KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 28 * 5899 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 28 * 5899 SUBSCRIBERS
Justice Vernanda Ziyambi opened the Seke election petition on 18th June, the only case in which the petitioner is a ZANU-PF candidate and the respondent is an MDC Member of Parliament. In his opening statement, Adam Kara, the advocate for the ZANU (PF) candidate Chiota, told the High Court that due to the absence of names of registered voters on the voters’ roll, persons in the Seke constituency were denied their fundamental right to vote.
Women's Learning Partnership (WLP) is pleased to announce the launch of our new website . WLP is a non-profit organization working to empower women and girls in the Global South through leadership training, capacity-building, and helping women generate as well as receive information and knowledge.
Lettre d'information 26/2001
semaine du 29.06.01 au 08.07.01
Philanthropy News Digest (PND), a weekly news service of the Foundation Center, is a compendium, in digest form, of philanthropy-related articles and features culled from print and electronic media outlets nationwide. The Digest is posted to the Foundation Center's Web site every Tuesday afternoon.
This programme focuses on human rights and gender issues; international standards of equality; and policies aiming at enhancing gender equality. During this three-week course, human rights protection of women are covered in all pertinent areas, thus encompassing civil and political as well as social and economic rights.
Deadline of application: 13 July 2001
This book offers analysis on critical issues on the International Sustainable Development Agenda as well as inviting key major group representatives to look at the reasons for slow progress so far in addressing those issues. A New Deals purpose is to focus attention on the Summit and to engage a wider global community around the summit in 2002 in an effort to advance the sustainable development agenda.
How much of the $56 billion that OECD countries counted as Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 1999 was 'real aid'? The question of whether aid is really reaching poor people is fundamental.
Since 1993, NGOs from North and South have worked together on the Reality of Aid project to answer this question. But as the project has progressed, the limitations of aid have become very clear.
Alongside the efforts of developing countries themselves, aid has sometimes made a difference for individual communities. It has contributed to improved social indicators over the past three decades. If aid had not existed, the human impact of many wars and disasters would have been worse - even more people would be in poverty.
But it is equally obvious that with poverty and inequality continuing to increase, there is a need for more fundamental change in economic and political priorities.
In this [new] Report, our aim is not to belittle the progress that has been achieved. Rather we want to do a modest reality check - to begin addressing some key questions in a way that will highlight the limitations on aid - whilst pointing to ways in which a reformed aid regime could become a catalyst for wider change.
* What are the true motivations for aid?
* How much aid is 'real aid'?
* What are the underlying reasons for the co-existence of aid and debt?
* Why is it OK to cancel debt for the rich but not for the poor?
* Why are donors so addicted to conditions?
* Can ownership be reconciled with conditionality?
* Democracy and hypocrisy: who sets standards on governance ?
These questions pose real challenges to donors in the North (including NGOs). They point to the gap between the claims of what aid can do, the policies of donors, which are outlined in the national reports from OECD NGOs, and the experience and observations of civil society in the South, which are described in reports from developing countries.
In the next full Reality of Aid Report, to be published in late 2001, we will be exploring these issues further, focusing particularly on the issues of ownership and conditionality. In the past, aid has too often been a part of the problem, an integral part of a wider economic and political order in which poverty and inequality are inherent. The aid regime has the right words... empowerment, participation. The question is, can it help people, North and South, challenge the orthodoxies and structures that perpetuate poverty?
The report, which is available on-line, has the following content:
* Introduction by Elin Enge, Chair Reality of Aid
* Poverty, inequality and aid: rhetoric and reality.
* Overview from the Reality of Aid Management Committee
* Data on aid and poverty
* OECD Reports
* Perspectives from the South on Development Cooperation - includes the following articles:
* International cooperation, poverty and democracy by Mariano Valderrama, CEPES -ALOP
* International Cooperation and Poverty in Latin America by Dorian Garay, CEPES -ALOP
* Exclusion, Inequality and Poverty in Latin America and the Carribean by Eduardo
* Ballón, CEPES - ALOP
* Economists and Power at the World Bank by Humberto Campodónico, DESCO
* Loan to restructure grains sector threatens small farmers and food security by Tony Tujan, IBON
* A gender perspective on conditionality by Thoko Matshe, ZWRCN
* Aid and Poverty Reduction Strategies by Warren Nyamugasira, Uganda Debt Network
* An aid/debt trade-off is one of our best options by Opa Kapijimpanga, AFRODAD
Seven people have been reported dead and about 25 were seriously injured following severe flooding in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, Accra Regional Police Commander Kwame Marfo said on Thursday. Damage to property and infrastructure has been estimated at about seven billion cedi (US $ 1million). Over 5,000 people are reportedly homeless.
