Good News Agency – Year III, n° 8
Weekly - Year III, number 8
– 19 April 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.
Good News Agency is
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46 countries, as well as to 1,000 NGO.
International legislation - Human rights – Peace and safety - Economy
and development
Solidarity - Health
– Energy and safety - Culture and education
Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary
Commission decision: statement by President of UN Security Council
17 April - Following is the
press statement on the 13 April decision by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary
Commission, delivered by the President of the Security Council, Sergey Lavrov
(Russian Federation):
Members of the Security Council express
their satisfaction that a final legal settlement of the border issues between
Ethiopia and Eritrea has been completed in accordance with the Comprehensive
Peace Agreement signed by the parties in Algiers in December 2000.
Members of the Security
Council welcome the decision by the Boundary Commission, announced in The Hague
on 13 April 2002, which is final and binding.
Members of the Security
Council call on the parties to cooperate closely with the United Nations
Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) in the implementation of the border
decision, with a view to ensuring an expeditious and orderly process for the
benefit of all the people, and without unilateral actions.
Members of the Security
Council underline their commitment to support the implementation of the
Boundary Commission's decision and to contribute to the completion of the peace
process.
(Source: UN Information Centre, Rome)
African Governments respond to
increasing illicit drug trafficking and abuse
Ministerial meeting to map out
Drug Control Strategy
Vienna, 15
April -- A new strategy and action plan for drug control in Africa, which is to
commit African Governments and regional organizations to stronger and more
decisive action against drug trafficking and abuse will be the main focus of
the Ministerial Meeting on Drug Control in Africa, to be held from 6-11 May in
Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. This will be the first ever Ministerial Meeting on
Drug Control in Africa organized by the Organization for African Unity (OAU)
and hosted by the Government of Cote d'Ivoire.
Several international
organizations and donors have pledged support to OAU for this meeting. The
United Nations International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) works directly with
the OAU secretariat in the preparation of the conference and an exhibition on
drugs in Africa during the meeting. (…)
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2002-04-15_1.html
WWF Launches POPs Ratification
Page
15 April - The World Wide Fund
for Nature WWF has a new
"Global Chemicals Conventions" page on its website,
featuring treaty ratification news from around the world to help promote
ratifications of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and related chemicals
treaties, prior to the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). The site
has a Treaty Ratification Scorecard, Take Action Centre, and regularly-updated
treaty information.
The site is designed to transmit updates as well as
background information on POPs and three other chemicals-related conventions:
the Rotterdam Convention on prior informed consent (PIC) for trade in
hazardous chemicals and pesticides; the Basel Convention and its 1995 Ban Amendment; and the 1996 Protocol to the London
Convention on ocean dumping. WWF is urging governments to ratify the Stockholm
POPs Convention and as many of the other treaties as possible. Ratification by
a sufficient number of countries before the late August 2002 WSSD would make
possible the conventions' entry-into-force by the end of this year.
http://www.unido.org/periodical.cfm?pername=UNIDOScope
WWF welcomes Russian Government's decision to start
the process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol
Moscow, 12 April – The Russian Government's decision
to start the process of ratification of the Kyoto climate treaty could be the
decisive factor in turning the agreement into international law this year, WWF
says.
WWF has repeatedly urged the key countries necessary
for the treaty to become international law, particularly Russia, to ratify the
Kyoto Protocol. On 10 April, at a public action organized by WWF during
President’s Putin visit to Chancellor Schroeder in Weimar, Regina Gunther of
WWF Germany questioned President Putin about ratification. “We will do it,”
promised Putin.
The next day, the Russian Government, which postponed
consideration of the Kyoto issue four times since 14 March 2002, decided to
begin the process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol.
