PAMBAZUKA NEWS 64
PAMBAZUKA NEWS 64
The United States is to provide Malawi with US $5.4 million in emergency food aid in response to the government's appeal for international assistance to help overcome the country's food crisis.
Imbono Yethu Project has received R140 000 from the Uthingo Trust, a voluntary social investment fund established by the operator of SA's National Lottery, Uthingo Management.
The Seattle-based Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $50 million over five years to a $70 million United Nations initiative to improve the lives of poor children worldwide by fortifying basic foods with vitamin supplements.
Eskom donated a computer with Internet access to a 18-year-old Breidbach girl who was diagnosed with the incurable disease, Friedriechs atoxia, -- thanks to the Reach For A Dream Foundation's efforts.
Tourism Buffalo City (TBC) has been given R2,5 million by USAid to develop a tourism strategy. This was announced at the tourism Indaba held in Durban last weekend.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, development
aid from the richest nations fell last year despite their commitments to increase assistance in the longer-term.
The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) is an internationally recognised centre for policy, research, training and information dissemination on elections and democracy in SADC countries. It is looking for a Research Director.
Gun Free South Africa is looking for a Western Cape Regional Organiser who has a passion for peace and against violence; who does not own
a gun and is committed to remaining gun free at home and at work.
Behind the Mask is an organisation that aims to empower and support lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in Africa. It is looking for an Executive Director.
Woz'obona, an NGO doing early childhood teacher training since 1987, is hiring a fulltime Senior Trainer.
Lawyers for Human Right is currently seeking applications for a one-year paralegal position to monitor the detention of undocumented migrants. The position
will be based in Johannesburg and the successful candidate will be expected to travel within South Africa.
You are invited to an Open Seminar on the WSSD: International Critiques of Unsustainable Development Coordinated by three international progressive think-tanks: Focus on the Global South (Bangkok), International Forum on Globalization (San Francisco) and the Southern and East African Trade, Information and Negotiations Initiative (Harare).
SANGONeT, in association with LINK Centre at the University of the Witwatersrand, is offering a certificate course designed to promote computer literacy.
The Non Profit Partnership has commissioned Natal
University's Centre for Civil Society to do the country's first independent research into the Lotteries Act and distribution of lottery funds to civil society organizations in South Africa.
On the west coast of Africa a small country about the size of Belgium was blessed by God with a wealth of natural resources. It had fertile soil, ample rainfall, an abundance of fish in its rivers and the ocean, and mineral deposits, including the recently discovered oil. With a very small population of only 500,000 people there should have been no limit to the well-being and prosperity of its citizens.
But nature and history are often at odds with each other. There are misunderstandings and missed opportunities which affect the rise and fall of an aspiring population.
Equatorial Guinea was a Spanish colony for over two centuries. It grew into a thriving economic center with trade dominated by its superb cacao and fruit and exotic wood species which were much desired in Europe and beyond. The Spanish colonialists were the masters and the native inhabitants were the workers who toiled in conditions of slavery and abuse. The introduction of Catholicism and the education of children under the auspices of the church was a strong institution bonding masters and slaves.
In the 1950s the concept of freedom and self-government was sweeping across Africa. The liberation movement of former Spanish Guinea came to fruition in 1968 after negotiations in the United Nations. I am proud to have been a participant in the struggle and a signer of the Articles of Independence at the U. N.
As a result of unfortunate political manipulations at the time Francisco Macias Nguema became the first native ruler of our new country. It was the start of a barbaric tyranny parallel to the regime of despot Idi Amin Dada in Uganda. In Guinea, in addition to the assassination of 80,000 innocent civilians, Nguema's regime declared war on religion and desecrated the Holy Sacrament publicly. It jailed and executed priests and religious men and women, closed all churches, transforming some into cacao warehouses and others into dancing saloons. It banned any religious worshipping and officially declared Nguema God and "Creator of Equatorial Guinea". The colonial structure, cruel as it was, had broken down and was replaced by selfish and malicious tyranny.
Macias Nguema dedicated himself to pagan practices and traditional voodoo rituals, including cannibalistic practices, and ended up in mental and physical deterioration and eventual "disappearance" choreographed by a "family arrangement". Following the undemocratic tradition of his Mongomo tribe, succession was determined by declaration of the Mongomonos for Macias's nephew Teodoro rather than by public voting. His qualifications and prerequisites for the job: malicious murderer-executioner and chief enforcer of Macias' perverted practices.
A third of the Guinean population lives in exile still today, afraid of the tyrannical regime which has continued under the leadership of Nguema's nephew, Teodoro Obiang Nguema. In Uganda and some other African former colonies there have been some changes in rulership, but the people of Equatorial Guinea still suffer under the family regime which began thirty-four years ago. As the people say with rage, "The same dogs with different collars".
