Good News Agency – Year II, n° 14
Weekly - Year II, number 14
– 7 September 2001
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
Rome Law-court registration
no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
Good News Agency carries positive and constructive news from all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day.
Good News Agency is distributed through Internet to over 2,500 editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in 46 countries: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Finland, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, and it is also available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
It is a free of
charge service of Associazione Culturale
dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit
educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979. The Association operates
for the development of consciousness and supports the activities of the Lucis
Trust, Radio For Peace International, The Club of Budapest and other
organizations promoting a culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective
based on unity within diversity and on sharing. Via Antagora
10, 00124 Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscalinet.it
Contents:
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International legislation
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Energy
and safety
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Economy
and development
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Environment and wildlife
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Solidarity
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Culture
of Peace
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Health
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Renewal
of Ethics
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(TOP)
Aarhus Convention starts count-down to entry into force
The Aarhus Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
will come into effect on 30 October 2001. This comes as a result of
the recent ratification of the Convention by Armenia and Estonia, which became
the sixteenth and seventeenth countries to do so.
The Aarhus Convention was negotiated by the United
Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) as part of its pan-European
environmental legal framework. It is generally intended to lift the veil of
environmental secrecy and strengthen citizens’ environmental rights. It has now been ratified by
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary,
Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Moldova, Romania, the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Ukraine.
Recent ozone peaks have again highlighted the need for
people to have timely information about the environment so that they can take
precautions and keep their vulnerable children indoors, for instance. The
Aarhus Convention aims to ensure that everyone has access to this type of
information and to prevent Governments from covering up environmental
disasters. This should prevent any repetition of the denials and confusion that
followed the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
The Convention also gives ordinary citizens a voice in
any decision-making that affects their environment, such as the siting of toxic
waste dumps. Finally, the Convention is intended to ensure that public
authorities and polluters that break the rules can be challenged in court
either by individuals or by non-governmental organizations. (…)
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2001/01env06e.htm
ILO High Level Team to Visit Myanmar
Mission to assess Government actions on eliminating forced labour
Geneva, 21 August - The composition of a High Level
Team due to visit Myanmar for a three-week period next month to assess
Government actions on forced labour was announced today by the International
Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Juan Somavia. (…)
The mandate of the Team is to make an objective
assessment of the practical implementation and actual impact of various
legislative, executive and administrative measures announced by the Government
in response to previous ILO action, with a view to determining whether these
measures have been effective in eliminating the practice of forced labour. In
making its assessment, the Team will take into account in particular the views
expressed recently on this matter by the ILO Committee of Experts on the
Application of Conventions and Recommendations.
In carrying out its mandate, the Team will have full
discretion to establish a programme of such contacts and visits as it considers
appropriate across the country. It is anticipated that it will visit Myanmar in
mid-September and spend up to three weeks in the country. It is due to report
to the Governing Body at its November 2001 session. (…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2001/26.htm
(TOP)
Small loans transform women's lives in Yemen
24 August - MicroStart, a global programme promoting
small loans to poor entrepreneurs, is helping women in Yemen build brighter
futures for themselves and their families.
Run by the UN
Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), a UNDP affiliate, MicroStart is carrying out a pilot project in three governorates
in Yemen: Aden, Sana'a and Taiz. The initiative is strengthening the capacity
of national micro-lending institutions, helping to expand their outreach and
better serve their clients. (…) The initiative now has 4,000 clients in the
three governates, 98 per cent of them women. Three of the four micro-lending
institutions participating in the project are run by women. The project is
targeting women because surveys have found that households in Yemen headed by
women are the hardest hit by poverty. The estimated average annual income of
men in Yemen is $1,272 while women earn only $345 a year, according to the UNDP
Human Development Report 2001.
There is also evidence that women are reliable in
repaying loans. In fact, data from micro-lending institutions worldwide show
that poor entrepreneurs have a repayment rate of 98 per cent, higher than that
of clients of commercial banks.
Experience has also shown that women clients spend the
extra income generated by loans to help their families. This indicates that
providing loans to small businesses run by women can have a strong impact in
helping to lift families and communities out of poverty. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Africa: political risk insurance
for importers and exporters
Kampala, Uganda, 20 August - The World Bank
supported African Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) was officially launched in Kampala. The ATIA,
supported by a $105 million World Bank loan, will provide political risk
insurance for importers and exporters operating in (initially) Burundi, Kenya,
Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. According to the World Bank Group, with
the seven initial members the agency could generate as much as US$5 billion in
additional foreign trade over the next ten years. the agency will insure
suppliers and banks that finance a sales contract against nonpayment due to
trade embargoes, expropriation, war or civil disturbance, seizure of goods and
a number of other government actions. The ATI will manage the Regional Trade Facilitation Project.