This decision puts Russia on track to ratify the
climate treaty by autumn 2002. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development
will prepare a report on the economic and social consequences of ratification
for Russia and a detailed action plan for moving forward. The first step will
be to develop the Law of Ratification, which will then be presented to the
Duma.
http://www.panda.org/news/press/news.cfm?id=2856
Seminar builds skills of Fiji's parliamentarians
12 April - A majority of Fiji's parliamentarians took
part recently in a seminar to learn ways of making the legislature more
effective and responsive. Three out of four members of the House of
Representatives and the Senate participated, reflecting on their roles and
responsibilities and, in particular, examining recent recommendations on a
range of actions to improve Parliament's operations. (…)
The UNDP regional governance programme, which provided
assistance for last year's elections, supported the seminar, in line with
recommendation of the UN Electoral Observation Mission urging further support for democratic governance. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
UN treaty to curb financing
for terrorism comes into force
New York, April 10 - The
International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism
automatically entered into force today, in accordance with its provision
requiring the ratification of 22 States to become effective. The speedy
entry-into-force of the pact, which was adopted by the United Nations General
Assembly in 1999, is widely regarded as a sign of heightened international
commitment to fight terrorism, especially following the 11 September attacks
against the United States. Twenty-two of the 26 ratifications/accessions
receive to date took place after that date. In total, 132 countries have signed
the Convention.
The 28-article text
criminalizes the act of providing or collecting funds with the intention or
knowledge that those funds will be used to carry out a terrorist attack,
according to particular definitions found in nine previously adopted
anti-terrorism treaties.
The Convention itself provides
one more definition: an act intended to cause death or serious injury to a
civilian with the purpose of intimidating a population or compelling a
government or organization either to carry out - or not to carry out - a
particular action.
The Convention calls for
efforts to identify, detect, and freeze or seize any funds used or allocated
for the purpose of committing a terrorist act. It also asks that States
consider establishing mechanisms to use such funds to compensate victims and/or
their families.
In addition, it calls on
financial institutions to pay special attention to unusual or suspicious
transactions and to report to them government authorities. Participating
countries are obliged to prosecute offenders or to extradite them to the
parties that suffered from their illegal acts.
Positive step for women’s political participation in
Tunisia
9 April - The Tunisian government has proposed to
parliament an amendment to the electoral code whereby 10% of parliamentary
seats at the national level would be reserved for women candidates. Currently
only 0.5% of the members of parliament are women. In another move to promote
gender equality, the six parties of the ruling coalition committed to a 20%
quota of female candidates to run for the September 2002 parliamentary
elections. Over the past two years, UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund For
Women) has supported the coalition of women’s groups who have lobbied
for these changes.
For more information, contact Zineb Touimi-Benjelloun,
Gender Advisor for Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, at z.touimi.benjelloun@undp.org
UN Drug Control Body welcomes Drug
Eradication Decree by Afghan Interim Administration
Vienna, 8 April - The President of the International
Narcotics Control Board (INCB), Prof. Hamid Ghodse, welcomes the second decree
on eradication of drugs with a specific aim to eradicate the current poppy crop
issued by the Afghan Interim Administration on 3 April. He particularly
welcomes the fact that, for the first time, loans made to farmers can no longer
be repaid in the form of opium. This is now explicitly forbidden by decree, and
whoever demands such repayment from farmers with an illicit product will be
liable to imprisonment.
The Board is pleased with this
new development, as it further reflects the determination and commitment of the
Afghan Interim Administration to fighting against drug abuse and illicit
trafficking and responds to the concern of the Board. The Board urges the
authorities of Afghanistan to make every effort to ensure that the ban is
strictly and effectively enforced. (…)
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2002-04-08_1.html
Rome, 28 March - Morocco has signed the International
Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, as a first step in
the ratification process. Eleven countries have now signed the Treaty since it
was adopted by the FAO Conference last November: Venezuela, Mexico and Haiti,
in the Latin America and Caribbean region, and Burkina Faso, Central African
Republic, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Jordan, Mali and Namibia in Africa. Morocco
is the first North-African signatory.
The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources
for Food and Agriculture is a legally binding international agreement. It aims
to ensure the conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture,
their sustainable use, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits
arising from the use of these genetic resources, including benefits derived from
commercial use. The treaty will enter into force when ratified by 40 countries.
