KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 21 * 3135 SUBSCRIBERS
KABISSA-FAHAMU NEWSLETTER 21 * 3135 SUBSCRIBERS
Every December thousands of children around the globe celebrate a special day: the International Children's Day of Broadcasting (ICDB). The key to the yearly event is participation by children and adolescents, and we invite television and radio networks around the world to continue their extraordinary work by taking up a new challenge for 2001.
A new report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, (FAO) projects that deaths caused by HIV/AIDS* in the ten most affected African countries will reduce the labour force by as much as 26 percent by 2020. The report estimates that since 1985 some 7 million agricultural workers have died from AIDS related diseases in 27 severely affected African countries. An estimated 16 million more deaths are reported likely in the next two decades. The report, prepared for the 27th Session of the Committee on World Food Security, meeting in Rome 28 May - 1 June, says: "Throughout history, few crises have presented such a threat to human health and social and economic progress as does the HIV/AIDS epidemic."
Save The Children's State of the World’s Mothers 2001 – in its unique “Mothers’ Index” first presented last year – offers critical information on the status of mothers and children around the world. With the introduction of a new “Girls’ Investment Index,” this year’s report zeroes in on the quality of girls’ and young women’s lives today, and thus provides an indication of how the next generation of mothers and children will fare. By offering critical information about the world’s two billion mothers, this report helps to focus attention on the very real needs of mothers – and their children – and to suggest actions needed to support women who are raising the world’s future generations.
Last week's World Press Freedom Day 2001 was a unique occasion - the 10th Anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration on media freedom in Africa. UNESCO sponsored a conference on 3 May 2001 to review the original Declaration, and participants took the opportunity to issue a new document: the Windhoek Charter on Broadcasting in Africa, which recognizes the unique challenges faced in the development of a pluralistic and diverse broadcasting environment on the African continent.
MediaChannel.org - news, reports, resources and opinion. Featuring content from over 660 media-issues groups worldwide.
Huge stocks of toxic pesticide waste are a serious problem in almost all developing countries and in many countries in transition. More than 500 000 tonnes of old and unused pesticides that have been banned or have expired threaten the environment and the health of millions of people in these countries, FAO warns in a new report. The figures are dramatically higher than previous estimates of around 100 000 tonnes.
Powell Announces Trip to Africa to 'Highlight U.S. Concern' over HIV/AIDS; NIAID Announces Plan to Combat 'Deadly Troika' of HIV, Malaria, TB; Botswana Goes from 'Hopeless to Hopeful' with Arrival of Free AIDS Drugs; Annan Meets With U.S. Officials to Discuss AIDS Trust Fund; Actress Elizabeth Taylor Discusses AIDS Activism in AOL Chat.
A 44-gallon drum of fuel and a funnel is the roadside symbol of the government's deregulation of Zimbabwe's fuel supply industry. The move has not resulted in chains of new service stations criss-crossing the country, but rather illicit boot sales of fuel that has raised serious safety and environmental concerns, industry sources told IRIN.
A final report by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on mortality rates in eastern DRC says the level and indiscriminate nature of violence since August 1998 is disturbing. It is estimated that one in every eight households has experienced a violent death since the start of the war, about 40 percent of which are women and children. The report stressed that the mortality rate in eastern DRC was extraordinarily high.
Egypt: Telecom Egypt to pay fees, not buy mobile licence; Uganda: Media Organisation to Get Website Swaziland: Government Asked to Review Decision to Ban Newspaper And Magazine.
Mining in rebel-held eastern Congo is driving eastern lowland gorillas closer to extinction and destroying outstanding national parks, the World Wide Fund for Nature said yesterday. Thousands of miners seeking the highly prized mineral colombo tantalite, known as coltan, have invaded and severely damaged the forests in the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and the Okapi Wildlife Reserve in eastern Congo, WWF said.
Jack Straw is facing a legal challenge over his decision to help Nigerian officials to trace more than Dollars 2bn allegedly looted from the African country's public funds by General Sani Abacha, the former leader who died in June 1998.
The state media swamped its audiences with stories about the late Minister of Youth, Development, Gender and Employment Creation Border Gezi. All the media reported the disruptions to the May Day workers’ celebrations, but the state-owned media took the opportunity to discredit the ZCTU and blame the violence on “opposition political hooligans” .