Seeking to sanctify his reign Teodoro Obiang Nguema arranged pseudo-elections, which violated his own erratic Fundamental Law of the country. In the 1996 "election", competing alone, he was victorious with 99.00% of those voting.
Teodoro has been industrious and lucky. He, with the conspiracy of family members, developed relationships with drug producing countries, especially those of southwestern Asia, leading to Guinea's predominance as a major world drug transshipment center. From Guinea's strategic location on the coast with numerous islands it has open-water access to Europe and the United States. The income from this lucrative businesshas maintained him in comfort.
In the recent half-decade the discovery and extraction of oil onshore and offshore has led to the nickname "the new Kuwait". ExxonMobil, Trident and other world-class oil companies have invested billions in exploration and extraction rights. It has provided a leap in income for the extended ruling family, but the bounty has not trickled down to its citizens who remain subject to torture and execution. The situation of the oil companies is a ticklish one since they want the business rights but don't want to appear to be supporting a corrupt regime. Regarding recent inhuman condition Amnesty International stated in April, 2002:
"International monitoring in Equatorial Guinea is essential, especially now when human violations are still being perpetrated, including the incomunicado detention for a month of more than fifty suspects who are at risk of being tortured to death...The fact that the families are being denied access to their relatives and that nobody knows where they are currently being held has led to fears that some of them may already have died under torture. The relatives have publicly expressed their fears that these persons might have been killed while in detention".
Mr. Gustavo Gallon, the Special Representative of the UN Commission on Human Rights, wrote in his January 2002 report:
"The human rights situation in Equatorial Guinea has been a matter of concern to the Commission on Human Rights for longer than that of any other country. The situation of rights in that country should continue to be monitored in order to ensure the implement the recommendations repeatedly made by the Commission over the last 20 years".
Despite numerous visits to the Mayo Clinic in the U.S. Teodoro has been in failing health for years and the question of his successor is now an urgent one for the country. His sons have already assumed major duties. The possibility of a free and fair democratic election seems remote without pressures from and international governments and human rights institutions.
The history and current situation of my country, outlined briefly above, are dealt with in detail in my recent book, Equatorial Guinea: From Spanish Colonialism to the Discovery of Oil, which is my legacy to my beloved people. My hopes for my country are strong and I will continue to expose and plead and educate so that Equatorial Guinea will one day have the future nature seems to have intended for it.
Dr. Adolfo Obiang Biko is President of MONALIGE, author of the book Equatorial Guinea: from Spanish Colonialism to the Discovery of Oil, and the presidential candidate for MONALIGE in the forthcoming elections in Equatorial Guinea in 2003.
Amnesty International Report: Equatorial Guinea: The UN Commission on Human rights must act in the interest of human rights, April 2002.
Based in WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA
£ 24,000 Sterling P.A.
The postholder will develop and manage CIIR’s Southern Africa programme with an operational focus on Namibia and Zimbabwe but with a wider sub-regional outlook. You will increase the programmes effectiveness and impact through advocacy and skillsharing in three prioritised areas: HIV/AIDS, Building Just Societies and Peace and Conflict. You will work constructively with local partner organisations and with marginalised groups, commercial farm workers and the San people. You should have five years direct experience in NGO management on a level of strategic planning, project management and staff and financial management. An in-depth knowledge of the Southern African social and political context and the role of civil society organisations and multilateral bodies in development are important. Due to the nature of this post CIIR is looking to recruit a person from the Southern Africa region who has gained a range of international development experience in the region or beyond. Closing date: 28 June 2002.
CONTRACTORS used to receiving lucrative tenders through bribery of state officials may be blacklisted and barred from participating in the procurement system of the government for three to five years.
Improvement of key Kenyan roads stopped abruptly or never even began as a result of multimillion shilling corrupt deals involving World Bank official Gutam Sengupta, a top Kenyan civil servant and a string of international contractors.
Corruption is rife at the deputy prime minister's office as government officials and senior officers are said to be enriching themselves from the King's [Mswati] 40m emalangeni Regional Development Fund.
A fortnight ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director, Mr Horst Koehler, unleashed a verbal tirade against the Western establishment that may as well have come from an African president. Calling American and European trade policies "perverse," Mr Koehler urged an end to cotton and sugar subsidies that obstruct poor countries from exporting to the West, contributing to the grinding poverty in the producing countries.
"Free and fair and free of fear and violence," appears to be the consensus on the general elections in Sierra Leone, after Tuesday's enthusiastic voting for a new president, a new parliament and peace after more than ten years of civil war. Sierra Leoneans are congratulating themselves, the United Nations, the British and all those who helped them reach the day when they were able to put a bitter conflict behind them and take the country forward.
The global anti-corruption organisation Transparency International's Bribe Payers Index for 2002, released on Tuesday, shows very high levels of bribery in developing countries including South Africa. Corporations from Russia, China, Taiwan, South Korea and several leading industrial nations were most likely to offer bribes to developing nations.
