Good News Agency – Year III, n° 14
Weekly - Year III, number 14 –
12 July 2002
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.
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organization associated with the United Nations
Department of Public Information.
International legislation – Human rights – Peace and safety – Economy
and development
Solidarity – Health – Environment and
wildlife – Culture and education
ILO welcomes new foundation to eliminate abusive child
and forced labour practices in cocoa farming
Geneva, 1 July - The International Labour Office (ILO)
today welcomed the establishment of a new initiative to fight child labour and
adult forced labour in cocoa cultivation and processing.
ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the establishment
of the International Cocoa Initiative - Working Towards Responsible Labour
Standards for Cocoa Growing, would support the ILO global campaign to
bring good working practices to the cocoa industry. The agreement establishing
the Foundation in Geneva was signed by representatives of the world's
chocolate, biscuit and confectionery industries, the International Union of
Food and Allied Workers (IUF), Child Labour Coalition, "Free the
Slaves" and the National Consumers League (NCL). (…)
As part of its earlier commitments, the ILO helped
along the process of setting up the Foundation which will oversee and sustain
efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour and forced labour in the
growing and processing of cocoa beans and their derivative products.
The Foundation will provide financial and operational
support to field projects and act as a clearinghouse for best practices that
help eliminate the worst forms of child labour in the growing of cocoa. (…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2002/34.htm
In a 'milestone’, UN Human
Rights Agency to open office in Mexico
New York, July 2 - In what it
described as an "an important milestone," the United Nations human
rights agency has reached an agreement with the Government of Mexico to open an
office in the country to focus on such issues as torture, indigenous rights and
the administration of justice. Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for
Human Rights, who signed the accord yesterday with Mexican Foreign Minister
Jorge Castaneda, said the new office was part of an ambitious programme for her
agency and Mexico.
"Our hope is that it will
help the government and civil society analyze the human rights situation in
depth so as to tackle the problems that still plague the country," said
Mrs. Robinson, who was in Mexico on her third visit. "The commitment is
there, but there will have to be implementation if we are to make a real
difference in the lives of ordinary Mexicans."
The new rights office will
work with the government and civil society to pinpoint problems and help lay
down a national human rights programme.
The technical cooperation
programme with Mexico will enter its second phase in August. Mrs. Robinson and
President Vicente Fox signed an initial agreement in December 2000.
1 July – Social Platform
submitted its resolution to the Danish EU Presidency today. The Platform
highlighted the challenges for the next six months and called upon the Danish
Presidency to take a lead in delivering a socially inclusive Europe, free of
discrimination and based upon the guarantee of fundamental rights for all.(…)
The Social
Platform urged the Danish government to take a lead in the following issues:
Ø
The draft framework directive on services of general interest, to
be presented by the European Commission to the European Council by the end of
the year, should include measures to guarantee the delivery of quality
social services in the face of de-regulation
Ø
The public procurement directive due to be adopted before the end
of the year should include strong social clauses.
Ø
As part of the Open Method of Coordination on pensions, the Presidency
should encourage Member States to respect the need for pension systems to be
based upon solidarity, equality of rights, and adequate income guarantees to
enable older people to live in dignity.
The White Paper on Corporate
Social Responsibility should make concrete proposals for re-inforcing the
responsibility of enterprises to take measures to fight social exclusion
and discrimination.
http://www.socialplatform.org/English/pdf/Danishpresidency.doc
ILO finds "encouraging signs of improvement"
in working conditions in Cambodian garment factories
Geneva, 1 July - The International Labour Office (ILO)
today reported "encouraging signs of improvement" of working
conditions in some 30 garment factories located in Cambodia which produce
apparel for sale in North America, Europe and other developed countries.
