Good News Agency – Year IV, n° 18
Weekly - Year IV, number 18 – 28
November 2003
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. Editorial research by Fabio Gatti. Good News Agency
is published in English on one Friday and in Italian the next. It is distributed free of charge through
Internet to the editorial offices of more than 2,400
media in 47 countries, as well as to 1,000 NGO.
It is a service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della
Buona Volontà Mondiale, NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Public
Information.
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity
Peace and security – Health – Energy
and Safety – Environment and wildlife
Religion and spirituality – Culture and education
Treaty
on hazardous chemicals and pesticides trade to become law
Rotterdam Convention will enter into force on 24
February 2004
Geneva/Rome,
27 November - Armenia has become the 50th country to ratify the Rotterdam
Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous
Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, triggering the 90-day
countdown to the treaty's entry into force. (…) Jointly supported by FAO and
UNEP, the Rotterdam Convention establishes a first line of defence against
future tragedies that may be caused by hazardous chemicals.
The
Convention enables importing countries to decide which potentially hazardous
chemicals they want to receive and to exclude those they cannot manage safely.
Most of the Parties of the Rotterdam Convention, so far, are developing
countries.
When
trade is permitted, requirements for labelling and providing information on
potential health and environmental effects will promote safer use of chemicals.
The
Convention starts with 27 chemicals but five more pesticides have already been
flagged for inclusion, and many more substances are likely to be added in the
future. (…)
Geneva (ICRC), 21 November –
At its meeting on 20 November 2003, the Assembly of the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) formally recognised the Kazakh Red Crescent Society and
the Micronesia Red Cross Society. These two societies are the 180th and 181st
National Societies to join the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement.
The recognition of a National
Society before it joins the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies is subject to 10 conditions set out in Article 4 of the
Movement’s Statutes. One of these conditions is that the Society respect the
fundamental principles of the Movement and be guided in its work by the
principles of international humanitarian law. (…)
The ICRC congratulates these newly recognised National
Societies and asks their sister Societies to give them a warm welcome at the
28th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which is being
held in Geneva between 2 and 6 December. The main theme of the Conference is
“Protecting human dignity” and it will be attended by representatives of the
181 National Societies, the ICRC, the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies and the 190 States party to the Geneva Conventions.
United Nations promotes action
to prevent and counter trafficking in human beings from Nigeria into Italy -
UN assists Nigeria and Italy in signing “Memorandum of Cooperation”
Vienna, 12 November (UN
Information Service) -- Anti-mafia Chief Prosecutor, Pierluigi Vigna, and the
Ministry of Justice of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Akinlolu Olujinmi,
signed a “Memorandum of Cooperation” in Abuja on 11 November 2003.
The Memorandum has been signed
within the framework of the “Programme against Trafficking in Minors and Young
Women from Nigeria into Italy for Sexual Exploitation Purposes” that the United
Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is
currently finalising. The main objective of this initiative, funded by the Italian
Government, is to promote an effective cooperation between Italy and Nigeria,
by upgrading analysis and legislative tools and operational instruments (Task
Forces) to prevent and counter the trafficking in human beings, and provide
assistance to the victims. (…)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2003-11-12_1.html
Argentina, 21 November - For
the first time since the end of the military dictatorship (1976-1983) an
Argentinean Head of State met several sons of the ‘desaparecidos’ recognised by
the ‘Mothers of Plaza de Mayo’ at the ‘Casa Rosada’. The President of the
Argentina, Néstor Kirchner, promised the youths that the government would
present a bill to make it obligatory for presumed sons of ‘desaparecidos’ to
carry out a DNA exam. “It is a project which purpose is that of bridging a
prescriptive gap and not an action against the Supreme Court of Justice”
specified Eduardo Luis Duhalde, secretary of human rights. The reference of the
secretary in relation to the Supreme Court is not coincidental. Last October 1,
the Supreme Court recognised the rights of Evelyn Vasquez Ferra, a young girl
daughter of ‘desaparecidos’, to not carry out a blood test to verify, through a
DNA test, the identity of her birth parents. The sentence provoked polemics.
