Good News Agency – n° 10
Weekly - Year I - Number 10 –
1 December 2000
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
Rome
Law-court registration no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
Good News Agency carries positive and constructive news from all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day. Good News Agency is distributed through internet to editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, jNew Zealand, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, and it is available in its web site:
http:// www.goodnewsagency.org
It is a free of
charge service of Associazione Culturale
dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit educational
organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates for the
development of consciousness and supports the activities of the Lucis Trust,
the U. N. University for Peace, Radio For Peace International and other
organizations promoting a culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective
based on unity within diversity and on sharing. Via Antagora 10, 00124
Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
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Human Rights
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Solidarity
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Legislation
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Environment
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Peace
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Health
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Economy
and Development
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Education
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(TOP)
ILO
worst forms of child labour Convention comes into force
Convention
provides new legal tool to combat most exploitative and dangerous forms of
child labour
Geneva - The global campaign against the worst forms
of child labour received a powerful new boost on Sunday, 19 November, the date
when the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Convention No. 182 came into
force as international law.
With more than 25 % of the
ILO's 175 member States already formal signatories to the Worst Forms of Child
Labour Convention, its coming into force means that they must take immediate
and effective action to prohibit and eliminate these forms of child labour
which include prostitution, pornography, forced recruitment for use in armed
conflict and use of children in illicit or hazardous activities for all those
under 18 years of age.
What is more, ILO member
States which have not yet ratified Convention No. 182 must, without being bound
by each and every one of its provisions, still gear their policies towards the
effective abolition of child labour.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/43.htm
ILO
Governing Body opens the way for unprecedented action against forced labour in
Myanmar
Geneva - Measures to compel
the Government of Myanmar (Burma) to meet its obligations to eliminate forced
labour in the country will go forward, following deliberations by the
International Labour Organization's (ILO) Governing Body at its 279th
session which concluded 17 november.
The Governing Body effectively
opened the way for the full implementation of a resolution of the International
Labour Conference, adopted in June of this year, aimed at compelling the
Government of Myanmar to comply with Convention No. 29 on forced labour. Burma
ratified Convention No. 29 in 1955.
The unprecedented resolution
under the never-before invoked article 33 of the ILO Constitution allows for a
series of measures to take effect on 30 November and calls on Myanmar to
"take concrete actions" to implement the recommendations of a 1998
Commission of Inquiry, which found that resort to forced labour in the country
was "widespread and systematic".
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/44.htm
In just over a year 2,000,000
signatures have been gathered from 132 countries: a petition for the moratorium
of the death penalty which aims to reach 10 million signatures. All this while
in Texas the executioner, with a lethal injection, executes a mentally
disabled prisoner. As a protest,
November 30th Netstrike sends an
invitation to participate in a virtual march against Texan sites of the
department of Justice and of the Federal State. A citizen's protest, a continuous
connection which will pacifically block the site.
http://www.manitese.it/boycott/campagne/32_00.htm
http://www.santegidio.org/it/pdm/adesione.htm
http://www.unimondo.org/questa_settimana/index.html
China: Signed
Agreement on Human Rights
The UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, signed on November 21 in Bejing a
cooperation agreement with the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of China Wang Guangya. The document aims at supplying
technical cooperation to China in the context of human rights, by guaranteeing,
for example, the training of lawyers and of police forces, and the teaching of
human rights in school. The agreement, that was signed after two years of
negotiations, aims also to help China to adapt the current laws in order to
facilitate the ratification of UN conventions on human rights that Bejing
already signed. Human rights activists, however, underline that in the Asian
Country severe abuses occur daily, such as the enforcement of the death
penalty, trials in camera and arbitrary confinement.
www.misna.org/ita/notizia/notizia/asp?id=36378
Sri Lanka Army:
training for officer instructors on Human Rights
An eight day training course jointly organised by the
International Committee of the Red Cross and the Sri Lanka Army to train
Officer Instructors on Human Rights (HR) and International Humanitarian Law
(IHL) was held at the Panagoda Army Cantonment. The focus of the training is to
produce yet another batch of Officer Instructors, educated and informed on all
aspects of HR and IHL, to ensure they are adhered to at every stage of the
ongoing conflict and at other situations, by soldiers at all levels of the Sri
Lanka Army, a release issued by the Army said on 23 November.