The "Third Synthesis Report on the
Working Conditions Situation in Cambodia's Garment Sector" provides an overview of progress made by the
factories in implementing suggestions made by ILO monitors. The monitoring was
done under a technical cooperation project established following an agreement
signed in January 1999 by the governments of Cambodia and the United States and
amended on 31 December 2001. (…)
The latest three-year trade agreement on textile
products offers a possible 18 per cent annual increase in Cambodia's export
entitlements to the United States, provided the Government of Cambodia supports
the implementation of a programme to improve working conditions in the textile
and apparel sector, including internationally-recognized core labour standards,
through the application of Cambodian labour law. (…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2002/33.htm
Armenia/Azerbaijan:
Spreading mine awareness in the Nagorny Karabakh territory
28 June - The ICRC has held a two-day
seminar on mine awareness for 10 civil defence workers. The seminar, organized
in conjunction with Nagorny Karabakh's emergency-rescue service, prepared the
participants to train local volunteers from mine-affected communities in
methods of making the rural population more aware of the dangers of mines and
unexploded ordnance.
The event is the result of
a cooperation agreement for 2002 signed by the ICRC and the rescue service. It
is aimed at further developing the region's mine-awareness programme,
especially as regards agricultural workers.
The ICRC began spreading the word in Nagorny Karabakh
on the dangers of mines and unexploded ordnance in 1998. Since 2000, it has
worked closely with the Karabakhi authorities and the rescue service to raise
awareness among the population of rural areas. One means of warning about the
danger is to set up billboards on the subject, which have been placed in and
around 46 communities, reaching over 40,000 people.http://www.icrc.org/
Youth launch Japanese-language website for
anti-landmine Campaigners
The Japanese Youth Action
Forum includes: news about youth-related events; Information about the
landmines issue and available resources; Information about taking action
(coming soon); Online Youth Against War Treaty; Calendar of
events and a mailing list. (…)
In some countries up to one third of landmine victims
are children. Young people in Japan and around the world, whether landmine
survivors or concerned citizens, have been taking action to ensure that no more
children fall prey to these insidious weapons.
UN Agency launches awards to
recognize contribution to human development
New York, July 3 - The United Nations Development Programme
today announced the launch of the 2002 UNDP Awards for Human Development, which
recognizes the critical role people play in national and regional development
processes.
Among the awards, which are to
be conferred in December at a ceremony in New York, will be the Mahbub ul Haq
Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Development, named after the
pioneer of that concept and the founder of the global Human Development Report.
The prize will be presented to a world leader who has most successfully put
human development at the heart of the political agenda. (…) Others awards will
be presented for excellence in quality of analysis, policy impact, a
participatory and inclusive process, human development innovations and support
of the Millennium Development Goals. (…)
New irrigation techniques
boost Syrian farmers' incomes
3 July - Farmers in Syria — many of them women — are
making efficient use of water to increase their tomato, peach, wheat, cotton
and other harvests.
A UNDP project, in cooperation
with the Government, has supplied farmers with sprinklers, drip irrigation
equipment and training to expand use of modern irrigation techniques. Farmers
also learn to use treated waste water — including agricultural drainage and
sewerage — for irrigation.
Agriculture consumes about 85
per cent of Syria's available water, making it a priority sector for promoting
more efficient water use. (…)
More than 100 technical staff
at the Ministry of Agriculture and its subsidiary agencies have studied the use
of treated waste water under the project. They in turn taught farmers to use
the water with crops and the precautions needed. Representatives of the
Peasants' Union participated in demonstrations and training to encourage
farmers to use the new techniques. (…)
UNDP allocated US$278,000 for
the project and the Government contributed $150,000 in cost-sharing funds and
the equivalent of $150,000 in local currency for the revolving fund for
irrigation equipment.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Cote d’Ivoire: ADB approves
loan to support rural development
Abidjan, 3 July - The African
Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan of about US $20.4 million to finance
a rural development project in eastern Cote d'Ivoire, the bank said in a news
release on Tuesday. It said the aims of the Middle Comoe Rural Development
Support Project (MC-RDSP) project included increasing on a sustainable basis
the productivity of coffee and cocoa, the country's two main crops, and
diversifying agricultural production in the Middle Comoe region. The MC-RDSP
also aims to reduce poverty in rural areas and to improve the living conditions
of about 237,000 rural inhabitants of the region.
The project was expected to
promote the recovery of the agricultural economy in Middle Comoe and help
increase the incomes of about 12,400 farmers, the ADB said.