Tatiana Sfiligoy and María Moyano, two girls, daughters of ‘desaparecidos’
recognised by the ‘Mother of Plaza de Mayo’, which were taken away from their
families, asked President Kirchner to promote projects for the reconstruction
“of the collective memory of the terror that reigned throughout the country”.
Furthermore, they urged the President to pass a law that obligates the State to
do everything possible to recuperate the remains of the Argentinean
‘desaparecidos’, giving them a ‘Christian burial’. “Kirchner is the first
President that has opned the door to us”, said Horacio Pietragalla, the last
son of the ‘desaparecidos’ found by the ‘Mothers of ‘Plaza de Mayo’.
ICFTU Welcomes ILO Commission
of Enquiry into Belarus
Brussels, November 20 (ICFTU
Online) - The ICFTU has welcomed a decision of the UN's International Labour
Organisation (ILO) to launch a Commission of Enquiry into ongoing violations of
workers' rights in Belarus. (…) The ILO's Governing Body, comprising
government, employer and trade union representatives, voted to set up the
enquiry following a series of complaints by independent trade unions in Belarus
and by the ICFTU and
other international trade union organisations. (…)
The ILO decision, made under
Article 26 of its Constitution, sets in motion the strongest procedure
available to the UN body, and reflects the frustration of worker, employer and
many government members of the ILO Governing Body at the continued refusal of
the regime to cease violating fundamental workers' rights.
The ICFTU represents 158
million workers in 231 affiliated organisations in 150 countries and
territories. ICFTU is also a member of Global Unions.
UNICEF
highlights successes but urges more be done
Kabul, Afghanistan, 20
November – Two years since the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan,
UNICEF this week highlights some of the progress that has been made for the
country’s women and children since the start of the reconstruction process.
Emphasising the prominent role of the Transitional Government, national NGOs
and the Afghan people, UNICEF has applauded its partners for the unparalleled
progress seen in areas such as health, nutrition, water and sanitation,
education and the protection of children’s rights.
UNICEF Representative in
Afghanistan, Dr. Sharad Sapra, said today “In the last two years a number of
important steps have been made in advancing the welfare of Afghanistan’s
children and women. In the area of health, we have seen 16 million children
immunized against measles, some 6 million children immunized against polio and
more than 700,000 women have received life-saving tetanus vaccinations. The
status of mothers’ health has improved, with the opening of new centres of
excellence in maternal health in Kabul and Jalalabad, the refurbishment of
provincial obstetric care facilities in every province, and with the training
of 18 teams of obstetricians and midwives across the country. Two salt iodation
plants have opened this year alone, which will greatly reduce the prevalence
of mental and physical stunting and
goitre, while 5 million children have benefited from Vitamin A supplementation
in both 2002 and 2003.” (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_16321.html
The World Bank approves $150
million to maintain fiscal reform program in Colombia
Washington, November 20, 2003 –
The World Bank today approved a $150 million loan to Colombia to continue a
four-year program of reforming public sector finances and financial management.
The objectives of the Second Programmatic Fiscal and Institutional Structural
Adjustment Loan center on strengthening the tax and budgeting systems while
stepping up efficiency and accountability. (…) Specific elements of the new,
second, phase include:
Making public finances more
sustainable through the enactment and application of fiscal responsibility
legislation;
Reducing losses, generating
revenue, and providing new housing for the poor, by improving management of
state-owned real estate assets, whose administration is now hampered by
deficient, incomplete and unreliable information;
Improving budget management by
monitoring results, making budget information available to the public, and
bringing accounting practices into compliance with international standards.
Geneva, 18 November 2003 (ILO
News) – The Xth African Regional Meeting of the International Labour
Organization (ILO) is to hammer out priorities for action for the 53 ILO
African member States and create a platform of support for the Extraordinary
Summit on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa to be convened by
African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Burkina Faso in 2004. (…)
The Meeting (…) comes at a
time when close to half of Africa's population, over 300 million people, live
in extreme poverty on the equivalent of US$1 a day or less – the highest
intra-regional poverty level and the widest gap between rich and poor in the
world. Strategies for reducing such poverty and closing this gap through a job
centred development agenda will be the main items on the table at the Meeting.
