Good News Agency – Year V, n° 14
Weekly - Year V, number 14 – 12
November 2004
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
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Information. The Association
has been recognized
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Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity – Peace and security
Health – Energy and Safety – Environment and wildlife – Culture and education
Interview with Lawrence Woocher,
Program Manager, Global Policy Programs, United Nations Association of the USA
New York, November 5 - On
Tuesday, November 9, Human Rights Watch will give its highest honor to three
leading human rights activists from around the world. The three activists
chosen to be honorees for the year 2004 illustrate the lack of safety and
security in Afghanistan, serious abuses within the Russian military, and the
conflict in eastern Congo, which has killed more civilians than any war since
World War II.
Human Rights Watch staff work
closely with these brave individuals as part of our defense of human rights in
more than 70 countries around the world.
"The activists we honor have shown great dedication to the cause of
human rights," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights
Watch. "They have worked courageously -- often in life-threatening
environments -- to expose rights abuses and to turn the international spotlight
on their countries."
The 2004 Human Rights Watch
Annual Dinners in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and
Toronto will honor: Habib Rahiab, a human rights researcher from Afghanistan,
Natalia Zhukova, the head of a Russian mothers’ advocacy group, and Maître
Honoré Musoko, a human rights lawyer from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Human Rights Watch is a
non-profit, international monitoring group with headquarters in New York. It
accepts no financial support from any government. (…)
http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2004/11/05/congo9613.htm
4 November - Geneva (ILO News)
– The International Labour Organization (ILO) and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) issued today a joint statement aimed at
implementing strategies to achieve sustainable livelihoods and poverty
reduction for refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons. (…) UNHCR
and ILO have cooperated on various activities over the last forty years to
develop sustainable solutions for refugees and returnees, effectively combining
their respective expertise. Recognizing the fact that refugees and returnees
can be agents of development where they live, either in their host country or
in their countries of origin, the partnership also contributes to the UN
Millennium Development Goals, in particular the reduction of poverty.
With financial support from
Italy, a joint ILO-UNHCR global programme for the socio-economic integration of
refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons was launched at the end of
2003. The programme focuses on strategies that bring together
employment-intensive reconstruction, enterprise development, microfinance,
skills development, women's economic empowerment, social protection, local
economic development and capacity building.
Projects in Angola, Eritrea,
Mozambique, Serbia and Montenegro, Somalia, Southern Sudan and Uganda are
currently being executed as a result of this joint initiative. (…)
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pr/2004/49.htm
Yangon, Myanmar, 29 October -
Today ministers from China, Cambodia, Thailand, Lao PDR, Viet Nam and Myanmar
signed a landmark memorandum of understanding that sets forth a framework of
action to fight human trafficking. The six nations of the Greater Mekong
Sub-Region have committed themselves to coordinated action on trafficking
prevention, law enforcement, the prosecution of traffickers, and the recovery,
reintegration and support of trafficking victims.
“This is an important step
forward in our joint efforts to fight human trafficking and the suffering it
leaves in its wake,” said Carroll Long, UNICEF Representative in Myanmar. “UNICEF applauds the commitment of the
region’s countries in joining together to combat this scourge that’s destroying
children’s lives and ripping families apart.”
UNICEF-supported studies
indicate that some 1.2 million children around the globe are trafficked every
year. Approximately one-third of all
trafficking in women and children takes place from and within the East Asia
region. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_23970.html
25 October - The ICRC
continues its efforts to raise awareness and understanding of international
humanitarian law across Africa. In the continent’s most populous nation
Nigeria, for example, the organization recently organized two events in
conjunction with federal authorities.
One was a
workshop for some 50 senior civil servants to inform them of what is being done
to implement humanitarian law treaties in the country. The other was a course
for the Nigerian police on human rights law, various policing concepts, law
enforcement, protection of vulnerable groups, and command and management.