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
(TOP)
Burkina Faso: World Bank approves US$45 million Poverty Reduction
Support Credit
Washington, 24 August - The World Bank's Board has approved a US$45 million Poverty
Reduction Support Credit for Burkina Faso. The interest-free credit will
support the implementation of the country's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper as
discussed by the Bank's Board in June 2000.
The Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC) will help
finance Burkina Faso's public expenditure program for 2001, and achieve better
outcomes in the management of public resources by:
(i) strengthening program budgets linking allocations
to specific sector objectives, strategies, and action plans;
(ii) improving service delivery in selected line ministries;
(iii) establishing a fiduciary framework promoting
accountability and transparency in the use of public funds, including external
assistance; and
(iv) strengthening the government's capacity to track
and manage public expenditure efficiently.
The PRSC builds on previous support provided to the
country under the December 1999 Structural Adjustment Credit, which focused on
key social sector programs, including the government's new 10-year Health
Program, as well as improved budget and financial management by the government
in general.
The credit from the International Development
Association, the World Bank lending arm for the poorest countries, is on
standard terms: interest-free, and to be repaid over 40 years with a 10 years
grace period.
http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/news/pressrelease.nsf
Cisco helps Democratic Republic of the Congo get
online
23 August - Through a partnership between UNDP and
Cisco Systems, a new National Cisco Academy at the University of Kinshasa is
helping the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo move into the digital
age. The initiative provides high-tech training to students, teaching them how
to install and operate local computer networks and link them to the Internet.
Participation by women is a programme priority. Access to information and
communications technology is important as the Congo starts to rebuild
devastated institutions and social and economic infrastructure. (…) The first group of 19 students at the Academy has
taken courses from May to August to reach the Cisco Certified Networking
Associate level. Demonstrating its commitment to women' s participation, the
Academy enrolled a new class of 21 students in July - all of them
women. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: ICRC continues to help conflict victims
23 August - This week the ICRC delivered emergency aid
to thousands of villagers who remain isolated in the Tetovo area of the former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, some of whom have been cut off from their
traditional supply lines for many months now by the conflict. (…)
ICRC teams are especially worried about the precarious
situation of pockets of ethnic Macedonians, mainly elderly people, who remained
behind when the other villagers fled in late July and who can no longer rely on
the support of their local communities. The ICRC has already reunited more than
150 such vulnerable people with their families and this week delivered food and
other essential items to the others.
Food was also delivered to villages in the hills above
Tetovo where the resident population, predominantly ethnic Albanians, has been
isolated since March. It was the first time the ICRC had been able to bring
such assistance to the civilians there, who were facing shortages of food and
other basic supplies. (…)
http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf/
$1 million contribution coincides with visit of UNICEF Executive
Director
New York, 9 August - The Government of Italy has
pledged support for the children of Democratic Republic of Congo with a
donation of approximately US$1 million (2 billion Italian Lire) to UNICEF. The
donation coincides with the visit of UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy,
who arrives in DRC this week to take part in a series of National Immunization
Days. Commenting on the donation, Carol Bellamy said: "The Italian Government has shown, once again, its determination
to channel resources to children in the greatest need."
Part of the donation will support the revitalisation
of primary health services. (…)
Italian funds will also provide support for the most
vulnerable displaced and refugee children and women. Over 2 million people have
been uprooted from their homes in DRC as a result of conflict, the vast
majority of them women and children. UNICEF is responding with a whole range of
services, including educational support for around 50,000 displaced children
due to start the new school year in September.
UNICEF is appealing for a total of $15 million as part
of the Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for DRC (January to December 2001). The
Italian contribution brings the total received to $ 8 million. (…) The Italian Government has also announced additional
support to UNICEF's global work by adding approximately $ 2 million to its
current year contribution to UNICEF Regular Resources, its core funding. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr66.htm
Tomsk, Russia, 7 August - A team of six Rotary International
volunteers recently arrived in Tomsk, Russia, to lend its expertise
volunteering at a local orphanage. Funded by The Rotary Foundation and local
Rotary clubs in Alaska and Russia, the volunteers will spend four weeks
developing educational, vocational and sports programs for 110 children in the
Eagle's Nest Orphanage in the Western Siberia area.
UNFPA praises Canada's support to equip 900 community clinics, fight
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria
United Nations, New York, 1 August – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has
welcomed the decision of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)
to grant 10 million Canadian dollars (about US$6.6 million) over two years to
expand Fund-supported reproductive health services and HIV/AIDS prevention
initiatives in Nigeria.
The grants will enable the UNFPA to upgrade and equip
900 primary health facilities in 180 of the country's local government areas
and provide training in life-saving skills to some 900 midwives. The sums are
also meant to help increase significantly the number of births in those
counties attended by skilled personnel and to increase HIV/AIDS awareness. (…)
http://www.unfpa.org/news/pressroom/2001/canada.htm
WFP expands food assistance to war victims in Democratic Republic of
Congo
Lubumbashi, DRC – In its continued emergency response to the
humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the
United Nations World Food Programme has begun feeding 40,000 previously
inaccessible Congolese living in government-held territory.