(…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2003/46.htm
12 November, Budapest/Rome --
Creating a coordinated approach to financing agricultural development in Central
and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) will
improve investment in the region, FAO said.
At a two-day forum hosted on 12-13 November 2003 by FAO and the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Budapest, major international
financial organizations, development agencies and private banks met to create a
formal network of institutions financing agriculture.
Following the break-up of the
Soviet Union and the fall of communism, many countries of the region faced a
triple challenge - to build new states, found democratic institutions and
create market economies. Financial
institutions such as the EBRD were set up to provide support to nurture the
private sector in a new democratic environment. (…)
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/24559-en.html
5 November, Rome -- Burkina
Faso, Chad, Kenya, Niger, Senegal and Sudan will receive funding to support the
production of gums and natural resins as part of the UN Food and Agriculture
Organization's Operation Acacia, a project funded by Italy and worth
approximately $3.5 million.
The project aims to increase
the quality and quantity of acacia gum produced to help the rural poor who live
in the semi-arid zones of the countries bordering the Sahara to achieve
self-sufficiency. (…)
The project will be funded by
the Organization's Trust Fund for Food Security. The US$ 500 million Trust Fund
was created by FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf following the 2002 World
Food Summit to provide new impetus to the global fight against hunger.
Italy has been the first among
member countries to respond to this appeal and has committed itself to
providing 100 million euros of which 50 million euros have already been
received. Italy has already financed projects in the Caribbean and Central and
Eastern Europe. (…)
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/24339-en.html
Pan African Conference to discuss how to meet Africa's water goals –
Addis Abeba, Dec. 8-13
Addis Ababa, 17 November (ECA) -- Delegates from about 43 African
countries will attend the first Pan African Implementation and Partnership
Conference on Water (PANAFCON) in Addis Ababa from 8-13 December 2003 (…)
PANAFCON will feature eight
parallel thematic sessions (…) It will
also feature a multi-stakeholder consultation, a civil society segment and a
segment specifically designed for African ministers and policy makers in charge
of water to engage development partners. (…)
The Conference is co-sponsored
by ECA, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World
Meteorological Organization (WMO), the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children's Fund
(UNICEF), UN-Habitat, the African Development Bank (AfDB), NEPAD and the
Ministry of Water Resources in Ethiopia.
Katie Couric, “ER,” Sir Peter
Ustinov, Sir Roger Moore, Harry Belafonte, Vanessa Redgrave, Nana Mouskouri and
George Harrison To Be Honored
Los Angeles, 21 November 2003
– Today, virtually every non-profit organization in the world enlists the
support of well-known individuals to help advance its work – but in 1953 it was
a different story. That was the year
that a chance encounter on an airplane brought together the beloved entertainer
Danny Kaye and the then-executive director of UNICEF, who together forged a new
kind of partnership between celebrities and global causes. The following year,
Danny Kaye became UNICEF’s first Goodwill Ambassador, and began 33 years of
traveling the world to promote the needs and rights of children.
On 3 December, at the UNICEF
Goodwill Gala, UNICEF will celebrate 50 years of celebrity advocacy and honor
the esteemed individuals – stars from stage, screen, sport and music – who have
followed in Mr. Kaye’s footsteps.
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Whoopi Goldberg will host the Gala and Halle
Berry will serve as honorary event chair. (…) The gala, to be held at the
Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles, will benefit the “Audrey Hepburn All
Children in School Fund” to help UNICEF provide 120 million children in
developing nations access to a quality basic education. (..)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_16338.html
19 November - In a unique
campaign against the stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, 22
well-known Indian artists have joined with people living with the virus to
create path breaking works that breakdown stereotypes about the disease. At a
recent art camp in the Amby Valley, Mumbai, the painters created 27 canvasses
to support the Celebration of Lives campaign. The paintings will go on a
travelling exhibition of five major cities. Half the proceeds from sales of the
works will go to a UNDP-supported fund for people living with the disease.
Less than 1 per cent of adults
in India are living with HIV/AIDS, but because of the country's large
population that means almost four million people are infected with the virus.
The challenges of stopping the spread of the epidemic are therefore great.