The Congolese authorities have reportedly prevented opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi from leaving the country to attend a meeting of the Socialist International organisation in Portugal. According to a statement from Tshisekedi's party, the Union pour la democratie et le progres social (UDPS), he has been forbidden to leave his house in Kinshasa and is currently at home "under surveillance".
President Robert Mugabe said his government was ready for talks with Britain over land reform, but would not succumb to threats of economic sanctions, Reuters reported on Friday.
At least seven people have been shot dead in election violence across Uganda, news agencies reported on Wednesday. Violence erupted in a village near the eastern town of Mbale after a bodyguard of candidate Simon Mulongo allegedly shot and killed five opposition supporters, the semi-official 'New Vision' daily said. The newspaper reported that an angry mob then disarmed Mulongo's bodyguard before killing him. "At least six people are dead, and eight are injured and are in Mbale hospital," Reuters quoted police spokesman Eric Naigambi as saying.
A joint communique, issued after a recent meeting between the defence ministers of Burundi and Tanzania, noted that security along the common border had not improved "in spite of the strong political will which exists between the two countries".
While in New York to attend the UN summit on HIV/AIDS, Rwandan President Paul Kagame held a number of high-level meetings to discuss the current situation in the Great Lakes region and development support to his country, according to reports from Rwandan presidential spokesman Nicholas Shalita.
The newly-created International Consortium for Cooperation on the Nile (ICCON) held its first meeting on 26 through 28 June in Geneva, bringing together the international donor community and NGOs in support of the Nile Basin Initiative, a cooperative programme to address poverty, environmental degradation and instability.
The NGO, Medecins sans frontieres-Belgique (MSF-Belgium), on Thursday sent 22 mt of medical kits and logistical equipment for use in eastern and northern parts of the DRC. In a press statement, the organisation said the assistance was intended for people affected by measles, cholera and bloody diarrhoea. However, it warned, that despite the pressing need for humanitarian assistance, this alone was not enough.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Monday recommended a career diplomat from Egypt to chair a panel of experts investigating the illegal exploitation of natural resources in the DRC.
Two MPs have accused the Transitional National Government (TNG) of embezzling donor funds, news agencies and local media said on Thursday. Finance Minister Sayyid Ahmad Shaykh Dahir confessed to being part of the scandal when the misappropriation of US $3.5 million was discussed in parliament on Wednesday.
The on-going police operation by the Transitional National Government (TNG) provoked fighting on Thursday, after attempts were made to erect a road block near the compound of faction leader Husayn Aydid. Confrontation between the TNG forces and militia loyal to Aydid led to five dead and at least ten wounded, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said. By late afternoon, the police had been forced to withdraw the checkpoint, local sources told IRIN.
Ethiopia has rejected a UN map of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) at the disputed border, which was designed to separate the Ethiopian and Eritrean forces and facilitate the UN peacekeeping mission.
Thousands of refugees who had earlier escaped fighting in Western Bahr al-Ghazal are being forced to flee once again as the Sudanese government troops attempt to recapture territory lost to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), UNOCHA reported.
The football matches, parade, arts and craft exhibition and dance that marked World Refugee Day in Danane, 600 km west of Abidjan, may have allowed the many Liberians and Sierra Leoneans there to escape for just a while from the harsh reality of displacement. The relaxed atmosphere offered the refugees a sneak peek into what most are looking for: a life free of insecurity and instability.
Ethnic clashes that began two weeks ago in central Nigeria's Nassarawa State have spread to Lafia, the state capital, where more than 25 people have been killed, Radio Nigeria reported on Tuesday.
