Good News Agency – n° 7
Weekly - Year I - Number 7 –13
October 2000
Editor: Sergio Tripi
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 France, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Hungary,
New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and it is available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
Good News Agency is a free of charge service activity of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates in support to the Lucis Trust activities, the U.N. University for Peace, Radio For Peace International and other organizations engaged in the spreading of a culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective.
Via Antagora 10, 00124 Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
|
|||
International Legislation
|
|
Economy
and Development
|
|
Education
|
|
Solidarity
|
|
Health
|
|
Environment
|
|
Disarmament
|
|
Culture
|
|
(TOP)
Italy ratifies the Optional
Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women. Protocol to enter into force December 22.
With the ratification of
Italy on 22 September, the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women has been ratified by
10 countries. It will enter into force on 22 December.
States which ratify the
Optional Protocol recognize the competence of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women to consider petitions from individual women or
groups of women who have exhausted all national remedies. The Optional Protocol
also entitles the Committee to conduct inquiries into grave or systematic
violations of the Convention. The Committee is the body established under the
Convention to monitor its implementation.
ILO "core"
conventions ratifications surge past 1 000 mark
Drive continues to achieve
universal ratification
GENEVA – 22 September 2000 – The campaign to promote universal observance
for its eight core Conventions passed an important milestone this week when the
International Labour Office received notification from the Governments of
Austria, Ecuador, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Togo that they had ratified ILO
Conventions on child labour and the rights of workers to organize free trade
unions and engage in collective bargaining.
The wave of ratifications
pushed the total number of ILO core Conventions now formally adopted by the
Organization's 175 member States from 997 to 1005 practically overnight.
The latest ratifications
bring to 22 the number of countries that have ratified all eight of the
fundamental Conventions. Another 52 countries have ratified seven of the eight,
and in almost all cases it is the recent Convention 182 which will complete the
list. Since its adoption by the International Labour Conference in 1999,
Convention 182 has racked up more ratifications than any other ILO Convention
during a comparable period.
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2000/36.htm
The Gambia: Children's rights charter
ratified
The Centre for Children's Rights in The Gambia said it was pleased that the country's National Assembly had ratified the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It said, however, that the ratification was "not an end in itself but rather a start of a process which calls for political will and commitment in the implementation stage", MISNA reported on Thursday.
The centre emphasised that Gambian girls, in particular, were deprived of their constitutional right to basic education and were often forced into traditional practices such as female genital mutilation and early marriages.
(TOP)
Joint message on the
occasion of World Teachers' Day
On the occasion of World
Teachers' Day, celebrated October 5, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura;
International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavía; United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown; and
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy launched a joint message entitled World
Teachers' Day 2000: Expanding Horizons.
"On World Teachers'
Day 2000, we wish to pay homage to the role of teachers in expanding the
learner's horizons and also to put the spotlight on the expanding horizons for
teachers in the new knowledge society of the 21st century.
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2000/00-94e.shtml
The Centre North-South of the
European Council runs for the second year the World Awareness Week, from
November 13 to 19. “Cooperation and Learning (on the web) in a changing world”:
this is the theme for this year, whose central topic will be the world
citizenship. This initiative is aiming at students, teachers and youth
associations. In preparation to and during the conference, the Centre
North-South invites school and associations to give visibility to the main
objectives of education to a world community through the development of
projects and activities.
In 1999 the Centre North-South of the European Council launched the first Week of education to world community, that promoted activities in the schools of the 41 member States, choosing as main theme the eradication of poverty and of social exclusion.
Centre Nord-Sud, Avenida
da Liberdade 229-4, P-1250-142 Lisboa; fax 00351 21 3531329;
e-mail: msilva@nscentre.org
(TOP)
A race of olympic
proportions: reaching the last child with polio vaccine
Health, humanitarian and
business leaders gather and agree to strategic plan for certifying world
polio-free by 2005; countdown clock is ticking
Ted Turner, Mia Farrow
among those who pledge to generate funding and political will
'Timing is Everything' in
Global Vaccine Relay
Backed by a broad spectrum
of leaders from business, governments, UN agencies and humanitarian groups,
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that the world could win the
race against polio so long as health workers are able to vaccinate every child.
Touting the strategic plan
2001 – 2005 for the final chapter of global
eradication, Mr Annan declared that the race to reach the last child with polio
vaccine had begun.