The campaign organizers are
the UNDP Regional HIV and Development Programme for South and Northeast Asia;
the Sahara India Pariwar company; and the Village Gallery in New Delhi. Among
the artists participating are Jatin Das, Sunil Das, Shamshad Hussain, Achutan
Kudallur, Subrata Kundu, Nupur Kundu, Manu Parikh, Madhavi Parikh, Surya
Prakash and Rekha Rao. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/november/19nov03/index.html
Ireland donates one million
Euros for Unicef water and sanitation projects in SNNPR
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18
November - The Irish Government has
donated onemillion Euros to UNICEF to fund new and rehabilitate old water
supply and sanitation services at
communities, health institutions and schools to benefit 175,000
drought-affected people in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region
(SNNPR) over the next 12 months.
Coverage levels for water and
sanitation in Ethiopia are among the lowest in the world. According to official
figures, only 31 percent of households have access to safe water, and 17 per
cent of households have access to sanitation facilities. (…)
The Irish Government has been
supporting water supply in SNNPR in three zones for several years. During the
present emergency, Ireland has increased its assistance to UNICEF by supporting
water supply projects in an additional seven drought-affected zones.
Angela Walker Sampson, UNICEF Communication
Officer awalker@unicef.org
November 13 - Episcopal Relief and Development is giving
assistance to families and school children in north central Rwanda. In late
October, strong winds and heavy rains damaged and destroyed homes and schools
in Buhita and Nyabyondo, in the District in Bungwe. At least 110 homes and two
primary school classrooms were completely destroyed in the Diocese of Byumba.
(…) On behalf of the Episcopal Church, Episcopal Relief and Development has
advanced emergency funds to the Diocese of Byumba to provide temporary shelter
and materials for replacing the roofs on homes and classrooms. The funds will
help purchase iron sheets, nails, and building sticks for rebuilding.
http://www.interaction.org/newswire/detail.php?id=2353
Niamey, Niger, November 12 -
Helen Keller Worldwide, an international development organization dedicated to
combating blindness and malnutrition, is partnering with the government of
Niger to generate empowerment through radio. Since free national elections in
1999 completed a return to democracy, the government of Niger has sought to
improve conditions for Nigeriens and to generate civil society through a number
of channels. Literally, in some cases. A growing number of radio stations in
Niger, built by rural communities themselves, broadcast health messages in
hopes of improving health practices. In the past year, Helen Keller Worldwide
and partners have worked with communities across the regions of Diffa and
Zinder, two of the most remote regions of the country, to install fifteen such
stations, reaching an estimated 628,000 Nigeriens. Funding comes from the
United States Agency for International Development. (…)
Many radio club participants
are illiterate mothers, whom HKW and the government of Niger place a priority
on reaching. (…) A significant number of female club participants surveyed by
HKW have taken steps to follow the advice provided in the broadcasts. (…)
http://www.hkworld.org/news/pressreleases/releases.cfm?press_id=26
Washington DC, 21 November -
The 2004 Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World (the First Review Conference of
the Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and
Transfer, of Anti-Personnel Mines and on Their Destruction) is a key milestone
in the life of the Treaty. It will mark the incredible progress since the birth
of the Convention and chart the way forward for its full implementation and
universalisation. The ICBL is geared to fully participate in the Summit and
preparation process, starting with this launch. It is urging States Parties to
the Treaty to send ministers to the Summit and use the road to Nairobi process
to boost membership of the treaty and renew commitment to clearing mines and
assisting landmine victims.
Cyprus, and neighbours Greece
and Turkey, is amongst the Mine Ban Treaty's newest members. The mine-affected
country will blow up its stockpiles of antipersonnel mines at the launch. This
will be Cyprus' first significant step in fulfilling its Treaty obligations.
The launch coincides with the
anniversary of the signing of the Mine Ban Treaty in Ottawa in 1997 and the
award of the Nobel Peace Prize to the ICBL and Jody Williams in Oslo. 3
December is also International Day for Disabled People. The ICBL will publish a
press statement on 3 December: www.icbl.org.