(…)
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/OIS/PRESS_NE/english/2002/3426-en.html
Global: MSF publishes humanitarian law guide
New York, 16 April - Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)
has assisted in the publication of a guide to humanitarian law which aims to
explain the rights of victims and humanitarian organizations in times of
conflict, tension and crisis.
Titled "The Practical Guide to Humanitarian
Law" the book presents humanitarian law in a new light: from the
perspective of relief action carried out for the benefit of victims. By contrast,
most books on humanitarian law explain the rules from the point of view of
states and armed forces, the most powerful actors. (…) Written by MSF Legal
Director Francoise Boucher-Saulnier, the 490 page volume was published in
February 2002.
Chad: Woman lawyer receives human rights award
Abidjan, 12 April - A Chadian woman lawyer who
represents victims of the regime of former president Hissene Habre, has
received the 2002 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Amnesty
International reported on Thursday.
Jacqueline Moudeina has filed complaints in Chad
against a number of Habre's accomplices, many of who are still in power. She is
also one of the lawyers in a case against Habre in Senegal, where he lives,
Amnesty said. (…)
Named after the first secretary-general of Amnesty,
and granted jointly by 10 leading rights NGOs, the award is the highest for
international criminal justice work since 1993. It is granted annually to an individual
or an organisation "who has displayed exceptional courage in combating
human rights violations". (…)
Central & Eastern Africa: Peace & development
symposium held in Kampala, Uganda
12 April - A three-day symposium on the Great Lakes
region opened on Monday in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, news organisations
reported. (…) The theme of the symposium was "reinforcing the region's
solidarity by setting a regional agenda for a culture of peace, unity and
people-centred development". It brings together Burundi, Rwanda, the DRC,
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The New Vision government-owned newspaper reported
that Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Botswana and South Africa would also be
represented. It said 28 papers would be presented for discussion, and these
would centre on six key themes, namely peace and security, regional stability
and democratic governance, participation, empowerment and people-centred
development, regional food security, and nutrition and health care.
Albania: Mine clearance, mine
awareness
11 April - The ICRC is working with the
Albanian Red Cross and local communities in remote northern areas to prevent
accidents caused by mines and unexploded ordnance. The problem dates back to
the war in Kosovo. The explosive remnants of that conflict have taken a heavy
toll not only in terms of people injured or killed but also in damage to the
region's social and economic fabric. The population of these isolated areas
already struggle with long winters and generally harsh conditions. Mines and
unexploded ordnance further deprive them of freedom of movement, making it that
much more difficult to farm the land, collect firewood, graze cattle and so on.
The ICRC is working closely
with local branches of the Red Cross and two organizations engaged in mine
clearance (the Swiss Federation for Mine Action and Danish Church Aid). This
week a theatre group set up by the ICRC and Albanian Red Cross visited the
villages of Cahan and Topojan on the Kosovo border. Despite snow and low
temperatures, schoolchildren and adults gathered to hear a message that could
spell the difference between life and death.
African leaders meet in Dakar on business opportunities
15 April - African leaders from more than 30 countries
began a three-day conference in Dakar, Senegal, today with representatives of
corporations from across the globe to present a unified vision for Africa's
development and opportunities for doing business there. The event is organized
by the New Partnership for Africa's
Development (NEPAD), an initiative by African leaders aimed at ending poverty, putting the
continent on a path to growth and development and promoting active
participation in the world economy.
Businesses participating range from Cisco Systems to Air France. Also
among the 800 conference participants are representatives from international
organizations, development agencies, civil society and governments.
The conference builds on last month's International
Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico, and will discuss financing of
NEPAD. The leading industrial nations that make up the Group of Eight have
endorsed NEPAD, and it will be a focus of their June summit in Kanakis, Canada.
(…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
West Africa: New FAO project to tackle illegal fishing
12 April - A programme to combat fish poaching
implemented by the Food and Agriculture Programme, is to target illegal
trawling in West African countries including Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal and
Sierra Leone, the United Nations agency reported on Friday.
Vessels from Europe, FAO said, trawl off the coasts of
West African countries taking advantage of lack of surveillance aircraft.