The new food delivery, which started late last week in
government-held Katanga, an eastern province near the frontline, marks WFP’s effort to step-up aid for the mounting numbers of
war victims living in isolated and volatile regions of the country. Since the
war began in 1998, hundreds of thousands of Congolese have been virtually
cut-off from the world, lacking food, medicine and clothing. (…)
Because the security situation in areas bordering the
frontline has stabilized in recent months, WFP is now able to deliver crucial
food aid for the first time in over a year to some 40,000 displaced people
seeking refuge in the towns of Kabongo and Kitenge. Some 350 tons of WFP food
was moved on a recently re-opened railway for up to ten days to reach the towns
located some 900 kilometers northwest from Lubumbashi. The province is
currently split in two between government and rebel-held territories, with areas
in the north on both sides of the frontlines. Malnutrition rates are reportedly
some of this highest in the country. (…)
WFP is the United Nations’ front-line agency in the fight against global hunger.
In 2000, WFP fed more than 83 million people in 83 countries including most of
the world’s refugees and internally displaced people.
(TOP)
Nigeria: Focus on HIV/AIDS treatment programme
Lagos, 24 August - For thousands of people living with
HIV/AIDS in Nigeria, the long wait for affordable treatment appears set to end.
From 1 September the government will launch an anti-retroviral treatment
programme under which 15,000 people will each receive the required cocktail of
drugs for less than US $1 daily. The drugs produced by the India-based
pharmaceutical company, Cipla Ltd, are generic versions of more expensive
anti-retroviral drugs produced by Western drug companies. President Olusegun
Obasanjo's government, through negotiations with the company, is buying the
drugs for US $350 a year per person. (…)
The new treatment programme by Africa's most populous
country of 120 million people is novel on the continent. Nigeria is an early
beneficiary of the decision, early this year, by leading Western
pharmaceuticals to drop their law suit against the South African government
which insisted it had a right to produce or buy cheaper generic versions of
their anti-HIV/AIDS drugs. (…)
http://www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/wa/countrystories/nigeria/20010824.phtml
Newly demobilized children get trauma counselling while families are
traced
Nairobi / Geneva / New York, 20 August - Some 227
former child soldiers, ranging in age from 10 to 18 years, have arrived at a
rehabilitation centre outside the Rwandan capital of Kigali after being held
near the conflict zone in northwest Rwanda where they were captured over the
summer. Most of the children say they were forcibly recruited and trained in
eastern DRC. (…)
The children, transferred to the Gitagata
rehabilitation centre outside Kigali over the last several days, are now
receiving psycho-social counselling and non-formal education provided by UNICEF
and its partners. "We are attempting to locate their families and prepare
them for eventual re-integration into their communities," said Gerry Dyer, UNICEF's Chief
Programme Officer in Rwanda, adding that government sources had indicated that another 200 former
child soldiers could arrive at the centre over the next month. The children
have all expressed a desire to be reunited with their families and communities,
and many of them want to return to school. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr69.htm
New York, 17 August - Building upon its unprecedented
campaign to immunize children against infectious diseases, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization and the
Vaccine Fund will launch a multi-country five-year initiative in Cambodia on 19
August, to increase access to immunization for children throughout Southeast
Asia. (…)
The Cambodian Government will receive an initial
683,000 doses of Hepatitis B-Diptheria, Petussis, Tetanus (HepB-DPT), worth an
estimated $296,000. Additional resources have been earmarked for neighbouring Laos
and Vietnam.
As part of the GAVI partnership, Cambodia and other
countries will be responsible for reporting, on a yearly basis, the headway
they have made toward achieving immunization goals. The Vaccine Fund must
receive a satisfactory progress report in order to continue funding beyond the
first year. (…)
GAVI is an alliance of partners that came together in
January 2000 in response to stagnating global immunization rates and widening
disparities in vaccine access among industrialized and developing countries.
The GAVI partners include: national governments, the Bill and Melinda Gates
Children's Vaccine Program at PATH, the International Federation of
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA), public health and research
institutions, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the World Health
Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.
The Vaccine Fund was launched in 1999 with an initial
contribution from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation of $750 million over
five years. While the Fund has its own Board and management for fundraising
responsibilities, decisions about grants are based on the recommendations of
the GAVI Board. Using the existing infrastructure of UNICEF and other GAVI
Partners, administrative costs are kept to the barest minimum making it
possible for approximately 98 percent of Vaccine Fund resources to go directly
to countries.