A Chadian investigative journalist, Daniel Bekoutou, is among a group of writers from 20 countries to receive grants from Human Rights Watch (HRW) in recognition of their courage in the face of political persecution, HRW announced on Wednesday.
The 15-nation European Union (EU) this week gave the Zimbabwe government a 60-day ultimatum to end political violence in the country and stop the illegal occupation of farms by its supporters or face tough penalties, 'The Financial Gazette' reported on Thursday. Hardening its position on Zimbabwe, the EU said the government also had to take urgent and concrete steps to protect the freedom of the media, uphold the independence of the judiciary and respect court rulings.
A French court has dropped its investigation into allegations that the son of the late President Francois Mitterrand was involved in illegal arms sales to Angola, BBC has reported.
The Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) Secretary General Reverend Nangula Kathindi said on Wednesday that the council was prepared to "serve as a mediator with all segments of Namibian society to work together to heal the deep mental wounds resulting from torture".
Liberalisation of economic policy had left people open to exploitation by multinational corporations, a report on how economic structural reform had contributed to the decline in living standards, has found. 'The Post' reported on Thursday that a study among workers of Nitrogen Chemicals of Zambia (NCZ) and Kafue Textiles of Zambia (KTZ) had noted that the government's privatisation policy - instead of contributing to economic growth - had only served to hamper production at the two plants and had not helped in sustaining existing state enterprises. The research was conducted by the Workers' Christian Movement - Kafue Estate Group.
Cases of malnutrition in the Angolan central highland town of Kuito are rapidly increasing, reported on Thursday. SFP spokeswoman Cristina Muller said although aid flights to the town had resumed earlier this week, the poor condition of the airport runway was hindering the relief effort. At the same time, more and more people were arriving in the town, driven from their homes by Unita rebels and other armed groups, Muller was quoted as saying.
As gays around the world are celebrating their pride, Zimbabwe's only gay and lesbian organisation has received death threats and been told to quit the building that houses its office, SAPA reported on Wednesday.
Ugandan Feminism: Political Rhetoric or Reality? discusses the issues involved in constructing feminisms in a global context, while recognising women's diverse cultural backgrounds and local priorities. Focusing on the Ugandan context, the relationships between feminisms at local, national, and international levels are explored.
The European Foundation presents SD Online, a special feature of the Sustainable Development pages. SD Online is a full-text database of the Foundation's resources that "explore specific facets of the sustainability debate and take advantage of the Foundation's research in a variety of areas." Beginning in 1998, the databases have grown to include a Networks database, tools database, as well as databases on SME support initiatives and education and training.
The government raised the price of fuel two weeks ago. This means our already meagre incomes will become even less. They-ve raised the price of fuel because their corruption and mismanagement has put them in huge debt. Why must we pay for their mistakes? It's time to remind the government that the power is in the hands of the people. The ZCTU has announced that the dates for the stayaway are: Tuesday 3rd July and Wednesday 4th July. The ZCTU strongly request that Zimbabweans do not engage in any violent action. Please stay peaceful.
Uganda is now ranked third most corrupt country in the world, according to a survey conducted by Transparency International (TI). ,According to TI Corruption Perception Index for 2001 released on Wednesday, Bangladesh is the most corrupt nation followed by Nigeria amongst 91 nations surveyed.
The rate of severe malnutrition among Somali child refugees in northeastern Kenya has risen by 172 percent in the last six months, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation of Human Rights joined Tunisian human rights organizations today in calling on the government of Tunisia immediately and unconditionally to release all prisoners of
conscience and end the routine harassment of former prisoners of conscience and critics of the authorities.
An online course from NetAction which includes "classes" on using email and the Web for outreach, organizing, advocacy, membership and fundraising.
As part of its exploration into "best practices" of nonprofit use of the Internet, the Benton Foundation has compiled a list of nonprofit advocacy organizations that make particularly good use of the Internet in their activities.
The purpose of this list is to share information about how to use the Internet for effective organizing and coalition-building with grassroots organizations, to offer suggestions and advice on outreach to organizations that are not online, and to point out opportunities for training and networking with online and grassroots activists.