Nairobi, Kenya, 20 November
(IRIN) - The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action has started training and
deploying two landmine emergency teams in and around the town of Bunia, in the
Ituri district of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The
organisation said on Tuesday the undertaking was at the request of the UN Mine
Action Service and that one Swiss supervisor had already arrived in Kinshasa,
the Congolese capital. Two more are expected by the end of November.
Supervisors from the foundation will begin the recruitment and training of 20
local mine clearing specialists in the next three weeks. “This will also
provide job opportunities for ex-combatants and demobilised soldiers,” the
foundation said.
Ituri has been the scene of
inter-militia violence that peaked in May 2003. Hundreds of civilians have died
and thousands others displaced by the fighting in which landmines were used.
(…)
On Wednesday, the UN Security
Council urged UN member states to support projects to clear landmines and
unexploded ordnances from countries emerging from armed conflicts and to help
rehabilitate mine victims. (…)
http://www.mineaction.org/countries/_refdocs.cfm?doc_ID=1665
November 19 - The rapid growth
of towns and cities around the world is leading to increased competition for
scarce municipal services and resources such as water, roads, electricity and
land. UN-HABITAT is training experts to prevent disputes, arising from the use
of these scarce resources, from escalating into conflict.
UN-HABITAT’s Training and
Capacity Building Branch (TCBB) is holding Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops
for Eastern and Southern Africa Sub-region on building bridges between citizens
and local governments. The workshops are being held during the weeks of 17 to
22 November and 23 to 29 November 2003 in Nyeri, Kenya.
The overall objective of the
workshops is to train a core pool of trainers and resource people to implement
national training and capacity building activities on how local government and
civil society organizations can manage differences of opinion between and among
themselves.
http://www.unhabitat.org/resolving_disputes.asp
Rotary members from Michigan,
Indiana and Oregon will travel to West Africa to immunize children against
polio - Part of Global Effort to Eradicate Polio Worldwide by 2005
Evanston, Ill., USA, 30
November - As the end of polio nears, the last vestiges of this crippling
disease are stubbornly holding on in parts of Africa and South Asia. In support
of Rotary International's top priority to eradicate polio worldwide, 12 Rotary
club members (Michigan 7, Indiana 2, Oregon 3) will depart for the West African
country of Niger on Sunday, 30 November and will return on Sunday, 14 December.
While in Niger, the volunteers will help administer drops of oral polio vaccine
to children, deliver the vaccine to health clinics and recruit fellow
volunteers during Niger's national immunization campaign. The goal will be to
immunize every child under the age of five against polio. (…)
In addition to protecting
children from polio, members of the group - all contributing their personal
resources to cover trip expenses - will each bring a second piece of luggage
filled with children's clothing and other basic items to donate to various
charities and orphanages. (…)
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/presscenter/releases/179.html
21 November - During the
second week of November the ICRC delivered medicines and other medical supplies
to the Central Hospital in Khasavyurt and technical equipment to the
Orthopaedic Centre in Makhachkala, the capital of Daghestan. The republic was
the scene of hostilities in 1999 and remains economically vulnerable.
Since 1999 the ICRC has been
supplying the surgery and trauma units of Khasavyurt Central Hospital on a
regular basis to enhance access to medical services for civilians. The
hospital, which has a 995-bed capacity and a full range of services, is one of
the largest in Daghestan. ICRC support is a boon to its staff, who carry out
over 300 operations a month. (…)
21 November - Local leaders in
Mali, meeting at a recent workshop in Bamako, have agreed to set up committees
to intensify the campaign against HIV/AIDS, improve networking among
communities and promote prevention activities.
Participants included members of the Alliance of Mayors and Local
Elected Officials against HIV/AIDS, government officials and representatives
from civil society groups, the media and United Nations agencies.
They concurred that Mali needs
to take stronger measures to counter the epidemic, improve cooperation among
those carrying out anti-HIV/AIDS activities, and gather more data on its social
and economic impact at the community level.
