Good News Agency – n° 12
Weekly - Year I - Number 12 –
29 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 over 1,200 editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and it is available in its web site:
It is a free of charge service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontŕ 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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International Legislation
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Solidarity
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Human
Rights
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Health
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Peace
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Environment and Wildlife
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Economy
and Development
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Culture
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Tiny
state of Nauru becomes 120th nation to sign Rome Statute
17 December – Nauru (Oceania)
became the 120th country to sign the Rome Statute to establish the
International Criminal Court.
"The Republic of Nauru is pleased to join the
other 119 nations who have recognized the need for the court," said Inci
Niel Clodumar, Nauru's representative to the United Nations.
The court will be the first
permanent court to have the ability to prosecute individuals who commit crimes
of genocide, war, crimes, and crimes against humanity including torture and sex
crimes. Currently, 25 countries have ratified the statute. The court needs 60
countries to ratify it in order for it to come into force.
http://www.earthtimes.org/humanrightsdirect.htm
122 nations agree to ban or
reduce persistent organic pollutants
Delegates from 122 nations
reached agreement on 11 December in South Africa on a treaty to ban or reduce
the use of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs), chemicals such as PCBs and
pesticides that have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and genetic
abnormalities in humans and wildlife. The ban, which must be ratified by
50 countries to become legally binding, will require some industries to find
new ways to make their products without using POPs or creating POPs as a
byproduct. Twenty-five developing nations will be allowed to continue to
use the pesticide DDT to combat malaria until better alternatives are
found. Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund praised the treaty as an
important first step toward ending toxic pollution.
The agreement includes a
promise by industrialized nations to pay $150 million each year to help
developing countries find alternatives to the POPs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1064000/1064002.stm
Saving the ozone layer also helps reduce poverty says UNDP’s Associate Administrator
21
December - Calling the Montreal Protocol to protect the ozone layer the most
successful environmental protection agreement ever forged, UNDP Associate
Administrator Zephirin Diabre underscored the strong links between protecting
the environment and reducing poverty at the global meeting on the Protocol last
week in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Mr. Diabre gave a keynote address on behalf
of UN Resident Coordinators in countries around the world on 13 December at the
Ministerial segment of the 12th Meeting of Parties to the Montreal Protocol.
The
ozone layer in the earth's atmosphere is essential for shielding humans, plants
and animals from the damaging effects of ultraviolet light. The ozone layer can
gradually recover from the effects of damaging chemicals if the Protocol
continues to be strongly enforced.
Under
the Protocol, industrialized nations have rapidly eliminated most ozone
depleting substances. Developing countries are following suit, with critical
assistance from the Protocol's Multilateral Fund, which has already committed
over $1 billion to assist developing countries in the difficult transition to
ozone-friendly substances.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
15 December – United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson and the Special Rapporteur on
the human rights of migrants, Gabriela Rodriguez, today urged countries to give
the "final push" that would ensure the entry into force of the
International Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their
Families.
Marking the first
International Migrants Day – 4 December - the High Commissioner and the Special
Rapporteur termed the abuse of the human rights of the 97 million migrant
workers and their family members around the world "a major international
problem".
The High Commissioner and the
Special Rapporteur said the status of ratification of the migrants' Convention
was indicative of the priority previously accorded to the problems of that
vulnerable group. Although adopted in 1990, the treaty still has not obtained
the required ratification by 20 countries that would allow it to enter into
force. The situation has improved recently and today only five more
ratifications are needed. The Convention is expected to garner those signatures
in early 2001.
http://www.unhchr.ch/huricane/huricane.nsf/NewsRoom
ILO joins celebration of United Nations' International
Migrants Day
Geneva, 18 December - On the occasion of the first UN
International Migrants Day, Mr. Juan Somavia, Director-General of the
International Labour Office (ILO) underscored the large and growing
contribution to the global economy made by the world's more than 100 million
migrants, immigrants and their families: "Migrant workers provide valuable
services with their labour and furnish an often invisible subsidy to the national
economies that receive them. They work in factories, produce food, provide
domestic service, staff hospitals and contribute to a wide range of basic
needs, often for low wages and with little recognition of the value of their
contribution."