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr67.htm
Geneva, 7 August - Tens of thousands of vaccination
teams have fanned across central Africa, going door-to-door to protect millions
of children against polio in the first ever coordinated polio immunization
campaign in the conflict-affected region. During several days in July, August
and September, this massive effort will result in the protection of a targeted
16 million children against polio in Angola, Congo, the Democratic Republic of
the Congo and Gabon. The "synchronized" National Immunization Days
(NIDs) campaign is a major step in the global effort to eradicate the crippling
disease, as Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are considered two
of the few remaining bastions of the wild poliovirus. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/newsline/01pr65.htm
The goal of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative is to fully interrupt transmission of the wild
poliovirus, and certify the world polio-free in 2005. At the beginning of 2000
polio was circulating in just 20 countries - down from 125 in 1988 when the
Initiative was launched. Since that time, the number of cases worldwide has
been reduced by 99%, from an estimated 350 000 in 1988 to 2881 reported in
2000.
The Global Polio Eradication
Initiative is spearheaded by WHO, Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the United Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF). Major donors to these synchronized NIDs include the Governments of
Belgium, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, UK and USA, Rotary International, the
Rotary Foundation, the United Nations Foundation and vaccine manufacturer
Aventis Pasteur.
(TOP)
Wind power cheaper than coal
Stanford, California, August 24 - The U.S.
should make a large investment in wind farming to help meet the nation's
electricity needs and address global warming, two energy experts from
Stanford's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering have concluded.
Writing in today's issue of the journal
"Science," associate professor Mark Jacobson and teaching professor
Gilbert Masters conclude that wind power is an abundant, clean and affordable
alternative to coal and other fossil fuels. (…)
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-07.html
Wild Antarctic winds to be harnessed for power
Canberra, Australia, 22 August - Australia
is embarking on an ambitious $US2.3 million program to take wind power further
than it has ever been, by harnessing Antarctic gales for full scale electricity
generation.
A wind farm is to be built at Mawson in
Eastern Antarctica to meet much of the station's energy demand by slicing
turbine blades into the katabatic winds that howl off the polar ice cap daily.
Towers will be built to withstand gusts of
up to 300 kilometers per hour, and generate power in winds up to 130 kilometers
per hour before they automatically shut down. Such demands are higher than
anywhere else, according to project officials. (…)
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-04.html
(TOP)
Baltic sea region cuts toxic discharges in half
Helsinki, Finland, August 24 - The Baltic
Marine Environment Protection Commission says it has reached its goal of
reducing by half the discharges, emissions, and losses of hazardous substances
in the Baltic Sea area.
Known as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), the commission presented a report today
on the levels of toxic discharges and emissions during a meeting of the Heads
of Delegations in Warsaw, Poland. The report investigated 72 selected hazardous
substances. (…)
The goal to reduce 47 of such hazardous
substances by at least 50 percent was declared in 1988 by the Ministers
responsible for the Environment of all countries bordering on the Baltic Sea.
Within the past 13 years, the emissions of
certain hazardous substances have been mastered by legal means as well as new
production processes and retention systems. The use of leaded gasoline, for
instance, has significantly decreased or even been phased out by now in all
countries bordering on the Baltic Sea. (…)
Having met the 50 percent reduction goal,
the Helsinki Commission now aims to phase out the discharges, emissions and
losses of selected hazardous substances by 2020.
Members of the Helskini Commission are:
Denmark, Estonia, European Commission, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania,
Poland, Russia, and Sweden.
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-24-04.html
Fourth annual climate change and ozone protection conference scheduled
for March 2002
Arlington, VA, 24 August - The Fourth
Annual Earth Technologies Forum, the preeminent conference and exhibition on
global climate change and ozone protection technologies and policies, will be
held March 25-27, 2002 at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C. A
Call For Papers will soon be mailed and is available now on the web. One of the
main features of the conference will be an exhibition of climate and
ozone-friendly technologies and programs. Last year, approximately 800 participants
from 30 countries attended the Forum.
The conference is sponsored by the
International Climate Change Partnership (ICCP) and the Alliance for
Responsible Atmospheric Policy, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Agency for International
Development, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Development
Programme, Environment Canada, Industry Canada, Australian Greenhouse Office,
Netherlands' Reduction Plan for the Non- CO2 Greenhouse Gases, and the World
Business Council for Sustainable Development, as well as over 80 industry
groups. (…)
http://ens.lycos.com/e-wire/Aug01/24Aug0102.html
Maine residents raise millions for land conservation
Portland, Maine, 22 August - With $50
million already in hand for its campaign to purchase coastal lands of
environmental importance, the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land
conservation organization, has set a goal of $100 million.
The Campaign for the Coast is a five year
$100 million effort to protect lands the trust has identified as essential to
the region's way of life. (…)
The Maine Coast Heritage Trust partners
with local land trusts, landowners, governments and communities throughout
Maine to conserve natural coastlands and cultural treasures. The campaign will
accelerate the conservation of special places in Maine, such as the land
trust's protection of Frenchboro Long Island. (…)
http://ens-news.com/ens/aug2001/2001L-08-22-02.html
New report, an assessment of the status of the world's remaining closed forests, pin points forest areas vital for water, wildlife and climate
London/Nairobi, 20 August - Efforts to save the
world's last, critically important forests, should initially focus on just a
handful of countries, a new report has found.