Meanwhile, in one of Africa's more difficult situations – Burundi – the ICRC
has been arranging a series of seminars on international humanitarian and human
rights law for army and police officers. Three such events have been organized
in the past two weeks for nearly 90 mid-ranking officials and trainees of the
armed and police forces.
These presentations are
carried out by experienced delegates who themselves have served as armed forces
and police officers. They constitute one of the ICRC’s main activities the
world over.
3 November - The Carrefour
Group, Europe’s top retailer has partnered with UNDP through its foundation to
help achieve the Millennium Development Goals. To date, the Carrefour
International Foundation has provided over US$340,000 to UNDP's anti-poverty
efforts in Malaysia, Eritrea and Ethiopia through training of women in business
skills, micro-credit grants, and access to safe and clean water. The foundation
has also supported initiatives of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty.
Colombo, Sri Lanka, 29 October
- The armed conflict in Sri Lanka in the last two decades has claimed more than
65 000 lives and has resulted in more than 800 000 internally displaced persons
and a large number of refugees. (…) Since the ceasefire in 2002 between the
conflicting parties in northeast Sri Lanka, FAO's emergency and rehabilitation
programme has provided assistance to returning farmers and other vulnerable
groups.
Prior to the conflict, 80
percent of the people of northeast Sri Lanka depended directly or indirectly on
agriculture and fishing. The rehabilitation of this important sector, the
revitalization of rural economies and the resumption of farming and fishing by
those returning to the region, as well as others in the affected areas, are
fundamental to the success of the overall peace process.
Working in cooperation with
humanitarian partners such as other UN agencies and non-governmental
organizations, FAO is providing vulnerable families with the basic inputs and
tools to restart agricultural production and strengthen their self-reliance and
livelihoods.
FAO is also contributing to
agricultural rehabilitation efforts in the southern part of the country, which
has been hard hit by natural disaster. (…)
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/field/2004/51129/index.html
Brussels/United Nations, New
York, 25 October - UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, and the African,
Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States today signed an agreement to
strengthen their partnership to curb reproductive health problems, including
HIV/AIDS, reduce poverty and promote development in 79 ACP developing
countries. The agreement is also meant to mobilize resources to improve the
health and well-being of the people of these countries. (…)
The agreement recognizes
reproductive health issues, including HIV/AIDS, as essential to policies to
meet people’s basic needs. It also highlights and promotes the close
relationship between reproductive health, gender equality, girls’ education,
women’s empowerment and sustainable development.
According to the agreement,
the parties will help ACP countries ensure that the goals of the 1994 Cairo
International Conference on Population and Development form part of the
cornerstone of policies and programmes to promote sustainable development. As
part of their cooperation, UNFPA and the ACP countries will promote programmes
on reproductive and sexual health and poverty reduction. The two parties will
conduct joint training activities as well as plan and implement projects of
mutual interest.
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=521
Brussels, 25 October -
UN-HABITAT and the Brussels-based African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of
States (ACP Group) have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at promoting
sustainable urbanization and the eradication of poverty in ACP countries. (…)
By this agreement, UN-HABITAT and the ACP Secretariat will cooperate to realize
Target 11 of Millennium Development Goal 7 - improving the living conditions of
at least 100 million slum dwellers by the year 2020. The agreement also aims to
help the international community to implement the Habitat Agenda and the
Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, which
was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in June 2001.
The agreement focuses on
improving: housing policies, urban planning and management, urban environmental
management, post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction, disaster
prevention and post-disaster reconstruction, and participatory urban
governance. Others are: urban safety, strengthening town-country linkages and
infrastructure development, water and sanitation in urban areas, decentralization
and capacity building of local authorities, local campaign against HIV/AIDS,
and urban development indicators and statistics.
http://www.unhabitat.org/acp_group.asp
Evanston, Illinois, USA, 1
November - Glenn Estess, President of Rotary International, and Carol Bellamy,
Executive Director of UNICEF, said today that their groundbreaking partnership,
which has brought polio to the brink of eradication, proves that the public and
private sectors can unite to deliver incredible results for children. The two
organization heads were meeting today at Rotary International Headquarters, in
Evanston, Illinois.
