
Ethical trade as an approach to supply chain management has mushroomed in recent years. Northern companies are becoming increasingly concerned with the 'ethics' of their operations and the risks to reputation and productivity posed by bad employment practices in global supply chains. But can voluntary private sector codes really improve employment conditions in supply chains?
South Africa is now committed to a constitutional democracy whose labour laws exceed ILO conventions, yet little improvement has been made in the quality of life of farm workers. Given that relationships between producers and workers are traditionally exploitative and paternalistic, where public regulation internationally and nationally has failed to shift this power imbalance, how can private regulation benefit farm workers? How can ethical trade in agricultural goods improve employment conditions?
The increasing dissemination of information through new technologies and the media which made possible the growth of global brands, has also brought issues of workers' rights and conditions in the south into consumer political consciousness in the north. Demands that transnational producers take greater responsibility for the rewards and conditions of those who contribute their labour to the global production chain have intensified over the past decade, just as national governments have become less able or willing to regulate the activities of companies engaged in international business.
Supermarkets now sell fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers all year round and South Africa, Kenya and Zambia are important suppliers. UK supermarkets are applying codes of conduct to the growers that supply them aiming to assure consumers that produce is grown in a socially responsible manner. Most workers in export horticulture are female - 52 percent in South African fruit, 75 percent in Kenyan flowers, and 65 percent in Zambian vegetables. Employment is casual, temporary or seasonal. Many women do not have stable or independent employment contracts, receive lower wages, and do not have the same access to training, promotion or other employment benefits as men. Discrimination is often embedded in traditional farm employment practice.
The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is an alliance of companies, non-governmental and trade union organisations committed to working together to identify and promote good practice in the implementation of corporate codes of labour practice. ETI has examined the contribution that trade unions, NGOs, trade associations and academics can make to identifying best practice in auditing labour standards in global supply chains.
This report contains the findings of the UK Parliamentary International Development Committee's enquiry into corruption. Corruption undermines development and growth and constitutes a serious threat to attempts to eliminate poverty. The elimination of corruption is not only a matter for the Department for International Development (DFID). The actions of the Home Office, the department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and a host of regulatory and investigatory bodies have a profound effect on corruption in the developed world. This investigation has revealed a lack of coherence, focus and determination across Whitehall in tackling this subject.
This report highlights the key themes discussed and debated at a one-day conference examining new dimensions in the relationship between humanitarian aid and politics, held in London on 1 February 2001. The conference was organised jointly by ODI, CAFOD and POLIS at the University of Leeds.
In Angola, survivors of Saturday's raid on a school by Unita rebels have been speaking to journalists for the first time. Sixty children, most of them war refugees from all over the country, are still missing after being abducted by the rebels.
Giving iron supplements and doses of anti-malarial drugs to children under a year old in Tanzania has more than halved the number of cases of severe malaria. That is the finding of research published in the medical journal The Lancet which studied a World Health Organisation (WHO) immunisation programme distributing the medication.
The Namibian Government has distanced itself from the actions of members of the paramilitary unit, the Special Field Force (SFF), who last week rounded up men wearing earrings, because they were supposedly gay.
The BBC has obtained the first independently verified information about the widespread nature of the rebel war in northern Liberia. Independent medical sources say that in the last few months of fighting hundreds of Liberian Government soldiers have been wounded. It is likely that a similiar number of combatants were wounded or killed on the rebel side as fighting has raged between rebel forces reportedly backed by neighbouring Guinea and Liberian Government troops.
A minister in the Central African Republic has accused the security forces of killing Chadian farmers in the north of the country. The minister of rural development Salomon Namkosserena told the French News Agency that almost 60 farmers were killed in various incidents over the past month.
African Ministers of Finance and Planning have agreed to consolidate parallel plans for Africa's recovery into a single initiative around which the continent will rally in its quest for development.
COSATU sends its condolences to the families of the victims of the Gold Fields' Beatrix mine explosion and expresses its anger that mine accidents still claim so many workers' lives. The federation believes that the accident could have been prevented. Having two fatal accidents within a year suggests that the mine management has failed to make sure that the workplace is danger-free.
A new report from McConnell International goes some way towards rectifying this problem. The report, entitled "Ready? Net. Go! Partnerships Leading the Global Economy", discusses the "e-readiness" of 53 countries. E-readiness is defined as "the capacity of nations to participate in the global economy" and McConnell measures e-readiness by examining each country's progress in five key sectors.