Poachers work with industrial-scale vessels, enabling them to catch vast
numbers of fish. The catch is sold in supermarkets in wealthy countries to
consumers who do not realise that they are buying food stolen from regions such
as West Africa where fish is the most common source of protein, FAO said.
According to the UN agency, abusive fishing practices
take 30 percent of the catch in some important fisheries and in some areas even
larger proportions of the catch may be going unreported. (…)
UN Forum adopts new blueprint
to face challenge of ageing global population
New York, 12 April – After
five days of intensive work, the United Nations Second World Assembly on Ageing
concluded successfully in Madrid today by adopting an action plan aimed at
addressing the challenges brought about by the rapidly growing number of older
persons around the world, particularly in the developing countries.
Responding to growing concern
over the speed and scale of global ageing, the International Plan of Action,
which contained over 120 recommendations, and the accompanying Political
Declaration both stressed the "crucial" importance of incorporating
ageing issues into all development plans as a way of coping with what has been
billed as the main demographic challenge of the 21st century. The forum's final
texts, approved after a marathon negotiating session that stretched long into
the night, focused on three main priorities: older persons and development,
advancing health and well-being into old age, and ensuring enabling and
supportive environments.
In contrast to the First World
Assembly in 1982 in Vienna, this week's forum placed high priority on the
situation in developing countries, which have witnessed dramatic
intensification of the ageing phenomenon. (…)
Africa: Rich rob poor of US $100 billion a year –
Oxfam
11 April - "For every dollar we give in aid, two
are stolen through unfair trade," says David Gallagher of Oxfam. Gallagher
was speaking in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Thursday 11 April at the launch
of Make Trade Fair, a global campaign aimed at changing the rules of trade. He
said the flouting of international trade rules by rich countries cost the poor
world more than US $100 billion a year.
The campaign in Africa was launched in Johannesburg
and Dakar simultaneously, as the 144 member states of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) starts to work on a new agenda for trade negotiations that
will determine how world trade will be regulated in the future. In a report
titled "Rigged Rules and Double Standards", Oxfam revealed some
interesting statistics on Thursday. Campaign details and the full report can be
found at http://www.maketradefair.com and the full IRIN story at http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=27232
Honey from Africa – Honey for
the World
Honey Care Africa (HCA) won
the World Bank’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Department Award at the
Development Marketplace International Innovation Competition organised by the
World Bank In January 2002 (www.developmentmarketplace.org
– proposal 378). It also received the Soros Foundation Award from the
International Finance Corporation (IFC) at the same event.
Honey
Care Africa is a small, recently-established, but rapidly expanding Kenyan
company that manufactures and supplies high quality Langstroth Hives and
related bee-keeping equipment to organisations, communities and individuals
across Kenya. The company has a strong and well-trained field team to assist
people in setting up the hives correctly and training them in using the
equipment properly, as well as dealing with any technical problems as and when
they arise.
HCA has already established a
number of very successful bee keeping projects, working closely with a number
of carefully selected and respectable Non-Governmental and International
Organisations to promote small-holder bee keeping and honey production in
various regions of the country. All hives are provided either on a loan or
cost-sharing basis.
As most of the farmers did not
have a ready and guaranteed market for their honey, HCA decided to offer
them a stable and year-round market. Therefore, the company generally enters
into an optional contractual agreement with the beekeepers and agree to buy the
honey from them at a guaranteed and mutually acceptable price for a period of
two years or more. The price offered is fair and the price guarantee allows the
farmers to plan ahead and forecast their income. HCA also ensures that it pays
the farmers promptly, directly (no middlemen), and in cash. [F. G.]
Source: Honey Care Africa –
e-mail: fjiwa@insightkenya.com
Green Week 2002: a
straw-bale house in the centre of Brussels
The Global
Ecovillage Network - GEN - Europe will construct a straw-bale house in
the centre of Brussels as part of the Green Week 2002 Our future, Our Choice
- Changing our ways, an event organised by the European Commission
Directorate of Environment. (…) Ecovillages are human-scale settlements, rural
or urban, which strive to create models for sustainable living. (…)
The house will be
constructed from the 12th to the 18th of April 2002 in Parc du Maelbeek,
Rue de la Loi 170, Brussels, Belgium, beside the European Commission buildings.