THE New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) will be the main topic of the World Economic Forum's annual southern African summit in Durban from June 4-7. Hundreds of delegates will attend the conference at Durban's International Convention Centre. The Geneva-based World Economic Forum is an independent organisation committed to improving the state of the world. It presents the annual global summit in Davos, Switzerland.
FACILITATORS of talks between Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU PF and the opposition MDC are now consulting South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Nigerian counterpart Olusegun Obasanjo in a desperate bid to try to save the negotiations from collapse, it was established Wednesday.
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) condemns the increased persecution of and threats against Togolese journalists.
With nearly 10 million square kilometres of Africa infested by tsetse fly, a new method, the sterile insect technique, has proved successful in combating tsetse fly especially when used in combination with traditional methods such as traps and insecticides. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said on 10 May, that the technique, whereby male flies are sterilised through radiation and then released into the tsetse-infested areas where they mate, brings down the reproductive rate of the whole population leading to extinction.
Africa is at a crossroads. Despite the development efforts of the past two decades, Africans are getting poorer. Over 300 million people live on less than US$1 dollar per day. Life expectancy is 48 years and falling. Twenty-eight million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and 40 per cent of children are out of school. The responsibility for this crisis lies within the continent and outside it. There is a glaring absence of accountable governance at national, regional, and global levels. Only by ending the 'business as usual' approach to Africa can the situation change.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has expressed its concern about a bill adopted by Kenyan MPs on 8 May 2002 and called on the head of State to ask the government to drop the bill, saying it was repressive and a "clear threat" to media diversity in Kenya. "It naturally discriminates in favour of richer newspapers and introduces an ambiance of intimidation at all levels of production," said RSF secretary-general Robert Ménard in a letter to President Daniel arap Moi.
More than 5,500 children die daily from diseases caused by consuming water and food polluted with bacteria, according to three UN (United Nations) agencies. A new study released by United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep), United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed that diarrhoea and respiratory infections are the major causes of child mortality.
Malnutrition levels in at least seven newly accessible areas in Angola are "critical", according to the United Nations. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday that inter-agency rapid assessments in 28 areas which were cut off from relief aid before May because of the war indicated that people needed assistance urgently.
Human Rights Watch on 11th May condemned Kenya's parliament for passing a new law aimed at government control of newspapers. The new law imposes exorbitant publishing fees that could handicap newspapers economically and silence new voices. Human Rights Watch urged President Daniel arap Moi not to sign the law into effect.
Several developing nations on Wednesday said that the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria should be altered to give African nations and other countries with high HIV infection rates "more of a say" in the fund's operations, Reuters reports. Speaking to the World Health Assembly -- the governing body of the World Health Organization -- a representative from Botswana said, "We recommend that Africa's representation on the board ... be reviewed to make sure that it is in proportion to the burden of the disease."
The Economist this week examines the HIV/AIDS epidemic in southern Africa, specifically in Botswana, Mozambique and South Africa. Botswana has the distinction of being among Africa's richest nations, with a stable democracy and little corruption. However, the country also has the highest HIV adult prevalence rate in the world at 38.5%. According to the Economist, Botswana's mining industry is the key to both its prosperity and its high HIV prevalence. The gold and diamond trade has bolstered the nation's economy, but the single-sex communal living conditions of the miners -- where alcohol and prostitution are frequent diversions -- have contributed to the spread of the virus. In addition, the miners, who are often migrant workers, can transmit the virus to their wives or girlfriends when they return home.
At least 8,000 people have been made homeless and thousands of acres of grazing land flooded by torrential rains lashing Tana River district.
UGANDA is to host a five-day conference for environmental ministers from Africa ahead of the 10th commemoration of the Earth Summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Angela Luh of the United Nations Environment Programme told a press conference on Monday that the African Ministerial Conference on Environment (AMCEN) would take place in Kampala in July.
Malawi has started implementing its controversial national land policy even though parliament hasn't ratified it. The controversial policy insists that foreigners owning land renew their residency every seven years, failing which the government will seize the land and give it to landless people. Critics say this will deter foreign investment.The ministry of land has bought Makande Tea Estate in the southern Thyolo district from the Lonrho Company and started registering landless people from neighbouring Mulanje district.
The South African Weather Service said it expects El Nino weather conditions to hit southern Africa at the end of the year, bringing yet another dry spell after this year's already disappointing harvest. "Indications are showing that an El Nino is coming and the data we are getting month after month shows it is under way," said Melton Mugeri, a meteorologist at the South African Weather Service.
Poachers in Rwanda have killed two of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas, a highly endangered species, in an attempt to capture and sell their young, Rwandan wildlife conservation officials said. "With just some 350 of them remaining, the population is so fragile that every individual lost is significant in terms of the viability of the mountain gorilla," said Katie Fawcett, director of the Karisoke Research Centre in the northwestern town of Ruhengeri.