According to ILO estimates, there are roughly 20
million migrant workers, immigrants and members of their families across
Africa, 18 million in North America, 12 million in Central and South America, 7
million in South and East Asia, 9 million in the Middle East and 30 million
across all of Europe. Western Europe alone counts approximately 9 million
economically active foreigners along with 13 million dependents.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/50.htm
UNHCR
receives early funding pledges from main donors
Geneva, 15 December - UNHCR was promised nearly
one-fourth of its 2001 budget on Friday when several donor governments pledged
US$214.7 million during the launch of the agency’s annual global appeal. Another $23 million had
been pledged earlier.
The pledges follow hard lobbying by UNHCR’s outgoing High Commissioner, Sadako Ogata, who
repeatedly warned donors that underfunding jeopardised the essence of UNHCR’s work.
The United States topped the list of donations
with $125 million, followed by Sweden with $40 million, the Nertherlands with
$23 million and Norway with $18 million. The other major donors included
Denmark with $14.5 million and Switzerland which donated $8 million. Other
major donors indicated that they would make pledges later.
UNHCR
needs a total of $953.7 million* next year to help and protect more than 22
million people driven from their homes or otherwise affected by war, violence
and contempt for basic human and civil rights around the globe.
http://www.unhcr.ch/news/pr/pr001215b.htm
An African regional conference on racism, xenophobia
and related issues is to be held on 22-24 January in Dakar (Senegal). The
meeting is a prelude to the World Conference Against Racism, Racial
Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance to be held in Durban, South Africa
from 31 August to 7 September 2001.
Celebration of the New Year 2001: Ramadan and
Hanukka - in the IFLAC Tent of Peace.
Palestinians, Israelis, Moslems, Jews, Bedouins and Druze, feasted
together on "The Feast Of Feasts" at their December Conference.
The celebration was heart warming and hopeful speeches were presented in an
atmosphere of harmony and peace. A Plea for Peace and the immediate
stopping of the shootings was sent to Mr. Arafat, Head of the Palestinian
Authority, and to Mr. Barak, Head of the Israeli Government. Now that the
Peace Talks have started again between the Israelis and Palestinians, there is
again hope in the hearts of both people that the much yearned for peace will at
last materialize at the beginning of 2001.
IFLAC: PAVE PEACE http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
(In spite of the latest shooting and the acts of terrorism, CNN reported
tonight, Dec. 29, the words of the US President Bill Clinton that “they (Israelis
and Palestinians) are closer to peace as they have never been before” – GNA
Editor’s note)
WCRP in Japan urges end to
anti-missile defenses
The World Conference on
Religion and Peace (WCRP) called on world leaders to halt the development of
ballistic missile defense systems being developed by the US. A statement
was released on 30 November by a newly formed WCRP Standing Commission on
Disarmament and Security, which met during the week in Kyoto. The WCRP
also released plans to strengthen conflict prevention and peace initiatives.
Twenty-three representatives
from religious and disarmament organizations from 14 countries attended the
meeting. Members of the commission stated that the use of nuclear weapons
contradicts their shared moral and spiritual beliefs, and they should be
eliminated. In particular, the commission voiced concern over the
development of missile defense systems that would require renewed testing of
nuclear weapons and intensify resistance to further
reductions in existing nuclear arsenals. The commission stated that missile
defense legitimizes nuclear weapons as an important factor in international
relations, and it reaffirmed the importance of the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty. It also called on world leaders to realize their commitment to
eliminate nuclear weapons.
Abolition 2000 Newsletter,
December 2000 http://www.abolition2000.org
"Breakthrough for children" contained in
peace report from Guatemala
19 December 2000: The United Nations Children's Fund
today hailed as a "major breakthrough" a report from the UN Peace
Mission in Guatemala that focuses on children's rights as a crucial element of
peace-building efforts.
