PAMBAZUKA NEWS 171: THE RAINS DO NOT FALL ON ONE PERSONS ROOF
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 171: THE RAINS DO NOT FALL ON ONE PERSONS ROOF
A new series of guides from Eldis, developed in collaboration with the Environment Team at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, examines the current scientific, legal and governance processes surrounding genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and agriculture. Emerging research suggests that in order to respond better to the concerns of more marginalised farmers and consumers, policy and regulatory processes must be 'democratised' to become more responsive and accountable.
At least 25 hippopotami have died of a mysterious disease in Uganda's sprawling Queen Elizabeth National Park, authorities said Sunday. "We have sent experts to get samples from the carcasses and live ones to investigate the cause of these strange deaths," the Uganda Wildlife Authority's executive director Arthur Mugisha told AFP by telephone.
Insecurity and widespread poverty caused by the 18-year warfare pitting government forces against insurgents in northern Uganda has made desperate children vulnerable to recruitment as rebel fighters, the United Nations children's Fund (UNICEF) said. "The poverty and insecurity in northern Uganda could make children vulnerable to recruitment into the armed forces," UNICEF's protection officer in Gulu, Rebecca Symington, told IRIN by telephone from the northern town. Many of the children, she added, saw fighting as a form of employment and saw the carrying of arms as the only way to protect themselves and others.
Thousands of Congolese refugees in Burundi are to be relocated away from the border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), an official from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said on Friday. The announcement comes a week after a massacre of 160 refugees last Friday on a transit camp at Gatumba, which is only 1 km from the border.
New legislation will help the South African government to monitor the entry of asylum seekers into the country, an official told IRIN on Friday. The Immigration Amendment Bill, approved by parliament last Thursday, requires all asylum seekers to report to a refugee reception centre within 14 days of entry, said Mike Ramagoma, a spokesman for the ministry of home affairs. Ramagoma noted that the existing law allowed asylum seekers "as soon as they have received their asylum transit permit at the port of entry to travel anywhere in the country and stay for whatever length of time".
Police have seized 10 children for DNA testing from the Kenyan home of UK-based evangelist Gilbert Deya. A total of 21 children are now being held by Kenyan police investigating a suspected child-trafficking ring. The children, aged between five weeks and 11 years, were found locked in the house of Archbishop Deya on Friday morning in the capital Nairobi.
This document argues that the South African government is failing to protect the right to a primary education for children living on commercial farms by neither ensuring their access to farm schools nor maintaining the adequacy of learning conditions at these schools. The document provides a brief history of primary schools on commercial farms in South Africa and discusses the obstacles to the right to education children experience on these farms. The report also explains the current legal status of farm schools, as well as the rights of children living on commercial farms.
If they can escape slaughter, endure rape and survive outbreaks of infectious diseases, the thousands of young people uprooted by ethnic conflict in Sudan’s Darfur province still face food shortages that threaten to stunt forever the physical and intellectual growth of their formative years. The sheer immediacy of the moment in Darfur - the scene of one of the great humanitarian crises of the post-Cold War era - overshadows what could be the lifelong consequences of malnutrition on a generation of displaced youngsters.
The UN refugee agency has heard that the continuing insecurity in western Sudan's Darfur region could drive some 30,000 people into Chad, a new influx that could strain UNHCR's ability to care for the refugees in its swelling camps.
In June 2003, the Refugee Law Project published Working Paper No. 9,"Education of Refugees in Uganda: Relationships Between Setting and Access." This report related the findings from the first year of a longitudinal study that follows the same schools, teachers, pupils, and families over a three-year period.
The Spanish defence minister, Jose Bono, said that the navy would no longer intercept immigrant boats in Spanish waters unless they needed immediate help. The decision is a recognition of the increasing dangers faced by would-be immigrants. A quarter of the immigrants entering the EU illegally do so through Spain and the summer months bring feverish activity across the Gibraltar Straits. Many prospective immigrants head out into the Atlantic in flimsy wooden boats in an attempt to avoid border patrols.