Nearly 2 per cent of those 15
to 45 are living with the virus, and there is concern that unless steps are
taken to increase public awareness about the dangers and to discourage risky
behaviour, the epidemic would spread rapidly. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Washington, DC, November
5 - A public-private partnership
between SkyLink Aviation Canada and the development organization Counterpart
International, will result in $1.5 million worth of medicines being distributed
to the children of Iraq. (…)
The medicines, which treat
childhood illnesses and water-borne diseases, are being flown from a
Counterpart warehouse in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to Kuwait City where they
will be trucked into Basra, in southern Iraq. The Health Department and the
World Health Organization (WHO) with Counterpart staff will supervise the
distribution of medicines to clinics in the region with chronically bare
medicine shelves. (…) The gift is being made in memory of UN High Commissioner
of Human Rights Sergio Veira de Mello and other international relief agency
workers who have died in the quest for peace in the war-torn Middle East
nation. (…)
Counterpart International is a
non-profit international human development organization founded in 1965 as the
Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific. We are headquartered in
Washington D.C. and work in more than 60 countries.
http://www.counterpart.org/news/presser.asp?id=658#Entry3
(top)
20 November - With the opening
last week of a new information and communications (ICT) centre, Armenia is
boosting access to the Internet and e-governance. The centre, opened by Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian, in Yerevan, the capital, has 38 workstations and
provides access to the Armenian Freenet, that has offered free email and other
Internet tools in the Armenian language since 1998. Part of the National
Academy of Sciences, it can accommodate 600 users a day.
UNDP funded 17 of the
computers and the Open Society Institute 10 more. Internet access is provided
by ARENA, the Armenian Research and Educational Networking Organization,
through the NATO science programme.
The centre will promote ICT
through research and training programmes, host public discussions, and serve as
a hub for Freenet public access sites being established in many regions. It
will also support e-democracy and e-governance systems, including the
e-consulate of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/november/20nov03/index.html
18 November - The historic
Silk Road linking Europe and Asia is quickly turning into a virtual Silk Road,
with countries along the way providing their citizens with access to the
Internet and other information and communications technology (ICT). This holds
the promise of greater cooperation, trade, prosperity and mutual understanding
in this vast region and the world, said representatives from 22 countries in
eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at a recent
forum in Baku, Azerbaijan. The meeting discussed ICT for development strategies
and e-governance in preparation for the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS) in Geneva , 10 -12 December.
UNDP, the United Nations ICT
Taskforce and the Government of Azerbaijan convened the event. Also attending
were representatives from the World Bank, the Canadian International
Development Agency, Microsoft, the Open Society Institute and Soros Foundations
Network, Development Gateway and other international development organizations.
(…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2003/november/18nov03/index.html
Zero Emission Pledge.Com
A worldwide, Internet-based
campaign, Zero Emission Pledge.com, has been launched to spark a zero emission
vehicle (ZEV) marketplace through a consumer pledge to only purchase a ZEV when
shopping for a new vehicle. "With each passing day the environmental
crisis that we have been warned about since the early 1980s, comes dangerously
closer," says Pledge founder and developer Ben Mater. "Zero
Emission Pledge.com is a means for consumers to collectively use our purchasing
power to drive change in the automotive industry towards a clean, renewable
zero emission model today."
Zero Emission Pledge offers
consumers and organizations the ability to band together with a common
objective of creating demand for ZEVs with a boycott of oil consuming vehicles.
Digitally signed and verified pledges are delivered to major automotive
manufacturers to let them know the demand for ZEVs are real and growing. (…)
Taking advantage of the
growing web-based activism trend, the ZEP campaign is being developed with an
online focus to be followed by more traditionalmedia and marketing
programs. Zero Emission Pledge.com was created and is being implemented
by Earthwaves, a U.S.-based media and social marketing agency.
New WRI tool contributes to UN
climate treaty negotiations
Washington, DC, November 20 -
Drawing on a new climate indicator tool, experts from the World Resources
Institute (WRI) today warned that current efforts by the global community, and
in particular by the US, are inadequate to reverse the rapidly rising trends in
global emissions. The warning was issued during a briefing previewing the
upcoming UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meetings in Milan,
Italy, Dec. 1-12.