Good day to you.I saw this in pambazuka's edition and I decide to react toit.I am a Nigerian based in Lagos and I am aware of efforts of Government and agencies on the bomb explosion in Lagos.The only co-ordinating groups known is the office of the Secretary to the Government of Nigeria and the Governor of Lagos State.However some agencies like the Nigerian Red Cross Society,the Salvation Army and Some Major Newspapers and TV stations,got some relief materials which I believe were handed over to Govt and the Red Cross and these were in the news.Some NGOs set up rehabilitation and counselling services at the camps provided by govt.
The below organisation could be another scam and it should be disregarded in its entirety.All donations if any should be addressed to The Federal Government of Nigeria or the Governor of Lagos State.I am not aware of any agency being set up by Govt apart from the existing ones and I have not seen or hear any NGO soliciting for funds for the victims.
Please disregard these jokers.
We, concerned Malawians living in South Africa, petition Your Excellency, President Dr. Bakili Muluzi on matters raised below on the basis of the oath of office you took in promising to uphold and defend the Malawi Republican Constitution at all times. Malawians entrusted you with the responsibility of providing them with leadership that is founded on natural justice, human rights and democratic governance. We recognize that it is also our patriotic duty to bring to your attention those issues that impact on national integrity and survival of Malawi as a nation.
Your Excellency, as you may be aware, Malawi is besieged by political conflict and uncertainty that is negatively impacting on the SADC region in realizing the goals of New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) and thereby damaging the investor confidence that the region desperately needs.
You are aware that there is a campaign going on in Malawi on, your behalf, calling for the Malawi Republican Constitution to be amended to allow you to run for a third presidential term of office. We know that you have said nothing on the matter despite the negative effects of uncertainty that this campaign is creating. The uncertainty and hopelessness that has gripped Malawi today as a result of the political campaign that your political party is waging has a negative effect on the country and the region. Additionally, Malawi experiences political instability that robs Malawians of unity required galvanizing patriotic efforts by citizens to move their country forward.
RADIX has just begun to develop a page devoted to the current food emergency in southern Africa. We would welcome any materials (brief comments, reports on work-in-progress, suggestions of web links, electronic reprints of good background essays, etc.) from anyone and everyone. We are particularly interested, from both scholarly and humanitarian points of view, in the differences between 1991 and 2002. The earlier event amounts to a 'success story' in drought mitigation and prevention of famine. A preliminary analysis suggests three sets of differences:
Stresses: more numerous and severe in their interactions this time (HIV-AIDS, cholera, flood followed by drought, standing crops damaged by hungry mega fauna/ stolen by hungry thieves, mismanagement of stored food reserves, deterioration of democratic governance, level of corruption) Regional cooperation: possibly less vigorous SADC level activity (could this be because of tensions due to members taking different sides in the conflict in Congo?)
International response: slower (?) (Are there signs of 'compassion fatigue'? or distraction by Afghanistan and the Middle East? or reluctance to provide aid to regimes seen as corrupt?).
Among the countries currently included in WFP bulletins on the food emergency (Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Mozambique), there are very great differences in terms of history, political economy, political ecology, regime stability and credibility. Nevertheless, the composite factors give rise to concern that this time around more lives could be lost (400% rise in the price of maize in Malawi in the face of which many of the rural poor who have already sold off all assets simply starve). Another question is why Botswana appears to be escaping the current crisis. We are also particularly interested in what happened to the large number on NGO initiatives in this region in the early 1990s that were designed to build local capacity to cope with drought and other hazards. Have some been successful? Is the current crisis simply too large for these to provide much protection or resilience? Are women faring much better this time around? (Megan Vaughan's book on the 1949-50 famine in Malawi -- then Nyasaland -- provides an excellent baseline study of gender and famine: The Story of an African Famine, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987). We invite comments in this discussion list and also contributions of documents for posting on the RADIX web site addresses to [email protected] or [email protected].
The New York-based rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has called on the Eritrean government to free immediately nine journalists detained in September 2001 following the government's imposition of a ban on all private and independent publications in the country, HRW said in a press statement on Thursday.
Leader of the National Assembly Harry Thomson has said nobody in the United Democratic Front [ UDF] can force the party's MPs to support a bid to change the Constitution to allow an incumbent President to run for more than two term. He described UDF Regional Governor John Kapito statement that the party would fire MPs who did not support the amendment in Parliament as "emotional."
Thomson, who also noted that MPs have a right to speak their mind, was speaking in an interview. "I think it [Kapito's ] was an emotional statement. MPs will have to do their own soul searching and make their own decisions. You can say anything but you can't force everyone to think the same way," said Thomson.