Tanzania: Food security
outlook good, says WFP
Nairobi, Kenya, 2 July -
Tanzania's food prospects for this year appear to be favourable, despite
earlier concerns that increased maize exports to neighbouring countries to the
south would trigger a severe food shortage crisis, humanitarian sources said.
(…)
A combination of a series of
good harvests and stocks held by farmers and traders, as well as those in the
government's Strategic Grain Reserve, along with adequate supplies of water and
forage, had significantly improved the country's food security outlook, USAID's
Famine Early Warning System (FEWS) said in its latest report. However, it
warned that isolated regions in northern Tanzania could be susceptible to a
food shortage because of the unfavourable performance of the short and the long
rains season in the 2001/02 production year. (…)
Pakistan: USAID back after
nearly a decade
1 July - The US Agency for
International Development (USAID) will reopen its office in Pakistan in July, a
senior Pakistani official confirmed to IRIN on Tuesday, following a meeting
between government and US officials in the capital, Islamabad. "There will
be an initial funding of US $25 million and this figure is likely to be doubled
in the future," the official, who wished to remain anonymous, said. The
main areas to be covered by USAID would be education and health, he added.
Tuesday's announcement followed a meeting between the Pakistani Finance
Minister Shaukat Aziz and USAID's Mark Ward, who will be officially appointed
as the new country director for Pakistan in early July.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28489&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=PAKISTAN
First Arab Human Development Report spotlights
gains against poverty
2 July - The Arab
Human Development Report 2002, launched in Cairo, Egypt, today, highlights the
substantial human development achieved by the 22 Arab states — with their 280 million people — over the past three decades, while also focusing on
the challenges that the region still faces.
Life expectancy in the region has increased by 15 years, the report
says, while mortality rates of children under five have fallen by two-thirds,
and adult literacy has almost doubled. Moreover, the region's growth has been
"pro-poor," and as a result there is much less abject poverty — defined as an income of less than a dollar a day — than in any other developing region in the world.
But the report also says that much still needs to be
done to provide people in the region with the political voice, social choices
and economic opportunities they need for a better future. It outlines the
challenges faced by the Arab states in strengthening personal and institutional
freedoms and boosting broad-based citizen participation in political and
economic affairs.
The report, commissioned by UNDP and written by experts
from the Arab world, is the first of its kind for the region. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Debt
relief for the DR of Congo
The African Development Bank
and the African Development Fund jointly approved a mechanism designed to help
the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) clear arrears of US $800 million
owed to them. The bank's approval follows similar action by the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank, "paving the way for the re-engagement of
the DRC with the international financial institutions and the international
donor community", the African bank reported.
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=28585&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=DRC
With the aim of providing a forum for its member countries to discuss proposals and recommendations related to the Work Programme of the Social Development Division, the Division is organizing the Fourth Session of the Committee on Social Development at UN House, Beirut from 3-5 July 2002.
The
meeting aims to identify the means of addressing the different themes related
to Integrated Social Policies in ESCWA's programmes and activities, including:
Women Empowerment and Gender Mainstreaming; Urban Development and Housing
Policies and the provision of Social Statistics. ESCWA will present an overview
of activities of the Social Development Division including cooperation and
technical assistance that has been provided to member countries since the Third
Session of the ESCWA Committee on Social Development (-27-28 March 2001). Based
on comprehensive national reports, representatives of ESCWA member countries
will provide overviews of developments, obstacles encountered and future plans
on the national level relating to issues of social development.
DR of Congo: UN food agency to
resume airlifts to feed war victims
New York, July 3 - The
United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced that it was resuming
emergency airlift operations - its third in the past year - for thousands of
people trapped by war in the northern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC). WFP said the operation would enable the agency to transport food to at
least 24,000 people in the northern Katanga province, which remains cut off by
war. (…)
When the war that started in
1998 spilled into Katanga, hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes and
sought refuge in the bush. The deployment of UN peacekeeping forces encouraged
thousands to emerge from their rural hiding places and seek aid in urban
centres.
