Pambazuka News 230: Repression in Tunis at World Summmit on the Information Society
Pambazuka News 230: Repression in Tunis at World Summmit on the Information Society
The report provides a first-hand look at how AU troops on the ground have saved lives and prevented atrocities against internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other civilians, but also suffer from "grossly inadequate" numbers of troops and police, a weak mandate, and limited equipment. Based on interviews with AU troops, IDPs, and humanitarian and human rights officers over a 7- month period, the report finds that AU troops did not "stand by and just watch innocent people get slaughtered." While AU soldiers do not have the strength or authority to remove or disarm Janjaweed and other paramilitary forces from displaced persons' camps, they have "demonstrated a willingness to patrol, be visible and try to deter violence."
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has not contacted more than 100 Zanzibaris who fled to Mombasa to escape violence in their country. The members of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) arrived in Mombasa two weeks ago from Zanzibar. The Zanzibaris fled to escape arrests on allegations that they stirred unrest during elections in their country.The refugees used dhows, anchoring at Shimoni port, 75 kilometres from Mombasa.
Over 60 non-governmental organizations gathered on September 25-26 for the North South Civil Society Conference on Refugee Warehousing. Organized by a range of refugee and faith-based groups, the conference drew civil society actors from over 15 countries to learn from one another and to collaborate on strategies to help refugees gain their basic rights. This report outlines the next steps and recommendations and covers the following areas:General comments and principal goals; Advocacy strategies and methods; and additional areas for advocacy.
Ethan Zuckerman’s My hearts in Accra - (http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=256) is on his way to Tunis for the World Sumit on Information Society (WSIS). Like many others he says he is:
“attending with misgivings over the usefulness of the gathering, the absurd cost of the meeting, and the fact that it’s being held within a deeply repressive country with a history of detaining people who use the Internet to exercise their right to free speech”. (Last week I reported on a Tunisian blogger who after being detained for 18 months in prison, was released and suffered a heart attack)
Nigerian blogger Gbenga Sesan - Gbenga Sesan (http://www.gbengasesan.com/blog/?p=32) believes the most important issue to be discussed is Internet Governance.
“Just this morning, the BBC relayed the story of how the EU and the UN is trying to wrestle the control of the Internet from the US." Clearly, there’s a lot of interest in the issue of Internet Governance, and this is the best time for some countries that have taken the different issues around Internet Governance lightly to wake up before they sell their future to the best called ignorance.”
One of the problems with WSIS is that many participants will miss one of the most important factors of the conference which is not who governs the Internet but whether the internet as place of “free speech” can be respected by all governments. As Ethan mentions the conference is being held in a country where freedom of speech and media are held in contempt by the government. Andy Carvin’s Waste of Bandwidth blog - Waste of Bandwidth (http://www.digitaldivide.net/blog/acarvin/view?PostID=7638) reports taking photos at the conference is banned by the Tunisian authorities and attempts will result in interrogation by security officials.
Friends of Ethiopia - Friends of Ethiopia (http://friendsofethiopia.blogspot.com/2005/11/better-beware-white-elepha...) posts a report from AllAfrica.com “Better beware the white elephant”.
“At the World Summit of the Information Society in Tunis from November 16-18, these ICT lobbyists will bemoan the "digital divide" and call for a Digital Solidarity Fund. Dazzled by the allure of e-commerce, the global information society, e-learning and other buzzwords, they believe that new technology will allow them to leap-frog decades of incompetence and corruption and achieve rapid development. But the barriers to technological development are exactly the same as the barriers to any economic development: market restrictions, lack of contract law, state controls, customs duties, bureaucracy, and corruption.”
Tunisian blogger, Neila Charchour Hachicha - Blog de Neila Charchour Hachicha (http://plmonline.blogs.com/plm/2005/11/citizens_summit.html) reports on the Citizens Summit for Information Society (CSIS) which is also meeting in Tunis from 16-18 November as a side event. However the Tunisian government is trying its best to prevent the CSIS from meeting by obstructing their efforts to find a venue in Tunisia.
“The CSIS builds on a long tradition of civil society events linked to United Nations conferences. More than 80 international civil society organizations and coalitions have pledged their support and plan to take part in the three-day Citizens Summit, but a venue previously confirmed for the event was withdrawn at the last minute for reasons that CSIS organisers believe to be in response to political pressure from the Tunisian government.”
Ghanian blog, the Trials and Tribulations of a Freshly-Arrived Denizen - Fresh-Arrived Denizen (http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com) has a different take on the WSIS where he seems to be somewhat in awe of Tunis and Tunisians:
“Goodlooking—nay, gorgeus-looking—women pass with their boyfriends, friends, etc, passing a poster that says 'KILL BILL. Cette Semaine au Cinema'...The information society may be lost to many people. In the beginning, even I couldn’t get my head round the utility of a conference round it, but now having back-pedalled and seen the bigger picture, I am beginning to think that it’s pretty cool being here. Especially in Tunis. We are treated like royalty. We, being those delegates going to the WSIS. These people are far friendlier than I ever anticipated or expected. Many of them after they ask me where I am from say 'bienvenue. Tu es chez toi.' Alright so they are tutoieing me, that is not using 'vous' since they do not know me, but I am not bothered. They seem to like me, and I certainly find them personable.”
Finally a return to Egyptian blogger, blogger Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman who runs the blog Kareem Amer. Last week I reported that he had been detained by the security forces since the 26th October. The Big Pharaoh - The big Pharaoh
(http://bigpharaoh.blogspot.com/2005/11/abdolkarim-released-egyptian-blog...) reports that he has now been released.
“He posted a short entry on his blog saying that he will tell us about what happened to him and that he thanks everyone who stood beside him even if he/she didn't share his thoughts. Of course, those who helped Abdolkarim include a lot of non-Egyptians who took the time to email or call the Egyptian embassies around the world.” If you can read Arabic you should go directly to his blog - Karam903 (http://karam903.blogspot.com) otherwise check Big Pharaoh or Freedom for Egyptians - Freedom for Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2005/11/freedom-of-expression-at...) for his report.
* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks
* Please send comments to [email protected]
About 750 Sudanese exiles went on hunger strike outside U.N. offices in Cairo on Saturday to back demands to receive assistance, rather than be repatriated. They said five people, including three children, had died in the camp and that many suffered from malnutrition and disease.The UNHCR said in a statement that Sudanese in Egypt were generally not fleeing persecution or violence, but were economic migrants hoping for resettlement in the West.
Pambazuka News 229: Darfur: deterioration, impunity and indifference
Pambazuka News 229: Darfur: deterioration, impunity and indifference
Hundreds of thousands are estimated to have died and further hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their homes, but the international community has failed to act decisively to end the violence in the Darfur region of Sudan. While the United Nations Security Council has issued a series of toothless resolutions, the Government of Sudan has not faced the necessary pressure to end the impunity that characterises the Darfur situation. In fact, the Government of Sudan (GoS) response has been to establish a ‘Special Criminal Court for Events in Darfur’ which has heard, amongst 160 other cases, a case related to an alleged theft of sheep but no cases related to a violation of the rules of war, writes Adwoa Kufour from the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT).
A preliminary analysis of events in Darfur over the last six months reveals a status quo of violence and a climate of lawlessness and insecurity. The current situation in Darfur is one of widespread gross violations of human rights perpetrated against the civilian population with impunity by the Government of Sudan (GoS) forces, marauding armed militias and government proxy militias. The majority of the victims are the most vulnerable - internally displaced persons (IDPs), women and children.
The humanitarian situation in Darfur is well documented. An estimated 200,000 people have died, 213,000 are refugees in 11 camps throughout the Borkou-Ennedi-Tibesti, Biltine and Ouaddai regions of Chad, and a further two million people have been displaced out of a population that before the full breakout of hostilities stood at six million. Among the displaced, living in camps which have sprung out all over the region, daily lives continue to be blighted with attacks, insecurity and fear. Food insecurity in the region has resulted in a marked increase in banditry and robbery as armed groups search for food. Among the most affected have been women and children. Despite government denials, armed militias, and government security forces continue to subject young girls as young as twelve to beatings, abductions, rape and sexual violence. In September alone, whilst the warring factions were in Abuja, the Nigerian capital, negotiating a peace agreement, tens of women including a mother and daughter were beaten and raped by armed militias, reportedly the Janjaweed outside the peripherals of Kalma IDP Camp, Southern Darfur State. In the same month, ten other women were abducted by armed militias from Kalma; the whereabouts of the women remains unknown (Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), Human Rights Alert:19 September 2005 ‘Darfur: Abduction and Rape in Nyala’).
Even as attacks on civilians have continued uninterrupted albeit without the aid of government air forces, the international community have taken little substantive action to resolve the situation and thus alleviate the humanitarian disaster unfolding in the region. The rhetoric from United Nations bodies including the Security Council has been one of condemnation and outrage; however rhetoric has failed to translate into action with the exception of the African Union (AU).
The AU has had a presence in the region since June 2004 and must be commended for its determination to fully implement the relevant principles stipulated in its Constitutive Act. The organisation, through the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), has sought dogmatically to bring the warring factions to a durable and enforceable peace agreement and have consistently condemned violations committed by all parties to the conflict. This consistency and its readiness to denounce gross human rights abuses have – in the last month – led to a rapid deterioration in the relationship between the organisation and the GoS.
