PAMBAZUKA NEWS 160: A WEAPON OF WAR: SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTH KIVU, DRC
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 160: A WEAPON OF WAR: SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN SOUTH KIVU, DRC
Will Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) change life in rural areas of countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP)? Will they make village life more attractive for young people? Or are they just not appropriate, too expensive, or not available at all?
ACP-EU invites entries from those who
*are nationals of an ACP country
*are aged between 18 and 30 years
*are members of an organisation active in rural youth development issues
*have ideas on how ICTs can help to improve youth livelihoods in the rural areas of their country
Over 100.000 children might become orphans by the year 2005, due to the growing proliferation of HIV/Aids, said the Angolan Minister of Welfare and Social Reintegration, Joao Baptista Kussumua. According to the minister, three decades of the war have left a "serious humanitarian legacy", which continues to cause the death of more than 180.000 children aged between 0 and 5 years old, due to difficulties in accessing health services and water, and poor food, personal and family hygiene, and housing conditions.
Andrew Meldrum in Pretoria
Monday June 7, 2004
The Guardian
The head of the Zimbabwean central bank is due in Britain later this week to raise funds for the state's depleted coffers, despite a travel ban which prevents Robert Mugabe and other leading politicians entering the country, the Guardian has learned.
Gideon Gono, previously Robert Mugabe's personal banker, is due to address a group of Zimbabweans in Birmingham on Thursday to encourage them to send money home to their families through government channels, according to Zimbabweans invited to the meeting.
Child soldiers, uprooted from their families and plunged into Liberia's civil war, are lingering in temporary camps because they are too scared to return home and insufficient facilities have been created to cater for them, child protection agencies and a government commission said. After turning over their weapons, the young ex-combatants are entitled to a three-month stay in care centres, which offer medical aid, counselling, reading lessons and help tracing families. But the stop-gap is turning more permanent for many.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) expressed concern on Tuesday over ongoing tension in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), near the border with Rwanda, saying this could hinder its efforts to help refugees on both sides. The agency reported that following Rwanda's closure of the border on Sunday, no new arrivals had been reported in Rwanda's western province of Cyangugu. The government had given assurances that Congolese refugees would still be allowed to cross into Rwanda. Since 26 May, when fighting broke out between loyalist and dissident Congolese troops in the eastern Congolese town of Bukavu, thousands of refugees had crossed into Cyangugu before the announcement of the border closure.
Rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) launched a fourth raid within a month on a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in northern Uganda on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people and burning over 200 huts, the Ugandan army and witnesses said.
Former circumcisers have called for the enactment and firm implementation of comprehensive laws against female genital mutilation (FGM) in Africa. FGM is criminal in only 14 African countries, and in many of those countries the anti-FGM law is often poorly implemented, said the international women's rights group Equality Now.
This report presents information gathered by the Global Survey on Education in Emergencies. It attempts to fill a gap in information about how many refugee, displaced and returnee children and youth globally have access to education and the nature of the education they receive.
The Distributing Agency for Charities, established in terms of the Lotteries Act (No. 57 of 1997), is once again in the position to consider applications for funding from the proceeds of the National Lottery. In adjudicating applications received by the advertised deadline, the Distributing Agency will focus on the following areas:
* Capacity-building and development of under-developed organisations, communities and groups.
* Literacy and numeracy programmes (ABET).
* Organisations supporting or assisting school-going children from underprivileged communities.
* Community and residential programmes for children; the youth; women; families; the disabled; the chronically/ terminally ill; drug and crime prevention and rehabilitation programmes; and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes.
* Rural and informal settlement projects aimed at meeting the basic needs of the community.
Preference will be given to applications for areas that are under-resourced and under-served. Applications will be considered from registered non-profit organisations that have 2 consecutive years’ signed audited financial statements. However, those who are not registered or do not have 2 years’ audited financial statements should seek assistance from, and enter into partnership with, a registered organisation.
I was going to write this week’s postcard on the passing of Ronald Reagan. He has been described as many things: ‘the man who changed America and the World’ , ‘one of the greatest Presidents’, the ‘conqueror’ of the Soviet Union and the harbinger of the collapse of Socialism. Historical figures are often divisive and depending on where one stood on the issues ‘the Messiah’ may turn out to be ‘the villain’ and the ‘liberator’ becomes a ‘tyrant’. I do not share the effusions on Reagan because his Presidency did not mean anything positive for Africa.
He was a supporter of Apartheid South Africa. His ‘positive engagement’ was a comprehensive destabilization and destruction of many lives and property in the whole of the Frontline states. He showed his contempt for African lives when he compared that Judas of African Liberation, Dr Jonas Savimbi, of Angola, to Abraham Lincoln, who freed the African Slaves in America. He is the ideological father of the current US president who believes in bombing people to freedom. That's why Reagan bombed Tripoli in 1986 against all norms of international law and decency.
These are just to mention but a few things orchestrated by this original Cow Boy president who is now presented as some kind hero. It is not only in Africa that he supported atrocities; he ran amok in Latin America whether in Honduras, El Salvador or Nicaragua. In his war against the Sandinistas, who led a popular revolution against an American puppet governing class, Reagan ignored international law, mined international waters and refused to recognize the authority of the UN or the International Court of Justice. Do all these sound familiar today? So do forgive me if I am not wasting my mourning on Ronald Reagan.
But I am mourning for another former President . Even though he is not dead yet his largely ignored trials and tribulations deserve our sympathies. He is the former President, Pasteur Bizmungu, of Rwanda. He was reportedly sentenced (on Monday) to 15 years imprisonment on a three-count charge of ‘embezzlement’, ‘associating with criminals’ and ‘incitement to civil disobedience’. He got five years for each count to run concurrently.
Human rights organisations have pointed out some of the grave flaws in the trial itself, since the man was first arrested in 2002. There are grounds for criticizing the legality of the process itself and how the charges evolved.
But the legality of the matter aside - even the veracity or otherwise of the case can be put aside - the politics of it is what most people see. Whatever the prosecutors say this has been and will remain a political trial. The initial charges were of threatening national security, but the court has now acquitted him. The other charges of which he was now been found guilty came later.
Would he have faced trial if he was still President? Certainly not! Could he have faced any trials if after resigning he kept his mouth shut and was not trying to organize an opposition party against his former RPF comrades?