The report, issued last week by the United Nations
Mission for the Verification of Human Rights in Guatemala (MINUGUA), analyzes
how children's rights have been fulfilled – or left unfulfilled – as part of the legal, social and economic reforms
that lie at the core of peace-building efforts underway in Guatemala.
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/
Economic
success in Vietnam allows WFP to close doors
Rome December 18 - The United Nations World Food Programme is ending its assistance
operations in Vietnam after 25 years that have seen the economic and social
transformation of this Southeast Asian country.
WFP will close its doors on 31
December following a careful assessment of food needs in the country, which
today stands as the second-largest rice exporter in the world. Additionally,
Vietnam’s sturdy economic growth has attracted foreign aid at record levels.
“Vietnam has now reached a
level of national food security where we at WFP are confident we can close our
programme here and devote our food aid to people who are in greater need,” said
Vietnam Country Director Julian Lefevre.
WFP, the world’s largest food
aid agency, played a major role in Vietnam’s protracted post-war
rehabilitation, feeding tens of millions of people. The agency has been Vietnam’s
largest grant donor of the entire UN system, investing approximately $500
million of food and non-food aid in the country between 1974 and 2000.
http://www.wfp.org/prelease/2000/121800.htm
Combating desertification: IFAD announces a second
contribution of 2.5 million US dollars to the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD
Bonn, 18 December 2000 - The International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD), announced today the release of a second tranche
of 2.5 million US dollars to the Global Mechanism (GM), a conduit to assist the
implementation of the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD). While making
the announcement, the IFAD President, Mr. Fawzi H.
Al-Sultan, urged delegates from
about 170 countries, attending the Fourth Conference of Parties (COP-4)
December 11-22 in Bonn, Germany, to help "save the lives of millions of
people" threatened by drought and desertification.
Established by the State Parties to the Convention as
the hub of a dynamic network of partners, the GM became operational in 1998. It
not only mobilises financial resources, but also channels their flow, thereby
guaranteeing increased financial effectiveness and efficiency and ensuring a
holistic and equitable approach to resource distribution in support of land
degradation issues. The Global Mechanism is hosted in Rome by the IFAD.
http://www.ifad.org/press/2000/00-53.htm
IFAD to provide 8 million dollars for Agricultural
Financial Services in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Rome, 13 December 2000. The International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a loan of 8 million dollars on
highly concessional terms to finance the IFAD-initiated Agricultural Financial
Services Project in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The total cost
of the project is 17.2 million dollars. The loan agreement was signed today at
IFAD headquarters by the President of IFAD, Mr. Fawzi Al-Sultan, and by Mr Nenad
Georgiev, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water
Economy of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The overall goal of the project is to raise the
standard of living of the population in the rural areas through increased economic
activity, responsive to the emerging market. The project will establish an
Agricultural Credit Discount Fund, which will provide financial services to
smallholders and entrepreneurs in rural areas. The Fund will expand credit
availability for incremental agricultural production at a national level, and
begin to shift credit risk to commercial banks that will lend to borrowers who
qualify as the target group.
http://www.ifad.org/press/2000/00-51.htm
South Africa selected to host UN World Summit in 2002
South Africa announced on 10
December that it has been selected to host the U.N. World Summit on Sustainable
Development, a.k.a. the Earth Summit 2002. More than 40,000 delegates
will likely attend the conference, which will mark the 10th anniversary of the
1992 Rio Earth Summit, where world leaders agreed to an agenda for protecting
the environment and alleviating poverty.
http://www.earthsummit2002.org/
Vienna, 20 December - H. E. Mr. Vincenzo Manno,
Permanent Representative of Italy to UNIDO and Carlos Magarińos,
Director-General of UNIDO, signed a Trust Fund agreement today at the
Headquarters of UNIDO in Vienna. In the agreement the Italian Government
pledges US$1,715,000 to promote investment and technology within the framework
of the UNIDO integrated programme for strengthening the competitiveness of the
industrial sector in Morocco, estimated at US$ 10,315,000. The contribution
will allow the establishment of an Investment Promotion Unit in Morocco that
will work closely with the UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office
based in Milan and Bologna.
http://www.unido.org/doc/341473.htmls
WFP renews food aid to more
than one million drought stricken Tanzanians
NAIROBI December 13 - The United Nations World Food Programme today launched a five-month
emergency operation in Tanzania, following four years of continuous hardship
due to drought.