It is expected that they will in turn organise and
conduct awareness and educational programs at training academies and
establishment and other military bases around the country. By the gradual
dissemination of such knowledge, it is hoped that the Army will be able to
minimise violations of HR and IHL, it has been accused of so far, the release
added…
http://www.lanka.net/lakehouse/2000/11/23/new15.html
SIERRA LEONE:
UNHCR reintegrates returnees from Guinea
UNHCR has
started reintegrating former refugees who fled fighting in Guinea between
government and rebel forces, UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski said in Geneva on
November 21. In Lungi, 19 km north of Freetown, the UN agency is helping almost
10,000 former refugees who either walked or were bussed from areas affected by
fighting along Guinea's border with Sierra Leone. They are being placed within
local communities because most of the returnees originate from rebel-held
districts such as Port Loko and Kambia.
Other returnees
are being hosted in eight villages in the Lokomassama chiefdom in Lungi
Peninsula, where the UNHCR has opened an office.Community-based programmes are
underway in health, water, sanitation, agriculture and education to help the
returnees and host communities. The UNHCR said spontaneous returns by land and
boat may have decreased significantly the number of Sierra Leonean refugees in
Guinea. They totalled some 330,000 before a series of cross border attacks from
Sierra Leone in September and after the Guinean government imposed restrictions
on refugees.
(TOP)
U.S. Laws protecting dogs,
cats enacted
Washington, November 20 -
President Clinton recently signed two landmark laws protecting companion
animals. One law bans import, export and sale of dog and cat fur products in
the United States. The other allows the option of adoption for retired military
working dogs.
"The Humane Society of
the United States commends the U.S. Congress and President Clinton for enacting
these landmark laws to protect companion animals," said Wayne Pacelle, a
senior vice president at the HSUS.
Sao Tome and Principe's national assembly has approved a bill allowing
the creation of private radio and television stations, RDP Africa reported on
November 21.The leader of the largest opposition faction in parliament, Edgar
Neves of the Accao Democratica Independente party, described the passage of the
bill as a victory for democracy in Sao Tome and Principe, the Portuguese radio
station reported. He said it crowned a long struggle by the opposition and
society in general.
(TOP)
International Day of
Solidarity with the Palestinian People
The Committee on the Exercise
of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People held a solemn meeting on 22
November, in the Trusteeship Council Chamber, in observance of the International
Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. The Committee, in cooperation
with the Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations,
presented a Palestinian Art Exhibit entitled "The Land". The exhibit
will be displayed at the Public Lobby of the General Assembly Building until 12
December. The Committee also arranged the screening of two films
entitled "Behind the Walls" and "Despite the Odds". Both
films were shown on 22 November in the Trusteeship Council Chamber and they
will be shown at the exhibit area throughout the duration of the exhibit.
It is very important today to
promote a joint platform for the delegates of the silent majority of both
Palestinians and Jews who staunchly believe in the possibility of a peace
agreement between the two people. This is continuously being performed at
IFLAC: PAVE PEACE, the International Forum for the Culture of Peace. After a
significant meeting held in Haifa on Nov. 18 on "Building A Culture
of Peace in Stormy Times," which
was attended by seventy eight Jews and Arab/Palestinians, the exchange of opinions and ideas is
leading to meaningful future initiatives.
One of them is a "Peace Culture Symposium", on December 16 in
Haifa, which will include a panel of prominent Israeli, Palestinian and Druze
speakers. A further initiative is a planned weekend Conference in Zichron
Yaakov on January 13 - 14, 2001.
IFLAC: PAVE PEACE http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
Jewish-Palestinian People
Dialogue: “We surely are between two worlds -- one that is dying but not yet
dead, and another which is being created by all of us but is not yet born.”