Rotary and
UNICEF, along with the World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, are the spearheading partners of the Global Polio
Eradication Initiative. The Initiative
is the world’s largest ever public health endeavour, and has slashed polio
cases by more than 99 per cent since its launch in 1988. With only six countries yet to stop the
virus, polio is tantalizingly close to becoming the first disease of the 21st
century to be eradicated.
Through Rotary International,
the fight against polio has been largely driven by volunteers, over 20 million
of them, mostly in developing countries.
Rotarians around the world have also donated over $500 million to polio
eradication and advocated with governments to give more. Never before have individuals and the
influence of the private sector played such a core role in a global public
health effort. (…)
Rotary, UNICEF and the global
polio partnership are currently taking action to combat the threat of a looming
polio epidemic in Africa. They are
supporting Africa’s largest ever coordinated health initiative for children -
23 nations holding mass synchronized immunization campaigns with the goal of
reaching over 80 million children under the age of five. The first round of
campaigns were conducted from 8-12 October and the second rounds are scheduled
for 18-22 November, with further rounds (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_23996.html
Jaffna, 1
November - Sri Lanka cricket legend Muttiah Muralitharan, a humanitarian
partner with the United Nations World Food Programme, said today that meals
provided to school children in the country’s former war zones are one of the
best ways to help them catch up on their education.
While making the rounds of
WFP’s projects in the northern city of Jaffna, “Murali,” as he is
affectionately known in Sri Lanka and throughout the cricket world, said the
plight of school- aged children in areas damaged by war urgently requires the
attention and support of the donor community. (…)
Every school day, WFP provides
more than 100,000 children in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka with
a mid-morning meal of rice, accompanied by lentil porridge or highly nutritious
corn-soya blend, and supplemented by vegetables. The food motivates them to
attend school and enhances their ability to concentrate and learn. (…)
http://www.wfp.org/index.asp?section=2
Asmara, Eritrea, 29 October -
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that a ship
carrying 61,200 metric tons of wheat from the United States arrived today in
the Red Sea port of Massawa to help alleviate the suffering of some 600,000
people in drought-stricken Eritrea. (…) Inadequate rainfall in the last few
months has destroyed the majority of crops in the worst-affected regions. The
bleak harvest, compounded by a dramatic rise in the price of basic foods, means
two-thirds of the population is unable to meet their daily food needs.
A recent government
nutritional survey found that malnutrition rates had risen significantly in the
affected areas in the last year, reaching as high as 19 percent. Fifteen
percent is regarded as an emergency situation. “We are very grateful to the
United States for this generous donation, which will enable WFP to reach those
who need our assistance over the next four months,” WFP Country Director
Jean-Pierre Cebron said. “However, the emergency is far from over and we will
continue to need support from the international community into 2005.” (…)
http://www.wfp.org/index.asp?section=2
Zacho, IRAQ,
October 29 - On October 24, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)
office in Turkey delivered eight tons of essential medicines to the Western
Ninewa Province of Iraq. The medicines will assist three major public hospitals
and 37 primary health clinics serving approximately 770,000 people in the
cities of Telafer, Sinjar, Al-Ba’aj, and surrounding areas. (…)
The project grant comes from
the German Government and ADRA Germany and is valued at $192,000. During Phase
I, II and III of this project, ADRA shipped over 45 tons of medicines and other
medical supplies to the region. ADRA Turkey is the implementing and logistic
partner for this project initiated in partnership with ADRA Germany and ADRA
Iraq. The Iraqi Ministry of Health, who granted ADRA special permission to send
medical support to the Western Ninewa Province, facilitated project
implementation.