The arrest this week of a 63-year-old woman in Burkina Faso accused of circumcising 16 young girls has brought home to many that genital mutilation is still widespread in the west African state, despite being outlawed eight years ago. Since 1996, when the landlocked state formally declared genital mutilation illegal, the number of excisions practised in Burkina has fallen sharply, from a prevalence rate of 66 percent to 40 percent, according to the national watchdog group, the CNLPE.
This fund provides fellowships for scholars whose lives and work are threatened in their home countries. The fellowships permit scholars to find temporary refuge at universities and colleges world wide, enabling them to pursue their academic work and share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community at large.
On December 22, 2002, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni paid a ceremonial visit to a textile plant in Kampala, his country's capital city. Two years later the government-subsidized textile factory, built to be an exemplar for the rest of the nation, has suffered worker unrest, as politicians allege exploitation and government corruption. Museveni may still believe, as he once said, that the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is "the greatest act of fraternity towards Africa by the USA." But to many Ugandans, their country's experience has become an object lesson in the bruising realities of life in the global marketplace.
The World Coalition Against the Death Penalty calls for local initiatives for the 2004 edition of the World Day Against the Death Penalty. For the 10th of October 2004, the Coalition calls upon NGOs, teachers, lawyers and magistrates, town councilors and members of Parliament, religious organizations, artists, journalists, and citizens to prepare new initiatives.
Mango provides practical financial management training for NGO staff working in development and humanitarian aid. Mango’s courses are carefully designed to meet the real needs of staff working in the field and behind the scenes at head office.
According to the Swiss-based anti-racism platform, known as “CRAN”, police brutality and racism against blacks is on the rise across the country. “More and more, we’re seeing young blacks, especially foreigners, being targeted by the authorities as part of a crack-down on drug traffickers,” said CRAN’s secretary general, Kanyana Mutombo. In its annual 2004 report, Amnesty International also condemned the country’s police for using excessive force against foreigners and asylum seekers.
The WHO Documentation Center in Mozambique compiles electronic news daily, selected from more than 100 pressrooms and sites. The information comes in 4 languages (EN, FR, SP, PT) and covers public health topics like the new WHO publications, news, non WHO documents, etc. You can make a request to receive the newsletter through the email address below.
With its focus on skills development, capacity building and employment practice in Africa, this issue of Interim Developments examines recent activities in careers, training and development in Africa and highlights some of the work Interims for Development is doing to build the skills and capacity of Africa’s professional base.
Simplice Kalunga wa Kalunga, producer and host of the "Nouvelle Donne" ("New Order") show, broadcast on the privately-owned, Kinshasa-based Channel Media Broadcasting (CMB) television station, was summoned for questioning by a Gombe court judge on 19 August 2004. Kalunga was interrogated at length about a 9 August programme during which he had discussed with his guest, well-known Kinshasa lawyer and clergyman Pastor Théodore Ngoy, the various deficiencies of the Justice Ministry's "Nationality Bill", which is currently before Parliament.
A group of Commonwealth parliamentarians, meeting in July under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the World Bank Institute, adopted a set of Recommendations for Transparent Governance. The Recommendations address a wide range of important measures to be taken to promote access to information and openness more generally.
At least four Beninese reporters face criminal defamation charges and two of them have already spent time in prison this year - the first journalists to be imprisoned for their work since 1996 in the West African nation. The defendants include Patrick Adjamonsi, publication director of the private daily L'Aurore, who was released after spending six days in prison. Adjamonsi, whose original sentence was overturned, faces a new trial.
On 17 August 2004, Minister of Land and Housing Margaret Nasha instructed the producers of "The Eye" programme to re-record a segment of the show in order to exclude opposition party member Dumelang Saleshando, who is seeking election as a member of parliament. In an interview with MISA-Botswana, Saleshando said he, Nasha, who belongs to the ruling party, and Robert Molefhabangwe, of the Botswana National Front, were interviewed on 16 August for a "The Eye" show that was to be aired on Botswana Television (BTV) the following day. After the interview, Saleshando said the minister allegedly gave instructions for the programme to be re-recorded, saying that Saleshando was "too political in his deliberations".
A Bill seeking to establish a Media Practitioners Complaints Commission (MPCC) has been introduced in the House of Representatives, Nigeria's lower house of chamber. The Bill, titled "Journalism Enhancement Bill", seeks to establish an MPCC in each state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The Commission shall have the power to take "disciplinary" action against media practitioners who flout the law.