These questions beg more questions. His persecutors want the world to believe that his trial is a demonstration of the rule of law and independence of the Rwandese Judiciary. However it is said that ‘it is not enough for Justice to be done it must be seen to have been done’. There is nothing in the circumstances that led to the former President's arrest in 2002 and the various twists and turns and the deliberate humiliation of the man that will persuade any independent observer that he could ever get justice from his former colleagues.
Rwanda is not a ‘normal’ state or society but it has confounded critics by the giant strides it has made in trying to confront its painful history and build a better society since the end of genocide. No doubt the RPF has been the major player in this but it could not have succeeded without the good will of most Rwandese.
The outstanding challenges it faces cannot be surmounted if this cooperation cannot be received voluntarily from its citizens. As an RPF person and its first post genocide president, Bizmungu has certainly been a partner in these struggles. When he felt that he had no more room for contributing through the ruling party and government he resigned and tried to form his own party.
It should not be a crime to form political parties to contest public opinion and canvass for support. Even Uganda - that has continued to dither on this matter - knows that it is tilting against the force of history. While parties are allowed in Rwanda it is obvious that the ruling elite do not want effective parties that can be credible to the populace. That is why they are criminalizing political disagreement. By all means any political party that promotes disaffection between the populations or supports genocide should not be allowed. But the temptation to treat any opposition to the RPF as ‘ethnicity’, ‘divisive’, ‘interahamwe sympathisers’ or a threat to national security must be resisted.
President Paul Kagame and RPF won a decisive victory in the last general election. That mandate does not mean that anybody that did not or does not support the government is an ‘adui’. The mandate should have made the government feel more secure and confident but it seems that they do not trust themselves or the electorate that gave them the mandate. Otherwise why turn a man who was for many years popularly seen as an ineffectual stooge into a martyr?
I know that this line of thinking will not go down well with many of my friends in Kigali but what are friends for if one cannot speak truth to power?
Bizmungu's treatment in the hands of his own former comrades is most appalling and will do the RPF and the government of President Kagame and the people of Rwanda more harm than good. One is not advocating that because he was a former president he should be above the law but this is not about finer points of law because the politics of the trials has compromised the morality of the matter.
* Dr Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem is General Secretary of the Global Pan African Movement, based in Kampala, Uganda and also Director of Justice Africa, based in London.
* Please send comments to
Thank you for taking this initiative (Pambazuka News petition to the AU on the Protocol on the Rights of Women). It is one of the most critical elements in the future viability of all of Africa. Without the recognition of the rights of all especially women and children, Africa is relegating itself to the graveyard of civilization.
Sign the petition at:
We urge member states of the African Union to sign, ratify and inco-operate the protocol into their national laws and ensure women's rights are protected at the national level.
Sign the petition at:
Lithur Nana Oye, Ghana
Women should not be neglected or put aside; African women are going through a lot and it is important that our AU Heads of State ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Women should not be overlooked as without us humanity is not complete. We are not here to compete with our men but we are here to make this world worth living in. The rights of African women should be the pride of not only the African men but a pride to African governments. African women are rare gems; our rights is all we ask.
Fateye Aderonke, Nigeria
Sign the petition at:
Good to see someone talking about the crisis in Zimbabwe, and looking at the real issues (Pambazuka News 155: Zimbabwe - 'The government wants the people to give up hoping').
Only the ideologically twisted would deny Ronald Reagan his due. He was a wildly successful president, accomplishing a remarkable amount of his agenda.
He entered office in 1980 determined to block advancement for black Americans, to halt the sluggish march towards equality for American women, to make America walk tall again by beating up tiny poverty-stricken nations, to allow insatiable greed and ruthless personal ambition to reap lavish rewards, to fire up the economy through trillions of dollars in defense expenditures, to invite industry to desecrate the environment, and to legitimate a morality in which any means justified his ends.
Notwithstanding his unparalleled laziness, ignorance and immersion in fantasy, in all these areas his administration triumphed, a splendid role model for conservatism in the modern world.
The new values were never in question. This was conviction politics. One of the very first acts of the Reagan administration was to cast the only vote against the World Health Organization's code of ethics on feeding 3rd world babies with instant formula prepared with contaminated water.
The world was Ronald Reagan's movie set. History will debate his role as the man who ended the cold war. But as president, death was the Gipper's co-pilot. Morning in America meant that the United States could aggress around the world at whim, recklessly flouting both American and international law, disdaining such outmoded liberal constraints as honesty, legality, democracy and resolutions of the United Nations. The multi-faceted immorality of the Iran-contra scandal was one direct consequence.
Under him was assembled a team of bellicose conservative cold warriors---CIA director Bill Casey, Oliver North, and an entire semi-secret team of ex-CIA agents, ex-Pentagon officials, fascist Cuban exiles, professional killers and international drug traffickers. State terrorism was the order of the day. The Reaganites organized a succession of secret wars and open attacks on very small nations who paid an appalling price for the unswerving principles of conservatism.
The first target for violent regime change was Nicaragua (population 3 million), in the process causing unspeakable horror as well to hundreds of thousands of Hondurans, Salvadorans and Guatemalans whose soldiers the Americans trained in the finer points of torture. He then sent the Marines to Lebanon (population 3 million) to demonstrate that Americans could go wherever they damn well chose; 241 of them died in a widely predicted attack on their barracks. A subsequent CIA plot to assassinate a Muslim leader allegedly linked to the attack didn't quite work out; it missed its target but caused collateral damage to 280 dead and wounded Lebanese bystanders.
Two days after the Marines were blown up, needing to show that no one pushed the US around, Reagan ordered 7000 US troops to invade Grenada (population 95,000), a Caribbean island about 3/4 the size of PEI. As in Lebanon, CIA intelligence proved somewhat faulty: 19 American soldiers were killed and 115 injured, some by "friendly fire". For this gallantry and valour, 8612 US army medals were awarded, some to soldiers who never left the States.
In besieged Angola (population 8 million), Bill Casey of the CIA teamed up with the South African apartheid government he so admired and succeeded in making that country, like Nicaragua, a total basket-case, while tens of thousands of Angolans perished miserably. In the Persian Gulf, an American destroyer attacked without provocation or reason a regular commercial Air Iran flight, killing 290 people; no American apology or reparations have ever been offered.