“While focusing on many of the
operational details of emissions registries and offset projects, the Milan
meetings will be the opening round of a post-Kyoto conversation on the
mitigation of global climate change,” said Dr. Jonathan Pershing, director of
WRI’s Climate, Energy, and Pollution Program and head of the institute’s
delegation to the Milan negotiations. (…)
Pershing’s comments come as
WRI is poised to roll out its new Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT), a
database that provides perhaps the most detailed picture of the emissions
contributions that countries are making to global warming. CAIT will be
formally released during the UNFCCC negotiations in Milan. (…)
http://newsroom.wri.org/newsrelease_text.cfm?NewsReleaseID=270
November 20 - A crisis meeting to rescue the great apes
will be held from November 26 to 28 at UNESCO Headquarters, at which
representatives of 23 African and Asian states and scientific experts will
develop a strategy to save humankind’s closest living relatives from
extinction.
Every single species of great
ape now faces a high risk of extinction either in the immediate future or at
best within 50 years, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
Representatives from all countries with great ape populations and donor
countries will meet with leading scientific experts from non-governmental
organizations and universities through the Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP),
co-ordinated by UNESCO and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
They will develop a Global Great Ape Conservation Strategy, to be released at a
press conference at UNESCO, November 28th at 1:00 p.m.
Great apes, which include
gorillas, orangutans, chimpanzees and bonobos, share more than 96 per cent of
their DNA with humans. For chimpanzees, the figure is as high as 98.4 per cent.
For many scientists, by losing a single species of great apes, we destroy part
of the bridge to our own origins and part of our humanity. (…)
Gland, Switzerland, 18
November - The golden lion tamarin has moved from critically endangered to
endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The species, which is endemic to Brazil, was
the only primate that shifted into a lower threat category on the list
published today.
Just over 30 years ago, the
golden lion tamarin was on the brink of extinction. In 1971, when WWF started
working with its partners to protect the primate, there were fewer than 200
left in the wild. After tireless conservation work, the 1000th baby tamarin was
born in March 2001. One-third of this population is the direct result of a WWF-supported
programme to reintroduce zoo-born animals into the wild and to translocate
isolated animals to bigger forest areas such as the Poco das Antas Biological
Reserve. (…)
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/other_news/news.cfm?uNewsID=9809
United Media Communications
Group joins forces with UN environment to produce ground breaking “EcoWatch” TV
Series
Boca Raton, Fl, USA, November
9 - A major new environmental television series, produced by United Media
Communications Group (UMCG), will be drawing on the significant knowledge,
expertise and scientific resources of the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) for series’ educational programming content. Under an agreement
announced today, UNEP will provide story ideas and content for the new
“EcoWatch” series. This series of television segments will bring the issues and
solutions to solving some of the biggest threats facing human-kind into the
living rooms of an estimated 60 million American homes on cable television
networks such as the Outdoor Life Channel and through national syndication.
In addition, EcoWatch will air
in various regional television markets on CNN and/or FOX News. The series will
also reach a worldwide television audience through international syndication on
WorldNet. The series aims to show in a down-to-earth way how every day
decisions by individuals, companies and governments affect today’s environment
and the environment of future generations. (…)
Reconciliation in Judaism,
Islam and Christianity – Interfaith Conference, Oct. 30-Nov. 1
Jerusalem, November 11 - Some
forty participants came to the 6th Israeli-Palestinian interfaith conference,
organized by the Interfaith Encounter Association (IEA) and the Nablus Youth
Federation (NYF). The conference was mainly funded by the European Commission
and also enjoyed a generous grant from the Public Affairs Office of the United
States Embassy in Tel Aviv (…)
Following the opening remarks
participants went into small groups, introducing themselves through personal
information and through the sharing of a reconciliation story from their social
life. The evening concluded with a performance of the join Jewish-Arab group of
Ofer Golani and Abu Nicola who sang songs in Hebrew and Arabic with the active
participation of the audience. Friday started with the study of the Jewish view
of reconciliation. (…) Then we all
joined the Muslim Jumaa prayer after which we started the Muslim session. After the Jewish Kabalat Shabbat prayer and
dinner we came together for a Hafla (a party). Saturday began with the Christian
perspective delivered by Dean Ross Jones of St. George's College in Jerusalem
and discussion on True reconciliation. (…)
The
Interfaith Encounter Association is dedicated to promoting peace in the Middle
East through interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural study.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21
November - The Dutch Government has donated almost $3.4 million to UNICEF to be
used over the next three years to enhance and promote girls'
education in six regions of Ethiopia and the rights of all children in the
country to quality learning opportunities.
