PAMBAZUKA NEWS 145: DRC: GLOBALISATION, WAR AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 145: DRC: GLOBALISATION, WAR AND THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
The Seventh Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity ended in Kuala Lumpur with environmental officials from 100 countries renewing their commitment to cut rates of extinction by 2010, issuing a declaration that some participants called vague and disappointing. The declaration stated the countries were determined to preserve ecosystems threatened by industrialization, logging, overfishing, and other commercial activities. The ministers also said they were "alarmed that biological diversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate as a result of human activity."
President Kibaki has been urged to sack ministers linked to corruption to demonstrate the Government's zero tolerance on the vice. The Kenya Human Rights Commission chairman, Prof Makau Mutua, also criticised the State for allegedly supporting investors but failing to guarantee workers' rights. Mutua said the "high carry-over of thieves" by the Narc Government from the previous Kanu regime was causing harm to President Kibaki's anti-graft war.
The Washington Post reported on 19 February 2004 that Uganda has seen a considerable decline in the taboos surrounding HIV/AIDS. Consequently over the last ten years, Uganda's HIV prevalence rate has dropped from 30 per cent to five per cent. According to the Washington Post the openness with which people discuss the disease is due in part to the fact that Uganda was one of the first countries in Africa to confront HIV/AIDS.
Credit and savings schemes are hailed as blueprints for tackling poverty but their benefits are exaggerated. They fail to address the way gender effects relations of power and inequality within families. Frequently unsustainable, they seldom manage to cover their running costs. If future credit and savings schemes are to be effective in poverty alleviation they need to make stronger links between local economies and global economic trends and be linked to wider programmes of women's empowerment.
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has said he will investigate the crimes committed on Saturday 21 February 2004 in Barlonya camp, North Eastern Uganda. The latest reports estimate the number of deaths at over 200. "These crimes are the most serious committed in the country since 1995, when 240 people were killed in Atiak, north of Lira," he said in a statement. The Court has responsibility for the prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, in order to bring an end to impunity for these crimes. "The Office of the Prosecutor will take steps to ensure that the crimes committed in Barlonya camp will be investigated and that those bearing the greatest responsibility will be prosecuted."
Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) activists have announced that a successful protest was carried out on Valentines Day in Chitungwiza and five other suburban centres in Harare despite the fact that the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) refused to allow other protests to proceed and threatened to "shoot to kill" any protesters. Peaceful love marches had been planned for Bulawayo, Victoria Falls and central Harare but ZRP were fearful that the spirit of love would overcome hate, said WOZA in a press statement.
The UN-backed war crimes court for Sierra Leone will open its doors March 10 ahead of trials of nine defendants in custody for alleged crimes against humanity during the West African state's decade-long rebel war, officials said. The court will hold special sessions in early March for the prosecution and defence to present a status report of their pre-trial preparations to the judges, who will then fix a date for trials, court spokeswoman, Alison Cooper told local radio. Observers say trials are likely to commence in late March or early April.
The Aids Law Project and Treatment Action Campaign are concerned that the US/Southern African Customs Union Free Trade Agreement negotiations have the potential to result in binding commitments on SACU member states that undermine access to health care services, the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and the ability of such states to comply with their domestic, regional and international human rights obligations. In our view, such an agreement would not only unlawfully conflict with certain national constitutions and human rights instruments, but would also serve to advance the interests of the US at the expense of the health and welfare of the people of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland.
Africa is being swamped by a growing tide of toxic metal pollution at a time when many governments continue to treat the environment as a "non-issue", a health researcher from the University of Michigan warned in Durban on Monday. Speaking at the World Congress on Environmental Health, which opened in the city this week, Professor Jerome Nriagu said growing quantities of metals were being discharged throughout Africa.
"This week, President Bush played host to President Zine el-Abidine ben Ali of Tunisia, giving this ruthless autocrat a long-coveted audience at the White House," writes exiled Tunisian journalist Kamel Labidi in the New York Times. "To his credit, Mr. Bush rebuked Mr. ben Ali for his violations of press freedom, but the United States is sorely mistaken if it believes that democracy and the rule of law can ever take hold under leaders like Mr. ben Ali ... Tunisia today is one of the world's most efficient police states." Before the presidential meeting on February 18, human rights groups and other Tunisian exiles also called for the U.S. to match rhetorical commitment to democracy with real pressure on Tunisia. But official statements following the meeting praised Tunisia's commitment to reform and stressed continuation of the close ties between the two countries. This latest issue of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains statements from Human Rights Watch and a background briefing from Reporters without Borders on press freedom and the internet in Tunisia, as well as links to other recent commentary and more extensive background on human rights and democracy in Tunisia.
Leaders in Zimbabwe are not considering themselves to blame for the people living on the streets. Instead they are shifting the blame onto the street families in a country where even the middle class are below the poverty datum line.
Namibia's land reform programme has not addressed the crucial issue of security of tenure for farmworkers. Secretary-general of the National Farmworkers Union (NFU), Alfred Angula, said the drafters of the Agricultural (Commercial) Land Reform Act missed an opportunity to enshrine security of tenure for farmworkers.