At home too, conservatism worked its magic. Poverty bloomed. 14 million more Americans lived below the poverty line when he retired than when he was elected. Almost one in four American children in 1988 lived in poverty. The enforcement of civil rights for blacks in housing, voting, employment and education almost ground to a halt. Serious reactionaries were appointed to courts at every level to entrench the rights of the privileged for generations to come. The President travelled to Bitburg, Germany, to lay a wreath at the grave of SS soldiers who, he explained, were victims of the Nazis "just as surely as the victims of the concentration camps". He was a great friend of Israel's extremists and the powerful Jewish-American neoconservative elite adored him.
The old Gipper never lost his faith in Gipperish. Almost his last act in office was to ask Congress to increase the swollen defense budget by another $5 billion and cut the same amount from child nutrition programs and medical insurance for the aged and the poor.
His country loved him. The tributes and tears flow. His truths go marching on.
* Gerald Caplan is a commentator on public affairs
* Please send comments to
On 19th April 2004, the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced receipt of the referral of the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The referral, transmitted to the office of ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo in a letter signed by DRC President Joseph Kabila, requests that the Prosecutor investigate allegations of crimes falling within ICC jurisdiction, (namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes,) if committed anywhere in the territory of the DRC since the July 1, 2002 date of entry into force of the Rome Statute of the ICC. But the ghost of impunity continues to haunt the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) despite the referral of the situation to the ICC.
By means of the letter, the DRC asked the Prosecutor to investigate in order to determine if one or more persons should be charged with such crimes, and the authorities committed to cooperate with the ICC. After receiving several communications from individuals and non-governmental organisations, the Prosecutor had announced in July 2003 that he would closely follow the situation in the DRC, indicating that this would be a priority for his Office.
Since then, the Office has continued its work in analyzing the situation in the DRC, especially in Ituri. Following various procedures and in accordance with the Rome Statute, the Prosecutor will now proceed to determine whether there is a reasonable basis to initiate an investigation in respect of the situation referred. The Office of the Prosecutor will therefore assure itself of the basis for an investigation under the Statute and examine the modalities for such an investigation, in order to reach an informed decision.
The Congolese Dilemma
Since 1998, the DRC has experienced horrific armed conflict in which impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity has been, and continues to be, the norm. Attacks against the civilian population, killings, and use of sexual violence continue to be committed in the East. These crimes will not stop as long as those who commit them are not held responsible for their acts. Accountability for those responsible for serious crimes is essential if the DRC and the region are to make a transition to a durable peace. Therefore, we salute the initiative of the DRC to refer its situation to the ICC in order to put an end to impunity.
But although the ICC may be an answer to crimes committed in the DRC, what will happen to crimes committed from 1998 to July 2002, a period that is beyond the scope of the ICC? While the DRC's ratification of the Rome Statute allows the ICC to try crimes committed after July 1, 2002, there is no mechanism to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the gravest crimes committed during the five-year war and put an end to impunity.
The national justice system is unable, due to its current state of disarray, even with massive help, to address past crimes perpetrated in the DRC since 1998. The ICC is also not competent because of lack of jurisdiction to deal with these crimes. Thus the necessity of possible justice mechanisms to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed prior to the entry into force of the ICC Statute.
Furthermore, the current transitional period in the DRC is particularly marked by the creation of several institutions “purported” to support “democracy”, among which is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). This TRC would consider political, economic, and social crimes committed from 1960 until 2003 in order “to establish truth and help bring individuals and communities to reconciliation.”
But one question remains: Is the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in the DRC meant to end impunity or to cover up gross violations of human rights committed in the DRC? The response seems to be known in advance, since one individual suspected of involvement in human rights abuses was appointed to the executive committee of this TRC.
The ghost of impunity continues to haunt the DRC and the important thing now is to look at the challenges in addressing impunity for the horrific crimes that have been committed in the DRC since 1998. If not, the impunity for these atrocities will sends the message that such crimes may be tolerated in the future.
Therefore, the question arises as to how possible it is to establish an International Criminal Tribunal beyond the borders of the DRC, to include the Great Lakes Region for crimes committed in the DRC since 1998?
* Yav Katshung Joseph is executive director of the CERDH (www.cerdh.tk)
* Please send comments to
For three and a half years, Arche d'Alliance, a human rights organisation, has been involved in a project investigating, monitoring, reporting and offering legal and socio-medical assistance to women victims of sexual violence in the territories of Uvira and Fizi. The project has also been interested in cases of male victims of sexual violence from 2003 to date.
In the large and populated Fizi Territory, situated in southern South Kivu province, the two principal rival armed groups which have been fighting for five years - the army of the RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi combatants (FAP) - have all committed grave abuses and human rights violations against the civilian populations. Sexual violence, particularly rape, indecent assault and forced pregnancy have been committed against women and girls on a large scale in Fizi Territory.
However, a particular phenomenon relating to this sexual violence has also occurred in Fizi against many men. Men have been subjected to sexual violence through forced anal sex. In the majority of cases, combatants belonging to foreign armed forces (Burundian and Rwandan) have committed these acts. Forces involved include the Rwandan Interahamwe and elements of the Burundian Front for the Defence of Democracy (Front pour la défense de la démocratie - FDD) who fought with the Congolese Mayi-Mayi (FAP) combatants against the RCD-Goma rebellion, supported by Rwanda and Burundi.
Thousands of male victims of sexual violence were identified especially in the large Ngandja community. Numerous cases were also registered in the community of Mutambala in Fizi Territory. In the majority of cases, investigators limited themselves to identifying the victims, although Arche d'Alliance supported about ten victims who agreed to appear publicly and receive assistance for their basic needs and medical care.
The head of the liaison office in Bakara/Fizi, Ms Marie Mulasi, is responsible, in particular, for assistance to male victims of sodomy or indecent assault. She directs them to the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Baraka for appropriate medical treatment and temporary solutions to their social needs, with the support of office materials from Arche d'Alliance based in Uvira.
Techniques used by perpetrators of sodomy
Perpetrators of sodomy in Fizi use violence and death threats against their victims before imposing sexual acts. Often victims are stabbed and burned before or after sexual aggression, particularly if they tried to resist. In addition, victims have indicated that often they were abused in the presence of their wives and children. In Fizi Territory, men were sometimes gathered in villages by Interahamwe and FDD and subjected to sexual aggression under death threats.