A unique satellite-based survey of the planet's
remaining closed forests, which include virgin, old growth and
naturally-regenerated woodlands, has found that over 80 per cent are located in
just 15 countries. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), one of the
key organizations behind the report, believes that targeting scarce
conservation funds on these 15 key countries may pay dividends in terms of
environmental results.
Importantly, the survey also reveals that the pressure
from people and population growth on most of these remaining closed forests,
such as those in Bolivia and Peru, is low. Others, such as the remaining closed
forests in India and China, are under more pressure from human activity and may
require a bigger effort to conserve and protect, the report concludes. But
overall an estimated 88 per cent of these vital forests are sparsely populated,
which give well-focused and well-funded conservation efforts a real chance of
success.
The findings have come from scientists
with UNEP working with other researchers including ones from the United States
Geological Survey and NASA, the United States space agency. (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents/Default.asp?DocumentID=211&ArticleID=2892
The role of bamboo in disaster avoidance
Guayaquil
Ecuador, 5 - 12 August - The Role of Bamboo in Disaster Avoidance was the theme of a conference organised by the Government
of Ecuador and the International Rattan and Bamboo Network (INBAR) in Guayaquil Ecuador. The role and potential uses of
bamboo and the R&D activities needed to enhance and promote its many roles
were discussed by a wide spectrum of participants from researchers,
administrators, policy makers to bamboo land and house users. Emphasis was put
on the use of bamboo in rehabilitating degraded land and sustaining river
banks.
Another workshop on the related subject of Earthquake Resistant Bamboo Houses, jointly organized by INBAR, the Cane and Bamboo
Technology Centre (CBTC), UNIDO and the Government of Mizoram, will take place
October 29 to November 12, 2001, in Mizoram, India. A limited number of travel
grants are available to non-official participants whose papers are accepted for
presentation. If you have any enquiries on participation in workshop or presentation
of papers, please contact Kamesh Salam at the Cane and Bamboo Technology Centre.
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
(TOP)
Culture of Peace Week, September 11-18
A week of focus to:
- highlight the UN International Decade for A Culture of Peace and
Non-violence for the Children of the World(www.unesco.org/cpp/uk/news/english.PDF);
- bless the Children of the World;
- support the United Nations Special Session for Children, September
19-21.
The week begins on International Day of Peace and ends on Hear the
Children Day of Peace. It is being observed by countless groups around the
world in a number of ways including: a minute of silence for World Peace at 12
noon on each day of the week; a Blessing for the Children of the World in
schools, community centres and places of worship; peace concerts and art
exhibitions; the planting of peace poles (www.worldpeace.org) and use of
the prayer ‘May Peace prevail on Earth’.
The annual interfaith service in New York for the work of the United
Nations, that will be attended by Secretary General Kofi Annan and senior UN
officials, will be held during the Week. It will in corporate a Blessing for
the Children of the World.
www.wethepeoples.org/wethepeoples/idp/index.htm
International Day of Peace has been celebrated at the opening day of the
United Nations General Assembly since 1981. From this year it is being observed
on the Tuesday following the second Monday of September.
Every year a special ceremony
is held at UN headquarters to mark the Day. Delegates and dignitaries gather
around the Peace Bell in the grounds of the UN. The bell, which was cast from
coins donated by people from around 60 countries, was donated by the United
Nations Association of Japan. At 10am New York time (14.00 GMT) the Secretary
General delivers a brief message, rings the Peace Bell and calls upon people
throughout the world to reflect for a moment on the universal goals of peace.
After the moment of silence the President of the Security Council makes a
statement. Later in the day, the General Assembly opens with delegates
observing a minute of silence.
The Day is observed around the
world with a minute of silence at 12 noon.
www.wethepeoples.org/wethepeoples/idp/index.htm
www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/peaceflag/whatis.html
www.intuition-in-service.org/unitednations/specialdays/september.htm#ipd
Religious communities, schools
and NGOs are invited to hold a Blessing for the Children of the World to
acknowledge the importance of children during Culture of Peace Week, Sept.
11-18, 2001. This week is designed to
highlight the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for
the Children of the World. Culture of Peace Week immediately precedes the
United Nations Special Session on Children and offers a great opportunity to
contribute to change the way the world treats children and adolescents.
The violence in schools,
neighborhoods and families reminds us that a blessing for the children is
sorely needed. It is an opportunity to recognize the importance of every child,
including those living in conflict or trauma in many regions of the world.
The event will be celebrated
in many places in the world. Ceremonies at the United Nations and New York City
will include:
- Blessing for the Children of the World, part of the annual
Interfaith Service for the work of the United Nations on Thursday, September 13
at 8:15 AM at St. Bartholomew’s Church (51st and Park Ave.)