The project, valued at more
than $1.2 million, will also train community health promoters to teach IDPs
about health and hygiene issues. This will reduce the number of water-borne and
hygiene-related diseases and deaths. (…)
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/102904a.html
Madrid,
Spain, 28 October -- Spanish football star Raúl González, captain of Real
Madrid and the Spanish national team, today was named as FAO's newest goodwill
ambassador by the UN Agency's Director-General, Dr. Jacques Diouf, at a
ceremony in Madrid.
"It is an honour to be
the first Spaniard named as an FAO goodwill ambassador. I am committing myself
to FAO's fight against hunger because it strikes me as unacceptable that over
842 million people suffer from hunger worldwide, despite the fact that today we
produce enough food to feed everyone," said Mr González on accepting the
award.
"Raúl's charisma and his
influence on public opinion will lend immeasurable support to FAO's goal of
eradicating hunger," said Dr. Diouf during the ceremony. "We are
grateful for your backing of FAO's work, and are looking forward to
collaborating with you on initiatives aimed at guaranteeing food for all."
Dr. Diouf also noted that in addition to his exceptional gifts as an athlete,
Mr Gonzalez's involvement in social causes has earned him widespread public
admiration.
FAO established its goodwill
Ambassadors Programme in 1999 to draw public and media attention to the plight
of the millions of people worldwide who suffer from chronic hunger and
malnutrition.
4 November - The need to
develop a single set of international standards for nuclear power plants, from
design to de-commissioning, has been endorsed by safety experts from 37
countries who met 18-22 October in Beijing, China. The IAEA Conference on
Topical Issues in Nuclear Safety, hosted by the Government of China, the China
Atomic Energy Authority and the National Nuclear Safety Administration,
recommended harmonization of international standards for all lifetime phases of
nuclear installations.
Although substantial progress
has been made in improving the safety of nuclear power plants worldwide, the growing
diversification and globalization of the industry presents new challenges that
must be addressed. The recommendations of the 274 delegates at the conference,
provide the IAEA with steps it can take to develop international co-operation
and programmes in future. (…)
Tunis/Ramallah, 3
November – A Tunisian non-governmental
organization ‘Children First’ is giving US 65,000 to UNICEF in support of
emergency education activities for Palestinian children in the occupied
Palestinian territory (OPT). UNICEF’s support funded by ‘Children First’ will
help restore a sense of normalcy in the lives of school children in the Jenin
area in the northern West Bank. The support will allow 10,000 school children
in grades 1-3 to continue their education despite closures and curfews. (…)
Children First, a Tunisian
non-governmental organization created in 1993 by a group of goodwill ladies,
aims at supporting the improvement of schooling in the most deprived areas of
Tunisia. This donation will help ensure that children in the Jenin area have
access to education even when children are prevented from reaching their
schools. The programme facilitates that
when children cannot reach school they will be able to continue learning at
home and when they can reach their school again, they will be able to catch up
on the missed learning. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24014.html
New York, 4 November - A
meeting of high-level representatives from 14 countries infected with the
scourge of landmines and the explosive remnants of war met yesterday in New
York to join forces in their common battle. “Today we unite as victims of these
terrible weapons that kill and maim our people. Our collective knowledge and will are key to freeing --once and
for all--our land from this legacy of war,” Ambassador Ismael Abraão Gaspar
Martins said. Mr. Martins is the
Permanent Representative of Angola to the United Nations, and chaired the inaugural
session of the Forum of Mine-Affected Countries – in short, FOMAC.
The creation of the Forum
strengthens what has been to date a loose collaboration amongst countries
contaminated by landmines and other debris of conflict and war. The Forum aims to promote south-south
cooperation and partnership, and to develop common strategies on landmine
issues. The Forum is open for membership to all mine affected countries. (…)
The convening of the forum
comes in the run-up to the “Nairobi Summit on a Mine Free World” which will be
held in the Kenyan capital from 29 November to 3 December 2004. The summit aims to review progress in the
implementation of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, and to chart the away
ahead. The convention was opened for
signature in Ottawa, Canada, in December 1997, and 143 countries are now bound
by it.