The objective of sexual violence
Men are victims of sodomy in Fizi for various reasons. In the majority of cases, perpetrators of sexual crimes take revenge against men suspected of conspiring with the enemy forces of the RCD-Goma. In addition, the aggressors act to intimidate, humiliate and discourage their victims from collaborating with the enemy.
Consequences
Male sodomy victims are traumatised. They are abandoned by their wives. Raped women are also often renounced by their husbands. In addition, the investigation by Arche d'Alliance reveals the transmission of venereal diseases and particularly HIV/AIDS, as well as the death of several victims who did not receive medical attention. The most common symptoms are anal and generalised pain.
In addition, male sodomy victims suffer social rejection and stigmatisation. The fact that in several impoverished households it is the women who meet the needs of the family by undertaking resourceful activities means that abandoned male sodomy victims face serious socio-economic problems and may not be able to meet their basic needs. In addition, they lose respect in their communities.
Conclusions
Sodomy and indecent assault, of which several men are victim in Fizi, constitutes an attack on their dignity and their physical integrity. The consequences of these inhuman, humiliating, degrading and cruel acts are tragic. They have a decisive impact on the lives of victims, who today are unhappy, at risk of death and without any family support.
The presence today of perpetrators in the communities constitutes a permanent danger for the rest of the population in the area. At the end of March 2004, the association Arche d'Alliance sent its members to several areas of the two communities most affected by the phenomenon. Delegates of the association were responsible for leading an awareness-raising campaign among other sodomy victims in order that they may benefit from medical treatment as a priority.
Recommendations
a.) To the authorities
In addressing this report to the offices of the Ministries of National Defence, Interior, Health and Human Rights, Arche d'Alliance recommends that the Congolese government bring peace to Fizi Territory and the rest of the province so that everyone benefits from security. To the political, administrative and military authorities of Fizi, to whom the association has also sent copies of this report, the association requests that they respond to the social and medical concerns of hundreds of male victims of sodomy in Fizi.
b.) To partners
The association Arche d'Alliance solicits assistance in putting pressure on foreign belligerents who are still present on Congolese territory and continue to occupy their respective positions in Fizi. These groups must stop committing the sexual crime that is sodomy. The association also asks partners to contribute to raising awareness among local communities so that they respect human rights and, in particular, so that the inhuman cases of sodomy are denounced and condemned. Finally, the association requests social, humanitarian and medical assistance from its partners.
* Arche d'Alliance is a local human rights organisation operating in the DRC. This article appeared recently on Kirimba (www.kirimba.org/), a web-site largely dedicated to addressing events in Burundi. Kirimba is coordinated by a member of the extended Africa team of UPEACE, Mr. Athanase Karayenga.
* Please send comments to [email protected]
* For the French version of this report, please click on the link below
It is a commonly held belief that developing countries rely primarily on small arms - which, being relatively cheap, should not be a huge financial burden to the country. But in fact, the countries of Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East own 51% of the world's heavy weapons and in 2002 they imported two thirds of all arms deliveries worldwide, at a value of nearly US$17 billion.
As leaders of the "Group of Eight" met with leaders from six African countries on the final day of the G-8 summit in Sea Island, Georgia, Africa Action dismissed announcements of new initiatives on debt relief and HIV/AIDS as "wholly inadequate and off-target." It also condemned the failure of the G-8 to call for immediate intervention to stop the unfolding genocide in Darfur, western Sudan, and address the urgent humanitarian crisis, where more than one million people are now at risk as a result of an ongoing government-sponsored campaign of ethnic cleansing.
"The meeting noted that NEPAD as a regional development framework has already set the stage for excessive exploitation of Africa's mineral resources. The meeting regretted that while NEPAD identifies mining as a critical area for market access for achieving sustainable development in the 21st century it however fails to develop adequate strategies for maximising the returns on mining and mitigating its impact. NEPAD as a regional development framework is fundamentally flawed in a number of respects: a) it lacks an international framework for environmental governance; b) it sets out conditionalities that are a direct replica of the IMF/WBG conditionalities."
Speaking at a National Women's Conference on Peace and Socio-Economic Recovery in Liberia, Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) emphasized the centrality of women's participation and leadership in all phases of the country's recovery, including processes of disarmament, demobilization, and rehabilitation. She described the conference as a celebration of the courage of Liberia's women, of their resilience and capacity for leadership amidst the trauma and devastation of conflict over the past decade.
As the impacts of climate change caused by energy use becomes more evident to world leaders, more than 1000 delegates from over 100 countries met in Bonn, Germany, to discuss the role that renewable energy will play in the future of the planet. The participants include heads of state, energy ministers, regional leaders, business, public pressure groups, business and youth groups. The 2004 International Conference for Renewable Energies, Bonn was proposed by German Chancellor Gerhand Schroeder after the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg failed to deliver meaningful targets for the implementation of renewable energy.
While the United States “dissociated” itself from the consensus, the World Health Organisation's first strategy on reproductive health was adopted by the 57th World Health Assembly (WHA). Reproductive and sexual ill-health accounts for 20% of the global burden of ill-health for women and 14% for men. "Once again, the Bush Administration has shown their true colors by calling for a reproductive health policy that is more about ideology than reality,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA). “We have a moral responsibility to ensure the health and well-being of women and men around the world."
A coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by a section of the presidential guard has been foiled, Foreign Affairs Minister Antoine Ghonda told IRIN on Friday. "The government has resumed control of the situation,” he said. Officers from the presidential guard had announced on state radio and television, at 2:40 am local time [1:40 GMT] in the capital, Kinshasa, that they had neutralised the institutions of the transitional government of President Joseph Kabila.
Sudan will fail to enjoy the fruits of peace if it does not democratise both its peace process and its political system during the six-year transitional period following the signing of a comprehensive agreement, according to the South Africa-based think-tank, the Institute for Security Studies (ISS). "A sustainable peace is unlikely unless a government is established that enjoys the confidence of the Sudanese masses and demonstrates an unqualified commitment to peace," said ISS in a report issued this week.
Police shot and injured two protesters in the Nigerian capital Abuja on Thursday as a nationwide general strike against a 20 per cent increase in fuel prices entered its second day, witnesses said. Streets that are normally clogged with traffic in the commercial capital Lagos remained deserted. Schools, offices and businesses stayed closed there and in most other Nigerian cities.