During the early morning hours of 15 August 2004, BBC Banjul correspondent Ebrima Sillah's house was set ablaze by suspected arsonists. Sillah, who was alone in the house, was sleeping when the arsonists attacked. According to Media Foundation for West Africa sources in The Gambia, the incident occurred in Sillah's home village of Jamburu, 30 km southwest of the capital, Banjul. The attackers reportedly doused the house's sitting room with petrol before setting it on fire.
The urgent need for additional alternative daily sources of information, including an independent national broadcaster, was further confirmed by the government-controlled media’s censorship of reports disproving claims that the country had produced sufficient food, according to the latest edition of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ).
The risk of wars being fought over water is rising because of explosive global population growth and widespread complacency, scientists said recently. "We have had oil wars," said Professor William Mitsch. "That's happened in our lifetime. Water wars are possible." Scientists at the World Water Week conference, which began on Sunday in Stockholm, said ignorance and complacency were widespread.
Gender bias has prevailed in scientific research about people-plant relationships, and conservation policies and programmes are still largely blind to the importance of the domestic sphere, of women and of gender relations for biodiversity conservation, and to the importance of plant biodiversity for women's status and welfare. Traditional knowledge and indigenous rights to plants are everywhere sex-differentiated, and gender inequalities are also implicated in processes leading to biological erosion. This is according to a paper from the Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Programme.
A World Health Organisation official has urged traditional medicine practitioners in Africa to register their products to gain more benefits - including international trade - from their use. Speaking at the first scientific meeting of the Western Africa Network of Natural Products Research Scientists, which focused on malaria and HIV/AIDS, Charles Wambebe said that only 22 of 46 African countries have policies or laws covering traditional medicine.
Resistance among malaria parasites in Africa to a widely used drug is due to 'migration' of resistant parasites from South-East Asia, according to research published in Science. The study, led by Cally Roper of the UK London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, compared the genetic makeup of malaria parasites from South-East Asia and Africa. Its results suggest that parasites resistant to sulfadoxine pyrimethamine (SP) originally arrived in Africa from South-East Asia, where resistance is common.
The Popa Falls Dam proposed for the Okavango River in Namibia has a “potential fatal flaw,” according to the project’s preliminary environmental assessment. The report, which was released in June, warns that the dam would pose “significant ecological risks” to the Okavango Delta by trapping the river’s vital sediment, which serves a variety of key functions in the complex ecosystem. Twenty-six additional environmental impacts are listed that would require effective mitigation if the project is to move forward.
World Rivers Review, produced by the International Rivers Network, is the foremost international publication devoted to river issues and appropriate freshwater management. It draws on an extensive international network of information sources and writers, including many non-governmental organizations representing indigenous, human rights and environmental issues.
A multibillion-dollar project designed to boost South Africa's diminishing power-generation capacity could be up and running by 2007 if the Democratic Republic of Congo signs an inter-governmental memorandum of understanding by the end of the year. Many have now pinned their hopes on the construction of a $7.3-billion hydropower station at Inga Dam, on the Congo River, as the key to reducing future power shortages.
A meningitis vaccination campaign that began on 24 July in parts of northern Burundi was extended on Monday to two areas where six people were reported to have died from the disease last week, a health ministry official told IRIN. The six deaths occurred in the two communes in the northern province of Kayanza.
The majority of world population growth by 2050 is expected to occur in developing nations despite higher HIV prevalence and infant mortality rates than those of developed nations, according to the annual Population Reference Bureau report released on Tuesday. The world's population is expected to rise 45% to nearly 9.3 billion by 2050, including a 4% increase in the population of developed countries to more than 1.2 billion and a 55% increase in developing nations' populations to more than eight billion.
Ambassador Randall Tobias, head of the State Department's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator said he will extend a deadline for other countries to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to ensure that the United States can supply the maximum amount authorized by Congress for the fund. Congress authorized $547 million for the fund for fiscal year 2004. However, the bill authorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief stipulates that the total U.S. contribution to the fund cannot exceed 33% of total contributions to the fund.
