Good News Agency – Year X, n° 161
Weekly – Year X, number 161 –
2nd October 2009
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
“…In conveying the appreciation of the Head of
State for the passion and the professionalism with which you spread, above all among the young, the culture of
"good news", I would like to take this opportunity of
adding my personal greeting”. (From the letter of
the Adviser for the Press and Information of the President of Italy, Giorgio
Napolitano, to the Editor of Good News Agency, 12 October 2007.)
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. It is
distributed free of charge through Internet to 10,000 media and
editorial journalists in 54 countries and to 2,800 NGOs and 1,700
high schools, colleges and universities. It is an
all-volunteer service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona
Volontà Mondiale, an educational charity associated
with the United Nations Department of Public Information. The Association has been recognized by
UNESCO as “an actor of the
global movement for a culture of peace” and it is a member of the World
Association of Non Governmental Organizations.
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity
Peace and security – Health
– Energy and
Safety – Environment and
wildlife
Religion and
spirituality
– Culture and
education
Encouraging evidences: Vaccinations are extended – The future is
in networks
UN treaty on maritime goods transportation
set to be signed in
22 September - A new United Nations treaty governing the movement of
commercial cargo by sea is slated to be signed on Wednesday in
The Convention, adopted by the UN General Assembly in December 2008,
creates a set of contemporary and uniform rules for the transportation of
containers that include an international sea leg, but is not limited to port-to-port
shipping of goods. Describing the rights and obligations of all parties
involved in shipping goods by sea, the treaty aims to bring clarity regarding
who is responsible and liable for what, when, where and to what extent. Among
the innovations contained in the Convention, which updates and replaces three
obsolete treaties, are provisions covering electronic transport records and
container shipping as well as regulations for combined sea and land transport.
The UN estimates that the shipping industry hauled 8 billion tons of cargo
in 2007, or 80 per cent of the volume of world trade. (...)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32152&Cr=maritime&Cr1
Lisbon Treaty referendum - 2 October 2009
The
Treaty of Lisbon has been signed by all 27 member states but it cannot come
into effect until it has been ratified by all of them. Ireland is the only
member state where a referendum is constitutionally necessary.
The
second referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon will be held in October 2009.
The treaty has not been changed, but the European Council has given specific
guarantees about how it affects Ireland in a number of areas. These are the
areas which the Irish government identified as having caused concerns to Irish
people in the first referendum: Taxation policy; The right to life; Education
and the family; Military neutrality.
These
guarantees are contained in a decision of the European Council. The European
Council has also made a declaration on other social issues
including the rights of workers. (...)
See
also: http://www.lisbontreaty2009.ie/
Initiative seeks to promote
Treaty Ratifications
UNA-USA recently launched a collaborative
effort to strengthen US support for international law through the ratification
of landmark and broadly endorsed multilateral treaties.
Known as the Conventions
Working Group, the initiative brings together the leaders of national coalition
groups supporting individual treaties, including the Treaty for the Rights of
Women; the Convention on the Law of the Sea; the Convention on the Rights of
the Child; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the
International Criminal Court’s Rome Statute and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty.
The group’s initial activity
has produced an op-ed entitled “‘Do as I
Do’ Diplomacy“ published September
http://www.unausa.org/worldbulletin
Largest group ever of world investors calls for strong
Global Climate Change Treaty
Lord Nicholas Stern and NY State Comptroller DiNapoli
join Investors at New York Investor Forum
New
York, 16 September - The world's largest global investors issued a joint call
today for strong action this year from international policy makers in the fight
against global warming.
Amid
the growing focus on upcoming international climate treaty talks, global
investors meeting at a Climate Change Forum in New York issued a major policy
statement calling for a strong and binding international treaty that will
reduce pollution and catalyze massive global investments in low-carbon
technologies.
Signed
by 181 investors collectively managing more than $13 trillion in assets,
today's investor statement is the largest of its kind on climate change in
world history. Co-ordinated by four leading investor groups on climate change
the US-based Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), the European
Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the Investors Group on
Climate Change (IGCC) in Australia and New Zealand and the United Nations
Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) operating globally, the
statement formalizes the private sector's requirement for a strong, binding
framework to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. (...)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=596&ArticleID=6307&lIL
=en&t=long
Audiovisual
Library of International Law
The Audiovisual Library is a unique, multimedia
resource which provides the United Nations with the unprecedented capacity to
provide high quality international law training and research materials to an
unlimited number of recipients on a global level.
The Audiovisual Library consists of three pillars: (1)
the Historic Archives containing documents and audiovisual materials
relating to the negotiation and adoption of significant legal instruments under
the auspices of the United Nations and related agencies since 1945; (2) theLecture Series featuring a permanent collection of lectures on
virtually every subject of international law given by leading international law
scholars and practitioners from different countries and legal systems; and (3)
theResearch Library providing an on-line international law library
with links to treaties, jurisprudence, publications and documents, scholarly
writings and research guides. The Audiovisual Library is available to all
individuals and institutions around the world for free via the Internet.
The
Audiovisual Library of International Law is funded entirely by voluntary
contributions received from States, institutions and individuals.
http://untreaty.un.org/cod/avl/intro.html
Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, 28 September -
9 October 2009
Annual OSCE human rights conference opens with calls
for improved implementation of international standards
Warsaw,
28 September - The OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, Europe’s
largest human rights and democracy conference, opened today with calls on
governments to increase efforts to adhere to the commitments they have
undertaken as participating States of the OSCE.
“Everyone
who experienced the tragedy of living through wars or totalitarian regimes
knows about the value of the respect for fundamental human rights and dignity,”
Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, former Polish foreign minister, said at the opening.
(…)
Some
1,000 government representatives, experts and human rights defenders are
attending the two-week meeting, which reviews the progress states have made in
putting their international commitments into practice. (...) In addition to
regular working sessions, more than 50 side events will focus on specific human
rights concerns and country situations.
http://www.osce.org/odihr/item_1_39771.html http://www.osce.org/conferences/hdim_2009.html
UN
and partners open new front in war on sexual violence against girls
25 September - The United Nations joined with other partners today to
launch a new initiative in the fight against sexual violence against girls, a
scourge which affects 150 million victims in a given year and contributes to
the spread of HIV and AIDS. The programme seeks to provide
funding to expand surveillance of sexual violence against girls in developing
and emerging countries, develop a technical package of interventions for
implementation at a country level to reduce the incidence of such abuse, and
launch a major media campaign to motivate social and behavioural change. (...)
The initiative brings together
five UN agencies - the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the Joint UN Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World
Health Organization (WHO) - with
the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and private
sector supporters via the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). (...)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32252&Cr=violence+against+women&Cr1
YWCA Canada starts preparing for YWCA Week Without
Violence, 12-18 October
23
September - YWCA Canada will focus on the Power of Being a Girl! for the
upcoming YWCA Without Violence October 12 -18, 2009. Power of Being a Girl! is
a YWCA Canada signature event developed and launched in
The
Power of Being a Girl! is a community conference for girls and young women
focused on their developmental needs that meets the mandate of the YWCA Week
Without Violence™ to prevent violence in the lives of girls and women. This
year, over 20 Member Associations will be hosting this signature event. The
Power of Being a Girl will focus on girls and young women ages 12-14 and/or
15-17 years. (...)