The WFP initiative will reach
1.3 million people, across 11 regions, at a cost of $15 million. The food aid
agency has been actively involved with drought assistance in Tanzania for
several years.
After visiting drought
stricken regions, a team of experts which included WFP, indicated that
Tanzania’s most recent harvest has been seriously affected by irregular and
premature rainfall, exposing the rural poor to "extreme levels of food
insecurity".
http://www.wfp.org/prelease/2000/121300.htm
The Gambia: ADB funds rural
electrification and road construction
The African Development Bank (ADB) announced on 21 December it has approved:
- a loan of US $3.80 million to electrify 46 towns and villages in the Greater Banjul area. It said the project should "contribute to the reduction of poverty in those rural areas". The 26-month project, scheduled to begin in April 2001, would involve the construction of six power stations, one network substation, transmissions lines and underground cables
- a loan of US $11.40 million to be used mainly for surfacing a 27-km road linking Ambam to Eking in Cameroon. The project, it said, should help improve living conditions in the southern and central provinces, "as well as enhance regional integration". The loan would also enable the construction of 11 classrooms and the implementation of an STD/AIDS prevention programme. Work is expected to begin in June 2001 and last 29 months.
Guinea Bissau: US $790 million
for debt relief
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Development Association (IDA - the World Bank's soft-loan affiliate) have allocated a debt-reduction package of US $790 million to Guinea-Bissau, the IMF announced on 15 December. The relief package, approved under the organisations' Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, would enable the country to increase spending on poverty reduction.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: Single Red Cross Society set up
21 December – The Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina held its constitutive
assembly in Sarajevo on 15 December, paving the way for formal recognition by
the ICRC and subsequent admission to the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement. During the historic meeting, Dr Midhat Haracic, head of the
Sarajevo Blood Transfusion Institute, was elected to chair the National Society
on a rotating basis. His two co-chairmen will be Mr Brano Dursan, a lawyer from
Trebinje, and Ms Adela Skaro, a social worker from Tomislavgrad.
This
move towards recognition is the outcome of a long process during which
representatives of the Red Cross organizations of the country’s two entities
met regularly for 30 months, through a contact group. The decision taken by the
Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers in September to recognize a single Red
Cross Society in the country, combining the entity organizations, was a
milestone.
http://www.icrc.org/eng/whatsnew
Poorer half of the world
can expect better health and prosperity within the next decade
New report from six UN
Agencies shows that the main diseases that cause and perpetuate poverty can be
successfully controlled
Geneva, 19 December 2000
- A new report jointly issued by
six United Nations agencies claims that worsening AIDS, TB and malaria
epidemics are not inevitable, shown by the many successful strategies to
turn back these diseases, and prevent the deaths they cause, deployed by
several developing countries. The targets for reducing the toll of these
illnesses, set by the world's leaders at successive summits over the last year,
are feasible. What is needed are the funds and systems that will enable
widespread implementation of actions that have shown to be effective, the
report says.
In
the joint report issued today - "Health, a key to Prosperity: Success
Stories in Developing Countries" - the World Health Organization (WHO),
the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and
the World Bank outline key factors for combating AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria,
childhood diseases and maternal and perinatal conditions, even in resource-poor
settings.
http://www.unaids.org/whatsnew/press/eng/who1912.html
UN
hails Laos' new "Get Tough" approach to opium poppy eradication"
VIENNA, 8 December - UN drug control officials are
today celebrating clear indications that Laos - the world's third largest
producer of opium - has turned the corner towards a "very courageous"
approach to poppy eradication.