"The problem is that Africans who completed their studies in Europe and the United States are not returning to Africa. Since one in three African professionals will live outside Africa, African universities are actually training one third of their graduates for export to the developed nations." This is one of the replies to a feature on the brain drain and education in Africa in an edition of Africa Journal.
The East African Community - which consists of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania - on Friday agreed to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies to manufacture generic antiretroviral drugs locally and distribute them at a lower cost in the region, Xinhuanet reports. EAC reached the agreement during a meeting at the group's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania. Currently, only 10% of people living with HIV/AIDS in the region are able to afford antiretrovirals.
As countries are calling a halt to school fees, millions more children are exercising their right to education. But after securing a place in school, how much are these children learning in overcrowded classrooms? The latest issue of UNESCO's Education Today newsletter looks at the trade-off between access and quality.
The 3rd African Convention of Principals Conference opened on August 23 in Nairobi, Kenya. Some 600 delegates from mainly English-speaking Africa were to discuss the challenges facing the provision of quality education in Africa.
Children's right to education is currently under threat from early marriage, child labour and imprisonment; States have not adapted their legislation in favour of the right to education, and they do not have agreed standards for the transition from childhood to adulthood either internationally or nationally. In the same country, it is not rare to find that children are legally obliged to go to school until they are 14 or 15 years old but a different law allows them to work at an earlier age or to be married at the age of 12 or to be criminally responsible from the age of 7.
The University of Swaziland last week became the first site of a new rapid HIV testing procedure which allows a greater number of people to be tested. "The approach of 'Negative Determination' is designed to make it easy for those who may still be negative to find that out, without having to go to hospitals or special voluntary counselling and testing centres (VCT)," said Tizzy Maphalala, programme coordinator for the UN children's fund (UNICEF).
The Health Department of South Africa's Gauteng province says it is ready to begin the third leg of its antiretroviral (ARV) rollout, scheduled for early September. The rollout forms part of government's national Comprehensive Plan for the Management, Care and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, which aims to have 10,000 HIV-positive people on treatment by end of March 2005.
International Criminal Court
The ICC is seeking applicants for the position of regional expert to perform relevant analytical research on issues in Central and Eastern Africa. In addition, the position holder will assist in developing local support networks for ICC investigations and support the investigation teams in approaching and developing a rapport with witnesses. The successful applicant will hold a university degree in law or social sciences and have proven ability to undertake analytical work.
UN Economic Commission for Africa
The incumbent will be responsible for coordinating and conducting economic research on African development and for undertaking macroeconomic studies through the application of quantitative and qualitative methods, including econometric modelling. The successful candidate will hold an advanced degree in economics and have practical experience in trade and/or regional integration in Africa.
Catholic Institute for International Relations
The position holder will be responsible for assisting two organisations in the development of their fundraising strategies and for training their staff in the writing of funding proposals and the creation of marketing strategies. Candidates should hold a relevant degree or qualification and have a minimum of three years experience in organisational development of NGOs or CBOs as well as proven experience in training.
Concern Worldwide
The position has three chief responsibilities. 1) The management and development of Concern's Kinshasa programme; 2) the provision of technical support for the mainstreaming of HIV/AIDS in all programmes and 3) assisting in advocacy initiatives related to Livelihoods, HIV/AIDS and conflict-based issues. The successful candidate will hold a degree in a relevant field and have at least 2 years experience in livelihoods programming, including HIV/AIDS, in Africa and preferably in the Great Lakes Region.
Oxfam UK
You will be responsible for managing Oxfam's strategic planning for, and immediate response to, humanitarian emergencies in eastern DRC and for co-ordinating all emergency response staff in the field. You must have at least three years of field experience in humanitarian work, some of it in a management position, and have an excellent knowledge of issue relating to emergency programming, humanitarian law and community empowerment.
A new tool, known as TxtMob, is being used to help protestors in America. Launched at the Democratic Convention, TextMob enables an individual to send an SMS message to the mobile phones of hundreds of other subscribers in an instant. If the technology proves successful, "it could prove to be a crucial tool for anyone trying to organise groups of people amid rapidly evolving circumstances", says Emily Turrettini, author of textually.org
The South African minister of communications launched the first portal specifically for women this week. Speaking at the launch of www.wict.org.za, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri told guests that "the portal will broaden the resources for women and nurture them in the ICT sector". Amongst the programmes identified as focus areas for WICT are "ICT for Girls" and "Rural ICT Capacity Development".