Volume 7, Issue 19, May 8, 2001
Two of the world's leading environmental and agriculture groups reported today that almost half of the world's 17,000 major nature reserves, which are intended to protect wildlife from extinction, are being heavily used for agriculture. They also report that extreme malnutrition and hunger are pervasive among people living in at least 16 of the world's 25 key biodiversity hotspots, where wildlife is most at risk.
Three Texas oil control specialists have arrived safely back in the United States after they capped a huge, potentially explosive oil spill in southeast Nigeria. Contrary to media reports, the company for which they work says the three men were not held hostage by Nigerians upset over the spill at an abandoned Royal Dutch/Shell well in the Niger Delta.
Last week the High Court resumed the Makoni East election challenge brought by Nicholas Mudzengerere of the MDC against ZANU (PF) MP Shadreck Chipanga. Witnesses testified that they saw Mr. Chipanga both participate in, and witness, political assaults perpetrated by ZANU (PF) supporters against MDC supporters. Numerous witnesses also testified that the murders of Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, MDC workers from the nearby Buhera North constituency, severely intimidated MDC voters in Makoni East. Another witness detailed how her house was burned by alleged ZANU (PF)supporters and how she was harassed before giving testimony to the High Court.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by ACAT Cameroun and Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, both members of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest and detention of around ten demonstrators in Cameroon.
European scientists meeting this week in Stockholm have been urged to work in close partnership with policy makers to chart a course toward sustainable development. European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom and Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson both argued that the effectiveness of research would be greatly enhanced if more effort was made to link it with green policies.
The US State Department on Wednesday voiced opposition moves to plans in the US Congress to withhold American dues to the UN because of last week's ouster of the US from the UN Human Rights Commission in a secret ballot, which saw Sudan and other "human rights abusers" elected.
semaine du 11.05.01 au 20.05.01
The National Women's Law Center and Catholics for a Free Choice (CFC) are urging the U.S. House of Representatives to support an amendment to this year's State Department funding bill that would overturn President George W.Bush's ban on federal money for organizations that support or perform abortions abroad.
"Technology is the backbone of management and organizational effectiveness. It equips people with data and information that can then be synthesized into learning and knowledge; and, this knowledge is what gives organizations more powerful voices in, and greater impact on, community change -- the ultimate goal of nonprofit capacity-building." Roni Posner, Executive Director, Alliance for Nonprofit Management. These words sum up the general consensus among participants interviewed at the Alliance for Nonprofit Management's national conference held several weeks ago in Cleveland.
The theme for this year's annual conference of the Council on Foundations was accountability. Unlike most conference themes, the Council actually managed to have the concept reflected in many of the program elements. The program of the conference is still available and will give you some idea of how seriously they took the theme.
Arms Control Policy in a Time Warp, Nina Tannenwald; Alive and Kicking: The Greatly Exaggerated Death of Nuclear Deterrence, Response by J. Peter Scoblic; The New Business of War: Small Arms and the Proliferation of Conflict William Hartung.
This statement will be the basis of a great deal of human rights activism against psychiatric torture. Please take some time to read it and consider endorsing it: "We address all members of the human family to recognise our basic right for self-determination as people who suffer from psychiatric persecution, psychiatric incarceration and psychiatric torture."
The Reebok Human Rights Award Program seeks nominations of young human rights activists. Members of the international community of human rights and non-governmental organizations are urged to nominate young men and women to honor for their courage and contributions to further human rights. Deadline June 15 2001.
Greenstar is proud to announce the appointment of an outstanding Greenstar Ambassador -- Osei Darkwa is a Ghanaian who is helping Greenstar establish its first solar community center in Africa.
Le Bulletin du 10/05/01, no 08
Indigenous leaders from around the world are gathered this week in the Panamanian capital, where they have launched a global appeal to defend their traditions against the imposition of mass culture they contend is inherent in the globalisation process.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria finally managed to cap the oil gushing from one of its wells in Ogoniland at the weekend, but the well's blow-out and the resulting flood of oil and gas into the immediate environment has once more intensified tensions between the giant oil company and the half-million strong Ogoni Kingdom.
The Government of Swaziland has banned the print version of the "Guardian" newspaper from circulating in the country, in the wake of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration. The newspaper has been blamed for not fulfilling all the requirements under the country's media laws, though the paper has indeed met all of the requirements. The Nation magazine has been banned as well.