A crisis in the availability of reproductive health supplies, in particular contraceptives and condoms for HIV/AIDS prevention, is threatening human rights and the realization of the goals of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development, delegates at "Meeting the Reproductive Health Challenge: Securing Contraceptives and Condoms for HIV/AIDS Prevention," conference in Istanbul heard (3-5 May 2001).
The Social Welfare Research Institute at Boston College in conjunction with the Association of Fundraising Professionals, has released a study of the charitable giving habits of wealthy high-tech executives that suggests that high-tech donors' initial dedication to philanthropy is "an indication of an emerging fuller commitment" to the field.
The Centre for Study of African Economies and the Department for International Development co-hosted a special seminar on 14 December 2000 to mark the Official Visit of H.E. President Chissano of Mozambique to the United Kingdom. The meeting was addressed by H.E. Joaquim Chissano, President of the Republic of Mozambique, the Rt Hon. Clare Short MP, Secretary of State for International Development and David Bevan of CSAE and Fellow, St John’s College, Oxford who has worked extensively on the design of policy reform programmes in African countries.
The Prime Minister's Cabinet Office in the UK is working on a project to develop a more effective approach to reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria in developing countries, identify which policy measures might best deliver solutions at an affordable price to developing countries and produce a framework for a more effective partnership between governments and the private sector, including the pharmaceutical industry and the voluntary sector, to combat these diseases in developing countries.
Ethical trade as an approach to supply chain management has mushroomed in recent years. Northern companies are becoming increasingly concerned with the 'ethics' of their operations and the risks to reputation and productivity posed by bad employment practices in global supply chains. But can voluntary private sector codes really improve employment conditions in supply chains?
South Africa is now committed to a constitutional democracy whose labour laws exceed ILO conventions, yet little improvement has been made in the quality of life of farm workers. Given that relationships between producers and workers are traditionally exploitative and paternalistic, where public regulation internationally and nationally has failed to shift this power imbalance, how can private regulation benefit farm workers? How can ethical trade in agricultural goods improve employment conditions?
The increasing dissemination of information through new technologies and the media which made possible the growth of global brands, has also brought issues of workers' rights and conditions in the south into consumer political consciousness in the north. Demands that transnational producers take greater responsibility for the rewards and conditions of those who contribute their labour to the global production chain have intensified over the past decade, just as national governments have become less able or willing to regulate the activities of companies engaged in international business.
Supermarkets now sell fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers all year round and South Africa, Kenya and Zambia are important suppliers. UK supermarkets are applying codes of conduct to the growers that supply them aiming to assure consumers that produce is grown in a socially responsible manner. Most workers in export horticulture are female - 52 percent in South African fruit, 75 percent in Kenyan flowers, and 65 percent in Zambian vegetables. Employment is casual, temporary or seasonal. Many women do not have stable or independent employment contracts, receive lower wages, and do not have the same access to training, promotion or other employment benefits as men. Discrimination is often embedded in traditional farm employment practice.
The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) is an alliance of companies, non-governmental and trade union organisations committed to working together to identify and promote good practice in the implementation of corporate codes of labour practice. ETI has examined the contribution that trade unions, NGOs, trade associations and academics can make to identifying best practice in auditing labour standards in global supply chains.
This report contains the findings of the UK Parliamentary International Development Committee's enquiry into corruption. Corruption undermines development and growth and constitutes a serious threat to attempts to eliminate poverty. The elimination of corruption is not only a matter for the Department for International Development (DFID). The actions of the Home Office, the department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and a host of regulatory and investigatory bodies have a profound effect on corruption in the developed world. This investigation has revealed a lack of coherence, focus and determination across Whitehall in tackling this subject.
This report highlights the key themes discussed and debated at a one-day conference examining new dimensions in the relationship between humanitarian aid and politics, held in London on 1 February 2001. The conference was organised jointly by ODI, CAFOD and POLIS at the University of Leeds.
In Angola, survivors of Saturday's raid on a school by Unita rebels have been speaking to journalists for the first time. Sixty children, most of them war refugees from all over the country, are still missing after being abducted by the rebels.