The Inter-Congolese dialogue held at Sun City in South Africa, which lasted more than seven weeks, finally produced a partial agreement on a transition government for the Democratic Republic of Congo on 19 April. After years of war, the accord reached between President Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba of the MLC (Mouvement pour la libiration du Congo) marks an important new political alignment. However ICG's Africa program Co-Director Fabienne Hara said: "Despite the agreement, the negotiations are far from complete and the future of the Democratic Republic of Congo remains uncertain. The talks left the RCD (Rassemblement congolais pour la Dimocratie) and its military ally Rwanda isolated, threatening renewed hostilities and even partition. Strong international leadership will be essential to reach an all-inclusive agreement".
Journalists have been disallowed from covering proceedings of a 15-member Christian Peace Committee probing the death of 14 worshippers in Enugu, South East Nigeria. At the resumed sitting of the committee led by Justice Anthony Aniagolu last week, evidence from two witnesses who appeared before it including the former Governor of Old Anambra State, Chief C.C. Onoh, were taken in camera.
Pambazuka News 63: Edição Especial - Relações Raciais no Brasil
Pambazuka News 63: Edição Especial - Relações Raciais no Brasil
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) marks World Press Freedom Day by naming the world's worst places to be a journalist-10 places whose dangers and restrictions represent the full range of current threats to press freedom.
The mass media has been urged to act freely, independently and responsibly with a view to ensure basic freedoms, human rights and democratic practices all of which are the best guarantors of freedom. In a Joint message for the World Press Freedom Day commemorated world-wide on May 3, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Director-General of UNESCO and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said "The greatest service that the media can perform in the fight against terrorism is to act freely, independently an responsibly."
Women radio journalists from southern Africa are invited to apply for a 10-day
training program on reporting on HIV/AIDS. Organized by the African Women's Media Center, the program will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from June 18 to June 29. The training will cover information that is vital to covering HIV/AIDS, provide
an overview on the basics of journalism and offer an opportunity for hands-on
training in radio production. The dealine for applications is May 24, 2002.
ICT is a crucial resource for developing countries striving to benefit from the global knowledge economy and replicate its advantages in their own economies. At the same time, ICT poses new challenges for women's inclusion into the workforce, and threatens the efforts toward gender parity and women's empowerment. This study will investigate the various aspects of this dilemma, to discover the most effective way in which women may become active participants in social and economic change, and gain from their involvement in the production, use and application of ICT.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO), along with the government of Tanzania and Akiba Commercial Bank, has launched a project to help tackle the problem of child labour in the country by boosting women's income-earning potential.
Women and children face increasing brutality in modern conflicts, Save the Children USA, reported on Thursday. In countries at war they had increasingly become casualties of deliberate, systematic violence and were more defenceless against hunger, injury, disease, forced military servitude and sexual exploitation, it added.
The American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIST), International Information Issues Special Interest Group, is pleased to announce its third competition for papers to be submitted for the 2002 Annual Meeting, November 18-21 2002, Philadelphia, PA. The theme of the paper is: "Knowledge, Connections and Communities: the developing world perspective." Deadline for submissions is July 31, 2002.
The Research Ethics Training Curriculum, a teaching aid produced by Family Health International (FHI), presents basic ethics issues that must be considered when human participants are included in research. Designed for biomedical and social science researchers, the curriculum covers the foundations, principles, responsible conduct and oversight of research involving human participants. It includes a narrative, copies of overhead slides, case studies, pre- and post-test questionnaires, audience handouts, reprints of key ethical guide-lines, and various resources and references.
South Africa's HIV/AIDS programme has received a boost with the announcement of a US $165.2 million grant from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.
The number of Liberian refugees presenting themselves for relocation within Sierra Leone has increased recently following a mass information campaign by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency has reported.
A Muslim group in Nigeria's southern state of Oyo has said it was adopting the Islamic legal code of Sharia after the state government ignored their demands to implement the legal system.
Most Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) need to relate with their specific public such as Donor Agencies and development partners, in order to secure the necessary support for their projects. Among the tools to achieve this objective is their capacity to effectively budget, execute and transparently account for non-profit projects. The purpose of this Seminar is to help NGOs develop a more professional approach to project conception, budgeting and financial reporting which are critical to their project evaluation, implementation and sustainability. A selection of cases will be used to address these issues. Closing date for registration is June 11 2002.
At least 47 schools are unlikely to re-open today due to havoc caused by the heavy rains. The schools, in western Kenya, have either been cut off completely due to floods or have had classrooms and dormitories submerged in water.
Governments and civil society organs need to work harder together to ensure the translation of the rights in the African Charter on Human Rights into a reality for the millions of people on the continent.
Speaking at the official opening of the 31st African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR) session currently underway in Pretoria, Deputy President Jacob Zuma said the legal fraternity in particular, had a critical role to play in entrenching a human rights culture on the continent, in partnership with government and other civil society institutions.
As the AIDS crisis reaches staggering dimensions globally, the result is an explosive coupling of AIDS with long-standing global challenges in areas ranging from health care and human rights to economic development. This session addresses how philanthropy can and should answer this challenge on an issue that defies narrow categorization and business-as-usual models. Panelists include Adrienne Germain, president, International Women's Health Coalition, and Michael Sinclair, senior vice president, Health and Development in South Africa, Kaiser Family Foundation. Virginia Davis Floyd, director, Human Development and Reproductive Health, The Ford Foundation, moderates.