- A special youth
celebration for middle school students will be held at the United Nations for
the International Day of Peace, organized by the Department of Public
Information and the NGO Peace Day Committee.
- A candle light vigil to
bless the children at the closing of the UN Special Session on Children,
Friday, September 21, 6-7:30 PM at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza (1st and 47th
St.)
A report on activities
celebrating Culture of Peace Week will be delivered to the UN in support of the
International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children
of the World.
To know of activities around
the world or to have local activities included in this report, visit http://www.worldpeace.org/cultureofpeaceweek, or contact the NY office of Pathways
To Peace, 3 Harbor Court, Centerport, NY 11721, Fax 631-754-4906, MBWillard@aol.com.
Culture of Peace Week and the
Blessing for the Children of the World are supported by:
UNICEF; UN Department of Public Information; The Office of the Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; The
Values Caucus; The Peace Caucus; The Committee of Religious NGOs; Pathways To
Peace; The World Peace Prayer Society; Peaceways;
The United Religions
Initiative-UN; The Interfaith Center of NY;
The Temple of Understanding;
“We the Peoples” Initiative (250 organizations)
UN DPI/NGO Annual Conference – New
York, September 10 – 12
The UN Department of Public
Information’s 54th annual conference for Non-Governmental
Organizations, “NGOs Today: Diversity of the Volunteer Experience”, will
explore how the volunteer spirit can better promote the principles and goals of
the United Nations. Major themes will be: The Diversity of Volunteerism;
Volunteerism and the UN; NGOs Working Together; Strengthening the Volunteer
Effort; The Dynamics of Funding the Volunteer Movement.
Representatives will come to the UN
Headquarters in New York from all parts of the world. The opening session will
take place in the General Assembly Hall.
“The United Nations
once dealt only with Governments. By now we know that peace and prosperity
cannot be achieved without partnerships involving Governments, international
organizations, the business community and civil society. In today’s world we
depend on each other”. (UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan)
www.un.org/partners/civil_society/ngo/ngo-dpi.htm
Peace Now, supported by various other peace organizations, such as
IFLAC: The international Forum for the Culture of Peace, held an
impressive torchlight Peace March on the evening of August 4, entitled
"Stop the Unnecessary War!". There were an estimated 10.000 marchers,
who started the Peace March near the monument in memory of the
assassinated late Yitzhak Rabin, in Tel-Aviv's Rabin Square. They marched
to the Ministry of Defence on Kaplan Street, where Jewish and Arab Speakers
called for the stopping of the violence, on both the palestinian and the
Israeli sides, and for an immediate, unconditional return to the peace
negotiations. Among the speakers, were Dr. Yossi Beilin, former Minister,
and MK Hussneya Jebbara, the first Arab/ Palestinian woman member of the
Knesset (the Israeli Parliament). After some brilliant speeches, 15
members of the Knesset, Jewish and Arab/ Palestinian, on stage, together with
the organizers of the demonstration, held hands and sang Peace songs with
all the participants.
This was the most sustained effort made to date by the part of the
Israeli peace camp which had been in serious disarray since the outbreak of the
present Intifada. It showed that the Peace Camp in the Middle East is alive and
powerful, and it pointed out that the threat of the present armed
confrontations escalating into all-out regional war is very real, and should be
opposed by every way possible.
On the theme "Conflict
Resolution Through Culture”, IFLAC will hold an international conference that
will take place in Sydney, Australia, October 5-7. It is open to the public and
all are welcome.
http://tx.technion.ac.il/~ada/home.html
On 27 August Prof. Ada
Aharoni, IFLAC’s President, wrote to
us: “Now I am back in Haifa, and face again the tremendous task we have in
trying to introduce some logic, comprehension and conflict resolution in our
dangerously escalating situation in our region. The driver of the taxi who
brought us back from Tel Aviv to Haifa was a Palestinian by the name of
Mohamed, and when he heard about IFLAC he was so glad and has joined, and
promised he would bring all his friends and family to IFLAC meetings. At
least, on the personal level, this is encouraging, and many more Israelis and
Palestinians are joining. Perhaps you would like to mention this too, in your
September GNA report, and give my email address for those who would like to
join”
E-mail:
adah@matav.net.il.
RFPI and the International
Center for Human Rights in Media:
Ten Week Immersion Course on
Peace Journalism with Language Training
Radio For Peace International
and the International Center for Human Rights in Media have developed a course
which will serve 12-25 learners from all over the world per 10 week
program. These students will live and study in Costa Rica under the
direction and supervision of Radio For Peace International and the International
Center for Human Rights in Media. Learners will attend daily classes on peace
related studies including social justice and human rights, ethics in
journalism, the history of racism and xenophobia in media, researching and
documenting intolerance in media, the research and writing of papers and
articles for publication, production of radio programs based on the research,
Spanish and English language training, cultural immersion and community
involvement.