Of recent, there has been hullabaloo about abolition of the Uganda Human Rights Commission, a debate ignited by the Cabinet proposal to the Constitutional Review Commission for the amendment for the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. The cabinet is proposing that the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) should be abolished and its functions transferred to the Inspectorate of Government; another government body which noses into corruption and mismanagement of government resources. The evolution and globalization of Human Rights cannot leave Uganda behind the rest of the world, argues the author of this article from the Peace and Conflict Monitor. "Pillars of democracy like human rights, accountability and good governance cannot be fully sustained without resource investment. The choice is for all Ugandans, whether to slide back to anarchy or to promote and protect democratic principles."
Some 1,000 Rwandan refugees residing in Sangha department of northern Republic of Congo have said they are interested in being repatriated, Roger Bouka-Owoko, communications officer for the Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme (OCDH), a national human rights NGO, told IRIN. Given that the majority of the refugees work in the agriculture and livestock sectors of their host communities, they asked for time to put their affairs in order before any repatriation programme begins.
Kenya will be the first African country to implement the Nepad concept on good governance review every three years. The African Peer Review mechanism of the New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) requires members to be scrutinised by other member states. This would mean that Kenya could be examined by such countries as Nigeria, South Africa, Rwanda and Burundi, in which case a judgement would be entered on issues to do with governance, economy and social welfare.
Looking to build an effective, efficient and sustainable organisation? Limited resources for attending courses? Need effective training that you can do while working?
Fahamu, in association with the University of Oxford, is offering distance learning courses specifically designed to meet the needs of human rights and civil society organisations. You can be anywhere to do these courses. Using cutting-edge interactive CDROMs, with support from a course tutor via email and an optional workshop, the course methodology is designed for learning at work without the need to take study leave. Those successfully completing the course will be awarded with a certificate from the University of Oxford. Fahamu – Learning for change – uses information and communication technologies to serve the needs of organisations and social movements that aspire to progressive social change and that promote and protect human rights.
The following courses are available in 2004:
· An introduction to human rights (3 weeks)
· Investigating, reporting and monitoring human rights violations (18 weeks)
· Using the internet for advocacy and research (16 weeks)
· Leadership and management for change (18 weeks)
· Fundraising and resource mobilisation (18 weeks)
· Finance for the non-financial manager (18 weeks)
· JustWrite: an on-line course on effective writing (5 weeks)
The first course begins on 1 March 2004.
For course dates, information, fees and registration forms kindly contact
Camille Downes in Durban, South Africa on TEL: +27-(0)31-2071144/8360 FAX: +27-31-2078403 EMAIL: [email protected]
or Hilary Isaacs in Oxford, UK on TEL: +44-(0)845 456 2442 FAX: +44-(0)845-456-2443 EMAIL: [email protected] http://www.fahamu.org/
The arguments for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) that have been dinned into us for 15 years are based on an almost sublime misreading of the world's food problems. Without GM, the story has it, famine and increasing deficiency are inevitable, yet present-day deficiencies are almost never caused by an inability to produce enough. Angola is a good example: it is always bordering on disaster, yet it has 2 1/2 times the area of France and every kind of climate, and only 12.5 million people. Its farmers are highly accomplished. Famines result not from inability but from the civil war that raged for 30 years. Behind the claim that GMOs are necessary lies a deep - and racist - failure to appreciate traditional farming.
Two months into the United Nations' official year against slavery, Black Information Link(BLINK), the communication channel of the 1990 Trust, a National Black British organisation, questioned the Home Office over why they do not have any events planned for Britain. The Home Office not only confirmed they had failed to organise a single event for 2004, but also issued an amazing statement saying we should forget the slave trade rather than commemorate it. And they claimed today’s government cannot be held responsible for the millions of lives lost during slavery. The statement sparked outrage from furious campaigners who contrasted it with the government’s active support for Holocaust memorial day, held on 27 January this year.
The Refugee Studies Centre has added six new titles to its Working Paper Series. Among the titles are "When Forced Migrants Return ‘Home': The Psychosocial Difficulties Returnees Encounter in the Reintegration Process", "Conceptualising Forced Migration", and "Addressing the Root Causes of Forced Migration: A European Union policy of containment?" These working papers are available to order, or download free of charge from the Refugee Studies Centre website.
The coverage is quite extensive and informative. Thanks.
The South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF) developed three possible initiatives that it considers value adding to the SADC Water Sector’s RSAP, and aligned it with SADC’s vision of creating an enabling environment within which water and sanitation infrastructure development can take place, namely:
· Best Practice in the Water and Sanitation Sector rollout to SADC;
· Capacity Building of NGO/CBO in Water and Sanitation Sector in SADC;
· Capacity Building of technicians, technologists and professionals in Water & Sanitation Sector in SADC.
At a meeting on 02 December 2003, with the SADC Water Division in Gaborone, Botswana, the SADC Water Division advised that the Capacity Building of NGO/CBO would fall under RSAP Project AAA.25 and link up with AAA.22; of the SADC Projects.
SA DWAF has taken the initiative to commence with the implementation of the 3 proposals, for an interim period ending the 31st of March 2004, and funded from the SA DWAF budget for this period. DWAF will align the initiatives with the current projects within the RSAP, with the main purpose of being able to incorporate these three proposals into the RSAP after the 31st of March 2004.
One of the activities of the NGO Capacity Building Project is the development of a comprehensive database of NGOs working in the water and sanitation sector of the 14 SADC countries. (Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)
If you can assist with contact details / a database / references/ links or networks, that can help in the identification of these NGOs, it will be much appreciated.