Giving iron supplements and doses of anti-malarial drugs to children under a year old in Tanzania has more than halved the number of cases of severe malaria. That is the finding of research published in the medical journal The Lancet which studied a World Health Organisation (WHO) immunisation programme distributing the medication.
The Namibian Government has distanced itself from the actions of members of the paramilitary unit, the Special Field Force (SFF), who last week rounded up men wearing earrings, because they were supposedly gay.
The BBC has obtained the first independently verified information about the widespread nature of the rebel war in northern Liberia. Independent medical sources say that in the last few months of fighting hundreds of Liberian Government soldiers have been wounded. It is likely that a similiar number of combatants were wounded or killed on the rebel side as fighting has raged between rebel forces reportedly backed by neighbouring Guinea and Liberian Government troops.
A minister in the Central African Republic has accused the security forces of killing Chadian farmers in the north of the country. The minister of rural development Salomon Namkosserena told the French News Agency that almost 60 farmers were killed in various incidents over the past month.
African Ministers of Finance and Planning have agreed to consolidate parallel plans for Africa's recovery into a single initiative around which the continent will rally in its quest for development.
COSATU sends its condolences to the families of the victims of the Gold Fields' Beatrix mine explosion and expresses its anger that mine accidents still claim so many workers' lives. The federation believes that the accident could have been prevented. Having two fatal accidents within a year suggests that the mine management has failed to make sure that the workplace is danger-free.
A new report from McConnell International goes some way towards rectifying this problem. The report, entitled "Ready? Net. Go! Partnerships Leading the Global Economy", discusses the "e-readiness" of 53 countries. E-readiness is defined as "the capacity of nations to participate in the global economy" and McConnell measures e-readiness by examining each country's progress in five key sectors.
Volume 7, Issue 19, May 8, 2001
Two of the world's leading environmental and agriculture groups reported today that almost half of the world's 17,000 major nature reserves, which are intended to protect wildlife from extinction, are being heavily used for agriculture. They also report that extreme malnutrition and hunger are pervasive among people living in at least 16 of the world's 25 key biodiversity hotspots, where wildlife is most at risk.
Three Texas oil control specialists have arrived safely back in the United States after they capped a huge, potentially explosive oil spill in southeast Nigeria. Contrary to media reports, the company for which they work says the three men were not held hostage by Nigerians upset over the spill at an abandoned Royal Dutch/Shell well in the Niger Delta.
Last week the High Court resumed the Makoni East election challenge brought by Nicholas Mudzengerere of the MDC against ZANU (PF) MP Shadreck Chipanga. Witnesses testified that they saw Mr. Chipanga both participate in, and witness, political assaults perpetrated by ZANU (PF) supporters against MDC supporters. Numerous witnesses also testified that the murders of Tichaona Chiminya and Talent Mabika, MDC workers from the nearby Buhera North constituency, severely intimidated MDC voters in Makoni East. Another witness detailed how her house was burned by alleged ZANU (PF)supporters and how she was harassed before giving testimony to the High Court.
The International Secretariat of OMCT has been informed by ACAT Cameroun and Agir Ensemble pour les Droits de l'Homme, both members of the OMCT network, of the arbitrary arrest and detention of around ten demonstrators in Cameroon.
European scientists meeting this week in Stockholm have been urged to work in close partnership with policy makers to chart a course toward sustainable development. European Union Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom and Swedish Environment Minister Kjell Larsson both argued that the effectiveness of research would be greatly enhanced if more effort was made to link it with green policies.
The US State Department on Wednesday voiced opposition moves to plans in the US Congress to withhold American dues to the UN because of last week's ouster of the US from the UN Human Rights Commission in a secret ballot, which saw Sudan and other "human rights abusers" elected.
semaine du 11.05.01 au 20.05.01
The National Women's Law Center and Catholics for a Free Choice (CFC) are urging the U.S. House of Representatives to support an amendment to this year's State Department funding bill that would overturn President George W.Bush's ban on federal money for organizations that support or perform abortions abroad.