Tectonic is expanding its coverage of open source software in Africa. Over the next four months it will be publishing three full-length features on key issues including a look at the strategies needed to migrate to an open source software environment and how to benefit from the Linux desktop.
A publication detailing the Internet profiles of 22 African countries has been launched by the resource portal Balancing Act. The publication contains key statistics, descriptions of the principal issues involving the Internet in each country and summaries of initiatives under way to combat the digital divide.
The World Summit on the Information Society is launching a program of small grants to support innovative research on gender and information communication technologies. The successful applicants will present their findings at the World Summit in Tunisia in November 2005.
This paper focuses on teacher motivation and incentives in low-income developing countries (LICs) in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In particular, it assesses the extent to which the material and psychological needs of teachers are being met. This includes overall levels of occupational status, job satisfaction, pay and benefits, recruitment and deployment, attrition, and absenteeism.
Zimbabwean women are urging greater representation in the next parliament ahead of the country's sixth general election, to be held in March next year. Thenjiwe Lesabe, secretary of the ruling ZANU-PF party Women's League, said at the weekend that women would push for a 50 percent quota in parliament and other ZANU-PF organs at the party's congress in December.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it will work with its labour federation counterparts in Nigeria and Ghana to influence decisions in the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development. Cosatu said that joining forces with the other two unions would strengthen the labour movement in Africa's regional powerhouse economies. This will ensure that the plight of workers and the poor remain key to the agenda of regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community and the Economic Community Of West African States.
The UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, set 23 August as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.The UN General Assembly has also proclaimed 2004 as International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. Koichiro Matsuura, head of Unesco, said, "Although abolished and penalised in international instruments, [slavery] is still practised in new forms that today affect millions of men, women and children across the world."
Police in Sierra Leone have arrested the head of a local aid agency suspected of helping to smuggle 29 children out of the country for adoption in the United States, a senior police official said on Monday. Roland Kargbo, director of Help a Needy Child International (HANCI), was arrested with three co-workers following a report by Interpol into child trafficking to Western Europe and the United States, Inspector General Acha Kamara told reporters.
The polio outbreak that originated in northern Nigeria after suspension there of immunization last year has now spread to 12 other countries, underscoring the threat of a major epidemic across West and Central Africa and the urgent need to fill a $100-million funding gap, the United Nations health agency has warned.
The world's poorest countries are in severe danger of failing to meet ambitious economic and development goals set for the next decade, according to a new report from the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The report, issued last month, said developing countries are not getting the economic aid they need, blaming contradictory economic policies on trade and aid in the world's industrial countries.
Corruption charges against the former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and Attan Shansonga, the former Zambian ambassador to the United States, were dismissed last week when it was ruled that they were beyond the jurisdiction of Zambian courts after they jumped bail and fled abroad. Chungu faces more than 100 charges of corruption and theft of public funds but his current whereabouts are unknown. Shansonga is in Britain where he is a citizen through marriage.
Kenyan police shot dead a 70 year old Masai man whilst he was grazing his cattle on private land given to British settlers 100 years ago. Four other herdsmen were also injured in the incident last Saturday. A local Masai leader said that the police opened fire after herdsmen were forced by drought to graze their cattle on private ranchland. Police and farmers say the grazing is part of a Masai campaign to illegally seize land.
The United States has called for the building of a "coalition of the willing" to push for regime change to end the crisis in Zimbabwe. The new American ambassador to South Africa, Jendayi Frazer, said quiet diplomacy pursued by South Africa and other African countries in its dealings with the Zimbabwe president needed a review because there was no evidence it was working. She said her country would be willing to be part of a coalition if invited.
3,000 armed anti-riot policemen prevented the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)'s proposed protest rally by laying siege to its headquarters it was alleged this week. The Congress president, Mr Adams Oshiomhole, castigated the police for trampling on the people's right to peaceful assembly and vowed that the Congress would not give up engaging the government over the labour reform bill. In a further blow to the opposition, the Abuja High Court also declined an order of injunction sought by the NLC to restrain the National Assembly from further deliberation of the bill.