Contact: Chamara Pansegrouw: Project Coordinator ([email protected])
Tel/Fax: +27 012 335 6761
P O Box 54131, Nina Park, 0156, Pretoria, South Africa
Please also consider the immunity from prosecution of Margaret Thatcher and other UK and USA leaders from their actions in installing illegally Idi Amin, Robert Mugabe and other persons who have had wreaked untold physical, political, economic and social havoc on various third world countries; you could also include various UK FCO and USA state department officials and ex-officials. (Pambazuka 144: Confronting impunity through the ICC: Is Africa ready and waiting?)
An open letter to the South African Government, endorsed by prominent civil society groups in South Africa, has been circulated and endorsed by South African organisations, on the eve of the first Conference of the Parties on the Cartegena Biosafety Protocol (BSP) being held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from the 23 to 27 of February. The BSP is the internationally negotiated UN supported agreement to manage the international movement of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). This letter calls for the South African government to halt its active undermining of the BSP by continuing to allow the promotion of the international trade of GMOs using South Africa as a conduit.
In a letter to the Registrar of Genetically Modified Organisms, the South African Council of Churches and 38 other civil society organisations opposed the granting of a commodity clearance permit that would allow the US chemical firm Monsanto to import genetically modified (GM) wheat into South Africa. Noting the lack of conclusive studies of the impact of GM crops on human and environmental health, the letter said: “We do not believe South Africa should be the first country to take the risk to allow GM wheat (seeds or seeds for milling) if the social, environmental and economic impact is of such concern to the rest of the world.”
A new dossier on the SciDev.Net website has evolved from the previous quick guide on biodiversity with the addition of four specially commissioned policy briefs, along with new opinion pieces and features. It also has the latest news, links, definitions and details of future events. The new dossier's specially commissioned policy briefings summarise key aspects of the issue in an informative and accessible style, dealing with the The UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Modern agriculture and biodiversity; How biodiversity loss affects ecosystems and Biodiversity and climate change.
After decades of decline, malaria has been on the rise in many parts of Africa - an estimateby the World Health Organisation is that, in some parts of the continent, malaria mortality in young children almost doubled from the 1980s to the 1990s. The disease causes some 3,000 deaths each day and imposes huge losses in economic productivity. Is this resurgence a sign of increased transmission caused by climate change? Probably not, according to results presented by in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which conclude that future climate change will not affect transmission.
With an estimated 40 percent of people in Africa, South America and Asia living in drylands, land degradation poses a significant threat to food security and survival. This report looks at the relationship between gender and dryland management based on an analysis of field experiences in Africa and Asia. It highlighting the roles of women and men in dryland areas for food security, land conservation/ desertification, and the conservation of biodiversity and it makes available key findings on a number of projects and programs in the regions. It also outlines different aspects to be considered for achieving sustainable and gender-sensitive dryland management.
The directorate of disease control has warned that threatened countrywide water cuts by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), could result in the spread of diseases like cholera. ZINWA, a parastatal charged with managing and distributing water, has threatened to disconnect supplies to councils in a bid to recover a soaring collective debt estimated at around Zim $200,000,000 (US $50,000).
Roman Catholic bishops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have denounced delays in the two-year transitional period, as well as the manner in which parties to the government have been conducting themselves. In a statement issued following a conference held from 9 - 14 February in the capital, Kinshasa, the bishops criticised the practice of certain members of government and other transitional institutions "of granting themselves certain advantages and openly showing their general disinterest in the well-being of the majority of the population".
After six years the 20,000 refugees from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) camp of Gihembe in Byumba (Rwanda) are not yet ready to return home because of continuing unrest in the eastern Congo. Most are Congolese Tutsis from Northern and Southern Kivu but also from the Nande and Hunde tribes of Northern Kivu and Bashis from Southern Kivu.
HIV/AIDS is a development problem, not just a health problem, and change is required in attitudes and consciousness of what HIV/AIDS is doing at different levels and the pathways through which it moves through societies, argues this paper that discusses the impact of HIV/AIDS on development efforts, particularly in Africa, and presents a new approach to guide agriculture and food policies. It argues that one major set of responses is required from the agriculture sector, as the need to secure and provision food for populations affected by HIV/AIDS is rapidly increasing as the impact waves hit.
Corruption - broadly defined as "the abuse of public or private office for personal gain" takes many different forms, from routine bribery or petty abuse to the amassing of spectacular personal wealth through embezzlement or other dishonest means. The international community is adamant that corruption must be stopped. It is demanding that the governments of poorer countries eradicate corruption within their countries if they want to be considered eligible to receive Western aid. Yet there is a deep hypocrisy in the international community's approach, at the heart of which are the taxpayer-backed export credit agencies of industrialised countries.
New Field Foundation is seeking an experienced and qualified person to work as a short-term consultant to coordinate and implement information-gathering and presentations on women’s initiatives in West and Central Africa, in order to inform the planning, grantmaking priorities and strategies of this new foundation. The Research Consultant will work closely with New Field staff to identify and conduct interviews with key resource people, compile and analyze data, and produce reports and presentations on findings to staff and board.
The HIV/AIDS pandemic is affecting the capacity of governments to deliver services as well as efforts to entrench democratic political frameworks in society. However, researchers and planners are well aware of the current limitations in the research and strategic interventions. HEARD, therefore, has established a research post to help refine and develop practical and theoretical frameworks for confronting the challenges of HIV/AIDS to democracy and governance in the developing world.