To show high level of recyclability of such a building, the demo-house will be
dismantled on the 20-21 of April and put up at another location in Belgium for
permanent use.
GEN-Europe is a
European ecovillage association. By promoting the concept of ecovillages
through information exchange, partnerships, education and networking, it
supports environmental protection, Earth restoration and the creation of
harmonious human settlements.(…) GEN-Europe has received financial support of
the European Commission Environmental DG for 2001/2002. info@gen-europe.org
Convoy of humanitarian supplies reaches
Israeli-occupied West Bank
Baltimore, April 15 - A convoy of humanitarian relief
supplies, supported by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and four other
faith-based aid agencies, has begun reaching needy families in the Israeli-occupied
West Bank. The convoy - which today reached Bethlehem and will also target
Tulkarem, Qalqilya, Jenin, Ramallah and Nablus - is providing a food package to
5,800 families (about 35,000 people) in districts where such items are
unavailable in local markets due to the escalating crisis in the Palestinian
occupied territories. (…)
The five aid organizations (CRS, Caritas Jerusalem,
Pontifical Mission for Palestine, Mennonite Central Committee and World Vision
International) entered the designated areas, which have been under full curfew
since March 29th. The distributions are based on need, not race, creed or
religion. (…)
http://www.catholicrelief.org/
Republic of the Congo:
Assistance to persons displaced in the Pool area
11 April - Since 6 April, a
team of relief workers from the ICRC, the International Federation of Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies and the Congolese Red Cross has been assisting
people displaced by armed clashes in the Pool area of the Republic of the Congo
who are sheltering in Kinkala, a town south-west of Brazzaville. Following a
survey of their needs, the team has provided them with medical care and
improved sanitary facilities. The ICRC first opened an office in this city of
almost 6,000 people in 1999. (…)
The Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donates US$ one million to feed hungry
Afghan refugees in Pakistan
Islamabad, 9 April - The Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia today donated US$
one million to the United Nations World Food Programme to help buy food for
needy Afghan refugees in Pakistan. The Saudi contribution will help WFP to
purchase more than 2,000 tons of pulses in Pakistan for poor refugees living in
camps within Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province. (…)
WFP and its NGO implementing partners are feeding about 217,000 Afghan
refugees who arrived recently in Pakistan along with a further 53,000 refugees
in Shamshatoo Camp, near Peshawar, who were here prior to 11 September. The UN
Food aid arm plans to continue its assistance to the Afghan refugees in the
camps for the coming three months with over 16,000 tons of food.
WFP last month appealed to the international community for US$284.9 million
to help feed 9.8 million poor Afghans from April through December 2002.
ADRA delivers medical supplies to Goma
9 April, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA - In early April
2002, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) office in Rwanda
worked with AmeriCares and a local organization to distribute 15,000 pounds of
medical supplies in Goma to help residents displaced in the wake of January’s
volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Supplies were distributed to two hospitals and 22
health clinics and will benefit approximately 400,000 people in Goma. The
distribution was handled in cooperation with Association Regionale
D'Approvisionnement En Medicaments Essentiels (ASRAMES), the local medical
supply organization. The items include antibiotics, anti-malarial medicine,
multivitamins, surgical kits, tents and sleeping pads gathered by AmeriCares
from U.S. donors. (…)
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/040902.html
ADRA-built houses shelter 3,000 in Peru
8 April, Silver Spring, Maryland, USA - In early
March, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) completed 508 plywood
houses in San Francisco, a town located in the Department of Moquegua, Peru. These
houses replace temporary tarp shelters used for shelter since earthquakes
devastated southern Peru in June 2001. Approximately 3,000 people have moved
into the new structures that have cement floors and electricity. Municipal
officials provided some of the building materials. Funding for the building
project came from ADRA International, ADRA network offices in Canada and Peru,
the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America, ADRA’s regional office for
South America, and the Banco de Credito.