At the grassroot level this
dialogue is increasing, as these other passages of a US community newsletter
indicate: “Fortunately, before the Middle East violence of this dark Fall,
2000, in the preceding years the four San Francisco Bay Area dialogue groups
and others had built sustained relationships…..New groups have begun in Silicon
Valley, Toronto, New York City, and North Carolina. There may be more
unknown to us….We have maintained, especially with aid of the great Internet,
relationships with Palestinian and Jewish contacts. And support for other
dialogue groups far away. Especially on the e-mail network of the
Alliance of Middle East Scientists and Physicians, people express how much
ongoing communication has sustained them….The newest San Francisco Dialogue
Group experienced another successful "first" -- a "Teens-only
Middle East Forum" sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of San
Francisco…This can be a workable model for teens and adults in other communities,
to begin expanding their views and considering what it might mean to be for
both peoples, equally….Above all, through relationships, we have experienced a
new openness in the Jewish community, as well as increased dialogue
participation by the Palestinian community…”
Prof. Ada Aharoni, President IFLAC: adah@matav.net.il
Two new Goodwill Ambassadors
named by UNESCO
Paris, November 20
(No.2000-122) - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has named Indian
artist, writer and diplomat Madanjeet Singh and Lebanese Member of Parliament
Bahia Hariri UNESCO Goodwill Ambassadors during two separate ceremonies at
Organization Headquarters on November 16 and 17 respectively.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2000/00-122e.shtml
(TOP)
IFAD to Support a USD 55
Million Rural Development Project for Rubber-Producting Regions of Mexico
Rome 15 November 2000 – A USD
55 million project, the "Rural Development Project for Rubber-Producing
Regions of Mexico" in the United Mexican States, will receive a USD 25
million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)…
The project area comprises 46
municipalities in the states of Chiapas, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Veracruz. It is
located in the southeast region of Mexico, over the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, a
particularly important ecological and geographical zone where the bio-diversity
of the Northern and Southern Hemisphere converge and interact. In this area,
plant, animal and insect diversity overlap, combining all the natural
biological richness of the American continent.
http://www.ifad.org/press/2000/00-44.htm
Nigeria: Japan supports
electrification drive
Japan gave Nigeria on November
21 US $11 million to bring electricity to two villages in the northern state of
Nassarawa, AFP reported. The deal was signed in the Nigerian capital, Abuja.
The government would provide matching funds to connect rural areas to the
national electricity grid. Another three towns hope to benefit from similar aid
between 2001 and 2003, AFP said.
At least 60 percent of Nigeria's
estimated 120 million people live in homes not connected to the system, which
is notoriously unreliable and urgently needs upgrading. AFP said the government
had so far connected the administrative centres of 549 of Nigeria's 774 local
governments to the grid.
Public-Private Partnership for
Sustainable Development
The United Nations Institute
for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the German Management Academy (DMAN) are
jointly organizing the second session in the annual series entitled
"Public-Private Partnership for Sustainable Development". This
session will focus on "Public-Private partnership for Infrastructure
Development". The workshop to be conducted in English will be held
on Thursday, 7 and Friday, 8 December.
(TOP)
In the course of the Italian NGOs Assembly held in Rome 17th and 18th November, the "Association of Italian organisation of International Cooperation and Solidarity" was formally established and in the same site the statute was approved. The scope of the association is to represent Italian NGOs in order to affirm, support and spread the values and culture of international solidarity as well as the defence and promotion of the fundamental rights of individuals and nations. Among the main aims of the association are the commitment to contribute to the elaboration of national and European strategies and procedures for international cooperation; the promotion of aggregation between NGOs, the realisation of campaigns and lobbying actions for problems of particular relevance and interest.
http://www.unimondo.org/ONGele.html
In occasion of the "World
Voluntary Service Day" announced by UN
for 5th December, FOCSIV (the Federation of 52 Christian international
NGOs ) is organising an international event to be held in Rome 5th December,
the official opening of 2OO1, the International Year of Voluntary Work. The
most important event of the day will be the assigning of the International
Voluntary Worker's Oscar 2OOO, the recognition that the Federation assigns
annually to a person who has demonstrated particular distinction in personal
commitment to solidarity towards the developing countries of the world.