The RLP is currently inviting applications for the post of Research Fellow for citizens of the East African region. The Fellow would operate within the Department of Research and Advocacy and be responsible for assisting in the continual refining of the project's research agenda. The position would involve carrying out field research at both fundamental/policy and investigative/individual levels throughout Uganda, analysing collected data, and contributing to various publications of the RLP including its Working Paper series and Policy Paper series.
The job purpose is to lead Oxfam GB's work in Mozambique by working with the Regional Management Centre (RMC) and other organisations to bring about change through Oxfam's programme and influence.
The "Organization Guinéenne des Droits de l'Homme (OGDH)" in Collaboration with the Coalition for the ICC is organizing in Conakry, Guinea on 2 - 4 March 2004, a workshop on the implementation of the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court. Placed under the High patronage of the Guinean Minister for Justice with the participation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this seminar will gather about 60 participants; officials of several Ministries (Justice, Foreign Affaires, interior , Communication, Defense etc), members of the Parliament, the Bar associations, media and NGOs. More information is available by writing to the email address below.
The School of Public Health, University of Ghana, is pleased to announce an intensive 6-week residential certificate course on social mobilization for health and development from June 7 – July 17, 2004. The course is structured under modules, units and sessions. Each module and each unit has its specific objectives. The course takes into account the desire of several countries in the region to have such training carried out in the African socio-cultural context. It is anticipated that the course will serve the needs of Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa in behavioural change communication for health promotion and development.
The Southern and Eastern African Trade Information Negotiations Institute (SEATINI) in cooperation with the Other Canon Foundation and the Ford Foundation will hold a 10-day post-graduate course in Advanced Development Economics and Policy Making. The main aim of the Equator School is to encourage alternative thinking to mainstream economics in the Other Canon tradition.
The Equinet Newsletter is the newsletter of the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa and delivers a comprehensive round-up of equity and health issues. You will receive two issues from this mailing list per month. One will contain a briefing of Equinet's activities and the other links to information about equity and health issues in the content categories of Equity in Health; Values, Policies and Rights; Health equity in economic and trade policies; Poverty and health; Equitable health services; Human Resources; Public-Private Mix; Resource allocation and health financing; Equity and HIV/AIDS; Governance and participation in health and Monitoring equity and research policy. There are also sections that include the latest jobs, conferences and other useful resources related to equity in health. Read the newsletter online by clicking on the URL provided.
The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) says it is regrettable that Namibia has so far missed out on the key aspects relating to the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) of the African Union (AU). Namibia has not yet acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) nor was it represented in any capacity at the First Meeting of States Parties to the APRM held in the Rwandese capital, Kigali, on February 13-14 2004.
Kenya risks being suspended from the United Nations Convention Against Torture, Kenya Human Rights Network (K-Hurinet) has said. Speaking on behalf of other K-Hurinet officials, Mr Kamanda Mucheke said this was because Attorney-General Amos Wako has not submitted a single report to the UN Committee Against Torture for the last seven years. "This is despite several reminders and the fact that the A-G as a member of the committee and has been flying to Geneva every year to review other countries’ reports," he said.
Almost five years after the end of military dictatorship, Africa's most populated nation shows a deep and pervasive sense of disappointment with the record of civilian government. After the wasted opportunities of President Olusegun Obasanjo's first term, his administration now has limited time left for completing belated reforms and making government more responsive to the country's pressing needs. No country provides a more graphic illustration of the curse of oil. Oil began flowing just as the colonial era ended, and has completely skewed the country's economic and public life. In the classic pattern of African oil states, power and wealth has up to now been concentrated in the hands of a corrupt élite.
Scores of internally displaced people (IDPs) living in camps near Lira town, on Tuesday took flight to seek refuge in the town centre after Saturday's massacre, alongside students from a nearby boarding school who also flocked in to join the thousands of other IDPs already living there. President Yoweri Museveni, who arrived in Lira on Monday night, visited Lira Referral Hospital the following morning and made a public apology for the massacre.
Nearly 3,000 registered Liberian refugees have returned from neighbouring countries spontaneously since December, but with the capital Monrovia still in ruins, most have sought shelter in camps for displaced people, the UN refugee agency UNHCR said. It reported a noticeable increase in the number of refugees returning spontaneously from Sierra Leone since last week via the Mano river bridge crossing at Bo Waterside.
A student from Guinea-Bissau was stabbed to death in a southern Russian city in what appears to have been a racial attack, the African country's embassy said. Skinheads have been increasingly active in Russia recently, launching attacks on dark-skinned foreign students and migrant workers. Human rights groups have said the authorities weren't doing enough to combat hate crimes.
Cheaper drugs, certificates of need, social health insurance? Has government made sudden and major shifts in health policy? From the African National Congress’ perspective it is perhaps timely in a year that we celebrate the 10th anniversary of democracy and with a general election only a few months away, that three critical pieces of health legislation are about to be signed into law or are being drafted for future legislation. The three pieces include Regulations relating to a Transparent Pricing System for Medicines and Scheduled Substances (Medicines and Related Substances Act of 1997), Social Health Insurance (Medical Schemes Act of 1998) and the Certificate of Need (National Health Bill – still to be signed into law by the President).