Last
year more than 45,000 people in over 600 schools, workplaces and community
organisations across Canada participated. For
over 100 years, the YWCA movement in Canada has provided shelter that is “far
more than just a roof” for women of all ages. Their
residences were the first safe housing for women seeking refuge from abuse and
YWCA Canada is now the single largest provider of shelters and transition
houses for women and their children. The Vancouver YWCA opened the first Second
Stage Housing in Canada. (…) The World YWCA is a
global network of women leading social and economic change in 125 countries
worldwide.
http://www.worldywca.org/World-YWCA/YWCA-News/Association-News/YWCA-Canada-WWV-2009
Broad backing for new UN guidelines to eliminate caste
discrimination
The government of Nepal is setting an international
example in addressing one of the world’s most serious human rights issues. It
strongly supports the UN guidelines on caste discrimination as an effective
mechanism to eliminate a human rights outrage that affects 260 million people
globally.
Geneva,
17 September - A new UN framework to eliminate caste discrimination, one of the
world’s most serious human rights challenges, yesterday received backing from a
number of international actors, including the government of Nepal, the EU
presidency and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Speaking
at a side event during the 12th session of the UN Human Rights Council in
Geneva, Nepal’s State Minister for General Administration, Mr Jeet Bahadur
Gautam Darjee, outlined his country’s efforts to “eliminate this scourge from
our society” and confirmed the Nepalese government’s support for the draft UN
principles and guidelines to eliminate caste discrimination.
The
Minister described the guidelines as “a good reference in devising the ways and
means to address the issue of caste-based discrimination” during the drafting
process of Nepal’s new constitution and as “useful tools” to reform and develop
anti-discriminatory legislation.
At
the side event, Nepal joined forces with victims of caste discrimination, the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a group of international NGOs to
promote the first comprehensive UN framework to prevent and address caste
discrimination. (…)
A step towards a new and powerful voice for women at the
UN
15
September - After more than three years of work and struggle by women’s rights
advocates worldwide, the UN General Assembly yesterday took a momentous step
forward. In a unanimous vote, they adopted a resolution pledging to create a
new UN agency for women.
To
date, the efforts of existing UN entities related to women’s rights issues have
been undermined by their lack of funding and political clout. Unlike many other
UN agencies, the UN
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the Office of the
Special Adviser on Gender Issues, the UN Division for the
Advancement of Women, and the International Research and Training Institute for the
Advancement of Women (INSTRAW), are not headed by an
under-secretary-general, the third highest ranking position in the UN system.
All of these factors have combined to weaken the status of women’s rights at
the UN. All of this is set to change with this week’s historic resolution.
The
new UN women’s agency is set to be created in early 2010, out of the
consolidation of the four existing women’s entities, and led by an
under-secretary-general. The resolution charges Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
with creating a detailed plan for the organization, funding and composition of
the new agency.
The
Gender
Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) Campaign, mobilizing over 300
international organizations, has for years fought to change the status quo for
women’s rights at the UN. (...)
http://www.madre.org/index.php?s=4&news=215
Multinationals join forces to fight hunger
WFP
has launched a groundbreaking programme which harnesses the power of leading
multinational companies and focuses it on the job of ending hunger and
malnutrition among children in the developing world.
Rome, 25 September - Project Laser Beam (PLB), announced
by former US President Bill Clinton at a meeting of the Clinton Global
Initiative, will combine the know-how of WFP with the business expertise of
private sector partners, such as Unilever, DSM, Kraft Foods, Heinz and the Global
Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Read
news release
Over the course of the five-year initiative, WFP will
raise a collective US$50 million from these and other companies. “With the
numbers of hungry going up, we need the private sector to join us in the
fight,” said WFP’s
Executive Director Josette Sheeran. “It’s a battle that’s too big for any
one player but together we can find new ways to radically reduce malnutrition.”
(…)
WFP Executive Director Sheeran called on other
prospective partners in the public and private sector to join the initiative
and fight hunger. [9 ways
business can help fight hunger]. (...)
http://www.wfp.org/stories/food-companies-join-forces-fight-hunger
At
CARE’s
partners include Gap Inc, General Mills, Girl Scouts of the
http://www.care.org/newsroom/articles/2009/09/Clinton-global-initiative-20090925.asp
WIPO partners with actors and musicians to boost
performers’ rights
Geneva,
24 September - The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) signed on
September 23 an agreement with the International Federation of Musicians (FIM)
and the International Federation of Actors (FIA) to support efforts to improve
recognition of the significant contributions made by actors and musicians
around the world.
The
agreement, signed by WIPO Director General Francis Gurry, FIA President Agnete
G. Haaland and FIM President John Smith, seeks, in particular, to help improve
the status of performers in developing countries. The agreement highlights the
connection between IP and labor and the special concerns of cultural workers
from the viewpoint of development and cultural diversity. It provides for the
organization of joint activities to strengthen performers’ networks and improve
their economic and legal status, as well as for raising awareness of the need
to support performers. Actors and musicians are an essential element in
the development of the creative potential of all economies, particularly in
developing countries. It is further anticipated that the agreement will help to
galvanize support for the protection of performers at international level.
(...)
http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/articles/2009/article_0039.html
UNDP human development
initiatives in the Arab World
22 September - UNDP directed
US$579 million in human development aid to the Arab region in 2008, an increase
of 21 percent from the year before in a region that is experiencing a number of
conflict and post-conflict recovery situations. Indeed, the bulk of the funds,
70 percent, went toward programmes in Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Palestine
supporting the rehabilitation of socio-economic infrastructure and the creation
of temporary employment for the millions of people who suffered devastating
losses as a result of violent conflict.
Earlier this year, UNDP’s Arab Human Development Report 2009 identified human insecurity stemming
from political conflict, poverty, lack of freedoms, the heightening effects of
climate change and barriers to women empowerment as significant challenges to
human development in the region. Conflicts have triggered widespread migration
within and between a number of countries. Refugees account for at least 10
percent of the population in Lebanon and Jordan while one out of 10 people are
internally displaced in Iraq and Somalia. As a result, a number of UNDP’s initiatives targeted the return and reintegration of internally
displaced persons and refugees. (...)
IFAD Executive Board approves US$ 217.82 million for
rural poverty work worldwide
Executive Board concludes two-day meeting in
Rome, 15 September - Poor farmers seeking to better their lives against the backdrop of
climate change received a boost this week. During its two-day meeting here, the
Executive Board of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
approved more than US$161.56 million in loans and $56.26 million in grants -
many of them for projects helping smallholder farmers adapt to a changing
climate and contributing to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
These
include projects to: enable Chad’s water network to support the seasonal
movement of shepherds and livestock, encourage small-scale water resources
management to increase yields in Bangladesh and strengthen water harvesting and
soil conservation measures in Lebanon.
The
Board also approved $3.35 million in grants to international research centres
and intergovernmental organizations. (...)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2009/40.htm
11
September - ACDI/VOCA has received a $5.8 million subaward under the new
USAID-funded Strengthening Communities through Integrated Programming (SCIP)
project, a five-year, multisector grant to improve the health and economic
livelihoods of families in Zambezia.