The current WFP airlift,
costing $950,000, will provide 1,100 tons of urgently needed maize meal,
pulses, corn soya blend, vegetable oil, sugar and salt to feeding centres in
eight villages.
Iran: US quake assistance
arrives
Islamabad, Pakistan, 3
July - A US-chartered plane carrying 45
mt of humanitarian assistance for victims of last week's devastating earthquake
in northwestern Iran arrived in the capital, Tehran, on Tuesday afternoon, a UN
official confirmed to IRIN. This is the first time since the 1979 Islamic
revolution that Tehran, which has no diplomatic ties with Washington, has
accepted humanitarian governmental aid.
"This is the first
donation that we have received specifically for our earthquake response,"
Luc Chauvin, a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative in
Tehran, told IRIN. "We welcome this substantial donation from the US
government, which is well needed in the field," he added. UNICEF will hand
over the aid to the Iranian Red Crescent Society and the Ministry of Interior
and monitor its distribution. (…) The goods, which were valued at US $300,000,
came from the governmental United States Agency for International Development.
UNICEF has already donated 20
mt of humanitarian aid placed in the country for the Afghan crisis as part of
the effort and is continuing to provide assistance to victims. (…)
ADRA responds to flooding in Argentina
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, July 1 - Since
late May, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) in Argentina has
been distributing emergency food supplies to nearly 4,000 people who have been affected
by flooding in the northern part of the country. Heavy rains that began in mid-April caused the worse flooding in 90
years. Eighty percent of the city of Presidente Roque Saenz Pena was affected,
and many crops in the surrounding region were destroyed. (…)
Until August 2002, ADRA Argentina volunteers
will be distributing boxes of food to families who have been identified as
being in greatest need in Presidente Roque Saenz Pena. The food items include
wheat flour, maize (corn) flour, sugar, rice, spaghetti, vegetable oil, salt,
and powdered milk. ADRA International, ADRA’s regional office for South America, the
Seventh-day Adventist Church in Argentina, and ADRA Argentina have allocated
funding for this relief project.
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/070102.html
WFP launches relief operation for 2.1 million indonesians gripped by
poverty, displacement
Jakarta,
1 July – With more than one million internally displaced people in Indonesia
now competing with a growing urban poor underclass for survival, the World Food
Programme is launching a $65-million relief operation to ease the country’s
grave humanitarian crisis.
The WFP operation, running from 1 July to 31 December 2003, will help
2.1 million Indonesians who face the highest risk of hunger and malnutrition
because of the spiralling costs of food, petrol and other commodities during a
period of slow economic recovery.
“The operation is designed to solve at least one problem for these
people -- getting enough to eat -- so they can grapple more effectively with
serious setbacks of poverty, unemployment and poor health,” said Mohamed
Saleheen, WFP Country Director for Indonesia. (…)
WFP first worked in Indonesia from 1963 to 1996 in both emergency and
long-term development settings. In 1998 WFP returned to Indonesia to provide
emergency and protracted relief assistance. Until the new relief operation
begins, WFP is providing complementary assistance with the Government of
Indonesia to 1.8 million people, including 300,000 IDPs.
http://www.wfp.org/newsroom/subsections/year.asp?section=13#
Sierra Leone: ICRC
finishes distributing aid to needy farmers
28 June - Over the past two months
the ICRC has successfully carried out a massive distribution of seed, farm
tools and other items essential for the survival of over 40,000 vulnerable
farming families in the Kono and Kailahun districts of eastern Sierra Leone.
Working in cooperation with the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society, the ICRC began
planning this operation in June 2001. The objective was to boost the limited
resources of farmers returning to their homes now that the fighting has ended,
and provide them with the means to resume food production as soon as possible. (…)
The ICRC worked in close
cooperation with the Sierra Leonean agriculture ministry and the UN Food and
Agriculture Organization to procure seed meeting the ministry's standards. In
addition, an agreement was reached with the World Food Programme to provide
beneficiaries with one-month food rations to ensure that the seed was planted
and not eaten. This distribution, which was the largest ever undertaken in
eastern Sierra Leone, should help meet the ICRC's 2002 objective of reducing
the suffering of the most vulnerable people.