As a first concrete action,
the FOMAC agreed that the group should develop a unified position on the
declaration and the 5-year plan of action that is currently under negotiation
and expected to be endorsed at the summit. (…)
http://www.mineaction.org/countries/_refdocs.cfm?doc_ID=2085
Bogota, Colombia, October 24 -
Meeting the commitment assumed in the Ottawa Convention, the Colombian
Government today destroyed its last arsenal of anti-personnel mines, in a
ceremony held simultaneously in Bogotá’s Plaza de Bolívar and in the northern
city of Barranquilla, where more than 6,800 mines belonging to the Armed Forces
were destroyed. (…)
Today, Colombia is the fourth
country in the world in number of anti-personnel mine victims, after Chechnya,
Afghanistan and Angola, and the only country to destroy its arsenal of
anti-personnel land mines (APM) amid ongoing armed confrontation. One of the
greatest challenges for action against mines in Colombia is the internal armed
conflict, which has intensified in recent years. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_23870.html
Vienna, 21
October (UN Information Service) - Seven million containers move around the
globe daily, and are increasingly being used for trafficking of human beings,
arms and drugs. The United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with the World Customs
Organization (WCO), has launched a Container Control Programme to support port
control measures in developing countries.
(…)
The Container Control
Programme will focus on port operations. It will bring together new port
control teams (customs and police) and provide them with training and equipment
to target illicit trafficking via maritime freight containers. Activities will
start with the ports of Guayaquil (Ecuador) and Dakar (Senegal). Executive
Director Costa will launch operations at the Guayaquil port today, together
with Ecuadorian Government officials and donor representatives from France,
Germany, Italy and Spain. (…)
The total budget for the
programme’s first phase covering Ecuador and Senegal is US$1.4 million. UNODC
hopes to expand port control activities to Pakistan and Ghana as of 2005.
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/unisnar863.html
By
Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga - Rotary International News
3 November - The Ethiopian
government and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative held Subnational
Immunization Days, 22-25 October, to protect 750,000 children against imported
cases of the poliovirus, which hasn't been detected in the country since 2001.
"The fact that no polio case has been detected over the last three years
gives us hope in the efforts to see a polio-free Ethiopia," said
Ethiopia's President Girma Woldegiorgis during the official launch of the event
at the presidential palace. He called for sustained and enhanced routine
immunizations to safeguard the financial and human investments made by the
international community, nongovernmental organizations, and the Ethiopian
people in the polio eradication effort. (…)
Fifty-six U.S. Rotarians
joined their local counterparts and some 5,000 health workers and volunteers to
deliver the oral polio vaccine to children at 1,300 immunization centers in 21
sectors of Ethiopia's Oromia State that were insufficiently covered during past
efforts.
The visiting Rotarians, who
had arrived in the country a week earlier, also traveled to see initiatives
cosponsored by Rotary clubs, such as the Cheshire Home for disabled children, including
polio survivors; a school for children from poor families; a clean water
project site; and a clinic that provides free reconstructive surgery to
thousands of young girls and women suffering from fistulas sustained during
difficult childbirths. (…)
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/main/news03.html
Kampala, 1 November - UNICEF
in Uganda today congratulated the Ministry of Health for starting the year’s
second round of a national initiative to further improve the health status of
children and women. The November 2004
“Child Days,” officially commencing today with the support of UNICEF, WHO and
other partners, will accelerate routine health service activities throughout
the month, using delivery systems in place at the district level. The first nation-wide “Child Days” was
conducted in May 2004.
Activities in November, in all
of Uganda’s 56 districts, will include the provision of Vitamin A
supplementation to children aged 6 months to 5 years; routine and catch-up
immunizations, with an emphasis on measles immunizations, for children under
age 1; de-worming for children aged 1 to 14 years; and vaccinations against
maternal and neonatal tetanus for pregnant women. The November “Child Days” also aims to reach at least 90 per cent
of all children under 5, living in camps for the internally displaced in the
conflict-affected districts of northern and eastern Uganda, with measles
immunizations, de-worming programmes and high doses of Vitamin A.