Police this week violently dispersed hundreds of protesters from the Maasai community who had gone to present a petition to the British High Commissioner, Edward Clay, demanding back land now in the hands of ranchers. Scores of demonstrators were arrested and clubbed by police in Nairobi when they defied an order against the march.
Candidates running for the presidency in Zambia will have to hold a high school diploma, a government-appointed committee has recommended in a report into proposed changes to electoral law. The report also suggests that a candidate must collect more than 50% of the vote to win the presidency to avoid minority leaders. President Levy Mwanawasa has said that new electoral regulations will be passed early in 2005 to pave the way to the 2006 elections. The proposed requirements for a minimum academic attainment could keep Michael Sata, leader of the opposition, out of the presidential race.
Following the massacre of the 160 Congolese refugees in a temporary camp in Burundi, the US Committee for Refugees (USCR) has said that too little is being done to ensure the basic human rights of refugees who are confined to camps or segregated settlements. "Refugees are frequently warehoused in remote, desolate and dangerous border areas in conditions of hopelessness and despair, subject to aggression, sexual exploitation, and risk of attack and murder," said USCR's statement, issued last week.
Rather than taking decisive action to curb widespread human rights violations in Darfur, the Sudanese government instead is seeking to gag those who are speaking about the abuses, Amnesty International said in a new report published this week. Under increasing international pressure, the Sudanese government is attacking freedom of expression, so as to control information which would reveal whether or not the government is fulfilling its commitments, Amnesty said.
One week before the UN Security Council's Darfur deadline expires, it is clear the international community needs to get much tougher, says the International Crisis Group in a new report. "Failure now would not only mean many tens of thousands more dead, but likely condemn Sudan to more years of war and further spread instability to its neighbours. Khartoum has not met its commitments to neutralise the government-supported Janjaweed militias responsible for the massive human rights violations and humanitarian disaster. The Security Council should authorise the African Union to send a peacekeeping mission to protect civilians."
After declining in the post-Cold War era of the early 1990s, global military spending is on the rise again - threatening to break the US$1 trillion barrier this year, according to a group of United Nations-appointed military experts. The 16-member group estimates that military spending will rise to nearly $950 billion by the end of 2004, up from $900 billion in 2003. By contrast, rich nations spend $50 billion to $60 billion on development aid each year.
The former main rebel group during the Democratic Republic of Congo's civil war are to suspend their participation in the power-sharing government. RCD-Goma leader Azarias Ruberwa, one of Congo's four vice-presidents, said the peace process had "broken down" and needed to be reassessed. The transitional government was set up to end the five-year conflict. But the massacre earlier this month of 160 Congolese refugees in Burundi prompted renewed warnings of war.
Women from Somalia have expressed concern at the fact that they risk being under-represented in their country's new transitional parliament, which was sworn in Sunday, August 22. According to an agreement reached in negotiations for restoring central government in the East African nation, a minimum of 12 percent of the 275 legislators should be women. However, only 16 women were inaugurated as members of parliament at the swearing in ceremony.
Malawi is facing a health crisis as trained nurses leave to seek better wages abroad. More than half come to Britain to work for the NHS and private hospitals. Last year over 12,000 nurses from outside the European Union registered to work in the UK. In contrast Malawi, one of the world's poorest countries, trains around 60 nurses each year.
Africa's latest effort to resolve an 18-month-old conflict in Sudan's western Darfur region hit an immediate bump on Monday when the Sudanese government rejected a proposal for African Union (AU) troops to disarm rebel groups while Khartoum dealt with the pro-government Janjawid militia. Nigerian President and current chairman of the African Union, Olusegun Obasanjo, had floated the idea ahead of the latest round of AU-sponsored peace talks which opened in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Monday.
Organising general elections in Burundi by 31 October, the deadline for the conclusion of a three-year transitional period, is feasible, says Pierre Nkurunziza, the head of the former largest rebel movement in the country, the Conseil national pour la defense de la democratie-Forces pour la defense de la democratie (CNDD-FDD). The CNDD-FDD recently transformed itself into a political party.