Canada has become the latest Western government to protest to Zimbabwe over the intimidatory behaviour towards its nationals by so-called "war veterans", who have targeted foreign employees in a rash of labour disputes.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Angola and the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Angola are investigating this past weekend’s mass abduction of 60 children in Angola. The attack took place in the town of Caxito, about 30 miles northeast of Luanda, Angola, according to Unicef. The 60 children were abducted during an attack on Children's Town, a home for children run by the nongovernmental organization ADPP, about six miles outside of Caxito. The children range in age from 10 to 18 years and include nine girls and 51 boys. One of their Angolan teachers was also abducted. The current whereabouts of the children and their teacher are unknown.
SVTG has received confirmed information that the Security Forces have re-arrested 5 members of the NDA political leadership secretariat. The arrests took place between late Thursday evening 10 May and between 1 and 2 am, on Friday 11 May, 2001. The men were arrested from their homes in Khartoum, before being taken to local police stations.
Click on the: "Click here to register for FREE Database of the Month" link near the top of the South African Studies fact sheet. Composed of 14 different databases providing access to over 769,000 records, this unique combination of databases gives access to published South African documents, books, journal articles, theses and current research, covering all topics.
27 AUGUST - 5 SEPTEMBER 2001 BANJUL, THE GAMBIA - an annual Pan-African bilingual Workshop on the procedures of the African regional System of Human Rights.
Offered through the USDA Graduate School and taught by BARBARA FILLIP, PH.D. This spring, the course is entirely online for the first time. We have 31 participants and 8 guests from around the world, including one in Senegal, two in Nigeria and one in South Africa.
Searching innovative resources to teach international human rights course, requesting tuition assistance, seeking housing in Johannesburg (South Africa), seeking information on ex(child)excombatants seeking asylum, seeking internships, grants, scholarships (South Africa)
DATE: October 8-17, 2001. This conference that focuses on issues relating to women of African descent will gather hundreds of scholars, activists, policy-makers and students from all continents. It will draw attention to the urgency and pertinence of a sense of history as participants engage simultaneously in stocktaking and mapping forward-looking strategies for future engagements. The conference will deal with the following themes: democracy and governance, feminist/womanist theories, war and peace, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction, civil society, human rights and the law, health and services, arts and the humanities, education, political economy, science and technology, religion and culture.
16th September - 7th October 2001. Closing date for applications: Thursday 31st May 2001. The three week course offers a great opportunity to become familiar with new concepts and ideas, to dialogue with peace and human rights activists from all over the world and to improve skills in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The number of participants is limited to thirty.
Available in both English and Portuguese, the online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy of Education offers hundreds of entries on significant figures, movements, and concepts in its field. From Nietzsche to Kuhn to Hegel to Constructivism to Piaget to Postmodernism to the Pragmatic theory of learning, the Encyclopaedia's substantial essay entries are written by scholars in the fields of philosophy and education. Many of the entries are still in the works but are already listed so that users may see what the complete text will cover. The Encyclopaedia is edited by Michael A. Peters at the University of Aukland, New Zealand and Paulo Ghiraldelli Jr. at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil.
In pockets of the developing world, those deepest in poverty are starting to discover that they can use technology to pull themselves up. In tiny rural villages and overcrowded urban areas, people are using the Web to find day jobs, sell everything from crafts to cows, communicate, learn skills, and improve their lives.
The U.S. government should call on President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure thorough and credible investigations and prosecutions for human rights abuses by the Nigerian armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today.
The United States should not hold back payment of its United Nations dues because of the loss of its seat on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, major human rights groups said in letters to Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden and Representatives Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde.
A judge who struck down three ruling party election victories on the grounds they were tainted by violence resigned from the nation's High Court, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, quoting judicial officials. Judge James Devittie's decision came days after ruling party militants accused him of bias in favour of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Heavy fighting broke out in the Somali capital Mogadishu, on Friday, around 16:00 local time, after faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid entered the former port. A battle between the opposition leader and militia guarding the port for the Transitional National Government (TNG) escalated into the bloodiest fighting experienced in Mogadishu over the last few years, and constitutes the biggest challenge yet to the interim government.
Tension is growing in the Niger Delta, southeastern Nigeria, following a rash of oil spills which, in combination with communal and industrial disputes, have disrupted crude oil production by three transnationals, industry sources said on Friday. US multinational ExxonMobil Corp's Nigerian subsidiary shut its Qua Iboe oil export terminal on Thursday after it was besieged by protesters from the local Eket community who accused the company of neglect.