Notwithstanding its fraught relationship with the government, violence has notably decreased in the areas where they have been deployed, including outside major IDP camps across the region. However, AMIS ability and capability to undertake their role is riddled with weaknesses. The numbers of AU troops operating in the region remain hopelessly inadequate, despite pledges from international donors in May 2005 to increase AU funding in order to allow it to increase its troops to 7,700 by end of September. At point of writing, there were 4,100 AU troops in Darfur, a region the size of France. Besides the obvious financial constraints, AMIS logistical capabilities are also dismally weak. It lacks physical resources including planes, weapons and communication equipment. Attempts are being made by both the European Union (EU) and NATO to provide it with logistical support but a demonstrable improvement has yet to be seen. Most significantly, despite calls by international organisations for AMIS mandate to be expanded to include the protection of civilians in the region, particularly IDPs and, where possible, to disarm the militias, its mandate continues to be inherently weak and based primarily on reactive principles and protection of their troops as opposed to the civilian population in Darfur.
Nonetheless, whilst AMIS was poorly conceived, planned, and deployed, it has had some success in monitoring and curbing serious abuses during the year even within it’s a limited mandate (SOAT Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan March 2004 – March 2005). The same cannot be said about the international community. Despite passing five United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) threatening sanctions, and referring crimes committed in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), both of which the GoS rejected, the UNSC have been ineffective not least in their failure to enforce their own resolutions but in their silence in the face of the GoS continuing violations of the April Ceasefire Agreement. This failure has not only served to embolden the various government proxy militias in the region, further contributing to the climate of impunity which permeates all branches of the Sudanese government, but has highlighted the incapability of the international community to ‘maintain international peace and security’. Most disturbingly, this apparent disinterest on the part of UN Security Council members has meant that the sustained pressure and international attention that ought to be placed on Khartoum to resolve the conflict and to mobilise help and support for the citizens of Darfur has not materialised - notwithstanding the reality that the GoS only acts when it is forced to.
Whilst the ‘international community’ have throughout the conflict prevaricated and transmitted a variety of mixed messages, the GoS has remained steadfast in executing its war strategy in the region even while espousing its readiness to reach a sustainable peace agreement with the rebel opposition groups and to disarm the various militia groups operating in the region. Not only have attempts to reach sustainable peace in the region remained elusive; the GoS has been unwilling to disarm the armed militias terrorising the region, and has in many cases continued it provide support for these groups. This has further fuelled the culture of impunity woven into the fabric of the GoS and its security apparatus.
Security forces have persisted in attacks on the civilian population, including the already vulnerable IDP population in the knowledge that they will neither be held accountable by the GoS or the various UN bodies. In June, a week after the prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo launched his investigation into crimes committed in Darfur, the GoS established a ‘Special Criminal Court for Events in Darfur’ to hear cases of 160 people accused of committing crimes in the states of North, West and South Darfur. Since June, the courts have heard four cases in which four persons including a 72 year old man and an 11 year old boy have been found guilty of armed robbery and two army officers have been found guilty of murdering a man arrested and detained in military custody on suspicion of supporting the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), the main opposition group in Darfur and the first to take up arms against the government in Khartoum for what they perceived to be a long history of discrimination. The court has also heard the case of an alleged theft of sheep.
Despite the fact that all the cases heard by the courts so far are offences under the Sudanese Penal Code and arguably do not amount to violations of the rules of war, the GoS has refused to acknowledge that Sudanese courts cannot play the central role in bringing perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes to justice. In the area of administration of justice in Sudan, widespread corruption and lack of training for members of the executive, legislative and judicial branches on international human rights standards and jurisprudence has ensured that the justice system does not have the capability or the will to deal with complex war atrocities including the wanton destruction of villages, systematic and widespread killings and rape as a tool of war. Moreover, the Sudanese judicial system is neither independent, with many unqualified judges who were appointed solely on the basis of their affiliation to the GoS, nor impartial and is characterised by a culture of intimidation (SOAT, Human Rights Alert: 17 March 2005 ‘Attempted Rape and Killing of IDP from Kalma Camp’, SOAT Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Sudan March 2004 – March 2005). In order to erode the culture of impunity that has taken root in the Sudan and to deter further atrocities against civilians not only in Darfur but across the Sudan, the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity must be brought before the ICC for reasons of accountability and in the interest of justice.
The climate of impunity coupled with the complete indifference to the situation of the civilian population in Darfur by the international community has manifested itself in a dramatic deterioration in the security and humanitarian situation in the last two months. Fighting between government forces, armed militias, rebel groups and renewed attacks on civilians has further entrenched the widespread distrust of all parties in the region. The IDP population has continued to increase dramatically, placing strain on the already stretched humanitarian effort and laying the basis for a cycle of dependence on humanitarian aid. Few of the civilian population in the region believe or wish to return to their original villages even if there was to be a conclusive and comprehensive peace agreement.
There are immediate measures that the GoS is capable of undertaking to alleviate the plight of the civilian population in Darfur. These include but are not limited to a cessation in all attacks by government forces on civilians; waiving the immunity of its security officers who commit gross violations of human rights; committing itself to the voluntary return of IDPs to their original lands; cooperating fully with AMIS; cooperating with the ICC investigation into Darfur and; implementing its commitments under the much maligned N’djamena ceasefire agreement, particularly to allow unhindered access throughout the region for humanitarian workers. However the GoS will only be compelled to embark on these measures if there is extreme pressure placed on it by the international community.
* Adwoa Kufuor is a campaigner with the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT)
* Please send comments to
The right to education is an integral part of the new African Protocol on Women’s Rights, argues Roselynn Musa. Gender inequalities in education translate into larger socio-economic disparities, and affect not only individuals, but the social and economic development of communities and nations. The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa offers a powerful tool for remedying these disparities, and addresses not only the grassroots level of the classroom, but also the political processes that grant women access to decision-making.
Everyone has a right to education states the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR, 1948), but today more than half a century after this historic text was adopted, the right to education remains an empty promise for millions of people all over the world, especially women and girls. During the last decade there have been improvements in basic education for women in many countries. A number of countries recorded increased growth in the number of enrolment of both girls and boys. At the same time many African countries have made progress in reducing illiteracy levels, particularly among women and girls. However, despite these improvements only 58% of children of school age are actually enrolled in school (World Conference on Education for All, UNESO, Paris, 2000). With few exceptions educational statistics show large gender disparities. Female-male school enrolment, retention and completion favour boys in a majority of countries. Moreover, African women have the highest illiteracy rate in the world, which in some countries is rising. In addition gender disparities in schooling undermine national efforts for human capital development, thereby slowing down the pace of social and economic development.
The right to education is a human right having major implications for both individuals as well as for social and economic development. Education of women in Africa is imperative given the inverse relationship between female education and other aspects of development.
The educational system in Africa generally reflects gender inequalities. Gender refers not just to women, but also to both men and women, and to the interaction between them. It is important to understand the differences between men and women that are externally influenced, as well as the conditions imposed on them that are based on naturally given biological differences. Gender analysis therefore has to do with both sexes in relation to each other, not in isolation. Furthermore, an understanding of gender does not imply that all women are alike. Race, ethnicity, class, nationality, age, etc, are other factors that may cause significant differences among women themselves and among men as well.
The purpose of looking at gender is not to divide men and women, causing conflict between them, rather it draws our attention to those issues that have brought about unequal relations, and allows us to address these issues with appropriate measures that will help reduce rather than perpetuate inequality. Thus the concept of gender helps focus on growth in terms of equitable distribution of benefits between women and men, equality and power relations between them and, most of all, partnership between them in all fields of development.
Gender equality is based on the premise that all human beings, women and men are free to develop their personal abilities and make choices without the limitations set by stereotypes, rigid gender roles and prejudices. Gender equality means that the different behaviour, aspirations and needs of women and men are considered, valued and favoured equally. It does not mean that women and men have become the same, but rather their rights, responsibilities and opportunities will not depend on whether they were born male or female.
The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa will come into force in November 2005. Article thirty-two of the protocol covers a broad range of human rights issues and advances the human rights for African women through creative, substantive and detailed language. Article 12 addresses the right to education and training.
One of the challenges to women’s educational empowerment in Africa is that decisions on what is to be learnt, at what level and by who are male dominated thus perpetuating gender-based stereotypes. This renders the curriculum inappropriate for the promotion and protection of women’s human rights. While the level of women’s participation is on the increase, certain socio-cultural constraints impede women’s access to vocational, scientific and technical education.
The Protocol obligates state parties to take positive actions to promote women’s education at all levels and in all disciplines. One of the measures that could be useful in addressing gender imbalances in education and training, is for countries to institute and strengthen affirmative action measures including scholarships at all levels for female students, distance and non-formal education and literacy programmes for women, innovative and aggressive strategies to redress the under-representation of women and girls in sciences, mathematics and technology-related disciplines and careers, including the promotion of science among children in general and young girls in particular. Women’s access to professional training should be strengthened.
Women need broad humanistic and scientific education for the same reasons men do, so they can understand and appreciate life, give intellectual and political leadership and make the greatest contribution of which they are capable. In addition to this, the main financial partners of Africa’s educational systems should show their firm commitment to the female population in their interventionist policies.
We must find ways to preserve what remains of our customs while at the same time refuse to accept those aspects of tradition that treat women and children as less than human. For example, the belief that investing in girls’ education is a waste of time and money. This has had and will continue to have devastating consequences on women unless something urgent is done.
Because most programmes for women’s economic development, educational and political equality bow to patriarchal culture and societal imposed stereotypes they are replete with fundamental conceptual flaws.
Approaches that focus on the law while ignoring culture are not likely to turn women’s situation around. We should strive for a condition in which women and men are equal both in laws and facts. If that happens to be the case then our problems will only be solved in fractions, even when we have fifty per cent female representation in positions of power, because these same women are the wives, sisters, daughters, etc of the men out there who the patriarchal system has placed above and therefore superior to women. This approach will be flawed because it refuses to address the cultural factors that impede women’s progress. Because of the current situation of inequality, gender equality cannot be achieved without the empowerment of women especially in the field of education.