Radio For Peace International
is a peace related broadcast facility currently broadcasting on shortwave and
the internet 24 hours a day 7 days a week to 120 countries worldwide with an
estimated listenership of 800,000. It is also a teaching and training
facility as well as the home of the International Center for Human Rights in
Media, a research and archival facility dedicated to monitoring, chronicling
and publishing information on and about intolerance and racism in media and the
promotion of tolerance.
http://www.rfpi.org - e-mail: radiopaz@racsa.co.cr
Laureates of UNESCO Literacy Prizes 2001
UNESCO's international literacy prizes this year
rewarded projects and programmes in New Zealand, Brazil, China, Haiti, and
Senegal, as selected by an international jury that met in Paris in July to name
the laureates of the International Reading Association Literacy Award, the Noma
Literacy Prize, the two King Sejong Literacy Prizes and the Malcolm Adiseshiah
International Literacy Prize.
The five prizes reward particularly effective
contributions to the fight against illiteracy, one of UNESCO's major concerns.
Laureates were chosen from among 27 nominations submitted by governments and
one candidate entered by a non-governmental organization. They will receive
their prizes on the occasion of International Literacy Day (September 8) in
their home countries.(…)
As International Literacy Day
this year is on Saturday, the ceremony to be held at UNESCO will take place on
September 10 (6 p.m.).
http://www.unesco.org/opi/eng/unescopress/2001/01-86e.shtml
This is a game combining the
pleasure of taking part in a quiz with the discovery of voluntary action. The
Volunteers' Odyssey is conceived as a ludic and didactic event aimed at forging
a greater understanding of voluntary actions using television as its means of
communication. The Odyssey is a televised game presented in two versions; one
of seven 52 minutes long programmes and the other of 49 short programmes seven
minutes long. Odyssey participants consist of 7 teams of 3 young film students
from 21 different countries. The Jury is made up by the TV viewers who are
invited to give from 1 to 3 points to each team. At the end of the seven legs,
the team with most points will produce a 52 minutes-long film on voluntary
activities. The seven teams shall make a world round trip in seven stages.
During each stage, each team will film and edit a short film five-minutes long
and a question about the voluntary project they are visiting. Each stage will
thus be edited and hosted by TV presenters. The correct answers to all 49
questions will allow TV viewers to win a trip to a voluntary project.
The Odyssey is organized by
Prospective Internationale, that invites organisations which want to
participate, televisions which are interested in broadcasting the series and
young reporters who want to be part of the teams to send their information
before September 15.
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The renewal of ethics is a
worldwide spontaneous movement that defines and promotes new values and
reflects them into new codes of behaviour. The Ethical Code of the Media,
launched by Good News Agency last February, has been endorsed so far by over
100 NGOs, service organizations, v.i.p. as well as media from all over the world, and it is available
in seven languages on the web: www.goodnewsagency.org
This Code is an evidence of a number of initiatives from various groups that
aim at a global ethical renewal as a pre-requisite for the necessary
transformation of human attitudes and responsibilities. Here there are some other
evidences of this irreversible trend that is going to shape our future. (Sergio Tripi)
A forerunner of
this movement is John McConnell, founder of the Earth Magna Charta and of the Earth Day.
Recently, this man of vision wrote to us saying: “The Pacem in Terris
statement of Pope John 23rd (1963) was followed by the Pacem in Terris
conference in New York - which I attended. That event headed me toward Earth
Day and the Earth Magna Charta”.
In the field of
moral values, the following passage from the Earth Magna Charta includes
a basic concept that, like the other concepts pertaining to other fields, is as
valuable today as it was when it was written: “People of different cultures
can agree on basic moral values and deeds though they may differ on creeds that
relate to the great mysteries of life. For honest agreement and cooperation we
need to separate our creeds and their claims about life and death from the
ideas and actions in which we can all agree. We can agree on the need for deeds
that nurture people and planet though we differ on creeds warmly held about
mind and spirit and the ultimate mysteries of the cosmos and its creator. Of
course the best evidence of the value of our creed is the love it produces in
our lives. Common to every major religion is the Golden Rule - treat others as
you would like to be treated. Now we have a new common ground: awareness of our
planet and our responsibility to take care of it.”
Earth Day is on March 21each
year. In a meeting in September last year with John McConnell, 85 year old
founder of Earth Day, Mikhail Gorbachev signed the Proclamation which initiated
the worldwide celebration on March 21, 1970. This event takes place each
year at the United Nations in New York. Its origin is described by John
McConnell on the web site this way: “In 1969 I persuaded the city of San
Francisco, who had supported Minute for Peace, to proclaim March 21, 1970 as
Earth Day. (…) Our big Earth Day in New York was the next year. The
1971 Earth Day in New York had the backing of United Nations Secretary General
U Thant. He felt Earth Day could become a vital global holiday that would
benefit people and planet. My conversations with Margaret Mead and United
Nations Ambassadors in 1970 resulted in participation worldwide. The
International Earth Day Proclamation I had written after San Francisco was
signed by U Thant and other world leaders. Issued as a United Nations
Release it helped bring global attention.”