As
in much of rural
ACDI/VOCA
leads the agribusiness and rural enterprise development component of the
program, which is led by World Vision. The project employs a value chain
approach (VCA) to link smallholder farmers with downstream market actors, such
as processors and regional exporters. By improving local market information
systems and building relationships along the value chain, the project helps
farmers negotiate favorable production contracts with buyers capable of
offering higher prices and providing agricultural inputs on credit. (...)
http://www.acdivoca.org/acdivoca/PortalHub.nsf/ID/news_newprojectSCIP
World Food Day, 16 October
Achieving food security in times of crisis
The
crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70
percent of the world’s hungry live and work. With an estimated increase of 105
million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people
in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from
hunger. (…) On the occasion of World Food Week and World Food Day 2009, let us
reflect on those numbers and the human suffering behind them. (…) The World Summit on Food Security proposed by FAO for November 2009
could be fundamental for eradicating hunger.
Why a World Food Summit in 2009?
(…)
The global economic crisis is aggravating the situation by affecting jobs and
deepening poverty. FAO estimates that the number of hungry people could
increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark. FAO
Director-General Jacques Diouf has proposed a World Summit on Food Security to
agree key actions to tackle this crisis. He comments: “The silent hunger crisis
- affecting one sixth of all of humanity - poses a serious risk for world peace
and security. We urgently need to forge a broad consensus on the total and
rapid eradication of hunger in the world.”
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/
http://www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/
Caritas targets 50,000 people in Philippines after
devastating flooding.
28
September - Caritas Philippines (NASSA) is rushing aid to people in the
Tropical
Storm Ketsana (also known as “Typhoon Ondoy”) hit Saturday. A month of rain
fell in just 12 hours, submerging 80 percent of the capital Manila and
affecting 27 provinces in total. Hundreds of thousands of people have lost
their homes and over a hundred people have been killed. Caritas will initially
provide aid for a total of 10,000 families (50,000 people) in the seriously
affected areas.
Caritas
has bought 650 bags of rice for Antipolo in Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Cavite,
and San Pablo in Laguna and will evaluate further needs as the crisis
progresses. There is also an ongoing repacking of sets of relief goods (kitchen
wares, shelter aid materials, personal hygiene items and other food stuff) at
the St. Paul University in Manila. They are intended for the first 5,000
families in these areas. Students and staff of the University are helping
Caritas prepare the packs. (...)
http://www.caritas.org/newsroom/press_releases/PressRealease28_09_09.html
Baku, 25 September (ICRC)
- A health point and a secondary school serving over
3500 returnees of the two frontline villages of Yuhari Qiyamadinli and Mirzanagilar
in Agjabadi district, now have access to clean water thanks to work carried out
by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in cooperation with
local authorities and community members. (...)
Now that a water borehole situated between the school
and the health point, and shared by both villages, has been repaired and put
back into operation around 650 schoolchildren and 10 patients will have safe
drinking water every day. About 150 local residents living nearby will also
have access to clean water. (...)
Since
2008, the ICRC, in cooperation with local authorities and community members,
has also upgraded the water supply system in the
http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/azerbaijan-news-250909
Back to school: ADRA completes school and clinic
rehabilitation project in rural
22
September - On Monday, September 15, students returned to classes at the
ADRA
is also putting the finishing touches on the rehabilitation of the local health
clinic, a facility that normally serves approximately 7,500 people from 14
villages in the surrounding area. Once completed, an inauguration ceremony will
be held for both the school and the clinic, which are both located in the
community of Baldushk, approximately
http://www.adra.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=10543&news_iv_ctrl=1141
Nutrition emergency in
Barcelona/Paris/New
York, 22 September - The southwestern area of Central African Republic (CAR) is
facing a severe nutritional emergency, with more than 1,000 children at grave
risk, said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without
Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today. After being alerted by local
authorities, MSF medical teams have opened four feeding centers in the
past month in Carnot, Boda, Nola, and Gamboula. MSF has also implemented a
number of outpatient treatment programs. Initial assessments in some areas have
revealed severe malnutrition rates over the emergency threshold of two percent.
In barely six weeks, more than 1,300 children, mostly suffering from severe
malnutrition, have been admitted to MSF treatment programs. (...)
MSF
has been working in CAR since 1997. Currently, the organization is implementing
projects to provide care to people affected by violence in north-eastern areas
of the country, in Kabo, Batangafo, Boguila, Markounda, Maïtikoulou, Paoua and
Bocaranga.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/press/release.cfm?id=3954&cat=press-release
US
Leadership for a Nuclear Weapons-Free World at the UN
On September 24, 2009,
President Barack Obama chaired a special session of the United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) focusing on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. The UNSC
unanimously passed Resolution 1887, which calls for a nuclear weapons-free
world.
White
House fact sheet on UN Security Council resolution 1887 - September 24, 2009
"We
harbor no illusions about the difficulty of bringing about a world without
nuclear weapons. We know there are plenty of cynics, and that there will be
setbacks to prove their point. But there will also be days like today that push
us forward – days that tell a different story. It is the story of a world that
understands that no difference or division is worth destroying all that we have
built and all that we love. It is a recognition that can bring people of
different nationalities and ethnicities and ideologies together. In my own country,
it has brought Democrats and Republican leaders together."
President Barack Obama
In an historic meeting, the
United Nations Security Council today convened at the head of state/government
level and unanimously cosponsored and adopted a resolution committing to work
toward a world without nuclear weapons and endorsing a broad framework of
actions to reduce global nuclear dangers.
The meeting, which was called
for and chaired by President Obama during the United States’ Presidency of the
Security Council, shows concrete progress and growing international political
will behind the nuclear agenda that President Obama announced in his speech in Prague
in April 2009. The session was the fifth Summit-level meeting of the Council in
its 63 years of existence and the first time that a Security Council Summit has
been chaired by a U.S. President.
The new measure, UNSC
Resolution 1887, expresses the Council’s grave concern about the threat of
nuclear proliferation and the need for international action to prevent it. It reaffirms that the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery are threats to
international peace and security and shows agreement on a broad range of
actions to address nuclear proliferation and disarmament and the threat of
nuclear terrorism. (…)
http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2009/09/24_whitehouse_1887_factsheet.php
Advocacy
package on Military Spending compared to Development Aid
The
Story of ‘the Elephant in the Room’
As part of the Disarmament for
Development Campaign, the Secretariat of Pax Christi International prepared an
advocacy package called Military Spending and Development Aid or the Story of
‘the Elephant in the Room’.
The idiom ‘elephant in the
room’ refers to the fact that in spite of being obvious - or precisely because
of it - remains being ignored by the majority of people.
Pax Christi International
considers the military spending being such an elephant in the room, having in
mind the failure of the world’s richest countries to offer enough resources for
the UN Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015.
The document can be used for
educational purposes and be downloaded from the website www.paxchristi.net - News archive - Read
in 2009-0586-en-gl-SD.pdf
UN welcomes Sudanese order to lift censorship on
newspapers
29 September - The United Nations today welcomed the reported decision
by President Omar Al-Bashir to immediately lift censorship on Sudanese
newspapers.
“This
decision will advance the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement
(CPA) and is an important step towards creating an appropriate environment for
the multi-party elections scheduled for April
UNMIS
voiced hope that the implementation of the decision announced by Mr. Al-Bashir
on Sunday, along with other measures under consideration, “will enable all
Sudanese to freely exercise their rights of franchise and expression.”