Human rights education goes beyond cognitive learning and includes the social and emotional development of all those involved in the educational process. It should aim at developing a culture in which human rights are taught, practised and lived within the school community and spread through interaction with the wider community. Introducing human rights education therefore implies that the school becomes a model of human rights learning and practice. Teachers, as the main depositories of the curriculum, play a key role in reaching this goal.
Some of the factors militating against women’s educational empowerment include, but are not limited to: poverty; sexual abuse/ harassment and rape, which prevent some parents from sending their female children to school; child prostitution; insufficient infrastructure; gender-unfriendly school environment and curricula; gender stereotypes and preference in sending boys to school than girls; workload of the girl child; early marriages/pregnancies; high rate of drop out among girls, especially at secondary and tertiary institutions and lack of gender parity; and lack of policy and monitoring mechanisms. In consideration of some of these the protocol addresses the issue of sexual harassment and the need to introduce human rights education in schools and at the same time make counseling available to students.
The attacks or assaults on female education are manifestations of the same desire to mute the voice of women. The field of science and technology remains almost solely a man’s domain and the very few women that have ‘dared’ to venture there and have done well are seen as the exception rather than the rule. Gone are the days when women and girls are only trained in cooking, embroidery, home economics, etc
An educational system that is designed to subordinate and invalidate women’s experiences vis-à-vis the terrible illiteracy in which so many of our sisters are kept is not just the consequences of poverty, over- work and discrimination within the family, and by extension, the society, but it is also a social mechanism designed to ensure female acquiescence and deny women a public voice, or even a private one for that matter. Education is a powerful tool for empowerment and non-conformity, but ironically, the economic and social development of countries around the world is hampered by shortages of skilled men and women and confounded by widespread ignorance and indifference. If the capacity of people to shape and improve their own lives is the measure of development then educational empowerment of women is a necessary condition as well as a human right.
Achieving gender equality requires specific measures that go beyond the equal treatment of women and men. Such measures must address the politics, laws, procedures, norms, beliefs, practices and attitudes that maintain gender equality. Women must have the capacity to make informed choices about their lives. Efforts to achieve equality between women and men that use a ‘one size fits all’ approach may not take into account the discrimination existing in the past. Fathers, husbands and even brothers may also suppress the potentials of their daughters, wives and sisters because they do not wish them to have an independent identity. It will also be necessary to involve gender-sensitive men in the campaign in order to make a good headway.
Though there has been a great breakthrough in the matter of gender equality, a lot still needs to be done. Discrimination against women continues and practices subordinating women to men and considering girls lower to boys remain in force. The domestication of international, regional and national instruments on women and girls’ rights and the enforcement of existing legislation remain low. Women and girls’ access to justice systems is limited by legal illiteracy, lack of resources and gender insensitivity and bias of law enforcement agents. Violence against women and girls, including rape and domestic violence is rampant, particularly in conflict zones. Some traditional and cultural practices continue to inhibit progress in promoting women and girls’ human rights. In some countries, women are denied equal rights to inherit property, while in others several sources of laws continue to govern their lives and restrict the enjoyment of their rights.
The question to ask is, where are we going and how do we get there? It is an enormous task because when we zero in on women we are confronted by a plight so grim it can break our hearts. We should not be bought over by the gullibility of the larger society that thinks that if the government can just pass the right laws then women will become equal. It is not enough that the government passes a law that says all forms of discrimination against women should be eliminated [Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, Article 12(1a.)] and then women and men are automatically equal. It is naïve to think that just the passing of laws will help women. It has to be backed by action.
Deep and sustainable transformations require a strategic and political vision to the highest level and that is why the protocol has resolved to achieve necessary cultural and institutional transformation in the educational system. One of the initiatives to be taken on the part of the states is the introduction of human rights education in the educational curricula as stated in the protocol.
One of the measures that could be taken to address gender imbalances in education is for countries to institute and strengthen affirmative action measures including scholarships at all levels for female students, distance and non-formal education and literacy programmes for women and girls especially in the sciences and technically oriented disciplines.
Successful strategies for improving girls’ access to and retention in education should be scaled up. The content and culture of schooling should not discriminate against women and girls. One way to bring this about is curriculum reform, gender training for teachers and other people working in the field of curriculum development and for girls and boys generally. This should also include gender-focussed programmes for girls and boys.
A web does not move if you pull only one strand; that way all you do is break it. There is a need to adopt a participatory and multi-disciplinary approach to policy development by involving NGOs, teachers associations and unions, professional and research bodies, and other stakeholders in the preparation of educational policy texts, promoting a human rights based approach to school, governance, management, discipline procedures and other regulations and practices affecting the school culture and access to education.
Human rights education implies changes in the whole educational system. Policy statements and verbal commitments alone are not enough to ensure educational changes. Implementation of the policy should therefore not lie with the Ministries of Education alone, but should involve other stakeholders. There is a political will by government to get girls into schools and bursaries for girls, but more needs to be done in this direction.
In conclusion, some schools already have human rights based clubs; this should be encouraged, while schools that don’t have them should be encouraged to introduce them. In addition, increasing campaigns for girls’ enrolment for science based subjects, reviewing of the school curricular and text books to portray gender sensitive issues and language, providing adult education to older women, increasing the budget for education by government – these are all actions that would take things in the right direction. Human rights education should start at childhood.
* Roselynn Musa works for The African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) in Kenya and has been involved with the Solidarity on African Women’s Rights, a coalition of women’s organizations working to ratify and domesticate the Protocol on African Women’s Rights.
* Please send comments to [email protected]
Radio for Peacebuilding, Africa (RFPA) has produced a new guidebook "Radio Talkshows for Peacebuilding". This guidebook is designed to help radio talkshows take a role in peacebuilding. It outlines reliable techniques which can help journalists and presenters deal with conflict effectively. Developed in April 2005 at a workshop in Burundi bringing together 21 radio talkshow presenters and producers from eleven sub-Saharan African countries, this guidebook is addressed to talkshows presenters and producers as well as to everyone involved in producing such programmes. The guide "Radio Talkshows for Peacebuilding" is currently accessible on the website (www.radiopeaceafrica.org) in the manuals section and on CD-Rom, available on request; [email protected]. Please send an email with your name, the name of your radio station, and your full postal address.
This Civicus toolkit deals with planning and researching a funding proposal before you write it; how to write the proposal; and the follow-up required once it is written and sent off. There is also an example of a funding proposal to guide you. You will find advice on what you need to know about donors, and what you need to know about your own project or organisation before you write a funding proposal. You will also find guidelines on what to put into your proposal and how to write it, and references to other CIVICUS toolkits that can help you.
Richard Heeks, from the Development Informatics Group, University of Manchester, UK, has written an article about ICTs and the Millennium Development Goals. He writes: "The purpose of this article is to prompt some questioning of current "e-development" priorities. We have too readily assumed the Millennium Development Goals must be the priority for application of ICTs. Yet the MDGs themselves can be challenged, as can the relevance of applying ICTs to those goals. This article will argue that we ought at least to be considering some different priorities if we want to make most effective use of the opportunities that new technology affords."
The International Secretariat for Human Development based at York University is engaged in a project to develop curricular material to be used in teaching gender and human development, broadly defined. The specific goal of the project is to create an inventory of material that represents voices, experiences, and conceptualisations of gender from various structural and geographical locations, in particular those that are marginalized.
The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign originating from the first Women's Global Leadership Institute sponsored by the Center for Women's Global Leadership in 1991. Participants chose the dates, November 25, International Day Against Violence Against Women and December 10, International Human Rights Day, in order to symbolically link violence against women and human rights and to emphasize that such violence is a violation of human rights. This 16-day period also highlights other significant dates including December 1, which is World AIDS Day, and December 6, which marks the Anniversary of the Montreal Massacre.
The Southern African Counter-Trafficking Assistance Programme (SACTAP) of the International Organization For Migration has launched a set of radio public service announcements to raise awareness about human trafficking in Mozambique. Mozambique was identified in the IOM's 2003 report Seduction, Sale and Slavery: Trafficking in Women and Children for Sexual Exploitation in Southern Africa, as one of the key source countries for women and children trafficked to South Africa.
Ten years ago on this day, Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine other members of the Ogoni community were hanged by the regime of General Sani Abacha. Maja Daruwala, Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative asks what progress there has been in institutionalizing human rights in the Commonwealth since his death. Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Malta between 25th and the 27th of November would do well to remember what Ken Saro-Wiwa stood for and prepare to turn their rhetoric into reality.
Today, November 10th, marks ten years since Ken Saro-Wiwa, writer and environmental activist, was killed on the order of General Sani Abacha, the then President of Nigeria. Despite international condemnation, collective hand wringing and the promise of change, ten years on, we still live in a Commonwealth that too readily tolerates human rights abuses from among its own.
In Auckland, in 1995, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting opened to the news that the Nigerian military regime had executed nine members of the Ogoni community, including Ken Saro-Wiwa. The Ogoni people are an ethnic minority living in Nigeria, whose lands have paid rich dividends from oil extraction since the 1950s. Saro-Wiwa had been involved in a non-violent campaign against environmental damage caused by multinational oil companies since, at 17 years old, he began writing letters to newspapers questioning the benefits that the discovery and extraction of oil would bring to the Ogoni people. Since that time, 900 million barrels of oil have been pumped from Ogoni lands and the Ogoni people remain poor and impoverished, even as oil flows through pipes strung across their farms and beside their homes.