ADRA Peru had trained disaster response personnel on
the first relief flight into the earthquake zone. Within a matter of hours, the
ADRA network had allocated US$ 130,000 to be used for immediate needs. Water,
temporary shelter, food, and clothing were provided to earthquake survivors in
Moquegua. Other long-term development projects throughout Peru have focused on
health, nutrition, children and teens living in high-risk conditions
agriculture, infrastructure, forestation and reforestation, and food-for-work
programs. (…)
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/040802.html
Afghanistan determined to eradicate polio
Kabul, Afghanistan - 16 April - Afghanistan is on the
verge of a major public health victory. In a nation-wide campaign being held
from 16-18 April 2002, nearly six million Afghan children will be vaccinated
against polio, bringing the country a step closer to stopping transmission of
the wild poliovirus in Afghanistan by the end of this year.
Throughout Afghanistan, 60,000 volunteer vaccinators,
mobilised by the Afghan Ministry of Public Health and assisted by UNICEF, WHO
and various NGOs, will carry out door-to-door vaccinations for all children
under the age of five. In Kabul, for the first time, 70% of newly trained
vaccinators will be women. In order to eradicate polio, all children must be
reached. Therefore, special efforts will be made to vaccinate children in
border areas and those on the move. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/newsnotes/02nn12afghanistan.htm
Africa - HIV infection: new test could cut costs in
developing world
Johannesburg, 15 April (PLUSNEWS) - A new scientific
breakthrough promises to make treatment more affordable in developing
countries. A South African doctor has
discovered a cheaper and more accurate method of CD4 testing, which cuts the
cost of CD4 tests by almost a third. "With the new test, state hospitals
can monitor three times as many patients," Dr Debbie Glencross of South
Africa's National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), told PlusNews on Monday.
According to Glencross, the haemotologist who discovered the new method, the
new test is much quicker and easier to use. "The conception was that
because it is so simple, the quality would be poorer, but it is actually of a
much better quality," she said. (…)
CD4 cell testing is used to determine the efficacy of
antiretroviral therapy (ART). By keeping track of the number of CD4 cells in
the bloodstream, doctors can tell how far HIV infection has progressed. The
prohibitive cost of the test has prevented it from being conducted in most
public hospitals. The NHLS has patented the technique to prevent multinational
and private companies from selling the tests at an exorbitant price. "The
patent was a protection because we wanted it to get to the people who needed it
most," Glencross added. (…)
Africa: Film educates youth on HIV/AIDS
12 April - An African film targeting young men is
being used across Africa to educate youth about sexual health issues and
HIV/AIDS.
Filmed in Zimbabwe, Yellow Card focuses on teenage
pregnancy, which is often considered a girl's problem, and explores what
happens when a boy is held accountable for his actions.
Through the story of Tiyane, a young soccer player who
becomes a teenage father, the movie tackles the issues of unplanned pregnancy,
unsafe abortion and HIV/AIDS.
More details: http://www.irinnews.org/AIDSreport.asp?ReportID=1267
First International Young People’s Conference on AIDS
in Africa: 28 May-1 June
12 April - The first International Young People's
Conference on AIDS in Africa will be hosted by Africa Young AIDS Coalition
(Afyoac) from 28 May – 1 June 2002 in Mombasa, Kenya.
The conference will specifically bring together young
researchers, educators, advocates, counsellors and policy makers. The
conference will focus on the prevention needs of young people and look for
appropriate ways capable of bridging the existing communication, language, and
experience sharing gap between young HIV/AIDS activists in Africa.
For more information: afyoac@hotmail.com
Tanzanian religious leaders mobilize against HIV/AIDS
10 April - Eighty Tanzanian religious leaders came
together at a forum in Dar-es-Salaam recently to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS
and agree on ways to support the national campaign against the deadly epidemic.