The Angolan government should listen to civil society, be more open to humanitarian workers and quickly rebuild its judicial system if it wants to improve its human rights record, the UN special representative for human rights defenders said on Sunday. Approaching the end of a 10-day visit to the country, including a two-day trip to Cabinda, Hina Jilani said it was vital to see more concrete action. "For me it's very important to see things happening on the ground. Unless measures are in reality in existence, human rights work is difficult and human rights defenders remain vulnerable," she told IRIN in an interview.
Mark Thatcher, the son of the former UK prime minister, has been arrested at his home in Cape Town. He has been detained by police investigating an alleged coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea. A spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority said he was held on suspicion of providing funding and logistical assistance.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a report to the Security Council showing that Côte d'Ivoire's Government has made progress in following the path to peace and unity, a United Nations spokesman said. Three opposition cabinet ministers have been reinstated and President Laurent Gbagbo has turned over some responsibilities to Prime Minister Seydou Diarra, according to the report of the tripartite Monitoring Group, made up of representatives of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU) and the UN Mission in Cote d'Ivoire.
The United Nations Peace-Building Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) has warned that "the current verbal escalation among the political actors" is endangering the political process in the small West African country ahead of presidential elections next March after years of conflict, including a coup d'état last year. "The Office calls on all political actors to show restraint and to settle all disputes in a peaceful manner as provided for by the law," it said in a statement, offering to help ease the current tension in the framework of its mandate.
The United Nations Peace-Building Office in the Central African Republic (BONUCA) has launched a nationwide "awareness campaign" to prepare for elections in January that it is hoped will end years of instability and violence in the country.
Keep up the good work! From all those who care about Human Rights in Africa.
Prof. Moustapha Hassouna, Tanzania
Information you provide is very detailed and up to date. At the same time, I think the articles are very profound and provocative. I, myself, as a scholar who researches African society, am often greatly benefited.
The Ugandan Government has filed a notice of appeal against the High Court ruling that quashed the report on corruption in the Ugandan Revenue Authority. Justice of the High Court John Katutsi nullified the report in a ruling on 16th August, describing it as a "naked report without any legal clothing." The Chief Commissioner of the report, Julie Ssebutinde had opposed Katutsi's ruling saying that he had no jurisdiction to nullify her report.
Liberians impatient to return home after 14 years of civil war are finding out that it takes more than resilience to begin a new life in the face of so much destruction, lack of income-earning opportunities and insecurity in some places. Juliet Massaquoi, a 24-year-old mother of four children, came back to Ganta in northern Liberia's Nimba county two weeks ago.
The need to uphold African women's human rights is now or never, but we have at all costs got to win the war, even if it means fighting our culture for the sake of our mothers, sisters and daughters.
Ezekiel Mwenzwa, Kenya
The Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa is beyond doubt the missing link in the Charter's protection of women. It’s adoption not only anchors into African soil the message and recognition that the injustices plaguing African women will no longer be tolerated, but it also affirms that human rights are women's rights too.
Although it is a document of great conceptual wealth, without the co-operation, political will, and commitment required from the members of the AU, its ambition to "ensure that the rights of women are promoted, realised and protected in order to enable them to enjoy fully all their human rights" will never come to fruition. It will be nothing more than a piece of paper with writing.
I thank the pioneers of this initiative, for their efforts on behalf of the larger half of humanity, from (in God we trust) saving the Protocol from such a miserable fate.
Obiagali Adaure, Nigeria
The 16 Days Campaign of Activism Against Gender Violence, now in its fourteenth year, 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 sixteen-day period also highlights other significant dates including December 1, which is World AIDS Day.
The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has denied allegations of financial irregularities made by its head of finance and administration department, Colin Braude. In a statement, SAHRC said that "there is simply no basis to the allegations...as is evidenced by the findings of an independent external forensic audit." The statement followed a report by a newspaper claiming that the SAHRC had suspended a whistle blower (Braude) at a time when the public prosecutor was urging the protection of people who exposed corruption.
Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) has just launched its website which can be accessed on www.wipsu.org.zw. The site covers WiPSU programs and activities, women's participation in local government and Parliament, as well as profiles of Zimbawe's current women MPs. Please send comments and enquiries to [email protected].