In 1990, Saro-Wiwa founded the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP). In 1994, following the death of four Ogoni elders who were believed to be sympathetic to the military, he was arrested, held without charge and eventually accused of incitement to murder. Saro-Wiwa denied the charges but was imprisoned for over a year before being found guilty and sentenced to death. His trial was held before a tribunal assembled by the military government, described by then Prime Minister of the UK, John Major, as a ‘fraudulent trial, a bad verdict and an unjust sentence’. In Auckland, the leaders of the Commonwealth condemned Saro-Wiwa’s trial and execution, suspended Nigeria from the Commonwealth, and set about putting into practice its core values of good governance, democracy and the protection of human rights, as contained in the 1991 Commonwealth Harare Declaration. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, or CMAG, has sprung from this work, and is mandated to investigate serious or ongoing violations of the Harare Principles.
In the ten years since Saro-Wiwa’s death, and the development of this mechanism to monitor adherence to the principles of democracy and human rights in the Commonwealth, some good work has been done. Ministerial missions have, for instance, been sent to Fiji, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, the Solomon Islands and the Gambia. Fiji, the Solomon Islands and Pakistan have all been suspended from the Commonwealth after breaching basic standards of democracy and human rights. However, CMAG, and the Commonwealth, could have, can, and must do much more to protect democracy and human rights among its people. Slow, incremental and hesitant change is no answer for those people who are suffering and vulnerable, but is merely a euphemism for a lack of political will to call an immediate halt to human rights violations. The protection of democracy and human rights is at the heart of the Commonwealth. It is time that we remember this, shout it from our rooftops, and put it into action.
Every two years – in time for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting – the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) produces a report on an issue of human rights concern common across the Commonwealth. This year, in its report entitled ‘Police Accountability: Too Important to Neglect, Too Urgent to Delay’, CHRI has asked governments to take practical steps toward ensuring that human and democratic rights are promoted through better and more accountable policing. Some of the best policing in the world exists in the Commonwealth, and also some of the worst. Too many police forces across the Commonwealth are too often cited for corruption, bias, and poor performance. Too many are cited for human rights violations ranging from excessive violence, abuse of power and discrimination to curbing democratic practices like freedom of speech.
This year, between the 25th and the 27th of November, the Commonwealth Heads of Government will once again meet to talk over the issues facing the Commonwealth, reach common ground, and form policy to direct its member states. Each Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting is an opportunity to go beyond rhetoric to reality. However, in the past, too many opportunities to make this happen have been squandered. Ten years on from Saro-Wiwa’s death, and ten years on from a renewed recognition of the importance of democracy and human rights to the countries and people of the Commonwealth, the Commonwealth Heads of Government have an opportunity to turn their words into action. As the Commonwealth Heads of Government prepare to meet in Malta in 2005, and remember the events and words of Auckland a decade ago, they must not be content to take comfort in incremental and gradual change. This is the comfort of the privileged and the curse of the suffering.
Issues related to safety, security and policing are increasingly growing in importance for both governments and individuals, and pose some of the most significant human rights challenges in the Commonwealth. A recognition of this, and a push for police accountability, by the Commonwealth Heads of Government this year would honour the sentiments enshrined in the principles of the Commonwealth and expressed at Auckland in 1995 and would also be a fitting memorial to Ken Saro-Wiwa.
The tenth anniversary of Saro-Wiwa’s death will be marked with remembrances around the world. His final play, ‘On the Death of Ken Saro-Wiwa’, written a few days before his execution, will be read and performed across the globe. In Canada, there will be a celebration of music and readings by writers and musicians. In London the winner of the Living Memorial, an art competition launched to commemorate him, will be announced. It is crucial that as we remember Saro-Wiwa, we also look forward to the future of our Commonwealth, and resolve to work harder to protect democracy and human rights. Saro-Wiwa stood up for the values that, as a Commonwealth, we stand for. We must remember this. And as the Commonwealth Heads of Government prepare to meet in Malta in 2005, and remember the events and words of Auckland a decade ago, they must also remember this, and prepare to turn the rhetoric of ten years into reality.
* Maja Daruwala is the Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, an independent, international NGO working for the practical realisation of human rights in the countries of the Commonwealth. For more information or to download the Police Accountability report, please visit:
* Please send comments to [email protected]
* For another recent Pambazuka News article about Ken Saro-Wiwa, please visit:
http://www.remembersarowiwa.com/lifeksw.htm
“Saro-Wiwa was born in October 1941, the eldest son of a prominent family in Ogoni, which is today in Rivers State, Nigeria. After leaving university he initially pursued an academic career. During the Biafran war (1967-1970) he was a Civilian Administrator for the Port of Bonny, near Ogoni in the Niger Delta. He went on to be a businessman, novelist and television producer. His long-running satirical TV series ‘Basi & Co’ was purported to be the most watched soap opera in Africa.
Two of his best known works were drawn from his observations and experiences of the Biafran war. His most famous work, ‘Sozaboy: a Novel in Rotten English’, is a harrowing tale of a naive village boy recruited into the army. ‘On a Darkling Plain’, is a diary of his experiences during the war.
Ken Saro-Wiwa was consistently concerned about the treatment of Ogoni within the Nigerian Federation and in 1973 was dismissed from his post as Regional Commissioner for Education in the Rivers State cabinet, for advocating greater Ogoni autonomy. Throughout his work he often made references to the exploitation he saw around him as the oil and gas industry took riches from the beneath the feet of the poor Ogoni farmers, and in return left them polluted and disenfranchised.”
For his full life history, please visit http://www.remembersarowiwa.com/lifeksw.htm
WEBSITES DEDICATED TO SARO-WIWA
http://www.november10th.com/
http://www.kensarowiwa.com/
http://www.remembersarowiwa.com
WEBSITES WITH INFORMATION ABOUT SARO-WIWA
http://www.seen.org/pages/rights.shtml
http://www.mosop.org/
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/70334/
http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/files/CCS_RREPORTS2_REPORT33.pdf
NEWS ABOUT SARO-WIWA
http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=255721&area=/insight/insight__africa/
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1107-15.htm
http://www.tribune.com.ng/051105/news05.htm
BLOGGERS ON SARO-WIWA
http://yawandmog.wordpress.com/2003/09/28/what-would-have-saved-ken-saro-wiwa/
http://xxcommunicator.blogspot.com/2005/11/ken-saro-wiwa-presente.html
http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/11/remembering_ken.html
The International Confederation of Trade Unions received further disturbing news November 9 concerning the fate of nearly 200 trade unionists arrested by the Mugabe regime for protesting against poverty. Leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) were amongst 118 people arrested in the capital Harare. The ICFTU has received reports that Wellington Chibebe, ZCTU General Secretary, has been tortured whilst in detention. Fifty other trade unoinists were arrested around the rest of the country. All the prisoners have been transferred to Chitunwiza, twenty-five kilometers outside of Harare.
Governments and donor countries are curtailing progress towards Education for All (EFA) – and broader poverty reduction – by according only marginal attention to the 771 million adults living without basic literacy skills, says the fourth edition of the EFA Global Monitoring Report, “Literacy for life”. “Literacy is a right and a foundation for further learning that must be tackled through quality schooling for all children, vastly expanded literacy programmes for youth and adults, and policies to enrich the literate environment,” says Nicholas Burnett, the Report’s director.
This report from CIDA shows how important children's participation, through children's partnership, is to promote social change. By examining a number of good practices, the results show that children's participation through partnership supports more informed and sustainable programme and policy outcomes as well as strengthening individual capacity for self-efficacy and communication skills.
This study provides an assessment of the changing environment for aid planning and management in Ethiopia during 2002-2004. Specifically considering the Development Cooperation Programme in Ethiopia the report reviews the aid modalities chosen by the project and their relevance and effectiveness.
This paper suggests ways to avoid the 'resource curse', where countries with abundant natural resources grow more slowly than those without. The author urges that more attention be devoted to "resource curse" and discusses how national institutions may have been damaged due to the availability of increased aid. The paper highlights two possible solutions: to direct aid away from governments and consider the private sector as an alternative option and closer control over the aid flows with corruption being vigorously fought.
Malawi has pursued an agricultural-led development strategy since independence in 1964. This was a dual strategy which promoted estate agriculture for export earnings on the one hand, and smallholder agriculture for food security and subsistence needs. Following relatively successful growth in the early post-independence era, economic liberalisation policies in the 1980s and 1990s contributed to a worsening poverty situation which has yet to be remedied. For the full report, follow the link.
CIDSE (Coopération Internationale pour le Développement et la Solidarité) and Caritas International have released a position paper that outlines policy proposals for poverty reduction at the Sixth WTO Ministerial Conference to be held in Hong Kong in December. The paper pushes for global support for a pro-poor approach to trade based on the legitimate political perspective that makes human dignity the priority for guiding international trade rules.
These policy briefs are timely, short, and informative papers, highlighting a variety of critical topics and themes related to civil society and governance. They were composed by in-country researchers and IDS Fellows involved in the Civil Society and Governance Programme. They were created to better disseminate the key findings of this three-year research project, covering 22 countries in six international regions.
This paper discusses trafficking and information and communication technologies (ICTs) as defined by activists in the two arenas. It also explores three pivotal and at times controversial questions: Does the role of ICTs matter or is it a fashionable distraction from serious counter-trafficking work? Can we talk of trafficking in images or does trafficking only apply to people? Is consideration of privacy in relation to ICTs contrary to counter-trafficking work or an essential part of a broader movement to create safety and freedom for individuals and communities?
Former finance minister Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf took an early lead November 9 in the race for the Liberian presidency, as her soccer star rival George Weah said that the run-off vote had not been free and fair. With results in from a third of polling stations across the West African nation, the National Elections Commission said that Sirleaf had won 60.4 percent of the ballots cast in Tuesday’s second-round vote and Weah had captured 39.6 percent. As the first preliminary and partial votes were being announced, the former AC Milan striker was declaring that the ballot had been fixed.