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-60.html
European Commission, WHO
and UNAIDS take a united stand against killer diseases
On 28 September the
European Commission, the World Health Organisation and the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS announced a common stand against the epidemics of
HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in the developing world. The Commission has
convened a high level Round Table in Brussels, co-sponsored by WHO and UNAIDS,
as a first step in designing a new programme of action for the EU to help
developing countries to confront the growing epidemics of these three diseases
and break the cycle of disease and poverty.
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-61.html
Global Vaccine Fund commits
$150 million in vaccines and funding over five years to 13 developing countries
Initial effort will reach
four million children, save more than 100,000 lives per year; next
disbursements in November
GENEVA, 20 September – The Global Fund for Children's Vaccines will
give more than US$150 million worth of vaccines and funding over five years to
improve immunization programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Thirteen countries will
receive the first awards – Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire,
Ghana, Guyana, Kenya, the Kyrgyz Republic, Laos, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali,
Mozambique, Rwanda, and Tanzania. As a result, these countries will be able to
immunize four million children against hepatitis B by the end of 2001, and more
than 600,000 children who would not otherwise have received any immunizations
will now be protected. This represents a 10% increase in basic immunization
coverage. According to estimates, more than 100,000 lives will be saved every
year due to these initial grants
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-GAVI3.html
The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) announces winners of "Race Against
Poverty" awards for "Breaking the Silence on HIV/AIDS"
A journalist from French
Polynesia, a mother from Malawi, a Nicaraguan psychologist, and a Polish
priest, all of whom have been leading the fight against HIV/AIDS in their
communities, will receive UNDP’s Fourth Annual Race
Against Poverty Awards during a special ceremony at the United Nations. The
event, marking the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP)
under the theme "Breaking the Silence on HIV/AIDS," will take place
on 23 October at 6:00 p.m. in the UN General Assembly Hall.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/pressrelease/releases/2000/october/1oct00.htm
ADF 2000 - AIDS: The
Greatest Leadership Challenge, Addis Ababa, 3 - 7 December 2000
The second African
Development Forum (ADF 2000), originally scheduled to be held from 22 - 26
October 2000 on the theme 'AIDS: The Greatest Leadership Challenge', will now
take place from 3 to 7 December at the United Nations Conference Centre in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Organized by the Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA) in conjunction with UNAIDS, UNDP, UNICEF, The World
Bank and other partners, ADF 2000 has been designed to serve as a launching pad
for a renewed commitment to more concerted action against HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Its overarching objective
is to generate the highest level of scientific, technological, traditional and
intellectual leadership commitment possible, at all levels of society and the
development community, towards addressing the pandemic and mitigating the
devastating impact it has already registered on the continent.
http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/newweb/html/pressrelease0700.htm
The European Community
Humanitarian Office (ECHO) said on Monday that it was providing support for an
immunisation campaign against yellow fever in Liberia, where more than 110
suspected cases have been reported since July and at least four people have
died. Liberia's Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has launched an
immunisation campaign with 200,000 doses of vaccines from the World Health
Organisation (WHO). Sixty-eight teams have been mobilised and more than 60
percent of the target population have been vaccinated.
The Gambia: Malaria
vaccine
Clinical malaria vaccine trials are set to begin in The Gambia in an effort to find a way to defeat the illness that claims at least 1.5 million lives a year worldwide. Dr. Tumani Corrah, director of clinical services at the Medical Research Council in Banjul, told IRIN the tests could start on Monday (25 September). The research on the vaccine is being carried out by scientists from the Gambia and Oxford University.
The Gambia: Life expectancy reported
to have increased
Life expectancy in The Gambia has increased from 42 to 55 years, due to improved primary health care, the 'Daily Observer' newspaper reported on Monday. The paper quoted Abdoulie Sallah, secretary of state for health, as saying that immunisation for children under five years had increased from 27 percent in 1987 to 73 percent in 1999. He said the child mortality rate had fallen from 213 per 1,000 in 1960 to 80 per 1,000. The maternal mortality rate was reduced from 2,000 per 100,000 to 1,050 per 100,000 in the 1990s, Sallah said.
(TOP)
The Sunflower Newsletter No. 41 October
2000 www.wagingpeace.org/sf/index.html
International Day of Protest to Stop
the Militarization of Space – October 7
The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space called for individuals and organizations to organize an event in their community on 7 October 2000 to protest the militarization of Outer Space.