President Benjamin Mkapa, who has declared the epidemic a national disaster,
hosted the forum, which was chaired by former President Ali Hassan Mwinyi and
attended by Roman Catholic, Protestant and Anglican bishops and imams and
sheikhs from the Muslim community. (…)
The religious leaders said they could not campaign for
the use of condoms as a means of curbing HIV/AIDS as this runs counter to their
doctrines, but agreed that it is the responsibility of the government to do so.
They also agreed to collaborate with the government in educating their
followers about avoiding extra-marital sexual relations. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Making women central to reducing the spread of
HIV/AIDS
9 April - UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund For
Women) is launching a 3-year programme to put the gender and human
rights dimensions of the HIV/AIDS epidemic at the centre of strategies and
policies in ten countries, with a $3 million grant from the UN Trust Fund for
Human Security, funded by the Japanese government. As part of the programme
UNIFEM will work with National AIDS Councils and key policy makers to increase
their understanding of the impact of HIV/AIDS on women. At the community level,
UNIFEM will work toward equality between men and women in an effort to link
lower HIV/AIDS prevalence rates with transformed gender relations. UNIFEM will
begin by working with railway workers in India to promote AIDS awareness and
foster equality between women and men. The ten countries covered by the
programme include Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, India, Cambodia,
Thailand, Barbados and Brazil.
Over the course of three years, UNIFEM intends to
build national capacity in each country to review existing laws and policies
related to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care in order to identify
provisions that need to be revised to ensure gender equality.
For more information, contact Nazneen Damji, Programme
Specialist on Gender and HIV/AIDS, at nazneen.damji@undp.org
(top)
IAEA secures radioactive source in Uganda
Vienna, 5 April - In response to a request from the
Government of Uganda, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United
Nations organization with competence in nuclear safety and security, has
secured a radioactive source in Uganda. The radioactive source contained a
significant amount of cobalt-60 and had been impounded by authorities following
its discovery.
Following the discovery of a radioactive source, two
IAEA radiation safety specialists were sent to Uganda this week to provide
assistance. The IAEA team checked the integrity of the shielded container,
measured the level of radiation, verified the security of the location and
concluded that the source is currently safe and secure and does not pose any
immediate threat to the public.
The IAEA team also assisted Ugandan authorities in
their effort to ascertain whether other insecure sources might similarly be
found in the country. No evidence of such sources was found.
http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/2002/prn0205.shtml
Eritrea - Food for Training Programme: illiterate
women given chance at learning
12 April - An innovative scheme to help illiterate
women learn to read and write has been launched in two regions of Eritrea. The
Food for Training programme offers 19.5 kg of basic foods each month to women,
and some men, who attend two hours of literacy lessons each day. (…)
The programme, which is being piloted during April and
May in the Ansaba and Red Sea regions, is run by the National Union of Eritrean
Women and the World Food Programme (WFP). The Ministry of Education has
contributed 236 teachers as well as school classrooms in 75 towns and villages.
More than 5,000 women have signed up for the lessons so far. A WFP spokesman
said the programme was proving especially popular among teenage girls, aged
between 14 and 16, some of whom have never been to school. Food for Training is
part of an ongoing attempt by the government to change traditional attitudes,
still dominant in many rural areas, that women should stay and work in the home,
rather than seek an education, or a job. (…)
If the pilot programmes prove successful, organisers
hope to extend Food for Training to other regions from September and eventually
to enrol 50,000 women. (…) Full report at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27167]
Somalia: First women's teacher training college opens
12 April - The first all-women's teacher training
college in Somalia officially opened in the capital, Mogadishu, on Tuesday. The
college - which will be funded jointly by a Dutch NGO, NOVIB, and a local
Somali education group, the Formal Private Education Network (FPEN) - would be
known as the Banaadir Teacher Training Institute, the chairman of the FPEN,
Ahmad Abdullahi, told IRIN. The college, which would train 105 women, actually
started classes in February, but was officially opened on Tuesday by the
minister of education of the Transitional National Government (TNG), Ahmad said.