President Lansana Conte retired off nearly 2,000 soldiers, including the head of the Guinean armed forces, in his largest single reduction of armed forces personnel, a military officer told IRIN. In total, 1,872 military personnel, including army chief of staff General Mamadou Bailo Diallo, were listed in a presidential decree issued on Friday but not made public, a senior officer in the Guinean army, who asked not to be named, told IRIN November 8.
Zambia's opposition has called for a halt to a just-begun voter registration campaign, arguing that alleged flaws in voters' cards could lead to rigging in next year's elections. Anderson Mazoka, interim leader of an alliance of six opposition parties, has urged the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) to correct the alleged anomalies before continuing with the scheduled 21-day registration exercise begun on 31 October.
The deadline for registration for the 2006 World Social Forum, to be held in Bamako, Mali from January 19-23, is fast approaching (November 15, 2005). Organisations must register first as individuals, and then as an organization (at the main website, link provided). Organizations can then go on to register their activity. This must be done at the main website (link provided) and again at the WSF Mali website (http://www.fsmmali.org - which is still under construction, but their contact details are [email protected]).
The International Secretariat of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) has been informed by the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), a member of the OMCT network, that about 18,000 youths, arrested in Addis Ababa, were taken to the Dedessa River in Wollega and are being held in an open field near the banks of the river. Furthermore, the network says that more people have been killed, wounded and arrested following street protests on 31st October 2005 in Addis Ababa. The conflict has spread to towns such as Gondar, Bar Dar, Arbaminch town, Dessie, Nazareth and around.
"The Barclays Miles Ahead neo-colonial safari through Africa will be celebrating its triumph on Thursday (10th of Nov.) at the Convention Centre in Cape Town (6pm at the CTICC). Barclays executives have been travelling through East Africa in white 4x4s on a publicity tour designed to detract from the Bank's deep involvement in Apartheid, financing the Arms Deal, and other such acts of corporate robbery. This is a shady parody of the Cape to Cairo imperial designs of Cecil John Rhodes, and Jubilee South Africa and allies will be at the Convention Centre to give the Bank the welcome it deserves."
Leading up to the December 2005 World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, Pambazuka News will examine some of the issues regarding the WTO as it affects Africa. This week we look at the concept of fair trade and compare it to the free trade agenda that predominates in Africa.
Many debates exist around the two terms – fair trade and free trade. Neither is actually completely possible, as the world market that they exist in is complex and multidimensional. This article thus proposes to define the terms and situate Africa’s economies within these definitions.
Fair trade is both a goal and a movement, and promotes “international labor, environment and social standards for the production of traded goods and services,” according to Wikipedia. There are many different levels of fair trade – in Western countries there exist a number of organizations that rally for fairer trade in goods such as coffee and fruit. Commodities such as these are targeted because they are imported, yet sold at cheap prices, which means that those people who are producing the goods are not paid adequately. Groups like TransFair USA, The Fair Trade Foundation and Make Trade Fair work to ensure that workers are being paid fair wages, and provide labeling on their products so that consumers are guaranteed that they are not exploiting anyone through their purchases. Many organizations work in Africa to provide people, and women especially, with jobs that provide enough money to support themselves, often producing crafts or art.
As a part of the coalition supporting the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, Pambazuka News is profiling various aspects of the Protocol over a six week period. This week we will look at the environment and sustainability in relation to African women. This is what the protocol states:
Article 18 – Right to a Healthy and Sustainable Environment:
“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to: ensure greater participation of women in the planning, management and preservation of the environment and the sustainable use of natural resources at all levels.”
Women are, in many parts of Africa, more involved in agricultural work than many men. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, women in Africa comprise only 33% of the workforce, yet make up 70% of agricultural workers. They provide 60-80% of the labor it takes to produce food, for both household consumption and sale, while are in charge of processing all basic foodstuffs. Women are responsible for 90% of household water and wood for fuel. Ninety percent of hoeing and weeding is done by women, as is 60% of harvesting and marketing. Their ability to provide for themselves and their families is, however, being threatened by environmental degradation and the decline in wellness and abundance of natural resources.
In a joint appeal of civil society groups towards improving the political position of women in Somaliland, women's civil society groups have noted that the seven women candidates who contested against 239 male candidates in recent elections faced critical obstacles during the campaign and the elections. These included the fact that:
- The selection process left the decision to identify candidates to the male-dominated traditional clan structure hence restricted the chances of many women who expressed interests in running for elections leaving only seven women candidates who were nominated as a token by the three political parties.
- That the patriarchal clan lineage system continues to be the fundamental root of resistance against women’s substantive political participation as women’s capacity for leadership continues to be unrecognized by their clan or their husband’s clan.
- That contrary to their public commitment to women’s empowerment, none of the three political parties pursued affirmative actions that would provide chances to women during the male-dominated campaign.
Zimbabwe: Zimbabwean Governmental Policies Present Obstacles to Treatment for HIV-Positive Residents
Surging inflation, a lack of foreign currency to purchase medications and an urban renewal program that has displaced poor residents are preventing HIV-positive Zimbabweans from seeking and receiving care, the Chicago Tribune reports. According to UN statistics, more than one-fourth of Zimbabwe's 12.7 million citizens are HIV-positive and up to 3,000 people are infected each week.
Omjameal Marshue Mohammed was 18 when she was convicted of selling marijuana and sentenced to 20 years in Omdurman Prison, Sudan's largest women's prison located near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum. Released recently after a judge reduced her sentence by a half because she was a young first offender, Mohammed, explained that selling marijuana was one of the few options she had to support her two children.
In response to growing alarm over Swaziland's HIV infection rate, a draft law proposing the death penalty for child rape and the intentional transmission of the virus was released this week. "Any person who is convicted of rape under this bill is liable to the death penalty if the victim is below the age of 14 years, or to the death penalty if HIV and AIDS are an aggravating factor, or to the death penalty where such person has parental power over the child," reads the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Bill of 2005.
In a seven-point communiqué issued at the conclusion of the recent two-day summit on Policy Reforms and Social Dialogue between government agencies and the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), the government was called upon to equip the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRNC) with the necessary tools for professionalisation. This is with a view to eliminating quacks from the teaching profession at all the levels of formal school education. "We also called on government to actualise the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS)," the NUT President Mallam Abdulwaheed Omar revealed in an interview.
The free primary education programme has won high accolades and Sh1.8 billion from the World Bank. World Bank country director Collin Bruce asked the Government to ensure that the money - for buying learning materials for the 18,000 primary schools across the country - would arrive in time to purchase materials for the new year. The money will be added to the billions of shillings the Government has invested in the programme since its start in January 2003 - one of the pre-election pledges fulfilled when Narc came to power.
In just ten weeks, the fifth year of the new millennium will be behind us, and what a year it has been! We have seen environmental tragedy and the world’s political leaders failing to act decisively, but we have also seen determined and dedicated action by campaigners focused on ending global poverty. By Kumi Naidoo, chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).
EDITORIAL: Darfur continues to burn as the international community stand by and watch, writes Adwoa Kufuor from the Sudan Organisation Against Torture
COMMENT & ANALYSIS:
- From the classroom to the corridors of power, The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa offers a powerful tool for remedying education disparities, writes Roselynn Musa from Femnet
- Ken Saro-Wiwa and nine comrades were hung this day ten years ago. Maja Daruwala, Director of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, asks what's changed for human rights in the Commonwealth
BLOGGING AFRICA: Sokari Ekine sums up the last week in the Blogosphere with a look at the strife in Ethiopia, the dangers of blogging in Egypt and the Paris riots that are ripping Europe apart
CONFLICTS & EMERGENCIES: News from the hotspots of Burundi, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Sudan - and Paris
HUMAN RIGHTS: 18 000 arrested in Ethiopia, reports human rights network
REFUGEES & FORCED MIGRATION: Refugees revolt in Ghana
ELECTIONS & GOVERNANCE: Weah claims fraud as Sirleaf takes early lead
WOMEN & GENDER: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence begins November 25
CORRUPTION: World Bank oil pipeline project hits a snag
MEDIA & FXI: Calls on Tunisian government to stop crackdown on rights defenders and journalists prior to UN WSIS
INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY: ICTs and the MDGs: On the Wrong Track?/Internet governance showdown heads for Tunis
FUNDRAISING & USEFUL RESOURCES: Civicus fundraising guide available
COURSES, SEMINARS & WORKSHOPS: 2006 WSF registration deadline looms
SILICON VALLEY AWARD FOR FAHAMU
FAHAMU was one of 25 Laureates for the 2005 Tech Museum Awards, and one of the five in the Education category, for its work on developing innovative distance learning programme. Annually, "The Tech Awards honor individuals, for-profit, public and not-for-profit organizations from around the world who are applying technology to profoundly improve the human condition in the areas of environment, economic development, education, equality and health." see http://www.techawards.org/pressroom/detail.php?id=116
Author Paul Rogat Loeb, the author of The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, remembers how he appeared on the same CNN show as Rosa Parks. The host recited how Parks had refused to give her bus seat to a white person, sparking the year-long bus boycott in Montgomery, United States. Loeb writes that he had been excited to be a part of the same show as Parks, but that it had occurred to him that "the host's description - the story's standard rendition and one repeated even in many of her obituaries - stripped the Montgomery boycott of all of its context."
Karamoh Kabba, author of “A Mother’s Saga,” “Lion Mountain” and “Morquee—A Political Drama of Wish over Wisdom”, in an article on the website of World Press Review, takes a loot at the upcoming 2007 presidential election in Sierra Leone. "It appears to be leaning toward the Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party (S.L.P.P.). Although the All Peoples’ Congress (A.P.C.) is reclaiming its political stature with alacrity, for now, the political scales seem to be tipping in favor of the S.L.P.P," he writes.