It
also reiterated its commitment to stand by and support the efforts of the
parties to implement the 2005 CPA, which ended Sudan’s north-south civil war.
The
pact requires a comprehensive review of national laws to bring them into line
with the Interim Constitution and the country’s international human rights
obligations. (...)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32351&Cr=sudan&Cr1=
UN blue helmets help advance de-mining effort in
southern Lebanon
25
September - Some
UNIFIL,
established in 1978, is tasked with ensuring that the area between the Blue
Line and the
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32256&Cr=leban&Cr1
MAG
is improving security at
21
September - Following decades of
dictatorship and a 12-year long civil war that killed over 300,000, these first
elections after the transition elections will be determining for the country’s
future. With the Burundian
population and international community fearing electoral violence amid rising
tensions, MAG is helping the Burundian police to control its weapons, limiting
the risk of stocks falling into civilian or rebel hands. In all armouries, gun racks are being installed to
store weapons and bullets under lock and key. In addition, storage sites are
being equipped with reinforced doors and protection on windows.
These
measures - part of a
comprehensive Physical Security and Stockpile Management project with the
Police Nationale Burundaise (PNB) - are necessary to decrease thefts and trafficking which feed the
civilian market. (...) Improving the physical security of the PNB armouries was one of the main
recommendations from the survey of PNB Small Arms and Light Weapons carried out
last year.
http://www.maginternational.org/news/burundi-combatting-the-risk-of-weapons-trafficking/
Landmine Surivivor farmers’ co-op in
Posted
by: James Hathaway
Seam
Village, Battambang Province, 7 September - Life
was a struggle for Ream Luong before he joined the farmer’s cooperative set up
by Clear Path International and its partner in one of Cambodia’s most heavily
mined regions. This spring, the partners doubled the co-op to 150 households
from 75, expanding an enterprise that’s helping many landmine accident
survivors succeed as rice farmers. Disabled by a landmine accident when he was
23 and now going on 50, the father of three whose wife died of a sudden illness
was deep in debt to loan sharks. (...)
Thanks
to low-interest spring-time micro loans, agricultural training, better crop
seed and a chance to store his rice at the partners’ rice mill, Ream is now
virtually debt-free except for what he owes the project. He and his three
children are now among the 750 direct and indirect beneficiaries of the
farmers’ co-op, which issued $30,000 in $200 loans to the members at an
interest rate of 2 percent per month and provides many other services to the
households.(...)
http://clearpathinternational.org/cpiblog/archives/001007.php
Pedaling health care
by Nicole Charky
Rotary
This
is the way people in rural Namibia usually reach a hospital. Kilometres from
the nearest health care facility, villagers living with HIV/AIDS often miss
their treatments because they have neither transportation nor enough income to
charter private vehicles. But today, Namibians are getting an opportunity to
reach clinics from the most isolated places - and a better chance at survival -
because of bicycle ambulances.
The
Bicycling Empowerment Network (BEN) Namibia is a nonprofit organization that
started out providing bicycles as transportation. It launched a bicycle
ambulance project after noticing that health care workers used their bikes’
luggage racks to transport patients to hospitals and clinics.
To bring bike ambulances to
the country, the organization looked to the Rotary Club of Windhoek, Namibia,
for support and adopted a design from Canadian Niki Dun. Dun, cofounder and
director of Design for Development, a Vancouver-based charity, had come up with
an innovative concept: a bicycle that could tow an adjustable stretcher,
already being used in Malawi, South Africa, and Zambia. (...)
http://www.rotary.org/en/MediaAndNews/MorePublications/RotaryCanada/Pages/healthcare0910.aspx
World Heart Day, 27 September
Cardiovascular
diseases are the world’s largest killers, claiming 17.5 million lives a year.
Risk factors for heart disease and stroke include raised blood pressure,
cholesterol and glucose levels, smoking, inadequate intake of fruit and
vegetables, overweight, obesity and physical inactivity.
In
partnership with WHO, the World Heart Federation organizes awareness events in
more than 100 countries - including health checks, organized walks, runs and
fitness sessions, public talks, stage shows, scientific forums, exhibitions,
concerts, carnivals and sports tournaments.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/annual/world_heart_day/en/index.html
Religious encouragement to vaccinate against polio
Leading
Islamic academy
issues edict
17
September - The International
Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) has issued a strong statement encouraging
vaccinations against polio as a matter of urgency, and calls on Ministries of
Health in Muslim countries to intensify their efforts to eradicate polio. The
statement calls on parents and guardians - to ensure that their children
benefit from all polio vaccination efforts
- and on religious scholars and mosque leaders to
encourage communities to support polio eradication campaigns. The edict was researched at the request of the
Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Conference, H.E. Prof.
Ekmelddin Ihsanoglu. The request reflects the OIC’s concern that polio is still
endemic in many of its member states, and addresses the critical need to raise
awareness in Muslim communities about the benefits of polio vaccination
campaigns. Quoting extensively from the Qu’ran, the edict lays out the duty to
protect children when disease is preventable.
http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/LatestNews200909.asp#05
ADRA fights TB epidemic in
Tamil
Nadu, India, 15 September - In India, tuberculosis (TB) remains a serious health
concern, with nearly two million people in India developing the disease every
year, and an estimated 330,000 people dying from it. To reduce the disease’s
deadly impact, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) has provided
preventive care and health services to 191,000 people living in areas of
southern
The
project, launched in May
http://www.adra.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=1141&page=NewsArticle&id=10533
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ISES Solar World Congress 2009, Johannesburg, South
Africa, 11-14 October
The
ISES Solar World Congress 2009 will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre,
Johannesburg, from 11-14 October. With its theme of Renewable Energy: Shaping
Our Future, this 29th international Congress will focus on Africa and the role
that renewable energy (RE) can play in the sustainable development of poor and
rural communities in Africa.
Thus,
the ISES Solar World Congress 2009 will provide a platform where international,
regional and local experts can discuss the potential solutions that renewable
energy resources can provide in solving the global energy crisis, as well as
the opportunities for the industry at large.
The
programme will cover five thematic areas, namely Resource Assessment; Solar
Heating and Cooling; Solar Electricity; Solar Buildings; and Solar Energy and
Society. 370 abstracts representing 55 countries have been submitted for consideration.
Plenary session will feature presentations by top international experts on the
latest developments and technological advances.
The
International Solar Energy Society, a Global Alliance, is a non-profit global
NGO relying on personal and corporate memberships and donations/grants to do
its work.
http://www.solarworldcongress2009.com/
2009 Solar Decathlon starts soon.....
The next “Solar Decathlon“ begins October 9th!
For
three weeks in October 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy will host the Solar
Decathlon - a competition in which 20 teams
of college and university students compete to design, build, and operate the
most attractive, effective, and energy-efficient solar-powered house. The Solar Decathlon is also an event to which the public is invited to
observe the powerful combination of solar energy, energy efficiency, and the
best in home design. (…)
http://solarpowerbuzz.blogspot.com/
DOE and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology
co-host first ever Electric Vehicle Forum
Beijing,
China, 30 September - Yesterday, the first-ever U.S.-China Electric Vehicle
Forum concluded in Beijing, China, bringing together more than 140 U.S. and
Chinese officials from government, industry, academia and advocacy groups to
discuss progress made in the electric vehicle industry to date and
opportunities for collaboration and progress moving forward. DOE Assistant
Secretary for Policy and International Affairs David Sandalow joined with
Minister Wan Gang of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology to co-host
the event and highlight the rapidly growing electric vehicle industry in both
countries.