The tourists come to Zimbabwe's vast Hwange National Park, view its rich collection of big game from the safety of vehicles with armed guards, and then leave. But communities living on the fringes of the park are forced to share their land with the encroaching wildlife, a proximity that leads to inevitable conflict between humans and animals. The communities in this perennially dry region of northwestern Zimbabwe rely on the Gwayi river, as do thirsty animals who have broken out of the game park. Looking for water, they end up terrorising the villages on the edge of Hwange.
On 8 and 9 June 2004, the Campaign for a Democratic Angola convened Angolan civil society and political parties to discuss the status of elections and electoral reform, as well as plans for Constitutional reform. With over 200 participants in attendance, including key figures from over fifteen political parties and members of civil society organisations, the two-day Conference concluded with the issuing of declarations and recommendations regarding the most appropriate way to proceed with the drafting of a new Constitution, and the imperative nature of holding national elections in 2005. The recommendations also addressed other critical matters of central interest to the Angolan population.
Cooperatives are playing a key role in helping impoverished Ethiopian farmers escape from the cycle of poverty, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said on Wednesday. Ethiopia's cooperatives were vital in helping to promote rural economic development and getting farmers a fairer price for their crops, USAID said in a statement. "Cooperatives are an important means to bring smallholder farmers together to open new markets and receive higher prices for their produce," it said.
The government of Gabon has announced a further cut in the price of anti-retroviral drugs for people living with AIDS and has slashed the price of HIV/AIDS testing for the country's 1.2 million population. Both measures were introduced in April following an announcement by the Global Funds to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria that it would grant the West African country US $3 million grant to help fight AIDS.
Malawi's main opposition party, the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), has thrown its weight behind a legal challenge to last month's presidential elections. The MCP's move bolsters the opposition's case, which took a knock when Gwanda Chakuamba, the head of the seven-party Mgwirizano coalition, and a key opposition leader, signed a post-election cooperation agreement with the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF).
A meeting of the East African Network for the Monitoring of anti-Malaria Treatment opened on Tuesday in the Burundian capital, Bujumbura, with participants calling for the establishment of a system to monitor the use of a new anti-malarial combination therapy. The delegates, from Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya and Uganda, said the Network should play a key role in advocacy for countries to put in place useful and acceptable anti-malaria policies.
Zimbabwe's controversial land reform programme took a significant turn this week when the government announced its intention to nationalise all productive farmland in the country. "In the end all land shall be state land and there will be no such thing called private land," the official Herald newspaper quoted Lands Minister, John Nkomo, as saying on Tuesday.
International development agency, Oxfam New Zealand has welcomed the proposal by the G8 to cancel $NZ145 billion of Iraq’s foreign debt. But Oxfam NZ Executive Director Barry Coates pointed out the deep inconsistency in the G8’s approach. African countries have waited for more than two decades for debt cancellation. Now they are being offered a pittance as a sweetener to persuade other countries to back the US proposal on Iraq debt.
Cameroon has volunteered to be among the first 17 countries programmed to undergo evaluation as part of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which is the enforcement component of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). However, the country is far from being prepared particularly in the field of governance - a key component of the NEPAD initiative. There is an acute problem of transparency and accountability in this well endowed sub Saharan African country.
Corruption is one of the major factors holding back Africa's economic growth, South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel acknowledged last Thursday, adding more needed to be done to both prevent corruption and punish the corruptors.
The success of the anti-corruption crusade in Ghana depended on peoples' willingness to question the actions of people in authority at all levels. Mrs Hilary Gbedemah, Senior Legal Advisor of the Women In Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), made the point at a public forum on how to deal with corruption in Ghana.
Only half of the health clinics in three Zimbabwean provinces have access to safe water and the majority of districts face shortages of essential drugs, according to an NGO monitoring group, the Food Security Network (FOSENET). Based on information drawn from 52 districts, FOSENET noted that clinics spread across central Zimbabwe - in Mashonaland West, the Midlands and Masvingo - had the poorest access to safe water out of the country's eight provinces.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) called for an immediate yellow fever vaccination campaign in the Burkinabe city of Bobo Dioulasso on Wednesday, saying 89 suspected cases of the mosquito-borne disease had been recorded there so far this year and six of those people had died.
Both Nigeria's federal and state elections in 2003 and its local government elections in 2004 were marred by serious incidents of violence. The scale of the violence and intimidation, much of which went unreported, called into question the credibility of these elections. This report documents cases of electoral violence in 2003. It also refers to incidents of violence reported around the 2004 local government elections, although most of Human Rights Watch's detailed research was undertaken before those elections took place.
The sentencing of former Rwandese president Pasteur Bizimungu and seven co-defendants is further proof of the government's willingness to subvert the Rwandese criminal justice system in an attempt to eliminate all potential political opposition, says Amnesty International. The trial and judgment of these men combined with other recent events demonstrate the government's readiness to deny the civil and political rights of individuals and civil society organizations that dare to criticize the RPF-controlled government.
Almost a year after its adoption of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on July 11 2003, Maputo Mozambique, The Republic of Ethiopia on June 2, 2004 signed the protocol. Twenty-seven other member states have signed it but are yet to ratify it as at June 7, 2004 . 14 more countries must ratify it in order for the Protocol to come into force.
While international attention has focussed on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, the failure of the legal system which underpins the human rights crisis has gone largely unnoticed, Amnesty International said in a memorandum to the Sudan Government and the recently-appointed Sudanese Commission of Inquiry. The vast majority of detainees in Darfur and those arrested outside Darfur in connection with the conflict are not told the reasons for their arrest and are not allowed access to lawyers, families, and medical assistance. They are denied their right to be brought promptly before a judge or other judicial official; the right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention and the right to be treated humanely. Torture is widespread.
Comment and Analysis: Ending impunity in the Great Lakes region
Conflicts and Emergencies: How arms exporters are failing development countries
Protocol on the Rights of Women: Ethiopia ratifies protocol
Refugees and Forced Migration: Ugandan rebels raid fourth IDP camp
Elections and Governance: Angolan political and civic forces reject new constitution before elections
Development: Debt relief bread for Iraq, crumbs for Africa
Education: How educating excluded children can break the cycle of poverty
Environment: Governments discuss future of renewable energy
On 11 July 2003, the African Union adopted the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, marking a significant step forward in promoting the rights of women within Africa. But almost a year after its adoption, only one member state of the AU, The Comoros, has signed and ratified the Protocol. Twenty-eight member states have signed but are yet to ratify it as at May 12, 2004. This calls for 14 more countries to ratify in order for it to come into force. Oxfam GB, Equality Now, FEMNET, CREDO for Freedom of Expression and Associated Rights and FAHAMU have started a campaign targeting 14 countries that have already signed with the aim of lobbying them to ratify. A petition has been drafted that will be presented to the AU Summit in July 2004. You can sign up at http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/petition.php?id=1.