In a new book, "The Skeptical Environmentalist," Bjorn Lomborg looks at the current state of the planet and takes issue with the many sensational claims made by the environmental movement over the years. Using data from government organizations such as the US EPA and the United Nations, he points out that in most areas, environmental quality is improving. People are living longer, healthier and more prosperous lives, which is contrary to what many of these groups would like us to believe.
In order to save some of the services provided by natural ecosystems, such as carbon sequestration supplied by rapidly disappearing forests and other human-driven ecosystem changes, we have to start paying for them. So argue Gretchen Daily, a conservation biologist at Stanford University, and Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Katherine Ellison.
About 65 world leaders and delegates from more than 150 nations this week will take part in the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on Children in New York City, the Washington Times reports. The event, which will begin Wednesday and run through Friday, was orginally scheduled to take place Sept. 18, 2001, but it was postponed following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon (Washington Times, 5/6). While HIV/AIDS was only a "blip on the world agenda" at the 1990 children's summit, it is expected to be a focus issue this year, Agence France-Presse reports, noting that the final document to come out of the conference should "have a clearer reference [to HIV/AIDS] than was possible in 1990."
A Kenyan law that allows the importation and manufacture of generic antiretroviral drugs took effect on May 1, BBC News reports. Last June, the Kenyan Parliament passed the Industrial Properties Bill 2001, a measure that allows Kenya to suspend drug patents during a national health emergency. The law stipulates that Kenya must give drug manufacturers six months' notice before licensing other companies to import or produce generic versions of patented drugs.
Lawyers for the South African government yesterday in Constitutional Court argued that universal access to nevirapine is unnecessary because on average, pregnant women transmit the virus to their infants only 30% of the time, the South African Press Association reports. "You are giving a drug to 70% who do not need it. And you are introducing a drug of which you do not know the long-term effects," government attorney Marumo Moerane told the court during the first day of testimony in the government's appeal of a lower court order that it make the drug available to all HIV-positive pregnant women through the public health system.
Forum for Women in Democracy (FOWODE) with support from Ford Foundation will convene a meeting of East African researchers and activists working to promote alternative and transformative leadership. The meeting of 40 participants to be held in Uganda will review the existing forms of leadership and explore alternative and transformative modes of leadership and share strategies. The perspectives and experiences of the participants will be documented and disseminated widely in the region in order to strengthen institutions working in this field.
The congress is organized around the main theme "Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challenges." This theme provides an opportunity for a broad reflection on the state of women and gender issues from a gendered perspective within the context of change. It enables discussions focused on both differences and similarities and offers positive pointers for future action for gender equity and equality. The Women's Worlds 2002 special focus areas will be the African perspective, young voices, gendering women and men, celebrating multiculturality and diversity and North - South perspectives.
"Thousands of parents throughout South Africa have lost and are losing their infants to HIV/AIDS. Most of them are desperately poor and marginalised by a society in which the rights of women and children are frequently trampled upon. However, today's court case and recent events, including the commitment by Government to extend mother-to-child HIV transmission prevention irrespective of today's ruling, give hope to many women and children who will use public antenatal clinics in the future."
The Know How conference 2002 will be held within Women World's 2002 program from 23-27 July, 2002 in Kampala, Uganda. This will be the 5th conference of specialists in the collection and dissemination of information relevant to women. The conference is being organized by Isis-Women's International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) assisted by the International Information Center and Archives for the Women's Movement (IIAV) in Amsterdam.
The international medical relief organisation
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has started an emergency feeding and medical
programme in Chipindo, in Angola's southern province of Huila, to aid 18,000 isolated people in severe need. During an exploratory medical mission the MSF team discovered mortality
figures as high as 6.1 per 10,000 people a day for children under 5 and 4.5
deaths per 10,000 a day for the population in general. These figures are well above the emergency threshold of 1 death for 10,000 a day.
Chocolate manufacturers, human rights groups and the Ivory Coast Government have signed pact aimed at ending the abuse of child labour in the chocolate industry. The agreement aims to address the use of children in West Africa's cocoa fields, and measures designed to crack down on mistreatment are set to be in place before the harvest season in autumn.
The return to Cape Town of the remains of Saartje Baartman, the Khoisan lady dubbed the "Hottentot Venus" in Europe, could provide the spark for the revival of Khoisan - or "Bushman" culture. The Khoisan people are widely believed to be the original inhabitants of the southern tip of Africa. Baartman's remains, which were placed in a coffin draped in the South African flag, were returned 186 years after her death in Paris where she died a pauper. French scientists made a mould of her body and preserved her skeleton, genitalia and brain which remained on display at the Museum of Mankind in Paris until 1974.