The South African chapter of Transparency International (TI) has "distanced itself" from the organisation's annual Corruption Perception Index - that this year gave the country 4.8 points, on a scale where ten is the most open and honest.
If governments do not act quickly to discourage the building of cities for cars, the international effort to control global warming will become much more difficult, reports a new study by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization. Sprawling urban areas are helping to make road transportation the fastest growing source of the carbon emissions warming the earth's atmosphere.
African civil society groups packed their bags Wednesday to return home distressed that commitments made at this week's UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV- AIDS would amount to mere rhetoric.
The Royal Decree of 22 June 2001, which allows banning of publications without appeal, denies bail for an unlimited range of offences and raises the penalties for defamation, is a further reminder of official hostility towards the independent media and critical voices. A new report from ARTICLE 19, the Global Campaign for Free Expression, calls for urgent reform to guarantee fundamental human rights. The report will be launched at the annual meeting of MISA Swaziland, on 30 June 2001.
Sierra Leone's Catholic Church has launched an international appeal for funds to rebuild the education sector, the Missionary News Agency (MISNA) reported on Tuesday. Aid is needed most in the northern and eastern provinces, where fighting destroyed many private and public school buildings, MISNA quoted the Bishop of the northern town of Makeni, Giorgio Biguzzi, as saying.
The European Union (EU) executive branch has taken a step toward suspending aid to Liberia in light of the country's "worsening situation in the areas of human rights, democratic principles, the rule of law and corruption."
Entire villages in Zimbabwe's Mashonaland Central Province have been deserted by peasants fearing political violence ahead of seven crucial parliamentary by-elections. Johannesburg's 'The Star' newspaper reported on Tuesday that villagers in the Bindura constituency had fled their homes and sought refuge elsewhere. A by-election is to be held in Bindura on 28 and 29 July to replace Youth Affairs Minister Border Gezi who died in a car crash about one month ago.
New proposals on rules for operating the Kyoto Protocol create a good opportunity for finally agreeing the climate treaty at next month's global climate summit, according to WWF, the conservation organization.
During the past three years, thousands of unarmed civilians, including children, women, journalists and human rights defenders, have been subjected to torture in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said Amnesty International today in its latest report Torture: a weapon of war against unarmed civilians.
A manual from Healthlink Worldwide (working to improve the health of poor and vulnerable communities by strengthening the provision, use and impact of information) contains practical information on all aspects of setting up and managing a resource centre.
ICT investment creates jobs and skills. Those who have jobs spend money and create more jobs. This process may not solve all of Africa's problems with poverty but it is - as the Americans say - a "no-brainer". So how is Africa faring in the worldwide competition for external investment? With the exception of its larger markets (Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa), Africa barely registers on the world scene. Its capital markets are small and it has a damaged reputation with external investors based on the many troubles that affect the continent, most notably HIV/AIDS and corruption.
Catholic Relief Services seeks a Regional Technical Advisor to provide technical assistance in the area of primary education and literacy to country programs; to maintain and/or improve the program quality of such programs; and to focus on the new area of academic and educational quality. Requires: Masters in education; minimum of 3-5 years overseas education experience; experience in primary education and food-assisted education preferred; familiarity with USAID systems and regulations; willingness to travel 30-40% of the time; proficiency in French and English.
To work in conjunction with the representative and other Foundation staff in the Nairobi office and worldwide to design, implement, monitor and evaluate program activities in the fields of Community Development and Environment and Development in Eastern Africa. Ability to speak Kiswahili also desirable.
This article by Julie Meloni makes a strong argument against many of web guru Jakob Nielsen's principles of web design. Although some of her points may not be that applicable in Africa, it is a must read for all web developers. She maintains that most of Nielsen's objections to complex design and technology are a design skill problem, not a technology problem. It's just a matter of knowing how to use the technology.
Interested in portal software? Open source? Information exchange for development? Then, whatever your opinion of the World Bank's Development Gateway Project, an interesting letter from their Head of Technology is worth a read. Take a look at the open model they have used for development. Many have been extremely critical of their approach. Comment from activists inspired the following response from Monika Quigley.