Ronaldo, Zidane and African
footballers campaign against poverty
28 June - Football star
Ronaldo (…) and Zinédine Zidane, another football great, are joining in a call
as Goodwill Ambassadors for UNDP for global action against poverty.
In a related initiative, Web
surfers can sign a virtual banner to support an appeal by UNDP and the African Football
Confederation to help Africa overcome poverty. The banner, woven and decorated
in Mali in a traditional African style, is the centrepiece of a campaign
coinciding with the World Cup for more international aid and urging people to
take action against poverty, such as volunteering to give literacy training and
buying 'fair trade' products. (…)
The message from Ronaldo and Zidane has appeared in more than 150
publications in Europe and across Asia. The two stars are part of Teams to End Poverty, a global
partnership initiated by UNDP to generate awareness about the toll of poverty
in all its dimensions and mobilize action against it. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
New projects help communities
near Kazakhstan nuclear test site
27 June - Three new projects
funded by Japan are underway to help communities recover from a legacy of
environmental damage and poverty left by 40 years of nuclear weapons testing in
the Semipalatinsk Region of Kazakhstan.
The Soviet Union detonated
more than 500 nuclear devices there between 1949 and 1989.
The projects will support
entrepreneurs, small loans for poor women and small grants for community
organizations and other civil society groups. UNDP is carrying out the projects
in close cooperation with the Semipalatinsk local government.
The international community
began mobilizing support for the region's recovery in recent years.
Japan has contributed US$1.1
million for the three projects to the Trust Fund for the Semipalatinsk Relief
and Rehabilitation Programme that UNDP established for the Government of
Kazakhstan to facilitate contributions and ensure transparency and
accountability. Such projects draw on UNDP experience in Kazakhstan and the
expertise of the UNDP global network. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Rotary volunteers provide
reconstructive surgeries for children with cleft palate
Barcelona, Spain, 24 June - Seeing a child smile for
the first time is priceless. Hundreds of Rotary volunteers get to experience
this every year by participating in a volunteer medical project called
Rotaplast - Rotary Plastic Surgery - that has worked to restore the physical
and emotional lives of impoverished children through free reconstructive
surgery for more than 10 years. Nearly 4,000 children have been helped at a
cost of US$20 million in donated medical services. (…)
The number of countries hosting Rotaplast teams
includes Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Guatemala, Ecuador,
Vietnam and the Philippines. The program has been able to expand due to the
support of hundreds of medical and non-medical volunteers who give their time,
and organizations such as hospitals and medical equipment companies which give
supplies. An average of over one hundred children are helped on each mission.
Rotaplast began in 1994 as a project of the Rotary
Club of San Francisco. In 2002, Rotaplast will send 450 volunteers to 14 sites,
treating almost 1,500 children.
DR Congo: UN sets aside US
$67,600 for Ikela residents
Nairobi, Kenya, 2 July - The
UN has set aside US $67,600 for a two-year project to distribute seeds directly
to 1,800 people, and indirectly to the entire population of the Ikela area of
the Democratic Republic of the Congo's northern Equateur Province, after
completion of a pilot phase, Noel Tsekouras, an official of the Office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN on Tuesday. He said the
project, from which the entire local population would benefit, should improve
the food security situation and support economic recovery in Ikela, where some
75 percent of the residents are farmers.
Ikela is under
government-control, but has been inaccessible to the humanitarian community for
two years because of fighting between government and rebel forces, and because
of Kinshasa's refusal to authorise access to the area. (…)
Meanwhile, CARITAS has
announced the completion of its drive, funded by the UN Children's Fund, to
distribute medicines and train health personnel at the health centres of
Boende, Bokungu, Befale, Djolu and Ikela.
Central Asia: Former soviet
republics polio free
Islamabad, 3 July - The
international fight against the paralysing disease polio, led by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) is being won in the five Central Asia countries,
though more work needs to be done in neighbouring Afghanistan and Pakistan. (…)
WHO officials told IRIN that
the five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan - were certified polio-free by the world health
body last week. "Its a major achievement," a WHO official told IRIN
from Kyrgyzstan. For certification a country must confirm that there had been
no polio case in three consecutive years.