"Technology is the backbone of management and organizational effectiveness. It equips people with data and information that can then be synthesized into learning and knowledge; and, this knowledge is what gives organizations more powerful voices in, and greater impact on, community change -- the ultimate goal of nonprofit capacity-building." Roni Posner, Executive Director, Alliance for Nonprofit Management. These words sum up the general consensus among participants interviewed at the Alliance for Nonprofit Management's national conference held several weeks ago in Cleveland.
The theme for this year's annual conference of the Council on Foundations was accountability. Unlike most conference themes, the Council actually managed to have the concept reflected in many of the program elements. The program of the conference is still available and will give you some idea of how seriously they took the theme.
Arms Control Policy in a Time Warp, Nina Tannenwald; Alive and Kicking: The Greatly Exaggerated Death of Nuclear Deterrence, Response by J. Peter Scoblic; The New Business of War: Small Arms and the Proliferation of Conflict William Hartung.
This statement will be the basis of a great deal of human rights activism against psychiatric torture. Please take some time to read it and consider endorsing it: "We address all members of the human family to recognise our basic right for self-determination as people who suffer from psychiatric persecution, psychiatric incarceration and psychiatric torture."
The Reebok Human Rights Award Program seeks nominations of young human rights activists. Members of the international community of human rights and non-governmental organizations are urged to nominate young men and women to honor for their courage and contributions to further human rights. Deadline June 15 2001.
Greenstar is proud to announce the appointment of an outstanding Greenstar Ambassador -- Osei Darkwa is a Ghanaian who is helping Greenstar establish its first solar community center in Africa.
Le Bulletin du 10/05/01, no 08
Indigenous leaders from around the world are gathered this week in the Panamanian capital, where they have launched a global appeal to defend their traditions against the imposition of mass culture they contend is inherent in the globalisation process.
Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) of Nigeria finally managed to cap the oil gushing from one of its wells in Ogoniland at the weekend, but the well's blow-out and the resulting flood of oil and gas into the immediate environment has once more intensified tensions between the giant oil company and the half-million strong Ogoni Kingdom.
The Government of Swaziland has banned the print version of the "Guardian" newspaper from circulating in the country, in the wake of the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration. The newspaper has been blamed for not fulfilling all the requirements under the country's media laws, though the paper has indeed met all of the requirements. The Nation magazine has been banned as well.
Canada has become the latest Western government to protest to Zimbabwe over the intimidatory behaviour towards its nationals by so-called "war veterans", who have targeted foreign employees in a rash of labour disputes.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) Angola and the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator in Angola are investigating this past weekend’s mass abduction of 60 children in Angola. The attack took place in the town of Caxito, about 30 miles northeast of Luanda, Angola, according to Unicef. The 60 children were abducted during an attack on Children's Town, a home for children run by the nongovernmental organization ADPP, about six miles outside of Caxito. The children range in age from 10 to 18 years and include nine girls and 51 boys. One of their Angolan teachers was also abducted. The current whereabouts of the children and their teacher are unknown.
SVTG has received confirmed information that the Security Forces have re-arrested 5 members of the NDA political leadership secretariat. The arrests took place between late Thursday evening 10 May and between 1 and 2 am, on Friday 11 May, 2001. The men were arrested from their homes in Khartoum, before being taken to local police stations.
Click on the: "Click here to register for FREE Database of the Month" link near the top of the South African Studies fact sheet. Composed of 14 different databases providing access to over 769,000 records, this unique combination of databases gives access to published South African documents, books, journal articles, theses and current research, covering all topics.
27 AUGUST - 5 SEPTEMBER 2001 BANJUL, THE GAMBIA - an annual Pan-African bilingual Workshop on the procedures of the African regional System of Human Rights.
Offered through the USDA Graduate School and taught by BARBARA FILLIP, PH.D. This spring, the course is entirely online for the first time. We have 31 participants and 8 guests from around the world, including one in Senegal, two in Nigeria and one in South Africa.
Searching innovative resources to teach international human rights course, requesting tuition assistance, seeking housing in Johannesburg (South Africa), seeking information on ex(child)excombatants seeking asylum, seeking internships, grants, scholarships (South Africa)
DATE: October 8-17, 2001. This conference that focuses on issues relating to women of African descent will gather hundreds of scholars, activists, policy-makers and students from all continents. It will draw attention to the urgency and pertinence of a sense of history as participants engage simultaneously in stocktaking and mapping forward-looking strategies for future engagements. The conference will deal with the following themes: democracy and governance, feminist/womanist theories, war and peace, conflict resolution and post-conflict reconstruction, civil society, human rights and the law, health and services, arts and the humanities, education, political economy, science and technology, religion and culture.