“The
U.S. and China share a strong common interest in putting millions of electric
vehicles on the road soon, which will lessen our dependence on foreign oil and
help address the global climate challenge,” said Sandalow. “Working together, we can accomplish more
than acting alone.”
The
U.S. and China are the two largest auto markets and energy consumers, and
together emit more than 40 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases. The
Electric Vehicle Forum provided a venue for experts to exchange recent
developments and identify promising opportunities for technical and policy
collaboration. (...)
http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8090.htm
USA: Treasury, Energy Surpass $1 Billion Milestone in
Recovery Act Awards for Clean Energy Projects
Washington, 22 September - This morning, Treasury
Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu hosted a group of clean
energy developers and manufacturers at the White House to discuss how the
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) is creating jobs and
helping expand the development of clean, renewable domestic energy. At the
meeting, Secretaries Geithner and Chu announced $550 million in new awards
through the Recovery Act’s 1603 program, bringing the total to more than $1
billion awarded to date to companies committed to investing in domestic
renewable energy production.
“This Recovery Act program is an example of a true
federal partnership with the private sector,” said Treasury Secretary Geithner.
“Not only are our Recovery dollars meeting an immediate funding need among
innovative companies, they are also jumpstarting private sector investment in communities
across the country - with benefits for the renewable energy industry and our
economy alike.” (...)
http://www.energy.gov/news2009/8038.htm
20 year plan for offshore energy grid presented to
Commission
15
September - A 20 year plan for the development of European offshore wind power
was presented to governments and EU officials by the European Wind Energy
Association (EWEA) yesterday at the world’s largest-ever meeting on harnessing
Europe’s most plentiful energy source.
EWEA’s
20 year offshore network development plan, launched to 4,000 business and
government participants at the European Offshore Wind 2009 Conference today in
Stockholm, provides a comprehensive approach to constructing a transnational
offshore power grid. Building on the 11 grids already in place and the 21 being
studied by grid operators in the North and Baltic Seas, EWEA proposes eight
additional offshore grids by 2020 and six more by 2030.
2010
is a key year for planning Europe’s future electricity grid, which needs
massive upgrading, as the European Commission is due to publish a Blueprint for
a North Sea Grid while European electricity network operators will publish a 10
year plan for developing a truly European grid - essential for a single
European energy market, harnessing renewable energies and improving security of
supply. (…)
http://www.ewea.org/index.php?id=60&no_cache=1&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=1624&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1588&cHash=752e54377d http://www.ewea.org/offshore/
Water, Cultural Diversity and Global Environmental
Change: Emerging Trends, Sustainable Futures? - 1-3 October, Kyoto, Japan
The
objective of this international symposium is to encourage global recognition
of, and respect for, cultural diversity in water resources management, in order
to facilitate collaborative actions for sustainability of water and cultures.
The symposium is part of a series of activities that have been implemented on
the topic, most notably public sessions held in the past four World Water
Forums. The symposium will be held as an activity of the UNESCO-IHP Project on
Water and Cultural Diversity, whose objective is to contribute to the
achievement of MDG 7: “ensure environmental sustainability” by mainstreaming
cultural diversity in water resources management. (...) By bringing together
various institutions and experts and by taking an integrated and
transdisciplinary approach, the symposium will consolidate suggestions on ways
to incorporate cultural diversity concerns into watershed management and water
resource development. This will constitute a substantial step towards
development of culturally sensitive studies and policies on water.
http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7899&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
HSBC
Eco-Schools Climate Initiative
Lisbon, Portugal, October 1 -
Today climate change becomes an international theme for schools supported by the
Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) through the HSBC Eco-Schools
Climate Initiative. Eco-Schools from 12 FEE delegations around the globe will
take part in this initiative (…) The Eco-Schools Programme incorporates seven
steps which schools at any level can adopt. These include doing an
environmental review, drawing up an action plan, implementing it and measuring
the impacts. Successful Eco-Schools are
awarded the ultimate Green Flag, an internationally acknowledged symbol for
environmental excellence.
Examples of best practice will
be shared through the website to make schools aware of what can be done to
address the issue of climate change. A Teacher's Manual will also be published
providing teachers with support materials. The HSBC Eco-Schools Climate
Competition will stimulate the students' creativity by encouraging them to
share their work on climate change by entering a poster competition.
The Foundation for
Environmental Education (FEE) is a non-governmental and non-profit organisation
aiming to promote sustainable development through environmental education
(formal school education, training of staff and general awareness raising).
Conference about coastal waters management
Granville, France, 30th September - 1st October
New bathing water directive, shellfish water directive,
public health and hygiene measures…
Europe
has revised its directives and fixed new goals, putting the quality of its
coastal waters at the top of its list of concerns. In this context, the SMBCG
(French public entity formed by local communities in the Granville Coastal
Basin), in charge of water quality protection and the “MARECLEAN” Life
Environment project, is organizing a European conference in Granville with its
partners (E.U., Veolia Eau, Veolia Environnement, IFREMER, Météo France, French
Water Agency, IRH Ingénieur Conseil, SAUR…) to provide a complete overview of
the reduction in the quality of coastal waters in wet weather, on 30th September
and 1st October 2009. The conference will focus on the theme of the pollution
of coastal waters, including: a summary of the regulations and the latest
developments introduced by the new directives; the methods available of
identifying these pollution phenomena (definition, identification and grading
of the sources of contamination); the solutions developed to date, encouraging
active management and sustainable preventive measures in these coastal waters -
public information and management issues. (...)
New Zealand: Palau creates shark sanctuary to protect tourism and
prevent overfishing
27
September - Palau’s President says his decision to declare his country’s
exclusive economic zone a shark sanctuary will help both humanity and Palau’s tourism
industry.
In
a speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Johnson Toribiong declared his
country’s entire Exclusive Economic Zone, an area of 629 thousand square
kilometers, or roughly the size of France as a “shark sanctuary,” which will
ban all commercial shark fishing.
President
Toribiong says he hopes other nations will follow Palau’s lead to end
overfishing, shark-finning and destructive fishing. (...)
http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=49344
IAEA offers climate change strategies
Roundtable highlights IAEA services to lessen climate
change impact
24
September - During the IAEA General Conference, a roundtable received the first
comprehensive presentation of the Agency’s work to help Member States reduce,
mitigate and adapt to climate change’s impact upon their populations. The
IAEA’s nuclear research to extend scientific understanding of this phenomenon
and inform policy decision-making on climate change responses was also
showcased. The meeting also looked forward to the global climate negotiations,
the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (CoP15), to be held in Copenhagen in December. The CoP15’s main
challenge is to negotiate a new international environmental agreement to take
effect after 2012. (...)
The
Roundtable on the “IAEA and Climate Change”, co-sponsored by Canada, China,
India, Japan and the United States, was chaired by France.
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2009/climatestrategies.html
This
September Earth Charter features high on Dutch agenda
On the 21st, the International
Day of Peace, Peace was celebrated by Dutch Youth. During the “Night of Peace”
youth from all parts of society came together to participate in debates,
workshops, a network lounge, and many other festivities. To open the event,
former Prime-Minister and Earth Charter Commissioner Ruud Lubbers presented the
launch of the Dutch version of the Brazilian Earth Charter television spot.