The department of agriculture and land affairs has reiterated that 30% of farm land should be owned by black South Africans in the next 10 years. Briefing Parliament's committee on agriculture and land affairs, Bongi Njobe, the department's director general, also said that established farmers should make 10% of their agricultural land available to farm workers for farming activities.
Preparations for the African Women NGO Forum on Beijing + 10 to be held in October this year have been initiated with the appointment of an organising committee. A meeting convened by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Centre for Gender and Development (UNECA ACGD), from 22 – 23 July 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, brought together more than 50 women activists from all five sub regions of Africa to prepare for the forum, to be held in the same city, from 6 – 7 October 2004.
The civilians of Darfur in western Sudan have been victims since February 2003 of coordinated attacks by the Sudanese government and bands of Arab fighters on horse and camelback known as Janjawid militias. Amid the killing of tens of thousands of people, women in Darfur's towns, villages and camps have experienced grave human rights abuses, including abductions, sexual slavery, torture and forced displacement at the hands of the Janjawid.
At least 46 residents in the Southern Free State's Naledi Municipality, whose families were removed from their homes thirty years ago to create a buffer between Blacks and Whites, have been compensated. Speaking at the occasion, the Chief Land Claims Commissioner, Tozi Gwanya, said that they had orders from the President to settle all of the country's 27,000 outstanding claims by the end of 2005.
More time, not a new deadline, is needed for universal ratification of the convention to eliminate discrimination against women, says Feride Acar, chairperson of the U.N. committee on the convention. The initiative to have the treaty signed by all the world's nations could get a boost from the upcoming 25th anniversary of the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Acar suggested in an interview.
The Supreme Court of Appeals will on 23 August 2004 hear the matter of Fourie v Minister of Home Affairs. This case presents a challenge to the common law definition of marriage. According to the common law definition, marriage is a union only between one man and one woman. This makes it impossible for same sex couples to be married to each other. The Equality Project has been admitted as an amicus curiae (friend of the court) in this matter. The Equality Project recognises that the removal of the common law prohibition against marriages between people of the same sex would represent a major advance in the struggle toward securing and equal position for lesbian and gay people in the law and society.
Updates on eleven national campaigns taking place to lobby for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa shows that steady progress is being made in cementing strategies to ensure country ratifications. Organisations involved in the national campaigns include Union Nationale des Femmes Djiboutiennes in Djibouti; ACDHRS in The Gambia; Cellule de Coordination sue les Pratiques Traditionelle Affectant la Sante des Femmes et des Enfants in Guinea; The Coalition on Violence against Women (COVAW) in Kenya; Association des Juristes de Mali in Mali; Women Lawyers Association in Malawi; The Foundation for Community Development (FDC) in Mozambique; Sister Namibia in Namibia; Women Rights Awareness and Protection Alternative (WRAPA) in Nigeria; and Akina Mama wa Afrika (AMWA) in Uganda. Clicking on the link below will provide you with full updates compiled by Equality Now on national and regional campaigns, an update on the petition in support of the protocol’s ratification, the outcome of a mapping process for ratification in various countries and current and upcoming events.
Speaking at the Nigerian Bar Association's conference, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mallam Ribadu told delegates that "the principal reason for the failure of our law enforcement agencies is corruption, and that invariably there was no law because those that are supposed to enforce the law became the worst culprits of breaking the law."
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) is to launch an inquiry into the alleged mistreatment of members of the Khomani San community of the Northern Cape Province. Announcing the inquiry, an official of SAHRC said that: "There have been claims and accusations that the community...had been routinely mistreated by the police...and after the death of Optel Rooi (a master tracker) it was decided that an inquiry should be conducted."
The Zimbabwean government this week defended its controversial NGO bill which would ban foreign NGOs concerned with "issues of governance" and deny registration to NGOs receiving foreign funding for "promotion and protection of human rights". In a statement issued by the Ministry of Labour and placed in all Sunday Newspapers, the Government described the organisations as a "threat to national security" and accused donors of employing "local puppets to champion foreign values."
South Africa's biggest mobile phone company, Vodacom, has set itself the ambitious target of launching a 3G mobile phone service by Christmas this year. The company has spent R500m developing and upgrading its existing network for 3G capability and amongst other benefits analysts have noted that 3G offers the potential of bringing internet access to areas where it is currently limited.