At least 15,000 people have fled the village of Kitenge in the southern province of Katanga, where Mayi-Mayi militiamen have killed 100 people since 1 January, a local human rights official told IRIN. "Kitenge residents live in fear and in trauma. They can no longer go about their normal business, because the Mayi-Mayi are extorting, looting, raping, burning homes, cutting off fingers and the private parts and pubic hairs of their victims," Bin Masudi, the coordinator of the Katanga-based Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, said.
The cholera epidemic in Zambia has forced the World Food Programme (WFP) to suspend 107 of its 179 school feeding programmes. WFP spokeswoman Lena Savelli told IRIN on Monday that the decision to "suspend the feeding in these schools follows reports from government and local media that these areas are affected by cholera". In its latest situation report, WFP noted that the cholera epidemic continued to record casualties. "On 12 February, the Minister of Health issued a public notice declaring urban Lusaka and Mpulungu District (in the Northern Province) infected areas," WFP said. "To date, more than 110 people have died from the disease and a further 2,100 people have been infected."
Malawi is building measures into all facets of public policy against HIV/AIDS in an effort to stem the spread of the virus and improve treatment and care for the 14 per cent of its population living with the disease. A national policy President Bakili Muluzi launched earlier this month in Blantyre would require legislative changes to promote prevention and better protect those living with HIV/AIDS, including invalidating infection as grounds for job dismissal and offering tax incentives for employers who provide comprehensive HIV/AIDS programmes.
A six-year-old boy abducted by rebels was made to walk about 400 km barefoot in a forced march before escaping last week and being brought to a rehabilitation centre. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels seized Simon Atenon at the end of June after ambushing a bus he and his father were travelling on, killing most of the passengers.
The Bush Administration's Global AIDS strategy, released this week by the State Department, is based on selective and misleading use of science, evidence and rhetoric in support of an ideological approach to AIDS prevention and treatment that fails to address the needs of women and girls, who now represent the majority of those infected with HIV worldwide, asserts the Centre for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), a U.S.-based organisation focused on the effects of U.S. international policies on women's rights and health worldwide. "This plan is all smoke and mirrors when it comes to responding to the spread of HIV among women and girls," asserted Jodi Jacobson, Executive Director of CHANGE. "On one hand, the strategy correctly cites critical factors, such as violence and sexual coercion, that put women and girls at high risk of infection," notes Jacobson. "Yet the plan fails to offer any concrete strategies for addressing these concerns." This posting also includes information from the latest issue of the Africa Focus Bulletin on the Aids plan.
The Wife of the Vice President, Chief Amina Titi Atiku Abubakar, has said that there are about 16 million working children lured into labour through trafficking. Speaking at a five day workshop on "Measures to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings in Benin, Nigeria and Togo," Mrs. Abubakar said that these three countries remain as major links in the operational activities of human traffickers. She said that because of the enormous impact of trafficking in persons on the health, social, legal, political and economic life of a nation, concerted efforts should be made to stem the ugly tide before it goes out of control.
"Forestry needs to be fully integrated with other sectors in policy development, particularly agriculture", according to FAO Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department, Hosny El-Lakany. El-Lakany underlined the need "to end the isolation of forestry from mainstream development initiatives." The importance of forests in alleviating poverty and protecting the environment is increasingly being recognized, yet deforestation and forest degradation are continuing at an alarming rate, Mr. El-Lakany said.
Women’s Learning Partnership (WLP) and their partner organisation l’Association Démocratique des Femmes du Maroc (ADFM) have reported that on January 25, 2004, the government of Morocco adopted a new landmark Family Law supporting women’s equality and granting them new rights in marriage and divorce, among others. In April 2001, efforts to pass similar family law reforms were suspended while a Consultative Commission established by His Majesty King Mohammed VI studied the possibility of revising the Moudawana, Morocco's Civil Status Code that encompassed family law governing women's status. The continued advocacy and awareness-raising efforts of women’s rights activists, strong backing by government leaders such as Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi, and the personal public support of HM King Mohammed VI contributed to the Commission’s decision in favour of a reformed Moroccan Family Law.
A fundraising drive by British students to help school children in Africa has resulted in the formation of a new charity and an ongoing commitment to improve the lives of young people in Zimbabwe. Students at George Elliot Community School in Nuneaton, England were involved in a pioneering fundraising drive to raise money for Pafiwa High School in the Mutasa District of Zimbabwe. As a result of the success of the fundraising effort, the fundraising drive has become an ongoing effort and is now known as the George Eliot Charity Organisation. (Sources: Heartland Evening News and Noneaton Evening Telegraph)
Authorities in Cameroon are engaged in a battle to stem corruption in the education system where, as mathematics teacher Victor Pene describes it, graft "is in the process of institutionalizing itself". "The future of education in Cameroon is looking bleak," adds Father Jean-Claude Ekobena, Secretary for Education in the Catholic Archdiocese of Yaoundé. "In schools, there is a blatant sale of places for matriculating students, the purchase of diplomas, ‘modification' of report cards, the solicitation of favours by teachers - and misappropriation of school fees by teachers."
It's a common sight in the Malian capital: large groups of young people queuing in front of the French and American consulates with one objective in mind - to obtain an immigration visa. "I have worked many small jobs (in Mali)...I've taken the...exam for the civil service many times, but without success. The time has come for me to try my luck somewhere else," says 30-year-old Cheikh Keita, a graduate of the National Business School of Bamako, while standing before the French embassy.