On the 22nd, the Dutch
premiere of “The Age of Stupid” took place in the Amsterdam Tuschinsky theatre.
This enormously ambitious drama-documentary-animation hybrid stars
Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite as an old man living in the devastated world
of 2055, watching “archive” footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop
climate change while we had the chance? Immediately after the film, the Dutch
Earth Charter video was shown on big screen as well. Closing words by Earth
Charter Commissioner Awraham Soetendorp inspired the whole audience. On the 27th, the festival Seeds of Change is
the closing event of the Week of Peace. The theme of the second edition of this
annual festival is “Towards a new climate of peace”. With various cultural
activities, this event raises attention for all four principles of the Earth
Charter.
Avaaz.org:
the Global Climate Wake-up Call
2632 events in 134 countries
On
Monday, September 21, at events in more than 130 countries worldwide, people
gathered to send a deafening wake-up call on climate change to world leaders.
Check out the video - and join the real-time global discussion about this
amazing day of action.
Avaaz.org
is a community of global citizens who take action on the major issues facing
the world today. The aim of Avaaz.org is to ensure that the views and values of
the world’s people shape global decisions. Avaaz.org members act for a more
just and peaceful world and a globalisation with a human face.
The
Earth Charter at the VI Latin American Congress for Environmental Education
The VI Congreso Iberoamericano
de Educación Ambiental took place in San Clemente del Tuyú, Argentina on
September 16-19, 2009. The meeting
gathered educators, researchers, NGOs and governmental representatives,
students, youth and business people from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. At
this event, the Earth Charter Secretariat led a workshop called “Bringing
Sustainability to Classrooms: An Earth Charter Workshop” on 16 September
2009.
The general objectives of the
congress were to promote EE as an estate policy and strengthen public
management in building sustainable territories, and to contribute to the EE
with the input of environmental educators from their own perspectives and
realities.
Week of Prayer for World Peace, 11-18 October
Each
year, an anthology of prayers from various faith traditions is compiled, for
shared inter faith worship during a designated ‘Week of Prayer for World
Peace’. This initiative, founded in 1974, has gone from strength to strength,
with many people throughout the country taking part each year. The prayers
included in the anthology draw attention to the shared values found across
world faiths, with each day of the week bearing a different universal theme.
This year, themes include Hope and Caring for Each Other. The
first Chairman of the Week, the late Dr. Edward Carpenter, established the guiding
principle of the Week in his words: ‘The peace of the world must be prayerd for
by the faiths of the world’. (...)
For
more information on ordering the anthology, and on how to set up an inter faith
worship event, visit the Week of Prayer for World Peace website.
Living Letters team to visit India, 21-27 September
A team of church representatives
from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia will pay a solidarity visit to
churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in India from 21
to 27 September
17
September - The focus of the seven-day long
visit will be on the Indian churches’ witness to peace with justice in a
context of mass poverty, social exclusion and violence against women, Dalits
and Christians. There will also be encounters with church leaders, peace
activists, and representatives of interfaith peace initiatives and of Dalit movements.
The visit will bring the team of Living Letters to the country’s capital city,
New Delhi, and to the South Eastern states of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.
Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a
country to listen, learn, share approaches and to help confront challenges in
order to overcome violence and promote and pray for peace. They are organized
in the context of the WCC’s Decade to Overcome Violence
as a preparation for the International
Ecumenical Peace Convocation in 2011. (...)
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1634/living-letters-team-to-vi-1.html
“Lourdes” Wins SIGNIS Award in Venice 2009
Venice, 13 September (SIGNIS) -
At the 66th Venice Film festival (Mostra), the SIGNIS Prize was given to the
film Lourdes from Jessica Hausner (Austria).
“The SIGNIS Prize is awarded to writer and director Jessica Hausner for Lourdes,
not because the film is set in an essentially Catholic context but because it raises
fundamental human questions: faith, physical suffering, hope, miracles and the
inexplicable. With remarkable technical and artistic skills, the director leads
us to frontiers of human expectations, allowing the audience to discover the
meaning of human freedom and divine intervention.” This film was also awarded
the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) Award. (...) http://www.signis.net/article.php3?id_article=3458
Faiths and Cultures in Dialogue, 7- 8 September in
Kraków
Leaders
of the world’s great religions, heads of state and men and women of culture
will gather in Krakow from September 6 to 8 upon the invitation of the
Community of Sant’Egidio and Cardinal Stanislao Dziwisz. The “spirit of Assisi”
returns to Poland, this time to the native city of John Paul II, where the
great pope got his cultural, humanistic and spiritual training.
The
religious leaders thus agreed to meet at a crossroads of European history, paving
the way for a pilgrimage, unprecedented in size and representation, to the
Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, as a token of reconciliation and peace and a
symbol of a radical rejection of violence and war as a way of solving
international conflicts.
It
will also provide a special occasion for retracing over twenty years of
dialogue, inaugurated by John Paul II, in the region where he spent the
dramatic war years and where he discovered the art of dialogue through the
acquaintance of a Jewish friend. It was probably in the years spent in Krakow
that he developed the intuition that would come about in Assisi and lead to the
historic World Day of Prayer and Fasting for Peace on October 27, 1986: an
appeal to the God of all religions on the planet so that He grants peace to a
world marked by profound injuries of division and war. (...) http://www.santegidio.org/index.php?pageID=903&idLng=1064
International Day of Older Persons, 1 October
The
United Nations’ International Day of Older Persons is celebrated annually on
October 1 to recognize the contributions of older persons and to examine issues
that affect their lives.
The
theme this year is: “Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the International Year
of Older Persons: Towards a Society for All Ages”. See the Message of the Secretary-General.
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/
1st Conference on Arab Women
in Science and Technology, 28-30 September, Raffles Dubai, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates
The Arab Science &
Technology Foundation is organizing a conference on the theme of empowering
women in science and technology in the Arab world, in cooperation with the
Dubai Business Women’s Council. The conference is being organized in
collaboration with UNESCO and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (ISESCO), as well as a number of scientific entities from the
region and beyond. It is being held in Dubai (United Arab Emirates), under
the Patronage of HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein.
The conference offers an
opportunity for the professional exchange of knowledge and skills related to
engage women in the socio-economic development of the Arab World. Over 300
people are expected to participate from the entire world. They will have the
opportunity to learn from over 60 international and national speakers via their
valuable presentations including workshops, panels, and paper sessions. The
conference will be the platform for leading women scientists; eminent
researchers specialized in gender-specific topics, and representatives of Arab
and international organizations that are concerned with women’s research,
development, and innovation. (...)
http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-URL_ID=7883&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Tourism
plays key role in preserving world’s rich diversity, says UN official
27 September - Tourism can play a vital role in preserving the rich
cultural and natural diversity across the world by promoting sustainable
development and global understanding, says a senior United Nations official.
In a message for World Tourism Day, the acting head of the UN World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) noted that while globalization can
be a means to improve economic collaboration and
understanding, it cannot come at the cost of diluting the world’s rich cultural
diversity. (...)