Mali's Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to validate the results of the first round of presidential elections on 28 April, as the opposition steps up its campaign to have them annulled.
The Ugandan army shot dead around 50 rebels based in Sudan during fighting over the weekend, according to an army spokesman. Major Shaban Bantariza said the rebels were killed near the Sudanese village of Katire, about 60 km (37 miles) north of the Ugandan border.
The National Union for Plastic Artists (UNAP) is planning to train Angolan journalists on arts and culture enabling them to make a better coverage of the local arts’ movement. A 3-months training is aimed at providing tools to specialized journalists both from the public and the private media, particularly those who are members of the Association of Cultural Journalists(AJC). “We are conscious that journalists may do a better job if given new and right tools on arts and culture”, said Antonio Tomas "Tona", Unap’s general secretary. “The unsuccessful coverage by the journalists on arts is perfectly understandable as throughout the years the headlines were about war”, he added. Tona believes that journalists need to learn some basic arts’ concepts. The Union will count on its own trainers to set up a special program for journalists in the coming days. It is not yet clear when the training will start.
The World Bank has pledged US $42 million to help Zambia's anti-AIDS campaign, but disbursement of the funds will hinge on the response of an unpredictable parliament to a proposed new national HIV/AIDS policy.
Opposed by meek pro-democracy forces, King Mswati's government is likely to succeed in promulgating a new constitution to preserve palace power, Swazi political analysts told IRIN. "Mswati seems like small potatoes compared to Robert Mugabe and other national leader cutthroats," said a Manzini businessman. "No one has ever died in political violence here, and there aren't even any demonstrations anymore. Why should the world bother with little Swaziland?"
Lesotho has one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the world, yet prevention and treatment programmes are only just getting off the ground. UNAIDS associate country programme advisor Ludo Bok told PlusNews the impoverished mountain kingdom was still in the early stages of responding to the pandemic, but had a prevalence rate of between 31 and 34 percent.
The South African Medical Research Council (MRC), in collaboration with several partners, are establishing an Internet information portal on HIV/AIDS for southern Africa. The proposed portal will provide a knowledge resource to facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing among institutions involved in the prevention of HIV/AIDS in this region. The initial target audience includes health researchers and profes-
sional health care workers, people living with HIV/AIDS, NGOs and community-based organisations in the field and policy makers. This is an invitation to stakeholders, involved in generating quality HIV/AIDS information, to make their information resources available via the AfroAidsInfo portal. Submissions covering the following areas are encouraged:
We would like to thank all of you for the overwhelming response to our call for abstracts for the 3rd MIM Pan-African Conference to be held in Arusha, Tanzania, 18-22 November 2002. The Conference titled "Global Advances in Malaria Research: Developing Evidence-Based Policy and Control" aims to promote the exchange of scientific ideas and will focus on scientific progress and potential in malaria research, with special emphasis given to the linkage between malaria research and its contribution to evidence based policy and control. Due to several requests we have decided to extend the deadline for abstract submission until Sunday May 12; after May 12th the online abstract submission site will close. We are therefore encouraging those who missed the May 1 deadline to use this extension to submit abstracts. Please do not resubmit a revised version of an abstract you have already submitted. In particular, we would like to see more abstracts in the following areas:
The Bush Administration's decision to effectively withdraw the U.S. signature from the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court is an empty gesture that will further estrange Washington from its closest allies, Human Rights Watch have said.
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson became the latest critic of Washington’s abandonment of a new international court for the world’s worst crimes, saying on Tuesday it was “regrettable” and “worrying.” The United States said the move, signaled by U.S. officials over the weekend but not declared officially until Monday, was made because of fears that U.S. military personnel and politicians could be subject to the body.
In the last five years, the term globalization has been debated at almost every world forum and is said to be the best way to address extreme poverty in developing countries like Zambia. The international community led by the United Nations has been working with other donors to try and meet the so called development targets which is a vision and strategy to reduce the current world's poverty levels by 50% by the year 2015.That is reducing the number of people living in poverty in Zambia from the current 8 million to about 4 million before 2015.
United Nations University Leadership Academy's global course on Leadership for Environment and Human Security will take place in Jordan and South Africa during 12-30 August 2002.
The Academy's goal is to enable the participants to "learn about leadership directly from leaders" We ensure our participants have the unique opportunity to interact with global and national experts. The academy offers an innovative core curriculum on leadership including History of leadership, Contemporary Theories of Leadership, Contexts of Leadership, Ethics of Leadership, Individual Leadership Analysis and Development. Global Human Values required to meet contemporary global challenges is an integral component of the curriculum as developed by the Academy.