Vera Chirwa is a prominent human rights activist in Malawi, a prison rapporteur for the African Union - and someone who was imprisoned for speaking out against authoritarian rule under former head of state Hastings Kamuzu Banda. But this pedigree wasn't enough to earn her a shot at Malawi's presidency during the May elections. Chirwa's candidacy was rejected a few days ago by the newly-formed opposition coalition, Mgwirizano, which decided on a male candidate. Republican Party leader Gwanda Chakuamba will be the coalition torch bearer in the upcoming poll.
The Minister of Education, Professor Fabian Osuji, has stated that there was need to evolve an education strategy that will rehabilitate restive youths in the country. In a keynote address presented in Abuja at the commencement of the Education Tax Fund National sensitization work-shop on rehabilitative education for self improvement and national development, the minister said the restive youth phenomenon has become a national concern and requires serious attention.
Liberia’s war-wearied civilians fear a return to hostilities as politicians squabble within the transitional government and the United Nations takes its time in deploying peacekeepers around the country. At the centre of this concern is the jostling for government posts. The scramble continues ever since the businessman-turned politician Gyude Bryant was sworn-in as chairperson of the power-sharing transitional government last October under a peace agreement signed in Ghana in August.
As Zimbabwe marks the fourth anniversary of its controversial land redistribution programme, there is widespread concern about the impact this is having on the country's environment. Many of the peasant farmers who were resettled on land forcibly acquired from white owners lack funds to buy the seed, fertilizer and tools needed to produce a crop. This, combined with poor rains in parts of Zimbabwe, has prompted some peasant farmers to start harvesting other resources instead.
Export processing zones have come in for substantial criticism since the 1970's, when their number started to grow worldwide. Labour activists claim that the incentives offered to attract companies to these zones create an environment where virtually any corner can be cut in pursuit of profit. Now, these concerns are finding a voice in Kenya. This week (Feb. 17), the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) launched a book entitled - The Manufacture of Poverty: The Untold Story of EPZ's (export processing zones) in Kenya”. The publication documents the human toll taken by the country's 41 EPZ's.
Britain said Monday it would change its anti-discrimination laws to allow for a stricter control of Somali asylum seekers, the largest group of would-be immigrants arriving yearly in the country. Home Office junior minister Beverly Hughes said the amendment to the Race Relations Act would allow immigration officers to "prioritise" the case of Somalis over travellers from other countries without being accused of unfair racial discrimination. Somalis arriving in Britain will thus be "examined more rigorously than would otherwise be the case", she said.
The Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organisation, has a strong belief that innovation is the key to improving the quality of education in South Africa. Our primary aim is to improve education in the areas of maths, science, technology and entrepreneurship, both from a learner's and educator's perspective. The foundation is currently calling for proposals of innovative and pilot educational projects in the following areas: Maths, science, technology and entrepreneurship in the General Education Training (GET) phase; Numeracy in the Foundation phase.
The Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law (IHRHL) has raised an alarm that over 4,500 persons are currently being unlawfully detained at Federal Prisons in Rivers State. While it viewed the plight of these persons with “deep regret,” IHRHL noted that most of these persons “have spent years ranging from one to fifteen years without any form of trial for whatever accusations levelled against them”. The Institute further noted that “section 36, sub-section 5 of our Constitution is clear and unambiguous when it provides that these persons are innocent until proven guilty by a competent law court”.
United Nations health agencies have postponed plans to immunize children at the centre of the world's fastest growing polio outbreak, after a fourth Nigerian state announced a boycott over doubts about the vaccine's safety. The World Health Organisation and the UN Children's Fund had hoped Nigeria would release the results of new tests on the vaccine to disprove allegations by Islamic leaders that the immunization campaign is part of a U.S. plot to spread AIDS and make African girls infertile.
“Mother tongue languages should be favoured in education systems from the earliest age,” said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his message for International Mother Tongue Language Day 2004. “It is widely acknowledged nowadays,” he added, “that teaching in both the mother tongue and the official national language helps children to obtain better results and stimulates their cognitive development and capacity to learn.” However, a survey being undertaken by UNESCO indicates that although the use of mother tongue languages as a medium of instruction is gaining ground, few countries have incorporated the idea into their education systems.
The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opened its sixty-fourth session by electing its Chairperson, 3 Vice-Chairpersons and a Rapportuer. In the course of its 3 week session, ending on 12 March, the Committee will review anti-discrimination efforts undertaken by the Governments of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Suriname, Spain, Sweden, the Bahamas, Lebanon, Nepal, Brazil and the Netherlands. It will also look into the state of affairs in Guyana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Madagascar and Venezuela under its review procedure for States parties whose reports are seriously overdue. These countries are among the 169 States parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.
The international war crimes tribunals have made precedent-setting decisions on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch says in a new comprehensive book that organizes by topic the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. "The work of the two ad hoc tribunals represents the most significant effort since Nuremberg to bring perpetrators of the most serious crimes to justice," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program.