The WHO has been carrying out these
programmes all around the world with the help of local health authorities and
UNICEF with the aim of eradicating the disease globally by 2005. (…)
WHO officials say that polio
cases decreased by 99.8 percent to 600 in 2001 from an estimated 350,000 cases
in 1988, when the global programme was launched.
Burkina Faso: World Bank to
fund anti-AIDS campaign
Ouagadougou, 3 July - The
World Bank agreed on Wednesday to provide funding to the sum of US $856,944 for
anti-AIDS campaigns over the next six months in seven of Burkina Faso's 31
ministries. The agreement was signed in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, by
the Bank's representative in the West African country, Jean Mazurel, and Joseph
Tiendrebeogo, permanent secretary of the National Council against HIV/AIDS and
Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
The money will be used for
activities such as prevention, sensitisation and care for the infected workers
in the ministries of: environment and well-being; agriculture and water
resources; defence; basic education and literacy; animal resources; the
promotion of women; and secondary and higher education. (…)
World AIDS Campaign 2002-2003
Stigma
and discrimination is
the theme of the two-year World AIDS Campaign 2002-2003
Stigma
and discrimination are the major obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and
care. Fear of discrimination may prevent people from seeking treatment for AIDS
or from acknowledging their HIV status publicly. People with, or suspected of
having, HIV may be turned away from health care services, denied housing and
employment, shunned by their friends and colleagues, turned down for insurance
coverage or refused entry into foreign countries. In some cases, they may be
evicted from home by their families, divorced by their spouses, and suffer
physical violence or even murder. The stigma attached to HIV/AIDS may extend
into the next generation, placing an emotional burden on children who may also
be trying to cope with the death of their parents from AIDS.
With its focus on stigma and
discrimination, the Campaign will encourage people to break the silence and the
barriers to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care. Only by confronting
stigma and discrimination will the fight against HIV/AIDS be won.
http://www.unaids.org/wac/2002/index.html
Beginning of construction
work on new WHO/UNAIDS building
Geneva, 28 June - The
design for a new World Health Organization (WHO)/Joint United Nations Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) building has been unanimously selected following an
international design contest. The new construction which will be built with the
generous support of the Swiss Government and the Republic and Canton of Geneva,
will house the new headquarters of UNAIDS. The building will be constructed on
a site adjoining the WHO headquarters ("Les Crêts de Pregny") in
Geneva and will create 480 new workplaces over an area of almost 14,000m2.
Construction is scheduled for completion in June 2005.
The
jury unanimously selected a design entitled "Permeability" by
Austrian architects Baumschlager & Eberle as the winner of the competition.
The
competition was organized by the Foundation of Buildings for International
Organizations (FIPOI), with the collaboration of the Federal Office for
Construction and Logistics (OFCL). Ten architectural firms from seven countries
were selected by the Jury to participate in the competition.
http://www.unaids.org/whatsnew/press/eng/pressarc02/Newbuilding_280602.html
South Africa: campaign against
drug abuse
28 June - South Africa celebrated
the International Day Against Drug Abuse on Wednesday with the launch of a
pilot drug awareness campaign aimed at helping people overcome the pressure to
take drugs. The "Ke Moja" or "No Thanks, I'm fine" campaign
aims to provide people with the knowledge to make the right decision, UN Office
for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (UNODCCP) Southern Africa Representative,
Rob Boone, said at the launch of the initiative in the South African capital,
Pretoria.
http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1354
Sustainable Tourism Council
created in Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil, 3 July - Environmentalists,
tourism businessmen, and experts from all over the country met in São Paulo on
28–29 June to officially found the Brazilian Sustainable Tourism Council
(CBTS is the acronym in Portuguese). The mission of the new organization is to
promote sustainable tourism in Brazil by establishing an independent
certification system, with social and environmental quality standards which are
appropriate to Brazil. (…)
The chief goal of certification of sustainable
tourism is the identification and characterization of tourism's activity
components and products of the tourism trade which are environmentally
adequate, economically viable, and socially just. After careful evaluation,
certifiers will vouch for such qualities by issuing a label. Such certification
plays a valuable role in the identification of sustainable tourism activities
and encourages greater responsibility and competitiveness in the tourism trade.