http://www.misna.org/ita/motizia.asp?id=36544
Virtual Volunteers: Growing
number of people giving their time from comfort of home, office - November 23, 2000 (San Francisco
Telegraph)
Jan Mucklestone Fischer is
designing costumes for a non-profit dance theatre in her spare time. Philippa
Hindle mentors a fourth-grade boy. Sheila Dennis uses her knowledge about
glaucoma to counsel other people who have the disease. But none of these Bay
Area residents has ever seen the people they are helping. Fischer's costumes
will be worn by dancers on Maui. Hindle's 9-year- old friend lives in Austin,
Texas. And Dennis offers advice in a glaucoma chat room used by people all over
the world. They are virtual volunteers, a small but growing segment of the
volunteer workforce. These people perform tasks ranging from counseling and Web
designing to translating and researching at their own convenience from their
homes and offices, using the Internet and telephones much as telecommuters do…
CESVI (Italian Humanitarian
Organisation) and FAI (Italian Fund for the Environment) are the non-profit
corporations which achieved through the
balance sheet the best information and financial communication respectively in
social and cultural sectors. The two prizes have been assigned by the jury of
the Award for the Balance and the Financial Communication. On Monday December
4th, the President of FAI and the President of CESVI will receive the prize "born to encourage among companies
a transparent financial communication". The Balance Award 2000 will be
assigned to the two non-profit organisations for their detailed reports to
donators: as far as CESVI is concerned, the 1999 balance sheet is the tenth to
be certified by one of the major international societies for the certification
of accounts: Price Waterhouse Coopers. The balance extract has been made public
on website www.cesvi.org
.As to FAI, the balance sheet
has been certified for the eighth consecutive year by Arthur Anderson Co. For
information: luisabruzzolo@cesvi.org
(TOP)
Under a landmark court
settlement, Dominion Virginia Power on 13-17 Nov. agreed to spend $1.2 billion
to cut emissions at eight coal-fired power plants by 70 percent within 12
years. Currently the utility's plants emit more sulfur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides, the pollutants that cause acid rain and smog, than all 30
power plants in New York put together. Pollution from the Virginia plants
tends to be blown into the Northeast, contributing to the deterioration of
forests and air quality. The settlement, the largest ever under the Clean
Air Act, comes as a result of a suit filed by New York and the U.S. EPA against
a number of power producers in the Midwest and South. This deal may mark
the beginning of a trend as New York and the EPA continue talks with other power
companies.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/16/nyregion/16POWE.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37145-2000Nov16.html
http://www.gristmagazine.com
The world's top banana
producer, Chiquita, which grows about one-quarter of all bananas, announced its
participation this week (13-17 Nov.) in the Better Banana Project, an
environmental certification program requiring companies to rein in the use of
toxic chemicals, reduce pollution, and conserve soil and water. Chiquita
said that it has spent $20 million over the last eight years to comply with the
project's guidelines, but that meeting them will actually help profits because
reducing the use of chemicals will cut costs. The company said that all
127 of its farms in Latin America are now certified and its smaller operations
in Africa and Asia will meet the program guidelines soon.
http://interactive.wsj.com/articles/SB974329770554027147.htm
Religions foster attention to
environment
Representatives of 11 major
world religions pledged this week (13-17 Nov.) to work together to help combat
climate change, deforestation, and other environmental ills. At a
first-of-its-kind conference in Nepal organized by the World Wildlife Fund,
leaders representing Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jews, and Muslims, among
other religious groups, highlighted the environmental teachings of their
faiths. One conference attendee, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew,
spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, has earned the nickname the Green
Patriarch in part because he has declared that pollution is a sin.
Pope John Paul II didn't make
it to the gathering in Nepal, but he did urge last week that rigorous controls
be imposed on biotechnology to avert possible "disaster for the health of
man and the future of the earth."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1024000/1024857.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/14/nyregion/14PATR.html
http://www.bergen.com/morenews/popeag13200011135.htm
Protection of environment
helps also economic development
U.S. States with strong
records on protecting the environment also offer good job opportunities and
climates for economic development, according to a new study by the Institute
for Southern Studies.
States getting high marks for
both economic and environmental health include Vermont, Rhode Island,
Minnesota, Colorado, Maryland, Maine, and Wisconsin. Many states in the
South were ranked low by both measures, including Louisiana, which is 48th in
economic performance and 50th on the environment, and Alabama, Texas, and
Tennessee. The study suggests that
environmental regulation, rather than stifling economic growth, may
actually promote it. Chris Kromm, director of the institute and co-author
of the report, said that "states seeking quick-fix, unsustainable
development end up sacrificing both workers and the environment."