As Duas Sombras do Rio (The Two Shadows of the River) is João Paulo Borges Coelho’s first novel, but the themes it explores are familiar to the body of his work as a historian of the Portuguese colonial wars, and of Mozambican postcolonial history in particular. Anyone familiar with his academic writing will notice that the setting for As Duas Sombras do Rio, Bawa and Zumbo, have repeatedly figured in his essays and publications. The novel explores Mozambique’s troubled past, and more specifically the human cost of endless conflicts between various political forces over the last decades of the 20th century.
Confessions of a Gambler centres, almost incongruously, around a Muslim woman in Cape Town, South Africa, who develops a compulsive gambling problem. Her name is Abeeda Ariefdin, or Beeda to her friends and family, and she is, in no particular order, a faithful Muslim, mother to four sons, the ex-wife of a cheating ex-husband, a sister, daughter, neighbour, employer and friend to some of the most delightful characters ever to wend their way into a novel. Rayda Jacobs taps so deeply into the South African psyche in this book, and tackles so many of the taboos inherent within southern African society, that it leaves one almost breathless.
Many pupils in the eastern and southern African context leave school long before completing what might be described as a basic education. Thus, as a way of compensating for the adverse effect of early drop-out rates, there has been considerable 'talk' about including life skills as a key part of the primary curriculum. The idea behind this being that if pupils are taught skills for life and survival after school, rather than the present largely academic curriculum, they will be better able to cope with unfavourable economic climates. This exploratory research from Kenya is part of a three-part study conducted in Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe that focuses on the provision and teaching of life skills in primary schools, how the process of sexual maturation for both boys and girls is handled in schools and at home and, finally, exploring whether there is a link between adequate sanitation and sanitary protection for girls and their retention in school.
This work brings together as one volume a wide range of material on women and law from different geographical regions and fields of study, including gender studies, sociology, law and human rights. The book is organised around specific areas of law which impinge upon women: family law; property ownership, including access to land and inheritance systems; reproductive rights; sexual and domestic violence; employment discrimination; and the participation of women in politics. Overall the authors intend to promote the idea that although women and law is a massive subject in Africa, and there are many different cultural and legal contexts and approaches to the debate, there are common threads which relate to the majority of women across the continent.
Drawing on extensive research among Rwandese in Rwanda and Europe, and on his work with a conflict resolution NGO in post genocide Rwanda, the author argues that single, absolutist narratives and representations of genocide actually reinforce the modes of thinking that fuelled the genocide in the first place.
In July 2003, HURIDOCS launched the pilot version of HURISEARCH, a tool for searching human rights information on the Web, http://www.hurisearch.org. HURISEARCH allows searching sites of non-governmental human rights organisations in 58 different languages, including many European languages but also others such as Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Swahili and Vietnamese. The hardware for HURISEARCH has recently been expanded, and it now includes over 1300 sites of human rights NGOs. Suggestions to include additional sites are welcome.
This programme aims to support women's participation in international events such as seminars, conferences, trainings related to women’s rights issues. The objective of this programme is to facilitate the access of women active in this field to the international movement for the emancipation of women. The grants will be allocated for the participation in those events which will contribute to information gathering and later on their dissemination at national level, as well as to sharing experiences concerning the promotion of women’s rights.
Internews has launched an information technology (IT) training programme for African and Asian women working in the media and other communication sectors. The programme, which provides 430 scholarships, is intended for women in the African countries of Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, and the Asian countries of Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The scholarships are reserved for "exceptional" women from low-income communities who already use IT for public benefit, who can demonstrate entrepreneurship, and who have the potential to become local role models for girls in their societies.
A project that uses the latest mobile telephone tracking equipment in elephant conservation has been launched. The equipment uses mobile provider Safaricom's Global System for Mobile Communication technology. The tracking technology, jointly run by Safaricom and Save the Elephants – a local wildlife conservation organisation – will provide more accurate information on areas suitable for reintroduction of wild animals and their movements.
Women in Kenya have praised President Mwai Kibaki's promise to waive heavy taxes levied on women's sanitary towels as a move which will greatly enhance women's reproductive health and reduce the costly burden of hygiene on poor women.
While much has been made of the so-called digital divide, the reality of the issue is that it is also a capacity and human resource divide. This is according to David Hartshorn, secretary general of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF). He was discussing ways to overcome this problem at the SatCom Africa 2004 satellite technology conference, taking place at the Sandton Convention Centre.
Capacity.org features a new issue every quarter. Each issue focuses on a particular theme, with a Welcome Letter, a Selected Bibliography and Guest Contributions. Other sections are updated regularly. The newsletter focuses on the wealth of new methodologies, guidelines and tools that have been designed to promote institutional development.
Water-Warriors is an unmoderated mailing list for strategies, campaigns and ideas on water and privatization. To post to this list please send an e-mail to [email protected]
As civil society, we are confronted with an opportunity – to use the Internet and other emerging network technologies to support our quest for global peace and social justice. Consider that we live in a world where almost anyone located in an urban centre can share their message globally with a free blog and a few dollars spent at an Internet café. Access is not– or will not for much longer be – a major communications stumbling block for civil society organisations. The more pressing need is for civil society to learn how to appropriate the technologies that we now have access to, bending and moulding them so that they can be used more strategically and politically.
Free Software and Open Source Software Foundation for Africa (Fossfa) co-ordinator Bildad Kagai has issued a strongly-worded warning to African governments that are - or are planning to - enter into "deals" with the Microsoft Corporation saying they were jeopordising their local software industry as well as limiting the potential of ICT development in their countries.