The seal, a marketing label, will be issued only to business that reach a
certain efficiency and performance standard, thus allowing consumers to
identify the suppliers of responsible service. (…)
http://www.panda.org/news/press/news.cfm?id=3010
Asmara, 1 July - An innovative
scheme to convert 500,000 traditional injera stoves across Eritrea will cut
thousands of tons of carbon emissions each year and help to conserve the
country's precious supply of firewood. (…) The ministry estimates that each new
stove reduces carbon emissions by 0.6 of a ton annually and saves 366 kg of
firewood per household each year. The government hopes that every one of the
500,000 households currently thought to own a stove in Eritrea will convert to
the new style. If this happens the environmental savings would be
enormous. The health benefits are also significant. Without the thick smoke
pouring into their kitchens, women and children are less likely to suffer from
the respiratory diseases and eye problems that affected many who used the old stoves.
The new mogoggo is already proving popular. In a
scheme run by the government and backed by small grants from the British
Embassy, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, and non-governmental
organisations, dozens are being built in villages around the country every
week. More than 5,000 households have already converted. (…)
IPEN (International POPs
Elimination Network) - UNIDO Conference for Skillshare to NGOs working on POPs - Arusha,
Tanzania, 15 - 19 July 2002
Hosted by the AGENDA for
Environment and Responsible Development, the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a worldwide
network of over 350 NGOs active in POPs issues. For the Africa region
over 130 NGOs have subscribed. The Conference will address issues related
to the role of NGOs implementing the POPs Convention. Participation is
invited particularly by NGOs that provide support in cleaner production and
sustainable use of pesticides, policy implementation and media and
communication strategies, community monitoring and toxic loading, as well as
aid to community and information dissemination. UNIDO will provide assistance
to NGOs in order to develop and implement the National Implementation Plans in
countries where UNIDO is involved. Support to the Conference includes
participation of the African NCPCs, preparation of promotional material and
finalizing the proceedings of the Conference. Other regional conferences will
be planned for similar promotion for NGOs to get involved in the implementation
of the POPs Convention. A registration form is available at the IPEN site. More info:
Mohamed Eisa, Tel. (+431)
26026-4261, E-mail: M.Eisa@unido.org
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
International
media seminar in Copenhagen on question of peace in Middle East
9
July - The
question of peace in the Middle East will be the subject of an international
media seminar organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information
(DPI) on 17 and 18 July in Copenhagen, Denmark. Co-hosted by the Foreign
Ministry of Denmark, the two-day meeting will bring together present and former
policy-makers from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and European Union, as
well as senior United Nations officials, international experts, and
representatives of the world media. (…)
Under the overall theme of
“Ending confrontation: Building peace
in the Middle East,” the seminar will provide a forum for media representatives
and international experts to discuss the lessons learned since the signing of
the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements by Israel
and the Palestine Liberation Organization in 1993. Participants will discuss the issues that continue to divide the
Israelis and Palestinians and the role of third parties, especially the United
Nations, in restoring confidence and building trust. A separate session will be devoted to discussing the role of the
media as a partner for peace.
Source: UN Information Centre, Rome
From
the 4th till the 7th of July 2002, European students and NGOs’ representatives
are gathering in Tartu (Estonia) to discuss the future of European education.
The international conference “Non-Formal education and the Role of NGOs” is
organized by European Students’ Forum (AEGEE) in the framework of EURECA –
European Students’ Campaign.