http://rutlandherald.nybor.com/News/State/Story/15591.html
http://www.duluthnews.com/today/dnt/local/rank.htm
http://www.southernstudies.org/goldgreen2000.html
United Nations Convention to
Combat Desertification in Countries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or
Desertification, particularly in Africa
The fourth session of the
Conference of the Parties will take place from 11 to 22 December in Bonn,
Germany. The special segment on the implementation of the Convention will be
held from 18 to 20 December. Statements at this segment will be open to
Parties, observers, international intergovernmental organizations, multilateral
agencies and institutions accredited to the Conference, United Nations
programmes and specialized agencies with representation at the appropriate
level. The provisional agenda and organization of work for the session is
contained in document ICCD/COP(4)/1 and can be retrieved from the Optical Disk
System or from the Convention Web site http://www.unccd.int
(TOP)
West Africa: Second round of
polio immunisations
Health practitioners conducted
a second round of synchronised polio immunisations in 19 West African countries
from 18-27 November. The first round was held in October. The snychronisation
strategy is expected to have a major impact on the reduction of polio cases in
the region and halt wild poliovirus transmission within 24 months, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) said.
"This is crucial to keep the world on track to be certified polio
free by 2005," WHO said. "Synchronisation of the immunisation
campaign across national boundaries ensures that children moving with their
families due to conflict or for employment opportunities will be immunised and
protected." Vaccinations are to be
given in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Central African
Republic, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau,
Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo. The
effort is being conducted by WHO, Rotary International, the US Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, and the UN Children's Fund.
Benin: Doctors perform surgery
offshore
Doctors aboard the US ship
"Anastasis" will be carrying out facial operations over the next six
months on about 1,000 people from Benin, Togo and Nigeria. The project is
managed by the nongovernmental organisation Mercyships and the operations are
free of charge, a Benin Health Ministry official told IRIN on November 21.The
doctors aim to heal facial defects that in many communities can lead to
isolation and ostracism. The patients are considered to have the most severe
deformities among people assessed by doctors in the three countries.
Mercyships, which travels around the world, visited the region last year.
Philanthropy at Record High, Yet Clinton Calls for
More Giving
By Ryan J. Donmoyer
Washington, Nov. 25
(Bloomberg) -- President Bill Clinton used a new report showing record levels
of U.S. philanthropy to say Americans should be even more generous, especially
those who are benefiting from the strong economy.
``Last year, Americans gave a record $190 billion to charitable causes,'' Clinton said during his weekly radio address from Camp David, Maryland. ``Working with America's extensive network of non-profit and faith-based organizations, we're making a difference, but we still have more to do.''
Clinton released a report by
the White House Council of Economic Advisors that says charitable giving has
grown more than 40 percent since 1995 and now exceeds 2 percent of the U.S.
Gross Domestic Product, the highest level in more than 30 years.
BENIN: Effort to spread
information on health
The Association of Health
Communicators in Africa (l'Association des communicateurs en sante de
l'Afrique, ASCA) has set up a branch in Benin.
Its aim is to promote health
development education among Beninese through mass communications, PANA reported
on Saturday.
Reine Azifan, a journalist who
specialises in covering health issues for the daily 'La Nation', was elected
president of the association's Benin chapter. The ASCA was created in 1995.
(TOP)
West Africa: Sahelian
countries adopt education strategy
Six Sahelian
nations on November 20 in Bamako, Mali, pledged to draw on their own resources
to improve education, and urged international donors to follow-up with
assistance that would give them greater independence in implementing their
programmes. Officials agreed to commit half of their education budgets to
primary education, and to set aside 4 percent of gross domestic product and
contribute 40 percent of debt relief savings to education. The presidents of
Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger attended the summit, while other officials
represented Guinea and Senegal. Several local efforts are underway in the
Sahel region, such as fostering the use of indigenous languages (coupled with
the official language) in education in Mali, or using "satellite
schools" in Burkina Faso to reach more children.
Primary education enrolment in the impoverished Sahelian countries falls
below levels for most of sub-Saharan Africa. In 1997, only Senegal had an
enrolment rate (59.5 percent) above the sub-Saharan African average of 56.2
percent, according to the UNDP Human Development Report 2000. The other five
countries ranged from 24.4 percent in Niger to 47.9 percent in Chad.
by Robert Muller
It is not because something seems impossible to achieve, that it should non be tried;
It is not because something has little chance to succeed, that it should not be tried.
On the contrary.
This is why I claim that it is of the
utmost importance to sit down and to devise a better way of governing this
Earth and humanity than is the case under the current, questionable
system. (Idea no. 780)
http://www.worldpeace2000.org/ideas/
Robertmuller@worldcitizens.com
******
Next issue: December 15.
(TOP)