16th September - 7th October 2001. Closing date for applications: Thursday 31st May 2001. The three week course offers a great opportunity to become familiar with new concepts and ideas, to dialogue with peace and human rights activists from all over the world and to improve skills in a warm and friendly atmosphere. The number of participants is limited to thirty.
Available in both English and Portuguese, the online Encyclopaedia of Philosophy of Education offers hundreds of entries on significant figures, movements, and concepts in its field. From Nietzsche to Kuhn to Hegel to Constructivism to Piaget to Postmodernism to the Pragmatic theory of learning, the Encyclopaedia's substantial essay entries are written by scholars in the fields of philosophy and education. Many of the entries are still in the works but are already listed so that users may see what the complete text will cover. The Encyclopaedia is edited by Michael A. Peters at the University of Aukland, New Zealand and Paulo Ghiraldelli Jr. at the Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brazil.
In pockets of the developing world, those deepest in poverty are starting to discover that they can use technology to pull themselves up. In tiny rural villages and overcrowded urban areas, people are using the Web to find day jobs, sell everything from crafts to cows, communicate, learn skills, and improve their lives.
The U.S. government should call on President Olusegun Obasanjo to ensure thorough and credible investigations and prosecutions for human rights abuses by the Nigerian armed forces, Human Rights Watch said today.
The United States should not hold back payment of its United Nations dues because of the loss of its seat on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, major human rights groups said in letters to Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden and Representatives Tom Lantos and Henry Hyde.
A judge who struck down three ruling party election victories on the grounds they were tainted by violence resigned from the nation's High Court, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, quoting judicial officials. Judge James Devittie's decision came days after ruling party militants accused him of bias in favour of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Heavy fighting broke out in the Somali capital Mogadishu, on Friday, around 16:00 local time, after faction leader Husayn Muhammad Aydid entered the former port. A battle between the opposition leader and militia guarding the port for the Transitional National Government (TNG) escalated into the bloodiest fighting experienced in Mogadishu over the last few years, and constitutes the biggest challenge yet to the interim government.
Tension is growing in the Niger Delta, southeastern Nigeria, following a rash of oil spills which, in combination with communal and industrial disputes, have disrupted crude oil production by three transnationals, industry sources said on Friday. US multinational ExxonMobil Corp's Nigerian subsidiary shut its Qua Iboe oil export terminal on Thursday after it was besieged by protesters from the local Eket community who accused the company of neglect.
A prominent human rights organisation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has expressed concern at the detention or disappearance of at least 200 political prisoners and others in government-controlled territory. In a report on the human rights situation in government-controlled DRC in the first 100 days of the new president Joseph Kabila's rule, the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (ASADHO) said there had been little improvement so far. Noting the president's promises of change, ASADHO nevertheless condemned the "inquisitorial and secret character of the inquiry [into the late president's Laurent-Desire Kabila's assassination] conducted entirely by the army and security services without any intervention by the judiciary".
Encouraging signs are beginning to emerge that the Angolan government and UNITA rebels are inching towards dialogue to end nearly three decades of civil war, analysts and politicians told IRIN. "One or two years back the reaction from the government to the idea of peace through dialogue was very aggressive," said John Rocha of the reconciliation lobby group Angola-2000. "Today it has changed dramatically. The government has realised that a military victory is impossible, especially as UNITA has reverted to guerrilla warfare."
President Paul Kagame has reiterated that Rwandan troops are in the DRC for security reasons. Addressing a joint press conference with visiting Malawian President Bakili Muluzi, Kagame again denied his country had been plundering Congo's natural resources, as stated in a report by a UN panel of experts. "There have been accusations about human rights violations in eastern Congo. There have been accusations about plundering Congo's wealth," he said, according to Rwandan radio.
OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim has commented that peacekeeping missions often fail because they are ill-equipped and under-funded, AFP reported. Speaking in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam on Thursday, he said the UN peacekeeping mission in the DRC was inadequate.