An order released today by the Prime Minister of the
Lao People's Democratic Republic specifically commands all provinces to
eradicate opium by 2006. In a humanitarian gesture, however, it allows elderly
addicts to grow opium poppy on limited plots exclusively for their own
consumption. Poppies grown for commercial purposes are targeted for
destruction.
According to the Vienna-based
UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP), the order "goes
beyond our most optimistic expectations of what we could get done in
Laos". If followed through, the UN will herald it as a major achievement
in the field of drug control.
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2000-12-08_1.html
GUINEA-LIBERIA: US $1.5 million EU grant to fight yellow fever
The European Commission (EC) has approved
on December 21 a grant of US $1.5 million for
emergency yellow fever vaccination campaigns in Guinea and Liberia. Vaccination
will be carried out by Medecins sans frontieres (MSF) and Hopital sans frontieres
(HSF). Additionally, the EC will provide US $1.2 million for a vaccination
project in the western Guinean areas of Kindia and Mamou, as well as Labe and
Kankan in the east. These are the regions most affected by the recent outbreak
in the country. The money will also be usedto buy and transport 300,000
additional doses and syringes for these areas.
Sierra Leone: ICRC commits US
$20 million
The International Committee of the Red Cross announced in its report issued on 15 December that it will give Sierra Leone US $20 million in humanitarian and development aid in 2001. The money would be used in accordance with government's priorities in the agriculture and health sectors, and for the National Commission for Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation.
IAEA
Director General expresses satisfaction with shutdown of Chernobyl nuclear
plant
14 December - The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
Mohamed El Baradei, today expressed his satisfaction with the decision of the
Government of Ukraine to close the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on 15 December
in response to concerns about the safety of the plant.
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2000/prn2900.shtml
After more than six years of
debate, the U.S. EPA agreed it would draft standards to require coal-fired
power plants to reduce their emissions of mercury. The National Academy
of Sciences has determined that as many as 60,000 babies may be exposed to
unhealthy levels of mercury each year because either they or their mothers have
eaten contaminated fish. The EPA has already imposed mercury limits on
sources such as medical incinerators, and EPA Administrator Carol Browner said
that power plants were the greatest remaining source of mercury
emissions. She said standards would be proposed in late 2003.
The Edison Electric Institute, a utility lobbying group, responded that the
science was still out about mercury's health risks.
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2000/12/15/national/MERCURY15.htm
Global coral reef
monitoring now feasible with new landsat 7 data archive
Coral reef ecologist Bruce Hatcher of Dalhousie
University says the structure and extent of coral reefs can now, for the first
time, be monitored globally in near real-time, thanks to new observations from
NASA's Landsat 7 spacecraft, unique and valuable scientific resource.
Over 5,000 detailed coral reef images from nearly 900
locations around the world have been collected in the first year of the Landsat
7 scientific mission, and archived, processed, distributed by the U.S.
Geological Survey,
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Landsat/landsat3.html
http://seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov/reefs/
http://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/
USA will launch initiatives to
preserve coral reefs
U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman
Mineta announced four initiatives to help preserve coral reefs yesterday, after
a monitoring group released a report saying that 27 percent of the world's
reefs were gone and that 70 percent would be dead by 2050. Mineta's plan
includes creating several "no anchoring" zones for large ships near
reefs in the U.S. and moving ahead on research sponsored by the U.S. and
Australia to study coral reef bleaching and the effects of global warming on
reefs. The report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network found that
bleaching destroyed 16 percent of the world's reefs in 1998 alone.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=9290
Several communities use
Christmas trees to make effective sand- and soil-erosion barriers, especially
on beaches and river.Kenneth Bahlinger of the Louisiana Department of Natural
Resources said that discarded Christmas tree
"It is one of the best tools we have”.
http://www.enn.com/news/enn-stories/2000/12/12212000/treerecycle_40897.asp?P=2
http://www.kab.org
http://www.realchristmastrees.org
The goal of this donation is to
promote further research into the conservation of natural resources at
Earthwatch's Latin America Conservation Research Center, launch an Africa
Center replicated after the Latin America Center and establish other
Conservation Research Centers in the U.S., North America and Asia.