This paper examines the co-evolution of ICTs and communication rights and provides a historical analysis through several generations of human rights developments of the inter-relationships between technical advances that enabled new communication modalities and the subsequent social and organisational interests that evolved.
Help end global economic injustice driven by the policies, projects, and programs of the international financial institutions! Educate, Organize, Mobilize! Be the change you want to see in our world! Organize public events in 2004, help expose the continued use of power, veiled by rhetoric, to enrich corporations, banks, and investors at the expense of people and the planet.
Around the world, many police and law-enforcement officials misuse their right to use force, with fatal consequences. Most police forces are armed, but are inadequately trained on how to assess when and where to fire a gun, but with political will, this can be corrected and save many lives, a new report by Amnesty International concludes. Guns and Policing: Standards to prevent misuse focuses on what governments should be doing to control the use of guns by their police forces. The report has been written by Amnesty International for the Control Arms Campaign and is the first in a series of short thematic reports to be produced for Amnesty International, Oxfam and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) during the campaign. The Control Arms Campaign is a global campaign aimed at making people safe from armed violence.
Every year, the World Economic Forum produces a "Global Competitiveness Report". They ask the World Bank and corporate executives around the world about economic conditions in different countries. But they don't ask labour interests about how workers and unions fare around the world. Harvard University's Labour and Worklife Program thought it would be a good idea to try to conduct a survey called the Global Labour Survey. When the results are announced in May 2004, they are expected to receive worldwide attention.
Fears by local democratic watchdogs over South Africa's sincerity in resolving the deepening crisis in Zimbabwe were clearly vindicated when that country's Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma defended the recent Supreme Court ruling legitimising sections of the repressive Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA). The Herald reported Zuma as saying her government had no plans to discuss AIPPA with their Zimbabwean counterparts as the legislation was constitutional. Said Zuma rather blithely: "We accept it. Should we not accept it? What is really the issue? Has any journalist been refused registration? Have reasons been given for that?" Read the full story in the latest edition of the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe newsletter.
The value of news and public affairs took front and centre stage at the Internews Local Voices Radio Station Managers workshop that ended in Abuja on February 14. Amidst back-slapping and camaraderie of meeting old and new friends, radio station managers committed to actively strive for more depth in their coverage of news and public affairs. "We are returning to base imbued with ideas on programming and how to do better audience-focused communication in relation to HIV/AIDS", said the Manager Programs of Radio Kano, Hajia Sa'a Ibrahim.
Health Minister Urbain Olanguena Awono has opened an administrative and judicial inquiry into a news story that appeared in the private newspaper "Le Messager". The minister was angered by the paper's publication of an article in its 18 February edition (issue 1624), which reported on the administration of a vaccine of poor quality to individuals affected by the cholera epidemic that has struck Douala, Cameroon's second largest city (240 kilometres south of Yaounde), in the last seven weeks.
Silvia Sansoni, a journalist who works for the British weekly news magazine "The Economist", was expelled from Nigeria on 19 February 2004 after being taken to Lagos airport under police escort and placed on a Paris-bound flight. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) expressed shock over the incident, which the organisation considers to be a press freedom violation. RSF said, however, "We are not really surprised. The Nigerian authorities have been treating the foreign press with contempt for several years and have never stopped making the lives of foreign correspondents very difficult."
Zimbabwe's only independent daily newspaper, The Daily News, and its sister publication, The Daily News on Sunday, will lay off the bulk of their staff by the end of the week. The publishers, Associated Newspapers of Zimbabwe (ANZ), have bowed to the financial pressure caused by the regular closure of the pro-opposition newspapers by the authorities.
A government ban on the country’s besieged independent journalists' association has been lifted ahead of court action seeking to overturn the ruling, officials told IRIN on Monday. The move came as the former Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association (EFJA) leadership began legal proceedings against the ban. They are also claiming that the government illegally orchestrated their overthrow and helped establish a new leadership for the troubled 13-year-old association.
Emigration figures of highly skilled researchers remain high, but the greatest mobility of high–level skills is now within the country. This is a key finding of Flight of the Flamingos, the Study on Mobility of R&D workers, released by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on 28 January.
TakingITGlobal.org is a global online community, providing youth with inspiration to make a difference, a source of information on issues, opportunities to take action, and a bridge to getting involved locally, nationally and internationally based on areas of interest. TIG showcases the power of expression through art and writing. TIG is a bridge to events, organisations, and scholarships around the world. Membership is free of charge and allows you to interact with various aspects of the website, to contribute ideas, experiences, and actions.
The conference will focus on the crucial role of theatre in contemporary Africa as a vehicle for political debate, development and cultural identity. It will be hosted by the Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS).
ZNet's Africa Watch tries to present information not only on the African Continent but on the diaspora as well, including the Caribbean. The site currently offers some alternative perspectives on the looming Haiti crisis and the US government’s duplicity.
Menbere Waldi Tzadik and her husband slipped into Israel from Ethiopia on tourist visas eight years ago and never left, living in the shadows as illegal workers. They cleaned houses and sent home the small sums they saved to support two children they had not seen since they left their homeland. Tzadik, 35, ached to see her daughter and son, now 14 and 12, and was planning to leave Israel for good within a month. Instead, she is to be buried this week in Jerusalem, one of 11 people killed Thursday on a crowded bus by a Palestinian suicide bomber.