Please accept our apologies for the late delivery of this week's Pambazuka News and for the fact that this week it is shorter than usual. This has been the result of staff travels during the week. We will be back to normal service next week.
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 159: RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA: LAUNCH OF ONLINE PETITION TO AFRICAN UNION
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 159: RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA: LAUNCH OF ONLINE PETITION TO AFRICAN UNION
The UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) said on Friday that poverty levels on the continent had increased by 43 percent over the last 10 years, with women making up to 80 percent of the people living on less than a dollar a day. Josephine Ouedraogo, director of the ECA's African Centre for Gender and Development, told a news conference at a meeting of economic experts and academicians in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, that the situation was being compounded by high rates of maternal mortality, which, she said, stood at 940 deaths per 100,000 birth.
The UK wants the Kenyan government to speed up reforms and has warned the governing National Rainbow Coalition (Narc) that its honeymoon is running out. Among the reforms that a Select Committee of the UK's House of Commons (Parliament) wants implemented urgently are the retrenchment of parastatal staff, speeding up of the fight against corruption and a solution to problems dogging the free education plan.
The South African government is failing to disburse grant money from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to organisations combating the disease "on the ground," Global Fund Executive Director Richard Feachem said this week, adding that the fund may withdraw the country's money as a result, Reuters reports. Speaking to the South African media, Feachem said, "It's intolerable that the money gets stuck in Pretoria and if Pretoria can't move it for any reason, we will simply withdraw it and establish direct relationships with the people actually doing the work."
Human rights and humanitarian laws are under greater threat worldwide than at any time since the United Nations was founded more than half a century ago, Amnesty International says. In its annual report, the London-based human rights group cites attacks on civilians by extremist groups such as al-Qaeda that should be considered crimes under international law, with some amounting to crimes against humanity. But the report also blames the erosion of human rights on the U.S.-led war on terror, saying that governments that have pledged to fight terrorism are ignoring international laws and human rights principles.
Africa and AIDS activists say the Bush Administration’s pledge to expedite its approval process for low-cost, generic anti-retroviral drugs by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will really slow delivery of drugs to those suffering while undermining the authority of the United Nations and World Health Organisation. “The net effect is to continue to delay the delivery of life-saving drugs to the most needy,” said Salih Booker, executive director of Africa Action, a Washington-based grassroots network and frequent critic of the administration’s anti-AIDS plan. “It looks to us like an elaborate ruse to protect the interests of the patent-holding U.S. drug companies while, at the same time, undermining the World Health Organisation’s own approval process.”
A total of Sh234 billion has already been traced by a firm contracted by the Government to track down loot stashed abroad by key figures in the previous Government. Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Kiraitu Murungi shocked MPs when he said that of the amount, Sh78 billion belonged to just three individuals.
The northern white rhino, one of the world's most endangered animals, could be extinct in the wild within months unless poaching by Sudanese rebels stops, conservationists said as they launched an urgent appeal for funds. The world's 25 or so remaining wild white rhinos all live in the Garamba National Park, a United Nations World Heritage Site on the northern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo with Sudan.
A United Nations expert has voiced deep concern about the situation of human rights defenders working in the Darfur region of Sudan and urged the country's Government to ensure their protection. Hina Jilani said she had received information regarding "a number of alleged arbitrary arrests and detentions" of people monitoring and reporting on the human rights situation in the area. She also cited "credible information" that the freedom of movement of these defenders is being curtailed, particularly their access to conflict areas.
Global trade unions have warned of the consequences of the increased migration of workers; in particular skilled labour moving from poor to rich countries. The health sector, which is booming in aging Europe, has become the new focus of skilled Africans deserting their country. Mauritian, South African and Kenyan unions accuse European governments of "poaching".
The Sudanese government's signing of a peace agreement to end the 21-year civil war in the south must not deflect criticism of its ongoing campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in the western region of Darfur, Human Rights Watch has said. Human Rights Watch cited recent examples of Arab militias attacking five villages 15 kilometers south of Nyala in Darfur, killing 46 civilians and wounding at least nine others, according to local sources. The militias, known as Janjaweed, were accompanied by government soldiers in three Land Cruisers armed with antiaircraft artillery.
Mozambique Health Minister Francisco Songane has said that the country will not be able to launch a nationwide antiretroviral drug program due to "serious" staff and equipment shortages, Reuters reports. This follows an announcement by Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano that the country had launched a pilot program to provide free antiretroviral drugs to 8,000 HIV-positive adults.
Almost 75% of the world's poorest people (around 3 billion) depend on agriculture, forestry or fisheries to secure their work and household income. Many of the technologies developed to extend agricultural productivity also have beneficial impacts upon human health and well-being. Links between natural resources research and better health for the poor have been constantly under-valued, with limited formal interaction and lesson learning between the two sectors. What can be done to overcome these sectoral divisions in development research and policy?
Agriculture is the most important user of environmental services, including water, forests, pastures, soil and nutrients. Poorly managed agriculture can lead to environmental degradation and pollution, deplete natural resources and compromise food safety and human health. Sustainable agriculture provides environmental services that are important to society in urban and rural areas, locally and globally.
Since 1990, logging companies, rebel groups, criminal networks, various interim governments and the regime of former president Charles Taylor have colluded to plunder Liberia's natural resources. During this period the timber sector witnessed a plethora of illegal activities and practices. Logging companies operated in rebel held territories without any form of regulation from the Forestry Development Authority; none of the revenue generated during this period benefited the Liberian people.
“The contributions that older persons continue to make towards development, sustenance of their nation and the care role they give in the face of the HIV/AIDS pandemic can no longer be ignored,” Ambassador Nancy Kirui, from the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services said in a speech read on her behalf by Deputy Permanent Secretary Mr M. C. Gitari. Mr Gitari was opening a workshop organised by HelpAge International and HelpAge Kenya to look into older people’s involvement with governments and civil society in the enactment and implementation of effective policies and programmes of demonstrable benefit in their lives.