A new study from the World Bank has revealed that internet useage seems to be influenced by urbanisation and competition policy more than income. This is definitely interesting information in an area where research is lacking: what are the true facts and definitions behind the 'digital divide'?
The the NGO & Academic ICANN Study Project (NAIS) released a report today. NAIS, an alliance of non-governmental and academic groups, urged the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers to include greater public participation in its decision-making progress. In ICANN's most recent election, its members voted to its board of directors only five "at-large" members to serve as voices of the Internet public. Read on for the whole article... and wonder at the sheer egotism of a handful of people who consider themselves qualified to make decisions about the internet without adequate civil society representation and consultation.
An interesting question. A recent discussion on Slashdot, with some interesting links, focused upon the environmental soundness of genetically engineering plants - and therefore, food.
Recommended: http://csmonitor.com/durable/2001/06/27/fp3s1-csm.shtml
I was introduced to the Kabissa newsletter a few months back. I look forward every week to the latest edition and have found the newsletter very rich in information and in keeping abreast of happenings and practices around Africa. As a gender activist, I have found all sections quite interesting and educative as well. Thanks for the good work. I hope to have the opportunity soon of sharing the information especially on gender, fundraising, advocacy, courses and seminars and jobs in print form as most of the people I relate with are not connected to the web.
I am a political scientist based in Kenya but working as a performance consultant in a number of African Countries. Today I took time to read your newsletter which I have received for the last three months. In about an hour, I was able to read news around the continent and visit the sites I thought useful for my work. I was also able to send some articles to my wife for some lively discussions tonight! This is to congratulate you for the idea and to let you know that I am proud of Africa because of groups like you.
I thank you very much for your newsletter. I promise to contribute information to this unique newsletter of its kind. I thank you in advance. – Fred Ntobi, Executive Director
Thanks for including me and ICCAF on your distribution list. Your coverage is extensive. We have an information service which could use some of your material. Is that OK? I list the info about it below.
I would like to know more about how you operate your newsletter, and how we could use it occasionally. Also cost involved if any. Thanks.
Sometimes the newsletter `freezes' my machine at home, not sure why - length maybe? it seems Ok here at the ICCAF office.
OUR RESPONSE: The newsletter has a "fair use" policy which assumes that information submitted to us is intended to be distributed as widely as possible. Therefore we are happy to encourage other organisations to reproduce content from the newsletter, as long as the source is duly noted. More detail of this can be found on the newsletter website. The newsletter is provided free of charge as a service by Kabissa and fahamu in the interest of social justice in Africa. We are investigating issues related to format and length and appreciate your reporting the problems you have had.
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 27 * 5722 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 27 * 5722 SUBSCRIBERS
This century has been dubbed Africa's century. But it is undeniable that the continent still faces many challenges, while prospects for growth and change are opening up at an increasing rate. What will Africa make of these new challenges and prospects?
OUR FRAGILE WORLD:
Challenges and Opportunities for Sustainable Development - two volumes of perspective writings in about 1.9 million words in print with accompanying CD-ROM as Forerunner to the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems is available from July 2001.
An e-book! A plain language guide to Tanzania's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper. The Kiswahili version is
Reshaping the Nursing Landscape
Hosted by: Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand,
South Africa
Dates: 19/20 June 2002
Venue: Crowne Plaza, Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa
Salary : £15,383 - £16,974 depending on experience
Location : (Vauxhall, London), United Kingdom
Closing Date : 13 Jul 2001
Job posted on : 19 Jun 2001
FEE : GBP 6,000 + expenses
Location : Africa
Closing Date : 14 Jul 2001
Job posted on : 17 Jun 2001
Fee: GBP 6,000 + expenses
Location : Southern Africa
Closing Date : 14 Jul 2001
Job posted on : 17 Jun 2001
Salary : annual salary of US $ 15,000.00, inclusive of housing allowa
Location : Lusaka, Zambia
Closing Date : 7 Jul 2001
Job posted on : 14 Jun 2001
VOLUNTEER POST
Location : New York, United States
Closing Date : 30 Jun 2001
Job posted on : 14 Jun 2001
You are cordially invited to participate in the Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics (ABCDE) Europe on June 25 & 26. The conference will be held on-line for two-hours each day (2:30-4:30 pm Paris time) and will feature web casts of keynote addresses and panel discussions by leading figures in development.