Fifty international aid agencies have called on the United Nations Security Council to act to protect the civilians in northern Uganda from rebel attacks. They say the violence by the Lord's Resistance Army fighters is claiming 1,000 lives every week. Their call comes as a high-level UN Security Council delegation is due to begin talks with the government.
Voters in Egypt have taken part in the first round of a parliamentary election seen as a test of the government's commitment to reform. President Mubarak's National Democratic Party is expected to win another substantial majority. He has promised the vote will be free and fair. But the leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Mehdi Akef, accused the NDP of widespread fraud.
They are five letters you have probably never heard of: Icann, acronym for the hitherto obscure Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a public-private, non-profit organisation based in the pleasant Los Angeles suburb of Marina del Rey, and operating under the very loose supervision of the United States Department of Commerce. But that obscurity is about to end, says this article in the United Kingdom's Independent newspaper, which explains the battle over internet governance set to take centre stage in Tunis at the World Summit on the Information Society.
Nine million young people in Nigeria are to be sent text messages on Wednesday to raise awareness about HIV/Aids. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) is launching its Nigerian campaign because it has the third highest number of people with the disease. Unicef is aiming to take advantage of the surge in mobile phone use in Nigeria over the last six years.
SAN JOSE, SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Wednesday September 21 - The Tech Museum of Innovation today announced the 25 Laureates for the 2005 Tech Museum Awards, presented by Applied Materials, Inc. At a black tie awards gala on November 9, Silicon Valley leaders and representatives from partners the United Nations Development Programme, The World Bank Institute, and Santa Clara University, honored all 25 for their pioneering work in developing technology for the benefit of humanity. Five of these Laureates share a $250,000 cash prize. Annually, The Tech Awards honor individuals, for-profit, public and not-for-profit organizations from around the world who are applying technology to profoundly improve the human condition in the areas of environment, economic development, education, equality and health. An panel of judges considered 560 nominations, representing 80 countries. The 25 Laureates come from Brazil, Canada, Cuba, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their work impacts people in 43 countries around the globe.
On 7 November, members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) Tunisia Monitoring Group (TMG) will call on Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to intervene to end the persecution of journalists and Internet users in advance of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). In particular, the group is concerned over the official response to the continuing hunger strike by human rights defenders and journalists and says the date of 7 November, the anniversary of the day President Ben Ali took power, is traditionally marked with the release of prisoners.
As prospects grow of a global flu pandemic, it is important for governments to recognise that responsible science journalism can play a significant role in limiting its impact, says the website SciDev.Net. "It would be difficult to imagine a better example of the need for responsible science journalism than avian influenza, or 'bird flu'. Health officials across the world warn that the H5N1 virus could spark a global pandemic of human flu that, many are already predicting, could cost million of lives. It is already becoming clear that effectively communicating accurate information about the disease will be essential to efforts to contain it."
Antony Ngige, a producer and feature reporter for the Kenyan Kikuyu radio station Kameme FM, produced a radio program about Internews' Local Voices project in Kenya that trains journalists how to cover HIV/AIDS. The station has close to 2 million listeners and is one of the most popular Kiukyu stations in the country. Ngige had attended two Internews journalism workshops on HIV/AIDS in Nairobi Kenya. For the story, he interviewed Internews Kenya Resident Advisor Mia Malan, Internews Kenya Media Coordinator Sandra Ndonye and Ann Mikia, another journalist trained in HIV/AIDS reporting.
After sending a representative to Tunis to pay a visit to seven political opposition and civil society members who began an indefinite hunger strike on 18 October, Reporters Without Borders urged the Tunisian government to listen to their demands. "The Tunisian authorities must heed the legitimate demands of these hunger strikers," the press freedom organisation said. "They are demanding just one thing, more freedom. President Ben Ali must stop turning his back and begin listening to them."
A group is protesting their arrest in a government crackdown against suspected members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) who have been blamed for the massacre in Turbi in Kenya's Marsabit district. More than 100 people were killed and hundreds left homeless. "It is quite questionable to accuse these people of being unlawfully in the country when the Kenya government is fully aware of their presence for the past three decades and the same government is the one that settled them in Badasa together with the UNHCR," a letter to the Immigration Minister written by the Marsabit Catholic diocese says. The refugees don’t deny their Ethiopian nationality, but say they have married Kenyans. Some have their children working with the government. Others are studying in Kenyan schools – both primary and secondary. Yet others are in local colleges and universities.
Zambian police have launched a manhunt for the controversial editor of its only daily newspaper after an editorial comment which apparently insulted President Levy Mwanawasa, a spokesperson for the paper said, according to a report in South Africa’s The Star, republished on www.journalism.co.za The Post managing editor Amos Malupenga said police had summoned editor Fred M'membe to appear at a local police station for questioning.
More African countries are moving up into the top half of the Reporters Without Borders annual press freedom index each year thanks to their progress in the fight against impunity and the abolition of prison terms for press offences such as libel and slander and the printing of inaccurate news, says the Worldwide Press Freedom Index 2005 published by Reporters without Borders. While those that usually respect press freedom – Cape Verde (29th), South Africa (31st), Mauritius (34th) and Mali (37th) – kept their positions in 2005, Mozambique jumped from 64th to 49th place.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) last month sent a three-member team to Morocco to interview dozens of sub-Saharan Africans with agency documentation reportedly being held in various parts of the country after having been picked up by the authorities in a crackdown on irregular migration. At the time, UNHCR called on the Rabat Government not to forcibly return them to a country where they might face persecution.
IFEX members in Africa are at the forefront of a new initiative aimed at improving the environment for freedom of expression and press freedom, and strengthening collaboration among free expression organisations on the continent. The Network of African Freedom of Expression Organisations (NAFEO) unites 33 African and international organisations under one umbrella to campaign against criminal defamation laws, promote access to information and media pluralism, and monitor attacks on journalists and media outlets. Launched at a conference in Accra, Ghana, which took place from 28 to 30 October 2005, the new network will put in place a rapid response mechanism to deal with crises that seriously affect free expression in Africa.
The U.N. Population Fund so far this year has invested $659,798 on HIV/AIDS prevention efforts in Zambia and plans to spend an additional $100,000 by the end of 2005, Deji Popoola, the agency's country representative, said on Monday during a press briefing, the Times of Zambia reports. Popoola said most of UNFPA's prevention efforts target women and young people with low socio-economic status. According to Popoola, HIV/AIDS has led to an increase in the number of pregnancy-related deaths in Zambia because the disease lowers the immunity of pregnant women, making them more susceptible to infections, Xinhuanet reports.
A study published in the November edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation has shed new light onto why individuals who have received effective anti-HIV therapy for many years, and have persistently maintained an undetectable viral load, are still unable to eradicate HIV. In a study involving eleven HIV-positive individuals who had been receiving successful antiretroviral therapy for up to nine years, American and Canadian investigators demonstrated that all eleven patients had CD4 cells infected with HIV that was capable or reproduction, and that most patients also had "considerable" levels of the DNA which HIV produces inserted into cells after infecting both active and resting CD4 immune system cells. The investigators were also surprised to find that most of the persistent HIV was found in active rather than resting CD4 cells.
The Treatment Action Campaign this week released a statement and fact sheet in which it explains why it holds Matthias Rath responsible for several deaths of HIV infected individuals. Dr Matthias Rath’s “pseudo-science” is causing confusion and costing many lives and is flourishing because it is perceived to be endorsed by the health minister and the president, according to the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC). Analysing the recent deaths of five people who were taking the Rath vitamins, the TAC said for three of these patients Rath was at a minimum responsible for contributing to their deaths.
The United Nations is asking donors for US $3.2 million to help six West African countries fight cholera, which the UN says has killed at least 700 people and stricken over 42,000 in the region since June. This is the first appeal of its kind for West Africa, where cholera appears every rainy season but where unusually heavy rains this year sent infections skyrocketing. The movement of populations throughout the region – including religious pilgrimages and rural-to-urban migration – also contributes to the spread.
Late into Zambia's long, dry season, the Victoria Falls are not at their most spectacular. Undeterred, bus loads of tourists still stop here daily to view the torrent. Most are unaware that a scarcity of water in the surrounding area has driven many rural communities to the brink of starvation. Poor rains early in the year saw the total failure of most crops in southern Zambia. As well as decimating the livelihoods of the area's predominantly subsistence farmers, the drought has resulted in a severe shortage of maize, the country's staple food.
Chad's government said on Tuesday it had agreed a bill to put before parliament changing a law which safeguards oil profits for future generations, despite objections from the World Bank. The original law, agreed with the global lender, has been touted as a test case in Africa to show petro-dollars can help the poor, with 10 percent of oil revenues meant to be saved in a special overseas fund to fight poverty in the long term.
Prosecutors in South Africa have charged two subsidiaries of the French arms company Thales with corruption. The charges, denied by the firms, were included in the indictment against the former deputy president, Jacob Zuma, due to go on trial next year. Mr Zuma has been formally indicted for corruption in connection with a multi-billion dollar arms deal.
The Government would save sh330b by eliminating losses incurred through corruption in public procurement, an official has said. Citing the recent Auditor General's report, the executive director of Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA), Edgar Agaba, said about 20% of the value of procurement was lost through corruption. Agaba attributed the corruption to weak public procurement laws. "The law has many loopholes. The prescribed practices are laxly enforced or impractical to enforce.