The
first alliance between Ford and Earthwatch began two years ago, and this new
accelerates the conservation process in some of the world’s most threatened and
valuable habitats.
http://www.earthwatch.org/pubaffairs/ford.html
http://www.media.ford.com
European Union grants 3
million Euros to “green” NGOs
In 2001 the “Community’s
Action Programme for the support of NGOs mainly active in the field of
environment protection”, established by the European Commission with resolution
97/872, will aim at financing NGOs committed to the development and
implementation of communitarian environmental norms and policies. Funding will
be up to 50% of budget expenses.
www.reteambiente.it/news/hpnews.htm
At a ceremony in Stockholm on
8 December, scientists and activists from Ethiopia, Indonesia, Turkey, and the
U.S. received Right Livelihood awards, commonly known as the "Alternative
Nobel Prizes," for their work on environmental and human rights
initiatives. Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, the chief environmental
official in Ethiopia, was honored for leading an international effort to set
rules for trade in genetically engineered products that protect biodiversity
and the rights of developing countries. The Turkish environmentalist
Birsel Lemke was recognized for her fight against cyanide-based gold mining.
Wes Jackson from the U.S. received the award for his two decades of work with
the Land Institute to develop a sustainable agricultural system based on
perennial prairie plants.
http://www.ocregister.com/science/9altnobelscci.shtml
27. Opening of first Peace
Museum in Spain
The first
Peace Museum in Spain was opened in La Vall d’Uixo in Valencia on 10
December. The director is Ms Natividad Fartea, who set forth this initiative
after taking a post-graduate class in
Spain on “Creating a Culture of Peace” conducted by Prof.
Kazuyo Yamane of the Japanese Network
of Museums for Peace. Photo panels of atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were presented from Grassroots House to the Peace Museum. A video of “Hiroshima” was also sent from Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
The Japanese
Network of Museums for Peace was founded in 1998 when the third International
Conference of Peace Museums was held in Osaka and Kyoto. The aim of the
association is to promote peace through exchanging information, opinions and
exibits among peace museums. Newsletter called Muse is published twice a
year in Japanese and in English.
E-mail: GRH@ma1.seikyou.ne.jp
http://ha1.seikyou.ne.jp/home/Shigeo.Nishimori/
Launch of virtual “Global Heritage Pavilion” for Japan Internet Fair 2001
Paris, December 20 - UNESCO will launch the “Global Heritage Pavilion”, a website entirely devoted to the world's cultural
and natural heritage on December 31, 2000 to represent the Organization in
Internet Fair 2001 (INPAKU), a web-based event organised by the Government of
Japan to promote the Internet.
UNESCO’s Global Heritage Pavilion (http://www.inpaku.unesco.org) demonstrates what the “very latest technologies can do to help make the
abundant diversity of the world's great cultures better known to all the world’s peoples”, UNESCO Director-General Koďchiro Matsuura says in
his on-line welcome address on the website.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2000/00-140e.shtml
by Robert Muller
“I have received a letter from Mr. Helmut Schmidt, former President of Germany and now chairman of an InterAction Council of 24 former heads of states, sending me the draft of a Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities submitted to the General Assembly of the UN. I have endorsed it with enthusiasm. In his communication, Dr. Schmidt underlined these seven social sins signalled by Mahatma Gandhi:
1. Politics without principles
2. Commerce without morality
3. Wealth without work
4. Education without character
5. Science without humanity
6. Pleasure without conscience
7. Worship without sacrifice
We better work on all of them.” (Idea no. 1143)
http://www.worldpeace2000.org/ideas/
Robertmuller@worldcitizens.com
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