More than 1,000 trucks are stuck on the main route leading from the seaport of Matadi to Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), after heavy rains washed away large sections of the road, the BBC reported on Friday. Some of the trucks have been there for as long as 20 days, and the produce they are carrying - mostly much-needed fresh food for the capital - is rotting under the heat and rain of Congo's wet season.
Police on Tuesday broke up a meeting of parties supporting the presidential candidacy of Colonel Epitace Bayaganakandi, the Tutsi rival of President Pierre Buyoya, the private Netpress news agency reported. Participants were told to leave the meeting hall in Bujumbura's Kinindo district, but party leaders were ordered to remain behind.
The Tanzanian authorities, backed by UN agencies and Britain's Department for International Development (DFID), are planning to use information technology to improve planning and decision-making in their efforts to reduce poverty. The Tanzania Socio-Economic Database (TSED) is intended to make it easier for government agencies to discern trends and spot disparities among regions, according to the UNDP, which is backing the endeavour.
The UNHCR has registered 680 refugees who say they want to return home to the Zanzibari islands of Unguja and Pemba in Tanzania after fleeing to Kenya from political violence on the islands in late January, according to a press release from the refugee agency. Those registered to return represented all but a few dozen of the refugees remaining at a makeshift camp at the port of Shimoni, south of Mombasa on the Kenyan coast, and included community and political leaders, an agency official told IRIN on Tuesday.
The Tanzanian government on Wednesday denied and termed as "unfounded" allegations by the Burundian government that it had been offering military training to Burundian rebels. Tanzanian radio quoted the permanent secretary in the ministry of foreign affairs and international cooperation, Hasan Kibelloh, as saying that Tanzania was not supporting any rebel group fighting the Burundian government.
Severe drought across many parts of Sudan continued to affect several million people, many of whom are at acute risk of severe food insecurity over the coming months, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) reported on Thursday. The WFP has warned that as many as three million people face disaster (600,000 as a result of drought and 2.4 million because of the civil war) unless food assistance reaches them.
More than five children are dying each day from malnutrition in the city of Camapuca in Angola's central Bie province. "We are really shocked by the level of malnutrition that we are discovering in Camacupa. We are doing as much as we can to reduce mortality through our feeding centres, but this is not enough. People need urgently a general food distribution," Erwin Van der Borght, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) head of mission in Angola, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Representatives of several powerful international media associations were told by top government officials on Thursday that Zimbabwe's independent media must expect violence for "provoking" supporters of President Robert Mugabe's regime, SAPA-DPA reported. The five-member delegation of the Co-ordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organisations were quoted as saying that senior officials in Mugabe's information ministry warned it was "understandable" that journalists who were seen as supporting an anti-ruling party agenda would be threatened with violence.
Harare Central Hospital had run out of essential drugs, resulting in patient deaths, especially among infants, the hospital's superintendent, Dr Chris Tapfumaneyi, was quoted as saying in the 'Daily News' on Friday. The hospital serves the majority of patients from poor and working class families. Children under five are treated free of charge at the hospital.
Yesterday's public announcement by an ANC MP that her daughter is HIV positive has been welcomed by many as the first step towards breaking the silence and denial surrounding the disease in South Africa. Ruth Bhengu told a hushed National Assembly that her daughter is HIV positive and appealed to parliamentarians to stop politicising the problem.
Africa Action today denounced the Bush Administration's proposal to contribute a meager $200 million to a global fund for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases now being established through the United Nations. Responding to the White House's announcement that it would contribute only $200 million dollars for the proposed $10 billion U.N. fund, Salih Booker, Executive Director of Africa Action, said "In the face of what will soon be the worst plague in human history, it's tragic that the richest country in human history is unwilling to contribute its fair share to finance the solution!"
On the second day of his "working" visit to the United States, Nigerian President Olusegun Obansanjo met with President George Bush, African-American leaders, World Bank and IMF executives and congressional leaders. But HIV/AIDS and regional conflict in Africa framed the key discussions.