Government's must take responsibility for women's health, develop more gender sensitive policies and increase health budgets for women's sexual and reproductive health. These are three demands contained in a brief produced by the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) entitled 'Health sector reforms: hazardous to women's health'. The brief outlines the main issues related to health-related reforms and suggests what individuals can do to effect change. Topics covered include budget cuts, structural adjustment programs (SAPs), Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), privatisation of health services, the unregulated health market, user fees, and the limits of health insurance.
This report from Partners for Health Reformplus presents estimates of the total cost of providing comprehensive antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the public sector in Nigeria. Drugs are not the only major cost of an ARV program, but they are the largest single component. Overall treatment costs, currently borne by the patient, are well beyond the resources of most Nigerians. The development of an effective ARV programme, therefore, must include support not only for ARV drugs but all aspects of patient cost.
On-line human rights questions and answers is a free-of-charge on-line human rights information and NGO development service that provides answers to questions specifically related to human rights concepts, institutions and mechanisms and guidance on strategically addressing human rights violations that an NGO or activist is working to overcome.
Spending on research on diseases of the poor, such as malaria, tuberculosis and dengue fever, has increased substantially over recent years, according to the annual report of the Global Forum for Health Research. Major donations from governments and charities pushed global health research funding to more than US$100 billion in 2001, up from US$30 billion in 1987.
The international community must act urgently - and be prepared to use force if necessary - to save hundreds of thousands of civilians whose lives are at risk because of Sudan's brutal counter-insurgency in its western region of Darfur. There must be immediate, focused action, especially from the UN Security Council, to stop the killing and widespread atrocities, prevent mass starvation, reverse ethnic cleansing, and encourage a peace process, says the International Crisis Group. Experts warn that some 350,000 people could perish in the next nine months, mainly from famine, disease and malnutrition. More will die if the government-supported Janjaweed militias are not stopped.
The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) Election Observer Mission to Malawi has concluded that the elections in Malawi were "substantially free". "The mission notes however that the playing field was not levelled, which made it difficult for opposition parties and candidates to have equitable access to public resources including the state media," says an EISA report on the elections.
At the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000, 164 states pledged to eliminate gender disparities in school enrolment by 2005 and to achieve gender equality by 2015. Are these key Education for All (EFA) targets likely to be met? Have the barriers that have traditionally prevented girls from getting the schooling to which they are entitled, begun to break down?
Progress towards the development target of achieving gender parity in education by 2015 may be inconsistent, but there are noteworthy successes. What do they teach us about addressing child labour and exploring interaction between early education and women's empowerment?
Under a makeshift tent in the Laine refugee camp in southern Guinea, Charlesetta Kollie, a Liberian refugee, buckles down to teach dressmaking to a new group of apprentices. Kollie's nine students have four sewing machines with which to stitch together women's garments - the camisoles and pagnes - that are common in the sub-region. Sometimes the women learn how to mend torn dresses. Their target is to learn how to sew in order to have a trade when they return to Liberia.
A scandal involving systematic physical, mental and verbal abuse of asylum seekers in British detention centres is being investigated amid calls for the government to create a new watchdog to monitor the welfare of detainees. A middle-aged Kenyan woman was alleged to have received facial injuries after apparently resisting being put on a flight by her 3 escorts from a detention centre. Reports say passengers on the Kenyan Airways plane told immigration officials they were shocked to see Bernice Wairimu Mamau's swollen face and cheeks.
The African Diaspora Foundation (ADF), a non-profit organisation, has announced the launch of their new website at http://www.theadf.com, designed by Chita Obasi, an ADF program director.
This project is about harnessing the enormous potential that exists within Africa and the African diaspora to create a core of developers of free software who are able, through software development activities, to create educational and business opportunities that contribute to development on the continent.
IDEA’s sole purpose is to promote excellence in the education of people of African ancestry. “IDEA’s mission is to establish an autonomous, self-reliant support system for the benefit of Africans in Africa and throughout the Diaspora. It is imperative that we coalesce with people of colour on a global scale in order to address mutual needs and concerns. IDEA will serve as a catalyst for forming cohesive coalitions with those who share our vision.” IDEA plans to open a building called the Silicon Centre in Ghana in 2004. The Silicon Centre will offer hotel, restaurant and conference room facilities.
Transnational migration means a loss of human resources for many developing countries. However, migrants in the diaspora contribute to the economic development of their country of origin. They set up new business relations, investments and know-how transfer. Sometimes thus the "brain drain" is followed by a "brain gain".
Hundreds of Africans and their organisations will gather on Saturday 3rd July 2004 at London's City Hall, for African Diaspora and Development Day (ad3). The day has become the biggest gathering of Africans in the UK involved in supporting Africa ’s development. Featuring seminars, workshops, exhibitions, an African development market, and a keynote address by renowned West African gender activist, Yassine Fall, ad3 will also provide an opportunity for African diaspora organisations to meet with other development agencies - donors, policy-makers, pan-African development institutions and international NGOs - to share information and chart a way forward for the UK diaspora’s role in Africa ’s development.
African Privatisation Network (APN), the continental body for privatization agencies in Africa has launched a plan to woo wealthy Africans in the diaspora to come home and invest in the continent through the various national privatization programmes. As a first step towards achieving this, APN has invited international businessmen and industrialists of African descent to an APN Privatisation Summit opening on June 1, in Abuja.
This paper provides a useful, if brief, overview of remittance-related issues
The Forced Migration Online (FMO) team of the Refugee Studies Centre, has prepared a resource page highlighting relevant online resources relating to Africa. This is a review of key related resources including many resources catalogued on and available via FMO, and launched to coincide with the to the 10th anniversary of Africa Day.
This study of child trafficking describes a pattern of human rights violations affecting at least one million children today - probably many more. It concerns the business of taking children away from their homes and families, transporting them elsewhere, often across frontiers and even to other continents, to be put to use by others, usually to make money. This is a heart-rending pattern of abuse, but the study explains in as unsentimental way as possible what can be done to stop child trafficking and to protect
children who are trafficked.