The arms race is moving into Outer Space. The US Space Command has publicly stated that it intends to "control and dominate space in order to protect US interests and investments." In the US Space Command document entitled "Vision for 2020," the Pentagon states that because of corporate "globalization of the world economy" there will be a widening gap between the "haves and the have-nots." The document states that space "superiority" will emerge as an "essential element of battlefield success" as the Space Command becomes the military instrument by which challenges to corporate control are suppressed in regions around the world.
The Sunflower Newsletter No. 41 October 2000 www.wagingpeace.org/sf/index.html
(TOP)
Under the leadership of Nafis
Sadik, the U.N. Population Fund has been transformed from an organization that
foisted contraceptives on women in order to meet fertility-control targets to
one that has as its central mission giving women more power not just over their
own fertility but over health care, education, and many other aspects of their
lives. Sadik, a Pakistani obstetrician who became executive director of
the fund in 1987, will retire at the end of this year.
Her push for women's rights
has rankled not only some Islamic and developing nations, but also the U.S.
Congress, which has withheld funding because of the population fund's position
that women should have access to safe abortions as a last resort. This
year, the Clinton administration has requested a $169 million increase in
international family planning levels, and Congress is expected to debate the
issue soon.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/02/world/02NATI.html
http://seattlep-i.nwsource.com/opinion/consop3.shtml
UNIDO, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Hungary
and the Foundation for Small Enterprise Economic Development (SEED) in Budapest
has organized the Regional Forum designed to produce recommendations to
governments and industry in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Newly
Independent States (NIS) to address the problems encountered during the process
of transition to market economy.
http://www.unido.org/doc/asnew.htmls
OECD:
"New Forms of Integration in Emerging Africa", Policy Workshop
13 October, Geneva. In
the framework of the Development Centre’s 2000 Programme of Work on "New
Approaches to Poverty Reduction", the OECD Development Centre is
organising, in collaboration with the Graduate Institute for International
Studies in Geneva, a Policy Workshop entitled: "New Forms of Integration
in Emerging Africa". A successful
and sustained take-off in African countries hinges not only on sound domestic
policies but also on an improvement in their international competitiveness. The
workshop has three objectives: to assess the scope for increased intra-regional
trade in sub-Saharan Africa; to identify the most promising areas of regional
co-operation; and to explore how the international donor community can most
effectively support promising regional co-operation initiatives. Contact: Mayrose Tucci, mayrose.tucci@oecd.org.
(TOP)
WFP extends its operation
for Mozambique flood victims
The United Nations World
Food Programme (WFP) on September 26 announced a six-month- extension of its
emergency operation to assist some 172,000 people still facing severe food
shortages due to Mozambique's worst floods.
The extended operation will
cost an additional US$6.8 million, bringing the total funding needs for the
current emergency feeding operation which began in February to US$42.8 million.
http://www.wfp.org/prelease/2000/092600b.htm
WFP poised to give
emergency aid in flood-damaged Cambodia
With historic floods from
the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers destroying thousands of homes and nearly
220,000 hectares of the rice crop in Cambodia, the United Nations World Food
Programme announced on September 27 that it plans to deliver emergency food aid
to some 500,000 people.
At the request of the
Cambodian Government for both immediate and long-term assistance, WFP is
preparing to respond to the emergency created by the country’s worst flood in 30 years. WFP is already
assisting 30,000 of the worst hit families with food from the contingency reserve
of a two-year relief and rehabilitation programme for 1.3 million people that
began in January 1999.
http://www.wfp.org/prelease/2000/092700.htm
WFP to help one million
Tajiks survive a devastating drought
The United Nations World
Food Programme announced on September 26 a major emergency operation to help
more than one million people in Tajikistan who are threatened with famine
because of one of the worst droughts in decades.
Under the new operation,
WFP will bring about 126,000 metric tons of food aid into Tajikistan over the
next nine months at a cost of US $62 million.
http://www.wfp.org/prelease/2000/092600a.htm
Kenya: EU announces further food aid
In response to the food shortage caused by the drought, the European Commission announced on Thursday its decision to finance a further shipment of 25,000 mt of cereals to the country to be channelled through the WFP. An additional three million Euros (US $2.5 million) have been allocated for small-scale food security projects.