Public awareness messages on
health, nutrition and sanitation issues (such as the benefits of exclusive
breastfeeding and sleeping under insecticide-treated nets) will be disseminated
during the month. (…)
United Nations, New York, 4
November — The London office of the award-winning advertising agency Young
& Rubicam is giving its creative services to UNFPA, the United Nations
Population Fund, for the Campaign to End Fistula. The agency will work with
UNFPA to break the silence around obstetric fistula in the United Kingdom
through possible broadcast, print and electronic materials. (…)
Obstetric fistula is a
childbirth injury that affects at least 2 million women worldwide. (…) Fistula
is both preventable and curable and should not happen in the 21st century.
Reconstructive surgery, performed by a skilled urologist or gynaecologist, can
mend damaged tissue and cure the incontinence. Success rates are as high as 90
per cent for uncomplicated cases and women can usually have more children
through Caesarean section.
The global Campaign to End
Fistula was launched by UNFPA in 2003 and involves a wide range of partners.
The long-term goal is to make fistula as rare in Africa and Asia as it is in
the developed world. The Campaign is active in 30 countries and focuses on
three areas: prevention, treatment and reintegration of patients into their
communities once they are healed. (…)
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=526
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, 1
November - UNICEF Regional Director Maria Calivis arrived in Turkmenistan today
to congratulate the government on the country’s achievement of universal salt
iodisation (USI). She presented Turkmenistan with an award on behalf of UNICEF,
the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Council for Control
of Iodine Deficiency Disorders (ICCIDD) in recognition of this achievement.
Commenting on the award,
Calivis, who is UNICEF Regional Director for Central and Eastern Europe, the
Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltics, said: “USI is the most
effective way to protect children from iodine deficiency – the world’s leading
cause of preventable mental retardation and brain damage. So this award is a
major milestone for Turkmenistan. This is the first country in Central Asia to
reach this target.”
Turkmenistan’s USI campaign
began more than a decade ago and included a 1996 decree to enforce the use of
iodised salt. The aim has been to protect the entire population of 4.8 million
against iodine deficiency. UNICEF, which this year celebrates ten years of work
in Turkmenistan, has provided technical support to the campaign, while the US
government has donated more than $200,000 to the national USI programme.
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_23997.html
Geneva, 29 October -
Highlighting an invisible health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) is
making maternal and child health the focus of World Health Day on 7 April 2005.
The WHO is also launching the World health report - also dedicated to maternal
and child health - on World Health Day for the first time ever.
In developing countries,
pregnancy and childbirth is one of the leading causes of death for women of
reproductive age, and one child in 12 does not reach his or her fifth birthday.
Yet, the fate of these women and children is too often overlooked or ignored.
The slogan for World Health Day 2005 "Make Every Mother and Child
Count" reflects the reality that today, governments and the international
community need to make the health of women and children a higher priority. (…)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/notes/2004/np22/en/
Geneva/Washington, 27 October
- Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners announced a
series of key actions to cut the number of illnesses, injuries and deaths
suffered by patients during health care, with the launch of the World Alliance
for Patient Safety. WHO, ministers of health and senior officials, academics
and patients' groups have come together from all corners of the globe to
advance the patient safety goal of "First do no harm" and reduce the
adverse health and social consequences of health care.
"Improved health care is
perhaps humanity's greatest achievement of the last 100 years," said WHO
Director-General Lee Jong-wook. "Improving patient safety in clinics and
hospitals is in many cases the best way there is to protect the advances we
have made."
This is the first time that a
coalition of partners has joined efforts to act globally to improve patient
safety. This underlines the critical need to take effective, visible and
concerted action to reduce the growing number of adverse effects in health care
and their impact on patients’ lives.
A number of countries have
already initiated patient safety plans and legislation. (…)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2004/pr74/en/
Kenya - On October 21, in
collaboration with the Kenyan Ministry of Health, the international
humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) will open a health
centre providing public healthcare, including treatment for HIV/AIDS, for the
residents of Kibera slum in Nairobi.