Salary : living allowance,flights,accommodation, medical insurance
Location : Sucre, Bolivia
Closing Date : 30 Jun 2001
Job posted on : 13 Jun 2001
Salary : living allowance, flights, accommodation, medical insurance
Location : Tanapaca, La Paz, Bolivia
Job posted on : 13 Jun 2001
The South African government is still fighting for ownership of the domain name southafrica.com. The latest news on this case, and the impact on dns registration in developing countries, is reported in this article.
Judging by its deafening silence, the government evidently did not believe the 70% fuel price increase warranted an explanation. But none of the media appeared to make any effort to extract one either. The nearest the nation got to being given an official statement on the need for such a massive price hike could only be found in the state-controlled media, from NOCZIM itself, merely explaining that up until now fuel was being sold at below cost and the increase was necessary to restore the company’s viability.
In an age where donor goals and objectives often dictate broader development priorities, how are capacity building initiatives of southern NGOs impacted? To what extent are capacity building programs based on internally identified organizational needs versus northern perceptions of NGO needs?
Since the end of the Cold War and the reduction in the use of aid to support regimes according to their respective Cold War alliances, there has been a marked resurgence of interest in concepts such as governance, Civil Society, local democracy, accountability and transparency. Initially, NGOs were identified as the natural interlocutors for governmental and intergovernmental agencies wanting to promote Civil Society. However, in recent years many official agencies have recognised that NGOs alone are not synonymous with Civil Society. INTRAC has been keen to monitor and engage in the debate on appropriate and effective means of supporting Civil Society.
The dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance by the international community in recent years has largely been in response to an upsurge in internal, ethno-nationalist conflicts. One of the principle characteristics of the humanitarian response has been an enhanced role for NGOs. However this new role for NGOs has often led to their policies and organisational structures focusing on direct action and short-term planning. There is a growing realisation of the need to refocus NGO activities so that they enhance the capacity of agencies to prevent and mitigate the effects of violent conflict.
The World Bank has pledged to "intensify its trade-related activities" by increasing its research, training and advocacy at global and country levels. The difficulties of this work area were swiftly reaffirmed when the Bank was forced to cancel a major meeting of academics and officials on globalisation under pressure from protesters in Barcelona this month.
An interesting report on the collaboration between MIT Media Lab and the UN food agency. Affordable wireless technology developed by MIT may herald a breakthrough for farmers and rural people in developing nations. The article cites examples of this technology in use, and explains its accesibility to illiterate people.
The International Finance Corporation - an arm of the Bank Group which supports private investment - has released a new strategy. It reveals a number of significant changes in emphasis, notably an increased focus on social and environmental issues. It admits that its attention to such matters is partly the result of "pressure from NGOs, shareholders, and civil society and local communities which have begun to insist that their concerns be respected."
The World Bank will launch its Development Gateway internet initiative on 1 July. This site claims to contain all perspectives on virtually all development topics. A new 11-page briefing from the Bretton Woods Project was released in April. It argues that the Gateway's editorial proposition is crazy, that the World Bank is taking all the major decisions, that site topics are being established in ways that are convenient for people who see the world through official development lenses, but which will downplay cross-cutting issues such as gender and climate change.
Local and national resistance to putting the management and supply of water in the hands of profit-making foreign multinationals is detailed in a new review by the Globalisation Challenge Initiative. This shows the Bank and IMF pressing ahead with water privatisation worldwide, sometimes at the expense of the poorest.
In a World Bank consultation on the role of the media in development, Bank officials were told to stay away from media training and other direct influence over journalists. The criticism came from Frank Vogl, former World Bank Director of Information and Public Affairs. He suggested the Bank instead support NGOs and independent foundations to carry out education for journalists.
The Nigerian National HIV Vaccine Plan is the national strategy for developing a vaccine that addresses HIV strains peculiar to Nigeria and the West African sub-region. A product of a consultative process including a consensus workshop held in Abuja in February, the national vaccine plan will guide the vaccine development process in Nigeria. A draft copy of this strategic document is now available on the Nigeria-AIDS website.