Prof. Mesfin Wolde-Mariam and Dr. Berhanu Nega who have been detained by police since Tuesday (May 8, 2001) appeared before court on Wednesday (May 9, 2001) as the 5th Criminal Bench of the Federal High Court ordered the two academics to remain under police custody until May 18, 2001.
In the past 10 years, some Sh10.7 billion has been approved by the European Commission (EC) for Kenya under the European Union's Stabex facility. But, for a variety of reasons, only about Sh2.3 billion has actually been disbursed and spent on various projects. The rest, some Sh8.5 billion, remains in joint EC/Kenya accounts in Europe and Kenya. It can be accessed only with the agreement of both parties.
Corruption tends to flourish when institutions are weak and economic policies distort the marketplace, a World Bank Institute working paper on the media's role in curbing corruption has observed.
It's shameful and abominable for President Frederick Chiluba to appoint self-confessed mandrax trafficker Vernon Mwaanga as cabinet minister, said Zambia Republican Party chairman for economic affairs Dean Mung'omba yesterday.
About 5 000 government employees from all over the province marched in Bisho yesterday afternoon to express their frustration over corruption, maladministration and nepotism in government circles. In a memorandum accepted by Premier Stofile, the civil servants led by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) called for change in the manner the provincial government managed the service delivery process.
Togo has hit the news for systematic human rights violations in terms of torture and extrajudicial killings. Now, the UN Committee on Human Rights (UNHCHR) also criticises the country for not taking women's rights and social and economic rights seriously. Togo has not been willing to provide information.
In the fight against AIDS, Kenyan widows living with HIV/AIDS are starting to reject forced remarriage. A recent news report by AFP highlighted the case of Mariam Salim who on the death of her husband would have been obliged to marry another member of his family.
A growing number of civil society groups Saturday urged detained students of the University of Niamey to end their two-week hunger strike. In a press briefing, the groups called on political parties, trade unions and associations to mobilise and join a protest march planned for Sunday in Niamey. The march is meant to urge the government to settle the crisis at the university, which began after a confrontation between the security forces and the students on 21 February.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Friday it has helped more than 40,000 refugees, mostly Sierra Leoneans, move from an unstable part of southeast Guinea to a safer region further north inside the country. The UNHCR hopes to complete the relocation operation, which began in early February, by the end of this month, spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Delphine Marie said.
Refugees, asylum seekers and others under concern of the U.N. refugee agency stood at approximately 21.1 million in the year 2000, according to U.N. statistics. Globally, Afghans constitute UNHCR's largest caseload, with an estimated 3.6 million people, or 30 percent of the world's refugee population. The second largest group, according to the statistics, is comprised of civilians from Burundi, 567,000 of whom are living in Tanzania. Iraqis make up the third largest refugee population, with 497,400 living in Iran.
Illegal Mozambican migrant workers have accused South African police of killing 14 people by throwing them from a moving train while they were being returned home, Radio Mozambique reported Friday. The 14 had been among a group of 1,600 Mozambicans who arrived Friday at the border town of Ressano Garcia, after South African authorities sent them home by train, the report on state radio said.
Zambia's political picture this week was dominated by the fall-out from President Frederick Chiluba's announcement on Friday that he would not seek re-election. The decision ended two weeks of political turmoil which deeply divided his ruling Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD).
Drought and war have contributed to the many needs of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Eritrea, with people losing their homes, livestock and belongings as they fled in panic during the conflict with Ethiopia. Up to one million people in Eritrea suffered "massive displacement" last year, the international Action by Churches Together (ACT) network said.
Report prepared by the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, Strasbourg, August 2000.
These Webpages have been created for NGOs who wish to participate in the lead up to the World Conference Against Racism by contributing documents, papers and other material they wish to share. If you send us your material in either English, French or Spanish (in electronic form) we will do our best to post it on these pages.
The United Nations Human Rights System is an annual summary and classification of United Nations' human rights documentation by theme and by country. All major human rights material generated by the UN from 1 January to 31 December - whether on paper, in electronic format or via the optical disk system - is assembled, catalogued and summarised.
Online advertising in Africa is in its infancy and the collapse of internet advertising markets elsewhere do not bode well for its future. Robin Parker argues that this is a short-term view and that despite wider problems of connectivity savvy advertisers will increasingly use web advertising to reach high-spenders across the continent.