World Tourism
Day, observed annually on 27 September, is being celebrated this year in Accra,
Ghana, and features a think tank around the theme “Tourism: Celebrating
Diversity.”
This year’s
celebration marks the 30th anniversary of the Day and aims to highlight the
wealth of cultural and natural diversity across the globe as well as the role
of sustainable tourism in preserving this diversity. (...)
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32302&Cr=tourism&Cr1
http://www.unwto.org/media/news/en/press_det.php?id=4801&idioma=E
World Teachers’ Day 2009 - “Build the future: invest
in teachers now”
World Teachers’ Day 2009 (October 5) puts the
spotlight on the global teacher shortage and the challenges of being a teacher
today
23
September - In our rapidly changing and interdependent world, teachers not only
have to ensure that students acquire solid skills in basic subjects, but also
that they become responsible local and global citizens, at ease with new
technologies and able to make informed decisions about health, the environment
and other challenges.
Sustained
investment is required to develop a well-trained and motivated teaching force.
An estimated 10.3 million new teachers must be recruited worldwide by 2015 just
to meet the goal of universal primary education. At a time when the global
economic slowdown risks putting tight constraints on education budgets, it is
critical that governments support the recruitment, training and professional
development of teachers.
Reconstructing Iraq’s education system
17
September - From printing new textbooks to supporting the launch of an
educational television channel, UNESCO is actively engaged in the
reconstruction of Iraq’s education system. These activities are highlighted in
an exhibit on Iraq and UNESCO’s post conflict/post disaster (PCPD) responses.
(...) Key achievements also include the printing of 18 million new textbooks
and the creation of a website containing electronic versions of textbooks
targeting internally displaced persons and refugee populations.
On
the ground, UNESCO works with international and national NGOs, as well as with
the national and local authorities and in cooperation with other UN agencies. The office has implemented projects worth $114 million since 2003; 80%
of which are for education. The major source of funding has been through the
UNDG Trust Fund for Iraq which has financed some $1.2 billion in UN projects in
the country. Major funders for UNESCO under the Trust Fund have been the
European Commission, Japan and Germany, while Qatar is the major bilateral
funder along with the Government of Iraq itself. Four
major projects, focusing on literacy, higher education, curriculum development
and teacher training, have recently been signed with the office of Her Highness
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Consort of His Highness the Emir of
Qatar, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.
Kids read to benefit Save the Children’s
More than 60,000 children ages 8-14 read for over 83
million minutes
Westport,
Conn., USA, 15 September - This summer, Scholastic, together
with the National Summer Learning Association, launched the Scholastic Summer
Challenge™, a free summer reading program and interactive website designed to
help kids avoid the “Summer Slide,” a common loss of skills due simply to being
out of school. As part of the initiative, Scholastic will make a financial
contribution to Save the Children’s U.S. Programs on behalf of all the summer
program participants. More than 60,000 kids ages 8-14 read for more than 83
million minutes during the four-month period. (...)
In
addition to keeping their reading skills sharp, teams visited the Summer
Challenge website to learn about critical issues kids face in the areas of
early childhood development, literacy, physical activity and nutrition and
emergency preparedness and response, which are at the core of Save the
Children’s work in the U.S. (…) On top of the financial contribution, books will be given to Save the
Children’s U.S. emergency relief programs in honor of the winning Scholastic
Summer Challenge team, the Purple Sea Stars. (...)
http://www.savethechildren.org/newsroom/2009/scholastic-us.html?print=t
Rotary - Building peace, one act at a time
by
Arnold R. Grahl
Rotary
International News, 14 September - Lisa Monette knew she wanted to do something
for her class project that would have a lasting impact. Monette, a Rotary World Peace Fellow at
Monette’s
collaborators include Gregorio Hernandez Jr., a major in the Philippine army;
Raseema Alam, a peace-building trainer and consultant from Canada; and Virender
Singh Malik, a retired colonel from India. All have now completed the
three-month program. In addition to the Web site, the peace fellows created a page on Facebook and are heavily promoting
their effort through Twitter. Their Web site defines an act of peace as
“anything you do to further your understanding of another person, place or
culture.” It can also include efforts that help the vulnerable, outcast, or
needy. So far, Monette says the group has tallied about 150 acts of
peace, counted as people e-mail them or contact them via Facebook. (…)
Monette
was sponsored for the Rotary World Peace Fellowships program by the Rotary Club
of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She took a short leave from her job as a
spokesperson for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International
Trade, specializing in issues related to Asia and terrorism and security
worldwide. (...)
http://www.rotary.org/en/mediaandnews/news/pages/090914_news_actsofpeace.aspx
Sino-Japan Youth Conference success
A group of UWC students and graduates have organised a
new youth conference to promote understanding between China and Japan
9
September - A group of UWC students and recent graduates from China and Japan
developed the idea for the Sino-Japan Youth Conference through a shared concern
of the lack of mutual understanding between the two countries. Using their
experiences at UWC, they decided to create a program based on the UWC values so
that they could draw from their two-year learning and pass on some of their
experiences to other young people. 24 Chinese and 24 Japanese young people took
part in the conference, held at Li Po Chun UWC of Hong Kong in August for 9
days. (...)
The conference also involved discussions and presentations on current issues,
exploration of shared traditional arts and dances., and a service excursion to
an isolated village in Guangdong Province, China. (...) The Chief-organiser of
the conference, Chishio Furukawa, a Japanese graduate from Li Po Chun UWC (...)
concluded “The conference has achieved indescribable impact on the minds of the
participants. Seeing participants grow and learn day by day reassured me the
value of youth education in reconciling antagonism between countries and
cultures.”
http://www.uwc.org/what_we_do/news/sinojapan_conference_success.aspx
New
Student Alliance Program officially under way
UNA-USA is pleased to announce
its new Student Alliance Program, an action-oriented member force to help
students in middle school, high school and college become stronger, smarter and
more effective advocates in fixing the world’s problems.
The program’s three areas of
focus are human rights and international justice; climate change; and
strengthening the United Nations. Each area has a “take action” page of fact
sheets and suggestions for educational and advocacy activities. Student
Alliance groups can also choose their own topics. A guidebook is included in
the program on how to get a group started, either through a UNA-USA chapter or
through a school.
www.unausa.org/studentalliance
“Ceasefire” wins the Ecumenical Prize in Montreal 2009
Ecumenical Prize winner “Ceasefire” focuses on human
suffering in war
“During
a 24-hour ceasefire between US and Moudjahidin forces, a medical convoy
including two journalists, risk their lives to bring supplies to a hospital in
war-torn Fallujah, Iraq. Ceasefire is a timely film where the physical journey
parallels the inner transformation of the characters who go to their limits to
help others under the most extreme circumstances. The Jury believes this film
deserves the Ecumenical prize because of its focus on human suffering in war,
and because it offers a different perspective from the usual war reporting.
First-time feature director Lancelot Von Naso skillfully places the viewer
directly into the situation of the protagonists through the cinematography. The
movie challenges the audience to examine their perspective on the consequences
of war and our responsibility in the face of human suffering.” (…)
http://www.signis.net/article.php3?id_article=3465
* * * * * * *
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General anti-crisis measure: increase awareness that
what many do for a better future is already changing the world.