The board in New York City met to discuss a wide range of issues including; i) First round of proposals and their management, ii) The overall strategy and mission of the fund, iii) The appointment of the Fund's first Executive Director and the Trustee Agreement that the Fund is undertaking with the World Bank to manage the Fund's financial resources; iv) Monitoring and evaluation tools for tracking proposals in countries; v) Procurement; vi) Partnership strategies for different organizations and entities including international agencies, local governments, NGOs and national ministries of health, companies and foundations; vii) WHO/Administrative Services. The Board also reviewed documents pertaining to many issues, including the ones listed below. In many cases, these issues were tabled but discussion deferred to the next Board meeting. This report summarizes some of the key points and issues raised by these documents so that the NGO community and other civil society groups can have insight and contributions into the decisions that will be taken at the next Board meeting.
The strategies and methodologies in current practice aimed at achieving sustainable, participatory conservation are inadequately developed, and their implications are poorly understood by policy makers, managers and communities among other user groups. Possibilities of conflict and jurisdictional overlap exist. Institutional arrangements and policy instruments that facilitate the alleviation of poverty in the mountain adjacent communities through rural development should be integral components of sustainable mountain conservation. The local community though fully aware of the ecosystems biodiversity values have insufficient insights on all issues at stake, as they have limited capacity to interact at par with research institutions and government agencies as key stake holders. This paper takes a candid look at possibilities existing within the indigenous knowledge systems, community structures, institutional management agencies and other resource users for sustainable mountain and site-based resources conservation. This is in view of current policy shifts, and the gaps that exist in practice between the policies and actual enforcement.
The mountain areas of Africa are scattered throughout the continent and occupy approximately 2,960,997 Km2. Mountain areas of Africa have a high diversity in terms of ecological conditions, resource use, physical constraints to resource use, socio-economic characteristics of resources users, biodiversity and biodiversity and scenic beauty. The immediate challenge for sustainable development of mountain areas “is how can we slow the process, reverse the trend and move towards sustainable development in mountain areas”. This paper highlights the environmental and socio-economic importance of mountain areas, the constraints and opportunities and the way forward.
Zamfara government has dismissed 11 traditional rulers, four sharia court judges and five civil servants on the recommendation of the state Anti-corruption Commission since its inception three years ago. The Chairman of the Commission, Alhaji Aliyu Mohammed, who made the disclosure to newsmen in Gusau, the state capital, said the dismissed officers were found guilty of corrupt practices as a result of complaints and petitions against them from members of the public.
THE Congress of South African Trade Unions is concerned that political apathy is eroding its power and influence. Secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi told the Sunday Times this week that Cosatu leaders were shocked by the poor attendance of workers at May Day celebrations. He said discussions had taken place on how to make it more relevant to its members.
SOME South African employees are taking the lead in the fight against HIV/Aids - donating their time, salaries and services to help victims of the disease. Staff at some of the country's biggest companies and government departments have already raised over R1-million and provided food to orphans in some of the country's poorest areas in what is believed to be the start of a new trend among employees.
The United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, has flown home five children abducted by slave traders in Sudan. UNICEF said this is the first-ever transfer of kidnapped children from government to rebel-held areas. Lisa Schlein in Geneva reports.
A collection of resources on refugees and humanitarian law, from The International Committee of the Red Cross.
International humanitarian law has always accorded women general protection equal to that of men. At the same time the humanitarian law treaties recognize the need to give women additional special protection according to their specific needs. The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977 protect women (and men) as members of the civilian population not taking part in an armed conflict. Women (and men) as members of the armed forces are also protected when captured by the enemy.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this has continued its consideration of an initial report from Benin on how that country was implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. In response to questions raised by Committee Experts on Thursday afternoon, the members of Benin's delegation said that the Government was convinced that the process of decentralization would allow the population, through elections, to increase its responsibilities at the local level.
The UN Security Council has proposed setting up a panel of experts to investigate violations of the arms embargo on Somalia. In a resolution, adopted on Friday, it called on the Secretary-General to set up a two-member team that would prepare a plan of action detailing the necessary resources and expertise for such a panel.
While life may be wonderful for tourists visiting Zanzibar, the eastern Tanzanian archipelago renowned for its tranquillity and the unspoilt beauty of its beaches, most urban and rural communities on the islands suffer from poor living conditions and an inadequate supply of clean and safe water. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Tanzania is now backing the development of six water projects intended to provide adequate water supply and sanitation for more than 45,000 people on the largest island of Unguja (popularly known as Zanzibar) and its sister island, Pemba.
At least 148 people died in the northern Nigerian city
of Kano on Saturday when a jet aircraft crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood soon after takeoff , Red Cross officials said. The twin-engine, British-built BAC 1-11-500 bound for Lagos with 71
passengers and eight crew members ploughed through about a dozen buildings
in the Gwammaja quarters of Kano, killing 74 passengers and as many people
on the ground. Scores of people were injured.
Tens of thousands of farming families in eastern Sierra Leone have started to receive seeds, farm tools and other relief items as part of efforts to help internally displaced persons and refugees resettle in their home villages, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported on Thursday.