A tangle of pipes and metallic towers rises over the shimmering, rock-strewn desert north of the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The gleaming oil refinery is the jewel of Sudan's oil boom, the mid-point of a 900-mile pipeline from the southern oilfields to the Red Sea that is projected to pump 500,000 barrels a day by the end of this year. But if the oil is African, the money and management are Chinese. Where western companies shy away because of corruption, conflict or the risk of losing their shirt, Chinese firms are plunging in, says this article from the The Guardian UK.
The European Commission this month presented its 'Strategy for Africa' to help the continent meet the UN's Millenium Development Goals by 2015. This envisages increasing development aid to Africa from the EU and its member states from Euros 17 bn in 2003 to Euros 23 bn in 2010. One of the priorities is the development of infrastructure to help Africa's integration in the world markets, reports SouthScan.
An impasse became evident on negotiations on the major remaining issue relating to the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health when some key WTO members appeared far apart on a solution, and disagreed even on how the process of consultations is going on, during a meeting of the TRIPS Council on 25 October, reports Third World Network. Some developing countries, particularly Brazil and India, complained that they had been left out of consultations taking place between a few countries. They also reiterated their support for the proposal by the African Group as a good basis for negotiations towards a solution. African countries indicated that they were prepared to engage with others, and quoted a declaration by the African Health Ministers for the need to find a permanent solution that removes all constraints and procedural requirements to the export and import of generic medicines.
This report from USAID and the Southern African Regional Poverty Network (SARPN) presents findings and conclusions from a governance and food security assessment of Malawi. The field work was undertaken in January-February 2005 with the purpose of identifying the underlying governance causes of food security problems. One of the six summary findings concludes that: "Owing to a range of factors Malawi is increasingly food insecure and has become dependent on food donations to fulfil its national food need. Most households are unable to access a minimum basket of food items through their own food production or by market purchases. The dominance of maize in the weaning diet contributes to the high proportion of children who are severely stunted. With little resilience to climatic, economic and social shocks, households have become extremely vulnerable to food insecurity."
Saturday night was the 10th day of the spreading youth riots that have much of France in flames -- and it was the worst night ever since the first riot erupted in a suburban Paris ghetto of low-income housing, with 1295 vehicles -- from private cars to public buses -- burned last night, a huge jump from the 897 set afire the previous evening, writes Doug Ireland, journalist and media critic. "As someone who lived in France for nearly a decade, and who has visited those suburban ghettos, where the violence started, on reporting trips any number of times, I have not been surprised by this tsunami of inchoate youth rebellion that is engulfing France. It is the result of thirty years of government neglect: of the failure of the French political classes -- of both right and left -- to make any serious effort to integrate its Muslim and black populations into the larger French economy and culture; and of the deep-seated, searing, soul-destroying racism that the unemployed and profoundly alienated young of the ghettos face every day of their lives, both from the police, and when trying to find a job or decent housing."
In September 2005, more than 170 world leaders assembled at the United Nations Millennium Declaration Summit in New York to assess global progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In this report, ActionAid International USA argues that the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-led consensus which has dominated economic development policy in the poor world for 25 years is not sufficient to meet the MDGs. "Indeed, in many cases, the IMF-imposed macroeconomic policies used in poor countries are hindering both achievement of the Goals and an effective fight against HIV/AIDS."
As the increasing military tension in the Horn of Africa threatens to escalate into a new war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, the 53-member African Union (AU) plans to establish its first-ever standing army sometime next year. The proposed African Standby Force (ASF) - to be set up with logistical support from Western nations - is designed primarily for military and peacekeeping missions in the war-ravaged continent.
Revelations that French forces killed a local man, and that generals then protected the killers, have cast new doubts over the French 'peacekeeping' role in the Côte d'Ivoire. The French government confirmed Wednesday that French officers had been found guilty of killing Firmin Mahé. Two generals, Henri Poncet and Renaud de Malaussène face accusations of falsifying reports to conceal the crime.
A militant leader from Nigeria's oil-region has begun a hunger strike in protest at police treatment in custody. Mujahid Dokubu-Asari's lawyer said he was not even taking water and was unhappy at being kept in solitary confinement and often moved. Last year, Mr Asari's Niger Delta People's Volunteer Force contributed to a sharp rise in world oil prices when it threatened war against oil companies.
The United States Deputy Secretary of State, Robert Zoellick, has urged the divided leadership of the rebel Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) to overcome their differences and present a united front at the upcoming peace negotiations. "One of the most important assets for the SLM is the support of countries around the world. But to maintain that support, they have to respect the ceasefire. They can't follow a path of violence, and they have to come up with a common negotiating position," Zoellick told reporters in Nairobi on Tuesday, after a failed attempt to bring the rebel leaders together.
Three militias in eastern Congo are plotting a joint attack on Burundi and Rwanda, Burundi's army said on Monday as it prepared to welcome U.N. Security Council officials touring Africa's troubled Great Lakes region. Major Adolphe Manirakiza said the plans were revealed by a fighter from Rwanda's ethnic Hutu rebels, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), who was captured on Sunday on Burundi's border with Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
About 500 Ethiopians staged a noisy but peaceful demonstration Tuesday in front of the US State Department, demanding that Washington step up its efforts to end post-election violence in the African state. Chanting "USA, shame on you" and brandishing placards wth slogans such as "Where Do You Stand?" the crowd called for pressure on Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to halt bloodshed that has claimed dozens of lives.
Weichegud! Et Politics - (http://weichegud.blogspot.com/2005/11/who-will-tell-their-stories.html) likens the present political violence in Ethiopia to 1978 when:
“The generation Ato Meles belongs to went on protest marches on the streets of Addis Ababa in the early 70s without the indignity of being mowed down. They were demanding a revolution - the usurping of the Ethiopian constituency, and the deposing of the Emperor. They held placards calling the Emperor a ruthless dictator who had to be brought to justice. They told the world that they were standing for the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten.”
Yet they were not shot down whilst this time “those same people are pointing their guns at children” all in the name of “protecting the constitution". He concludes that hopefully when this is all over the people of Ethiopia “will have the strength for justice and not revenge!"
Freedom for Egyptians - Freedom for Egyptians (http://freedomforegyptians.blogspot.com/2005/11/freedom-of-expression-at...) reports on the detention of Egyptian blogger/writer, Nabeel Abdul Kareem who has a blog called “Kareem Amer”. Abdul Kareem was taken from his home by state security forces who confiscated his writings. Freedom for Egyptians writes:
“I have read Abdolkarim’s last blog on the Alexandria sectarian violence. Kareem has been a witness to this violence. He wrote his testimony on those black days in Egypt. Detaining him is considered an intimidation or assault on a witness.
In his article, he called for the rejection of hatred in Islam to non-Muslims, hinting to the position of the Egyptian Copts. He witnessed himself the sectarian violence in Moharm Bik district in his home city of Alexandria. He gave in his blog an example how some Islamist thugs burned a liquor store owned by an Egyptian Copt while at the same time allowing a Muslim man to sell alcohol.
Abdul Kareem is not the first North African blogger to be detained. In Tunisia, a blogger spent 18 months in prison and a similar sentence was given to Libyan blogger – both for criticising their respective governments.
The detentions of the three bloggers draws attention to the fact that in many countries the only “free press” are in fact bloggers. Even where professional journalists are subjected to arrest and harassment by their governments at least they are “public” people who have some, albeit often small, protection from their employers. Bloggers on the other hand have no protection; there is likelihood that they may loose their jobs; they may not have the funds for legal representation; their arrest may not become public knowledge.
The Moor Next Door (MND)- The Moor Next Door(http://wahdah.blogspot.com/2005/11/il-stale.html) looks at some of the “World Reaction” to the French riots which are now in their 12th day. He has two examples from the press, the New York Times and the Economist. The former makes the point that the riots have “yet to take on ideological or religious overtones” and in fact some members of other minorities and even white French youths are taking part. MND wonders! There are many possibilities here – could it be that this is just a case of “riot for the sake of rioting. What a Fanoni occurance! Blind violence. All sorts of vicious acts are taking place. Savage acts. It is spreading outside of Paris as well. There needs to be serious change in France. ASAP."
The Economist fails in it’s report (at least this paragraph) by first referring to the two dead boys as North Africans when in fact, one was Senegalese. The report then states there is 10% unemployment and a poor Muslim population when in fact the unemployment amongst minorities is nearly double that and the religion of the rioters is not the issue.
What is amusing are some of the government responses such as:
Iran - “The Iranian foreign minister demanded that France respect its minorities and protect their human rights." (since when is such a "liberal" idea such as human rights believed in by the Islamic Republic?)
Libya – “The Colonel offers "help" to France! Perhaps he will enlighten Mr. Chirac as to how Libya deals with such youths, avec une balle.”
Italy – "Opposition leader Romano Prodi called on the Italian government to take urgent action, telling reporters: 'We have the worst suburbs in Europe. I don't think things are so different from Paris. It's only a matter of time.” I suggest they hurry with whatever they intend to do!
Senegal: “Senegal's president announced his belief that France should « casser les ghettos et intégrer les Africains qui demandent à être intégrés ». (Break the ghettos and integrate the Africans that ask to be integrated." The French need to listen to that one!
Zimbabwean Pundit - Zimbabwean Pundit (http://zimpundit.blogspot.com/2005/11/dell-treatment-for-would-be-protes...) reports on the unabated repression of Mugabe’s government of it’s own citizens.
“In yet another shameless display of how far Harare will go to quash any dissent to their iron fisted grip over the nation, they have arrested 150 leaders of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).”
South African blogger, Floyd’s Perspectives – Floyd's Perspectives (://floydn.blogspot.com/2005/11/sascos-ideological-perspectives.html) has a comprehensive post on the South African student movement which he says has been at the forefront of the struggles in the country. He begins by tracing the origins of the National Union of South African Students (NUSAS) and the South African Students’ Congress (SASCO) and then goes on to examine the relationship between the student bodies and the ANC in the anti-apartheid struggle. He concludes by acknowledging that the contemporary struggles of SASCO are ideological ones.