Earth Magna Charta
and Earth Day are on the web site: www.earthsite.org
For over a decade diverse
groups throughout the world have endeavoured to create an Earth Charter that sets forth fundamental ethical principles
for a sustainable way of life. Hundreds of groups and thousands of individuals
have been involved in the process. Representatives from government and
nongovernmental organizations worked to secure adoption of an Earth Charter
during the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. However, the time was not right. A new
Earth Charter initiative was launched by the Earth Council and Green Cross
International in 1994.
An
Earth Charter Commission was formed in 1997 to oversee the project and the drafting
of the Charter. The Secretariat for the Commission is at the Earth Council in
Costa Rica. In March, 1997, at the conclusion of the Rio+5 Forum in Rio de
Janeiro, the Earth Charter Commission issued the Benchmark Draft Earth Charter.
The Commission also called for ongoing international consultations on the text
of the document.
Between
1997 and 1999 over forty national Earth Charter committees were formed, and
numerous Earth Charter conferences were held. Comments and recommendations from
all regions of the world were forwarded to the Earth Council and the Drafting
Committee. Guided by these contributions to the consultation process, the text
of the Charter was extensively revised. In April, 1999, the Earth Charter
Commission issued Benchmark Draft II. The consultation process continued
throughout 1999 in order to provide individuals and groups with a further
opportunity to make contributions to the drafting process. As a result of the
worldwide consultation process, the Earth Charter Commission issued a final
version of the Earth Charter after their meeting on March 12 - 14, 2000 at the
UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The
Institute for Ethics & Meaning--a grassroots community building
organization--in conjunction with Earth Charter USA, will produce the first
annual grassroots Community Spirit of Caring Summits to promote the principles
of the Earth Charter through the promotion and development of local, state and
national initiatives. Fifty summits will be held simultaneously in each state
on September 22, 2001 and will be connected via video downlinks to increase
enthusiasm and participation. Participants’ creativity and enthusiasm will be
sparked by the presentation of grassroots initiatives that are turning the
Earth Charter principles into actions.
World Day of Planetary Ethics:
September 22nd
September 22nd marks the first
“World Day of Planetary Ethics” with sunrise celebrations and local dialogues
taking place planet-wide. People from many cultures and nations will unite
under the banner of the Planetary Vision Festival 2001 to celebrate a new ethics
for humanity on the first spring day of the new Millennium in the southern
hemisphere. As of September 5, groups in New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan, India,
Hungary, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, USA and
Samoa are participating. Planetary Vision Festival 2001 is the first in an
annual series of global events and programs celebrating our new planetary
consciousness and its related ethics and actions. The Festival unites people
planet-wide in awareness of the great opportunities present at this time to
shape a sustainable and peaceful future for all and helps inspire humanity to
new thinking, ethics and actions.
The World Day of Planetary
Ethics is the fourth global initiative launched under the Festival this year. The
Planetary Vision Festival is an initiative of the Club of Budapest - an
international association whose mission is to be a catalyst for the
transformtion to a sustainable world through new thinking, ethics and actions -
in partnership with the PVF2001 Founding Alliance, whose members include: Associazione Culturale dei
Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale (Italy), First Steps International
(Canada), Global Foundation for Understanding (Canada), Institute for Ethical
Leadership (Canada), Pathways to Peace (USA), Sister Cities International -
Pause for Peace Project (USA), The Club of Budapest USA, The Star of Tolerance
(EU) and Towards the Third Millennium (Russia and Ukraine).
This media ethics panel will
be hold on October 2nd , 1.30 pm-2.45 pm, at the first International Entertainment Globalization
Initiative, the international conference for the film, music, television, media
and technologies industries, in the framework of Digital Hollywood 2001. This roundtable session
is co-sponsored by the Club of
Budapest, one of the foremost organizations studying the new thinking and new
ethics required for the transition to a sustainable world. The moderator of the
session will be the club's president, Prof. Ervin Laszlo, a world renowned
evolutionary systems scientist, futurist as well as a leading theorist in the
field of culture.
http://www.digitalhollywood.com/DHLA01/EGITuesdaySix.html
Manifesto for the Millennium
Futurist
and Educator Dr. Desmond Berghofer, co-founder of the Institute for Ethical
Leadership, has recently authored the "Manifesto for the Millennium."
The Institute, based in Vancouver, Canada, is a Founding Alliance Member in the
Planetary Vision Festival 2001.
The Manifesto is intended as a
foundation for new thought and action towards a sustainable and peaceful future
at our current evolutionary crossroads. It summarizes and synthesizes a great
deal of knowledge and the work of many of today's leading thinkers and
visionaries on the human future. The Manifesto is available for viewing or
printing on the Planetary Vision Festival website:
http://www.planetaryvision.net/manifesto_for_the_millennium.htm
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