(TOP)
Afghan women celebrate
World Habitat Day
Women from all over
Mazar-i-Sharif came together on October 2 to celebrate World Habitat Day, with
a two hour programme dedicated to this year's theme "Women in Urban
Governance". Elsewhere in the city, a similar programme is being conducted
for men, with the Mazar youth and community education committees taking an
active role in both celebrations. These events will be used to reflect on the
role of women as decision-makers in society, and the need to address urban
issues that are of particular concern to women.
World Habitat Day is celebrated
annually on the first Monday in October. Yet, for the Afghanistan programme of
the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) every day is
dedicated to increasing the role of women in urban governance.
Bitter rivals Toyota and Honda
are racing against each other to create affordable eco-friendly cars.
Toyota announced this week that it plans to offer a full range of hybrid
gasoline-electric vehicles, everything from ultra-compacts to luxury sedans,
SUVs, and commercial trucks, though the company didn't specify when they would
hit showrooms. Enviros have praised Toyota and Honda for starting to sell
the hybrid Toyota Prius and Honda Insight in the U.S. this year, and Honda now
plans to sell a hybrid Civic next year. Honda also announced this week
that it has developed a prototype four-seater fuel-cell car that will be tested
on roads in California. Fuel cells are believed by many to be the future
of green car technology, but it may take a decade or more before the technology
becomes widely affordable, so Toyota and Honda are currently pushing hybrid
vehicles as a good eco-friendly option. American automakers are lagging
behind in this green contest.
http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm?newsid=8371
Washington, D.C.-based
Conservation International is trying a new approach to saving natural areas in
developing countries: leasing trees. CI is working on a deal to buy
the logging rights for up to 25 years for 200,000 acres of pristine rainforest
in southern Guyana in South America, planning to spend several million dollars
to protect the land with what it calls a "conservation concession." Usually
concessions, or development rights to land, are sold by cash-strapped
governments to logging and mining companies, often at prices as cheap as a few
dollars an acre. CI now intends to compete with these private companies
to buy concessions, also offering to pay governments enough to compensate for
any lost jobs or economic activities. CI may take this model to Bolivia,
Brazil, Cambodia, and Peru.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/24/business/24WORL.html
Denkmal 2000: European Trade Fair for the
Preservation of Historical Buildings and Urban Renewal – 25 to 28 October
Denkmal in Leipzig is held under the
patronage of UNESCO and is a unique international forum for the experts and all
those interested in heritage conservation. In other words, for restorers,
architects and planners as well as art historians, craftspeople, local
government officials, manufacturers of building materials, investors and
property owners.
These international specialists come to Leipzig to experience a
wide-ranging presentation covering all aspects of heritage conservation, such
as preservation and care of historical buildings and heritage sites,
restoration, conservation, urban and village renewal.
http://www.denkmal-leipzig.de/
(TOP)
More than 2000 Years in the History of
Architecture: Safeguarding the structures of our architectural heritage - 16 to
20 October – Bethlehem, Palestine
Under the patronage of UNESCO, the Congress will provide an overview of researches, studies and state-of-the-art of knowledge in different fields of architectural heritage related to the conservation and restoration of monuments, buildings, historic towns, archaeological sites and other structures built from the earliest times till the end of the 19th century.
The Congress will highlight the role that different techniques,
technologies and materials have played in the history of architecture, their
relationship with the environmental conditions in different parts of the world
(climate, seismically, etc.).
A special session will be devoted
to the structures of the 20th century and to the perspectives for the third
millennium.
The Congress will be concluded
with a panel discussion whose aim is to propose concrete project proposal for
the region likely to find international sponsorship.
http://www.unesco.org/archi2000/
KRACÓW 2000: International Conference on
Conservation: Cultural Heritage as Foundation of Civilisation Development - 23 to 26 October
Facing the new social and political situation in
Europe in the recent years, as well as the contemporary complex demands of the
civilization progress, especially in respect of ecology, city and regional
environment, the need for reflections and new perspective for monuments
conservation, becomes urgent.
The International Conference on Conservation CRACOW
2000 is conceived as an interdisciplinary forum of debate and
formulation of current views, principles and requirements of preservation of
the cultural heritage in the light of the present state of the science.
*******
Next issue: 27 October.