UNAIDS today announced a partnership with The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation to bring new impetus to the battle against AIDS. Under the terms of the three-year agreement, the Foundation will co-ordinate the efforts of Coca-Cola Africa and its bottling partners across the continent to support AIDS education, prevention and treatment programmes. This partnership is fully in line with the philosophy behind the International Partnership against AIDS in Africa.
Ghanaian journalists must be getting ready to celebrate. Criminal Libel will go, and it will be in style, for the NDC would support the Criminal Libel Law Amendment Bill when it is brought before the House for consideration.
The Observatory has been informed by the Sudanese Victims of Torture Group (SVTG), of the arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of 41 year-old Faisal el Bagir Mohamed, a member of SVTG network inside Sudan and freelance journalist.
If government censors get their way at next week's United Nations conference on HIV/AIDS, the denial and discrimination that have helped spread the disease will continue unabated, Human Rights Watch charged today. Several government delegations, including those of the United States, Egypt, Libya, and the Vatican, are attempting to delete from the draft declaration of the U.N. General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS any mention of that groups at particularly high risk of HIV infection are men having sex with men, sex workers and their clients, and injecting drug users and their sex partners.
If governments do not act quickly to discourage the building of cities for cars, the international effort to control global warming will become much more difficult, reports a new study by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) has a special web site dedicated to World Refugee Day - June 20, 2001. The site features, among other things, profiles of well-known refugees and information on activities around the world.
This web site concentrates on internally displaced persons. The Global IDP training project is an initiative of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Undertaken in association with the Office of the UNHCR and the Representative of the Secretary General for Internally Displaced Persons the program is a series of "protection workshops" for humanitarian workers, policy makers and others who are confronted with the consequences of international displacement.
This special BBC report tells the stories behind refugee movements, using first-person testimonies and in-depth interviews to trace the journey from home into exile. Questions raised are why refugees are still fleeing, where they go, and examines how we treat them. The texts are accompanied by audio and video fragments.
On the eve of an important WTO meeting to address intellectual property and access to medicines, the European Commission has tabled concrete proposals designed to clarify existing rules in order to facilitate access to life-saving drugs by needy countries. These plans will be presented to fellow WTO members at the Council on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) on 20 June.
Diplomats from more than 100 countries preparing a draft declaration on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention standards for approval at the
June 25-27 U.N. General Assembly special session are struggling to agree on acceptable language, the AP/Chicago Sun-Times reports. According to the AP/Sun-Times, diplomats have engaged in "intensely angry, frustrating and emotional" meetings since May in an attempt to find a consensus on the 19-page draft document that is "acceptable to all 189 U.N. member countries".
If you're a nonprofit leader, funder or technical assistance provider to the nonprofit sector, this site is for you. Here you'll find current trends and practices in nonprofit use of digital media. And we hope we've organized the resources and tools in a way that helps you get your work done effectively.
An article inspired by Steven Spielberg's new film, 'AI' (http://www.ai.com), takes a look at what makes a robot human. If you ever saw the film 'BladeRunner' (based on the book 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?') the question of when a machine becomes eligible for human rights will not be new. How far are we from intelligent, feeling, machine beings?
For some international corporations, more than ever before, the world is their candy store – cheap labor, low taxes, weak environmental standards. Conventional journalism simply cannot investigate or explain these and other complex, global subjects adequately. The typical one-country perspective is too narrow and misleading, and frankly, a disservice to the public.
Fifty-eight Chinese people who were found dead in the back of a UK-bound lorry a year ago this week are among thousands who have died in a bid to seek refuge in "Fortress Europe". On World Refugee Day a coalition of campaigners argues that policy-makers must start to see Europe as a continent of immigration.
The United Nations yesterday appealed to world leaders to shift the central focus from men to women at upcoming talks to devise a global strategy to fight the spread of AIDS.
The first international agreement on the conservation of albatrosses and petrels was signed here today by officials from all southern hemisphere nations surrounding the Southern Ocean who pledged to protect these threatened migratory seabirds.