It was the first time since the start of the civil war, 11 years ago, that such
an institution had come into operation, a Somali source told IRIN. Full report
at:
http://www.irinnews.org/print.asp?ReportID=27198]
Formula one driver Michael Schumacher to be named
UNESCO Champion for Sport
Paris, April 11 - German Formula One racing driver
Michael Schumacher will be named UNESCO Champion for Sport by UNESCO
Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura at a ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters on
Monday, April 15, at 5.30 p.m., which will be followed by a press conference.
The nomination of Schumacher comes "in
recognition of his role in the promotion of sport, his contribution to UNESCO's
educational action in favour of young people all over the world, and his
dedication to the Organization's ideals".
The four-times world champion (1994, 1995, 2000 and
2001) and driver for Ferrari since 1996 has placed sport at the service of
disadvantaged children since 1995. He was named UNESCO Special Envoy for
Education and Sports and donated DM 250,000 to UNESCO, money paid to him by the
German magazine Bunte for exclusive photo of his wedding.
Further substantial donations by him enabled the
building of a school in Dakar (Senegal) in 1996 and improvements to be made in
the city's slum suburb of Baraka as part of a joint UNESCO/Enda Third World
project. In 1997, his generosity made possible the opening in Sarajevo of a
clinic to help child war victims heal their psychological wounds and teach
young amputees to use artificial limbs. This year, Schumacher's donations will
fund the opening, in Lima (Peru), of a "Palace of the Poor", a centre
for street children that will provide them with shelter, food, medical care and
pre-school education.
Other leading sports figures have rallied to UNESCO's
cause, including French judo champion David Douillet and football player Edson
Arantes de Nascimiento, better known as "King Pele."
http://www.unesco.org/bpi/eng/unescopress/2002/02-avis9e.shtml
Basketball Stars join the UN to
promote cooperation and understanding between Greek and Turkish youths
The UN, NBA, the Turkish and Hellenic Basketball Federations, and FIBA
come together for the second annual Basketball without Borders Camp
Vienna, 10 April - The National Basketball
Association’s (NBA) Hidayet ("Hedo") Turkoglu and Predrag
("Peja") Stojakovic of the Sacramento Kings will lead a group of Turkish
and Greek basketball players serving as coaches for the second annual
Basketball without Borders in Istanbul, Turkey, July 5-8, NBA Commissioner
David Stern announced today. Basketball without Borders is a summer camp for
12-14-year-olds designed to promote friendship and understanding through sport.
The inaugural
Basketball without Borders took place in July 2001 in Treviso, Italy,
with Vlade Divac of the Sacramento Kings, Toni Kukoc of the Atlanta Hawks and
five other NBA players from the former Yugoslavia uniting to work with 50
children from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, FYRO Macedonia, Slovenia and
Yugoslavia. This year’s Basketball without Borders brings together 50 young
Greeks and Turks who will be selected to participate on the basis of their
basketball skills and leadership potential. (…)
http://www.undcp.org/press_release_2002-04-10_1.html
New York, 8 April - The end of the Cold
War has brought increased attention to the more than 30 armed conflicts currently
raging throughout the world. Since 1945, more than 100 million people have been
killed or seriously injured due to national and international struggles. There
is a major shortage in trained mediators, who are an essential element of any
peace process. Rotary has undertaken a major long-term initiative aimed at
filling that void.
To help prepare this next
generation of diplomats and future leaders, Rotary has teamed up with eight
universities around the world to establish new centers focused on peace and
conflict resolution and will annually award scholarships to 70 promising
leaders.
Please join us as we announce
the first class of 70 Rotary World Scholars and introduce the world to a new
chance for peace: Thursday, 18 April 2002, 11:00 a.m. at Millennium Hotel, One
United Nations Plaza 44th St. at First Ave., Ballroom, 2nd floor.
Rotary is an organization of
business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian
service and help to build goodwill and peace in the world. There are
approximately 1.2 million Rotarians who are members of more than 30,000 Rotary
clubs in 163 countries.
http://www.rotary.org/newsandinfo/presscenter/releases/124.html
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