The money will be used in Oromiya, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella
and the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR) where there
are the widest gender gaps and the lowest girls' enrolment. More than four
million children, 2.7 million girls and 1.4 million boys, are not getting an
education in these five regions, representing 80.5 per cent of the
out-of-school children in the whole country. (…)
UNICEF's Girls' Education
programme has developed a multi-pronged approach to
addressing the key factors that limit girls attending school in Ethiopia.
Factors include harmful traditional practices (HTPs), like early marriage, the
dowry system, abduction, female genital mutilation and rape, which affect
girls' access to quality education. (…) To address these issues, UNICEF is
advocating social mobilisation on the importance of girls' education for all
segments of society as well as educating the public on the negative
psychological impact HTPs have on young women. (…)
Angela Walker Sampson, UNICEF
Communication Officer awalker@unicef.org
Counterpart Caribbean is working
with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to get the media more deeply
involved in the battle to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in the region. It is
arranging a major regional media competition and awards ceremony in Kingston,
Jamaica to encourage the media to cover the subject. UNFPA is offering more
than US$6,000 in cash prizes, airline tickets and hotel stays for the awards
ceremony.
This year's awards are open to
all Caribbean-based journalists covering "Adolescent Sexual and
Reproductive Health and Rights" issues, which includes stories or reports
on curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, early initiation of sexual activity,
fostering behavioral change, promoting gender equality, sexual exploitation
(including sex tourism) and population, poverty reduction and sustainable
development. (…)
Counterpart International is a
non-profit international human development organization founded in 1965 as the
Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific. We are headquartered in
Washington D.C. and work in more than 60 countries.
http://www.counterpart.org/news/presser.asp?id=628
World Commission on the Ethics
of Scientific Knowledge and Technology meets in Rio de Janeiro, December 1-4
November 18 - The third
Session of UNESCO's World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and
Technology (COMEST) will take place from December 1 to 4 in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, organized by UNESCO and the Brazilian Ministry of Science and
Technology. It is the first time that a formal session of COMEST has taken
place outside Europe.
Scientific and technological
advances are increasingly and evermore rapidly remodeling our societies.
Confronted with the social and cultural effects of these changes, COMEST, created
by UNESCO in 1997, has been given the job of setting out ethical principles to
guide decision-makers who work in sensitive areas, providing them with criteria
that are not purely based on economics. COMEST comprises 18 members from the
fields of science and technology, philosophy, culture, religion and politics.
They are all are appointed personally by the Director-General of UNESCO for a
four-year term. (…)
UNICEF will launch its annual
flagship report, The State of the World's Children, on 11 December 2003. The
2004 report presents girls' education as one of the most crucial issues facing
the international development community.
The report is a call to action
on behalf of the millions of children who are not in school around the world,
most of whom are girls. The report argues that the theories, policies and
practices of development have been marked by gender discrimination and that the
standard approach to development has focused on economic growth rather than
human welfare. Through The State of the World's Children 2004, UNICEF calls on
every nation engaged in development to make the education of all children -
with an emphasis on girls - a major focus of investment.
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_15444.html
Johan Galtung, the Rector of
TPU and one of the founders of peace studies, invites you to join practitioners
and students from around the world online.
TPU is the worlds first truly
global, on-line Peace University designed for government and NGO practitioners,
policy makers and students at any level working in the fields of peace,
conflict transformation, development and global issues. Since 1996, 300+
on-site skills institutes have been offered for 6,000+ participants around the
world, using the TRANSCEND manual "Conflict Transformation By Peaceful
Means," published by the United Nations.
There will be certificates;
for single courses, diplomas for clusters of courses and eventually BA, MA; and
PhD degrees. Participants may combine online and onsite courses.
In the 2004 February Semester
TPU will offer 18 courses. Starting date: February 9, 2004
Deadline for Registration: January 23. Cost per Course: Euros 500.
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