Students
from Youth NGOs and students’ unions are coming to Tartu on the 4th of July for
a European conference “Non-Formal education and the Role of NGOs”. They will be
accompanied by university professors and representatives of municipalities and
European Institutions. (…)
The
conference is organized in a framework of EURECA – European Education Campaign,
the leading project of AEGEE in the year 2002. Its aim is to present, by the
end of the year, a draft of a new education program for Europe. EURECA has
already received support of Members of European Parliament: Lissy Groener, Roy
Perry, Luis Marinho, Christa Randzio-Plath; College of Europe and Klaus
Landfried, President of the German Rector's Conference. The media partner of
the project is EurActiv.
http://www.karl.aegee.org/aeg-info.nsf/
Ghanaian doctor honoured with
UN Population Award
New York, July 1 - In a
ceremony held at UN Headquarters in New York, Dr. Kwasi Odoi-Agyarko, Executive
Director of Rural Help Integrated in Ghana, was presented with the UN
Population Award for his outstanding leadership and achievements in promoting
community-based reproductive health services in his country. His organization -
located in the Upper East Region, one of Ghana's poorest and least accessible,
and one that faces issues such as female circumcision - provides culturally
sensitive reproductive health care in a model project that has received
international attention for its scope and quality. Dr. Odoi-Agyarko has also
integrated the RHI model into the School of Public Health at the University of
Ghana and has made substantial progress towards the promotion of women to
leadership positions.
Next AVSO Partnership Building
Seminar
The next AVSO (Association of
Voluntary Service Organisations) partnership building and training seminar
takes place outside Prague 16-20th
October 2002. It is organised
within the framework of the large-scale project promoting voluntary service in
Central and Eastern Europe. The event
expects to attract 60 organisations, approximately half from candidate
countries to the EU. (…)
800-year-old afghan minaret
heads 9 properties named to UN World Heritage List
New York, June 27 - An
800-year-old minaret in Afghanistan, threatened by erosion and vandalism, heads
a register of nine natural and cultural properties named to the World Heritage
List today by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
The 65-metre Minaret of Jam,
in west-central Afghanistan, was among the sites designated of
"outstanding universal value" by UNESCO's World Heritage Committee,
which is meeting in Budapest for its 26th session. (…)
The other sites designated
today include the Upper Middle Rhine Valley and the historic centres of
Stralsund and Wismar in Germany, the Saint Catherine area in Egypt and the
Tokaji wine region cultural landscape in Hungary. India's Mahabodhi Temple
complex at Bodhgaya and Italy's late Baroque towns of the Val di Noto were also
placed on the UNESCO List, along with the ancient Maya city of Calakmul
(Campeche) in Mexico and the historic inner city of Paramaribo in Suriname. (…)
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Following is the message by UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan for World Population Day, 11 July:
The theme of
this year's World Population Day, "Reducing Poverty -- Improving
Reproductive Health", focuses on the role of family planning, safe
motherhood and the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the global fight against the
squalor and despair that plague so many members of the human family.
Eight years
ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo,
the nations of the world committed themselves to the goal of providing
universal access to reproductive health services by the year of 2015 as part of
a larger package aimed at empowering women, promoting gender equality, slowing
and eventually stabilizing population growth, and fostering sustainable
development.
Since then,
improved levels of schooling, higher survival rates of children, and better
access to reproductive health services including voluntary family planning have
helped to advance the Cairo agenda. Birth rates are dropping faster than
expected in several large developing countries, and global population growth is
slowing.
This
virtuous circle in turn makes further progress possible. When individuals and
couples are given a real choice, many decide to have smaller, healthier
families and invest more in each child's future. And because there are fewer
dependents to support, the downturn in fertility translates into potential
economic growth within a generation. East Asia took advantage of this
demographic bonus in the 1980s. Other regions where poverty is widespread, such
as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, could enjoy the same benefits by putting
in place economic and social policies that call for greater investments in
health and education.
Even though
global population growth is slowing, there will still be a billion more people
in the developing world by 2015. And the most rapid growth is occurring in the
world's least developed countries, where the population is expected to triple
over the next 50 years from 658 million to 1.8 billion. Already, these
countries are least able to provide basic services and among the most severely
challenged by hunger, HIV/AIDS, water scarcity and environmental degradation.
On this
World Population Day, let us recognize reproductive health as one of the key
tools in the wider battle against poverty. And let us resolve to mobilize the
resources and the political will to work for reproductive health as a means to
building a healthier, stronger, more prosperous human family.
http://www.unescap.org/unis/press/2002/jun/l_18_02.htm
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