Vaccinations are extended – The
future is in networks
by
Michele Dotti
It is
true that a lot still needs to be done but it is not correct to maintain that
things are getting worse and worse. Such an attitude could lead to a perilous
sense of impotence which represents the first step to resignation and idleness:
paradoxical feelings at a moment when the possibility of attaining meaningful
results for humanity is truly possible, results which were unimaginable even
for the generation of our grandparents.
Vaccinations are extended
Smallpox
is defeated – After thousands of years of epidemics which have killed hundreds of
millions of people and thanks to a global and planned effort, the scourge of
smallpox has finally been defeated. In 1796 Edward Jenner demonstrated the
possibility of using an animal-based vaccine to prevent smallpox: this
discovery constituted the technological basis for finally eradicating the
disease. Most of the developed world had already been free of smallpox since
1950, but the disease kept on killing people in poor countries where
vaccination was quite scarce. In 1967 the disease was in fact still affecting
between 10 to 15 million people every year killing between 1.5 to 2 million of
them. In that year WHO (the World Health Organization) founded the Smallpox
Eradication Unit and initiated a worldwide mass vaccination campaign supported
by a strong vigilance and disease control operation in the affected areas. In
the year 1980 WHO declared the disappearance of the disease worldwide: their
campaign had in fact reached even the most remote regions of the planet,
including the poor internal regions of Asia and Africa and those regions still
involved in violent wars and conflicts. (Cfr. Jeffrey D. Sachs, La
fine della povertà, (The end of
poverty) Mondadori, Milan 2005, p. 276.)
Polio
has almost disappeared – In 1988 the World Health Assembly, namely the
organization which controls WHO, launched the Global Polio Eradication
Initiative. At the time, polio was still endemic in more than 125 countries,
whereas nowadays it can be found only in six countries (Nigeria, India,
Pakistan, Niger, Afghanistan and Egypt) and even in these countries the disease
is under control. In 2003 only 784 cases were reported in the world compared
with
Measles
is significantly decreasing – There are seven and
a half million less deaths caused by measles. According to the numbers
published by the medical magazine “The Lancet”; as a result of vaccination
campaigns in several countries, there has been a drop of 60% of deaths compared
to the estimates for the year 1999. The media have been covering the good news
on measles for quite a few years now. This positive direction had been
confirmed in September 2005, by an evaluation of results obtained in the
African continent and published in “The Lancet”. According to this report,
between the years 2000 and
Other
mass vaccinations – In 1982 the General Manager of UNICEF at the time, Mr.
James Grant, launched the Children’s Survival Campaign, promoting a series of
projects known with the name of GOBI, aimed at controlling the healthy growth
of children, the introduction of oral rehydration against dysentery, promoting
breast-feeding to feed and immunize them and spreading immunization against six
killer diseases of children, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping-cough, tetanus,
polio and measles. With the goal of reaching at least an 80% coverage of
immunizations, dozens of poor countries have engaged in a massive campaign in
order to introduce such preventative measures. The results have been
astonishing: the rate of child mortality has dropped dramatically in all areas
of the poor countries, Africa included. It is estimated that in ten years this
campaign has saved 12 million lives.
High hopes for AIDS too – In the case of AIDS also, it
seems that after years of constant growth the trend is finally changing
direction. This is thanks to a better awareness of the risks and methods of
transmission and also to the rapid spread of modern contraceptive methods among
couples in the developing countries. According to the UNFPA (United Nations
Population Fund) barely 10 to 15% were using them back in 1970 compared to 60%
in the year 2000. After the peak around the years 1997-98, we can finally see a
decrease in the spread of the disease both in sub-Saharan Africa, where however
the greatest incidence of the disease remains (23 million cases) and worldwide.
(UNAIDS-WHO, The 2007 AIDS epidemic update report, 19 November 2007.)
The
future is in networks
Wider communication possibilities – A
couple of lines would be enough to give a clear idea of what we are talking
about. It is estimated that in 1953 there were about 100 computers in the
world, while now there are more than 430 million terminals linked to the
Internet and 126 million web sites. In fact it is in communication that the
globalization phenomenon has produced the greatest changes and it is by looking
at telecommunications that we find the most astonishing results. Back in 1965
there was just one transatlantic telephone cable which could transmit a maximum
of 89 calls simultaneously between Europe and America. In order to make a
telephone call it was necessary first to book the call, exactly as we do now
when we have to go to the dentist. Today the cable network and the satellite
system enable us to make more than one million calls at the same time between
Europe and America and reach in a matter of a few seconds any of the terminals
located in 190 countries, which amount to over 1.2 billion. If one takes into
consideration such numbers, it is easy to understand how the world has suddenly
become small and united, exactly like a village, and how this globalization
process is involving people from all over the world and creating endless
relations of interdependence among them.
The language of life – From the vertical, strongly centralized structure – characteristic of
the feudal system – which still controls
a huge part of the media, commerce, the communication system and energy,
managed by large economic groups, we are moving incredibly fast into the
reality of the web - the only truly democratic structure – formed of millions
of people, who not only communicate among themselves but also distribute
information and culture independently. Fritjof Capra states that the scientific
idea that we still have in the world belongs fundamentally to the nineteenth
century. We still have a hard time accepting a new way of thinking which is
equal to the new vision produced by the scientific discoveries of the twentieth
century. We tend to remain tied to the idea of the universe as a “mechanism”
(under the influence of the philosophy of Descartes and the physics of Newton)
and a vision of social life mainly based on competition and struggle for
survival (inherited from social Darwinism); all strongly supported by faith in
unlimited material progress to be pursued through economic and technological
growth.
These
are not the principles which shape nature and human relations. Capra exhorts us
to promote right from primary school an ecoliteracy, to enable us to
organize sustainable human communities. Sustainable inasmuch as they are based
on the same logic as that which regulates ecological communities. “In the last
few years sociologists, physicists and biologists have discovered very many
correlations between the functioning of human society and that of other
seemingly distant realities, such as the cell, the global ecosystem, the
Internet, the neural apparatus and the road or railway system of a country. A
new science, called the science “of the networks”, is deciphering the
organizational structure underlying these worlds and has been able to
demonstrate that personal relationships, our brain, the spread of viruses,
communication and transportation all work according to the same schemes.
Everything is a network and the relations between the different components obey
laws which are always the same. Rivers, bacteria, social organizations… up to
the World Wide Web seem to follow a higher will, to be related to an intrinsic
intelligence of the networks.” (Mark Buchanan, Nexus. Perché la natura, la
società, l’economia, la comunicazione funzionano allo stesso modo/Why nature,
society, economics and, communication all function in the same way,
Mondadori, Milan 2003.)
There
are organizational principles which are the basis of each living system, whose
structure seems to rest on a few fundamental principles: interdependence,
cycles, non-linearity, self-organization, cooperation, mutual assistance and
diversity. After having pursued for centuries the idea of shaping the world
according to unsustainable principles, it is now the time to re-imagine and
re-create societies on the basis of the fundamental principles we have just
noted: exchange networks, purchasing groups, self-managed energy and ethical
banking all seem to be going in this direction.
***
(Extract from the book “It is not true that everything is getting
worse” written by Michele Dotti and Jacopo Fo, published by EMI 2008. Three
other articles have already been published by Good News Agency May 29th,June
19th and July 10th, 2009 and can be read on: www.goodnewsagency.org Translation by
Angela Lombardi)
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