“The major, persistent, consistent, and often indomitable struggles waged by SASCO in campuses are mostly class struggles...Financial exclusions, academic exclusions, democratisation, access and success, conducive learning environment and curriculum content are but some of the ideological struggles SASCO is waging in campuses."
Black Looks - Black Looks (http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks/2005/11/_members_of_par.html) – gives her perspective on the ongoing Paris riots together with a brief description of the events that led to the riots and why they spread after an initial calm down. She highlights some of the similarities of the French riots to those that took place in England in the mid-1980s
“The reasons then are the same as the ones facing North and West Africans in France today; inferior education, lack of job opportunities, appalling housing conditions in run down estates (three arson related fires have taken place this year in properties lived in by West Africans);exclusion from the political process with no representation in government or in the police force; institutionalised racism, racist police who systematically harass young West and North African males.”
She concludes that: “The riots are the outcome of a culmination of experiences and incidents over a period of time, they are not simply happening in a vacuum of nothingness. France will have to face the reality of this otherwise it and Europe will sink into further violence as communities become even more polarised.”
* Sokari Ekine produces the blog Black Looks, http://okrasoup.typepad.com/black_looks
* Please send comments to [email protected]
With the deepening political crisis in Côte d’Ivoire raising fears of a return to all-out conflict, the country’s estimated 500,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) face an increasingly precarious future. Many UN agencies and NGOs in the country have been finalising contingency plans for the “worst case scenario” entailing massive displacement and refugee flows into neighbouring countries. But while humanitarian agencies may be preparing for new and visible displacements on a large scale, existing IDPs are generally neglected and in an extremely vulnerable situation.
What started as a trickle of refugees to Ghana after the outbreak of the civil war in Liberia in 1989 became a flood of thousands which led to the creation of the Buduburam settlement, now one of West Africa's largest refugee camps. While the world watches the election race in Monrovia, the question in Buduburam is how many refugees will return. About 2,500 people have already returned under a voluntary repatriation agreement signed in October 2004 by Ghana, Liberia and the UNHCR. However, many are reluctant, recalling a previous 1997 repatriation which saw 4,000 refugees leave Buduburam only to return when hostilities broke out again. This time, the refugees want to see how the new president, whoever is elected, settles in before they make a move.
Representatives of the Sudanese refugee community living in Mboki in the Central African Republic returned to Tambura on a 'go-and-see visit,' organized by the UN refugee agency in order to give the refugees themselves the opportunity to assess the situation in their home country and villages, rather than have to rely on what others tell them. Their four-day stay in Tambura is the first such go-and-see visit organized by UNHCR to southern Sudan. Thus, in some ways, it heralds the start of the organized repatriation of refugees to Sudan.
The East-West Center announces its 37th annual Summer Seminar on Population from May 30-June 29, 2006 at the East West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. The objective of this workshop is to increase the use of research findings and professional knowledge and experience to improve population and health policies and programs.
Dissatisfied with the quality of current South African search engines, Alistair Carruthers has built Jonga which he hopes will become the first stop for South African Web searches when it launches later this month, Tectonic News reports. "Jonga is the result of over two years of development in my spare time as a pet project. It has evolved into something that was never intended to be a commercial or revenue generating venture, but purely an exercise to see whether or not I could create a search engine that would become the first place Internet users would go if they wanted to search for anything South African and also be able to compete with other existing commercial search engine-related sites," says Carruthers.
While Zimbabwe grapples with a major economic crisis young and energetic Zimbabwean girls have come together to courageously fight a silent war raging in their communities: the war on sexual abuse. With no special regalia or artillery, the girls are armed simply with their melodic high-pitched voices. Their combined musical talents recently produced the music album: Wake Up Girls – Child Sexual Abuse: Lets develop a culture of prevention. The album is inspired by Betty Hazviperi Makoni, the Founder and Director on the Girl Child Network (GCN) an organisation that promotes the rights of the girl child in Zimbabwe.
Contents include:
* Henning Melber: Editorial. African Studies: why, what for and by whom?
* John Lonsdale: African Studies, Europe & Africa
'afrika spectrum' is an inter-disciplinary refereed academic journal focusing on social science dealing with Africa, first published in 1966 by the Institute of African Affairs in Hamburg. The journal is dedicated to promote a deeper understanding of African peoples and cultures. It contains contributions of empirical and problem-oriented nature from all social science disciplines.
Fueled by four decades of study and activism, John Saul illuminates the dynamics of change in Southern Africa. With clarity and passion he charts the movements, many of whose actions were first launched from a rear base in Tanzania, that brought about the independence of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Namibia and the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa. Looking ahead, he outlines the imperatives of Africa's next liberation struggle—for socio-economic freedom and popularly-defined development.
This online course will review recent developments relating to the human right to adequate food, and also develop skills in applying it in specific contexts. It will use the Yahoo! Groups software. The core text is Freedom from Want: The Human Right to Adequate Food, by the Course Director, Professor George Kent of the University of Hawai'i. The course will begin on February 20, 2006 and end on May 15, 2006. It will be offered online through TRANSCEND Peace University. The tuition cost for participants from the EU/Western Europe, North America, Japan and South-East Asia/Australia will be 300 Euros, and for all others it will be 150 Euros. Information about TPU and its registration procedures is available at http://www.transcend.org/tpu/
I take this opportunity to congratulate your team for your good work. Please accept my congratulations for the prize (Pambazuka News recently won an award). And thanks for your efficient correspondences.
Great and increasing inequities exist between the peoples of the Third World and those of the First. As well, we find ourselves threatened by imminent environmental catastrophes largely as a result of trying to maintain such inequities. This clear and straightforward text explains the complex origins of such bodies as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and others, and demonstrates the extent to which they exacerbate the problem.
QuickGuides are 24 page books, readable in an hour, covering the fundraising and management needs of both large and small organisations. QuickGuides are the perfect way to learn about a subject quickly and easily, and because they are written and reviewed by knowledgeable professionals from all around the world they will be useful wherever you operate as they are not country specific. At £8 or US$14 per book, QuickGuides are accessible to all, and you can build your own library of expertise. And as a reader of Pambazuka News, you can take advantage of a special promotion of 3 books for the price of 2 until the end of March 2006. QuickGuides are a resource you can’t afford not to have. Quote ref: pambazuka and order online now at our online bookshop www.quickguidesonline.com
The purpose of this guide from the South African Institute for Distance Education (SAIDE) is to give principals and senior school management information on using and managing ICT resources so that they can provide leadership in their schools. The guide also considers some implications of the use of the computer and related resources for teaching and learning. The authors hope that it will also be a valuable resource for other senior members of the school staff, and for School Governing Bodies.
I can assure you, this has been a very informative source of development information for me. Great, critical analysis by seasoned scholars and more...
Citizens' Summit on the Information Society (CSIS) will be held in Tunis, from 16 to 18 November 2005. The event coincides with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The UN- summit WSIS aims to ensure that benefits from the digital revolution in information and communication technologies are accessible to all by filling the gap between developed and developing countries in this field.
The Nigerian Social Forum (NSF) is an open meeting place where groups and movements of civil society opposed to neo-liberalism and a Nigeria dominated by capital and liberal thinking congregate. It is a space that opposes any form of imperialism, unbridled capitalism, but engaged in building a Nigerian society centered on the human person. The Forum will be holding a meeting in the near future. Monitor their website for more details.
Skilled public servants in Zimbabwe have seen their wages rendered almost worthless by runaway inflation. Since 2000, a further economically important group of migrants has been white farmers - government policy changes led to the seizure of 4,000 white-owned farms. But far greater numbers of Zimbabweans felt the heavy hand of government with the launch this year of Operation Murambatsvina, the urban clean-up that the UN says left 500,000 people homeless.
Amnesty International is working with Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions to coordinate a campaign initiative across Africa on the situation in Zimbabwe. A similar action involving 200 NGOs in June was very successful. We hope you will be willing to work with us [again] on this initiative. We are asking NGOs for help. Click on the link to find out what you can do.
We are looking for an operations manager to begin work early January 2006. The person will be responsible for overall daily management of Kufunda, including: team management, work plans and performance management, finances - including financial management, budgeting and overseeing our accounts, logistics and scheduling - including programming, shopping, transport, fundraising, high level involvement in key operational projects – including overseeing community outreach and projects development.
SANGONeT would like to appoint a Manager for its ICT services and advocacy activities. This position is a challenging opportunity for someone passionate about the potential role and contribution of ICTs in support of the Southern African development process, with a keen interest in advocacy, policy and related application issues shaping the role of ICTs in the region.
The Senior Programme Manager/Representative will represent Ibis towards authorities and partners and will be driving our partnering/fundraising work support. He/she will supervise existing programs in terms of general management, administrative and programmatic issues and will spearhead program development, synergy and coherence within the Angola program and integration of crosscutting issues. He/she will refer to the Regional Director based in Windhoek and will be a part of the regional senior management structure.
This is a key opportunity to play a leading role in influencing change in policy and practice as it relates to child protection, early childhood development, health and HIV. Responsible for the quality and effectiveness of our work in Luanda and Huambo provinces, you will lead, motivate and manage the team whilst maintaining a clear overview of the political, legal and security context. You will also act as our representative to government, the UN and other international agencies and donors, building key stakeholder relationships along the way.
La République Démocratique du Congo (RDC) est dans sa phase cruciale de sa période de transition qui devra la conduire à l’établissement des institutions démocratiquement élues, et ainsi concrétiser les accords de paix de Sun City (Afrique du Sud).