The phenomenon of under-age and youthful soldiers in violent conflicts receives much international attention, and the participation of young people in Sierra Leone’s ten-year conflict was no exception. Here and elsewhere, agencies working with children in demobilisation and reintegration programmes tend to view these young people mainly as victims of forced conscription by exploitive and unscrupulous warlords. This view might be correct for many of the very young child combatants. The older child and youth combatants, who together make up a large part of the total number of combatants in armed factions, do not entirely fit in this picture.
The average worker needs to work for 111 years to earn what an executive director receives for one year, according to the latest report from the Labour Research Service, a Cape Town-based think-tank. The average executive director's pay of R2.7 million a year "remains excessive when compared with the average minimum wage of R24 000 a year paid to workers", the report says.
The Special Assistant to the Executive Director is a full time position responsible for assisting the Executive Director in the overall direction and day-to-day management of the Institute.
The job purpose is to provide public health support to the humanitarian programme for Sudanese Refugees in Chad and to strengthen Oxfam's response to humanitarian emergencies through specialist public health assessment and analysis.
The ACD Systems is a senior member of staff and will be responsible for the management and development of Concern DRC’s human resources, administrative, IT, logistic and security systems.
The Ceasefire Campaign is seeking a Project and Communications Officer. The ideal candidate should have a tertiary qualification as well as some experience in project management and communication.
What roles can NGOs and civil society organisations play in reclaiming development? To what extent can they be seen as the agents for social justice, human realisation and social transformation, principles that have inspired so many to commit themselves to the work of NGOs?
The Department of International Law and Human Rights of the University for Peace, with the support of the Government of the Netherlands, has been working since October 2003 on an innovative human rights project, the Human Rights Educational Project (HREP). The aim of the project is to develop and disseminate educational materials related to human rights in response to the need of individuals and organisations, particularly in developing countries, to obtain convenient access to up-to-date human rights instruments and academic materials. Professionals, practitioners, volunteers, educators and human rights defenders can all benefit from the availability of human rights instruments through the use of a manual and a CD-ROM.
CIVICUS is inviting bids to host its next three World Assemblies. These are major international meetings of civil society leaders and activists aimed at creating a space where a diversity of civil society voices can be heard exchanging experiences, challenges, successes and dreams and, most importantly, concrete ideas for a more equitable and just world. The CIVICUS World Assembly was previously organised as a biennial event in a different venue on each occasion. As a result of its success over the years, CIVICUS now wishes to organise the conference as an annual event in a fixed venue for the next three years. The tentative dates for the 6th World Assembly are 25-29 March 2006. The 7th and 8th are scheduled for the end of March 2007 and 2008.
Translate.org.za is a project translating Opensource software into all of South Africa's official languages and offering assistance and creating tools to help other language teams. To subscribe to the newsletter send an email to [email protected] with the word "subscribe" in the subject line.
Velma Maia Thomas, the developer of the Black Holocaust Exhibit, has written a passionate yet brief account of slavery in America. Lest We Forget is packaged to mimic a multimedia exhibit: pages fold out, pop up, and often contain three-dimensional objects, such as an envelope that opens to reveal a facsimile of a receipt for a slave named Francis. The production techniques may make Lest We Forget look like a children's book, but the text offers a serious, moving depiction of how slaves lived before emancipation.
In this illuminating book, Frantz Fanon reveals the various ways in which the people of Algeria, during the revolution, changed their centuries-old patterns of culture, or, conversely, embraced certain ancient forms of culture, or , conversely, embraced certain forms of culture long derided by their colonist oppressors as "primitive" in order to destroy their oppressors.
The Women's Health Project in the Wits School of Public Health invites interested professionals to apply for admission into its three-week residential Leadership Course in Gender and Reproductive Health, in Johannesburg. This course is for people who run health services, district managers responsible for quality of care, trainers of health workers and managers of service providers. The course is invaluable for people doing health systems research or involved in advocacy for health policy or programmes.
An anti-child labour body's efforts to renovate schools and increase access to water has helped reduce school absenteeism among communities in Malawi's Central region. "We have recorded a 22.1 percent increase in school enrollment in the 100 villages that we work in, and a 36 percent decline in absenteeism," Bobby Maynard, coordinator of the initiative for the NGO, Together Ensuring Children's Security (TECS), told IRIN. The organisation, based in the capital, Lilongwe, has been working in the tobacco-growing region for the past two years.
Swazi children will provide a key data-collection resource to determine exactly how many orphaned, impoverished or otherwise vulnerable children (OVC) are not in school. The database will allow government and child welfare organisations to strategise bursary programmes to achieve universal enrolment of OVC. "We are dedicated to keeping orphans and vulnerable children in school. If they have dropped out for financial or other reasons, we need to get them back," Minister of Education Constance Simelane told IRIN. The first step in the new initiative is identifying the children, Simelane added.
Swedish PEN has decided to grant the Tucholsky award of 2004 to the Zimbabwean writer Yvonne Vera, who is presently living in Canada. Yvonne Vera (born 1964) grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and never wanted to leave her country. Nonetheless, she has lived for many years in Toronto, Canada. It was while living there that she wrote her doctoral thesis on African writers like Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Soyinka, Ruth First and Breytenbach. She recently decided to leave Zimbabwe again. The Tucholsky award (150.000 SEK or ca 15.000 Euro) is every year given by Swedish PEN to a writer or a publisher who is being persecuted, threatened or in exile from his or her country.
This paper argues that making children central to development and social analysis requires a person-centred rather than category-centred approach, recognising the fundamental importance of relationship to people's actions, entitlements and well-being.
This publication analyses legislation to determine whether minimum age legislation protects children’s right to education, as established in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Through an updated analysis of the most recent reports presented by States Parties to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the paper considers whether legislation on minimum ages for entry into work and marriage, and at which a child can be considered criminally responsible, are compatible with states’ legislation on children’s access to compulsory education.
Swazi authorities and health workers have expressed concern over the rising rate of HIV infection among the country's truck drivers. The landlocked southern African country is heavily dependent on road transport and there are fears that the spread of the virus could have a serious impact on the economy.
A number of small, medium and large commercial farms given to black farmers under Zimbabwe's fast-track land redistribution programme are lying fallow. Visits by IRIN to several provinces - Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West and Manicaland - revealed that a significant number of the new A2 (commercial) farmers have not been utilising the land allocated to them. Entire farms appeared neglected, with grass growing in fields that were once filled with crops. Farming infrastructure was derelict, suggesting that it had been vandalised.