Kibera is one of the biggest
slums in Africa with a population of over 600,000. The new centre it will be the first to give residents direct
access to the most basic public healthcare.
The centre will provide a full
package of basic healthcare as well as comprehensive care for HIV/AIDS, with
the programme including out-patient consultations, Mother and Child Healthcare
(MCH), family planning, care for victims of sexual and gender based violence,
as well as full and free access to HIV/AIDS treatment.
Through this project, MSF aims
to demonstrate that a full package of quality health care integrating HIV/AIDS
can be successfully provided in an urban slum setting. (…)
(top)
Geneva and
Budapest, 29 October 2004 - Meeting in Budapest this week (27-29 October), the
Parties to the Convention on the Transboundary Effects of Industrial Accidents1
of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), have launched an
assistance programme for the countries of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, the
Caucasus and Central Asia to help them put the Convention into practice. A
number of Central and West European countries have pledged funding to get the
programme off the ground.
The programme will benefit
countries where few industrial facilities have been modernized and most still
use obsolete technologies in outdated and poorly maintained installations.
These facilities also have to deal with the legacy of past mismanagement, such
as unstable tailings dams and accumulated hazardous waste. The risk of
industrial accidents and other safety problems will increase with any growth in
capacity utilization. The authorities and the operators of hazardous
installations can reduce the risk of industrial accidents and improve
industrial safety by applying the Convention in full.
The Convention’s second
implementation report unfortunately shows this is still not happening. In fact,
some UNECE countries are facing an uphill struggle. They find the tasks under
the Convention complex and don’t have the staff to implement, monitor and
enforce them. In addition, in some countries the appropriate regulatory and
institutional frameworks are not in place. (…)
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2004/04env_p17e.htm
By Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga - Rotary
International News
29 October - Rotarians in
Panama are leading a public-private sector initiative called Conéctacte al
Conocimiento (Link Up to Knowledge) to plug the country's education system into
the information superhighway and help lay the foundation for a knowledge-based
economy.
Fundación Rotaria de Panamá,
the foundation of Panama's 11 Rotary clubs, and a consortium of local banks
signed an agreement, early October, to fund and manage the program to create a
computerized information network linking all the nation's public schools. The
initiative will receive a US$300,000 start-up fund from participating banks,
and Fundación Rotaria de Panamá will manage implementation of the initiative.
Panama's President Martín Torrijos, witness of honor at the signing ceremony,
hailed the agreement as a timely complement to government efforts to equip the
country's best minds with the best technological tools. (…)
The project plan for
Conéctacte al Conocimiento was jointly drafted by Panama's Ministry of
Education and the Secretariat of the Office of the President for Government
Innovation, headed by Gaspar Tarte, of the Rotary Club of Panamá Sur. According
to the plan, teachers, students, and civic leaders will all receive training in
advanced information technology techniques at facilities in Panama's public
schools.
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/programs/news03.html
Berlin, 4 November 2004 -
Britain and Germany are to take forward the fight against global warming under
a bold new partnership backed by leading industrialists businessmen and
scientists.
The two countries, whose
greenhouse gas reductions are among the biggest in the world, are well placed
to spearhead new initiatives in areas such as environmentally-friendly energy,
climate friendly financial markets, greener cities and Arctic science.
In an unprecedented show of
leadership between the two nations, a range of innovative recommendations are
to be presented to Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister, aimed at delivering
a low carbon, less energy intensive world.
The importance of the
conference, coming just days after the Russian parliament’s decision to ratify
the Kyoto Protocol, was further underlined by being opened in the British
Embassy by Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II during her State Visit to Germany.
(…)
Melbourne, Australia, 1
November - An Australian court has ordered a planning panel to consider the
environmental effects of expanding a power station. The Victorian Civil and
Administration Tribunal found that an expert planning panel involved in
expanding the Hazelwood power station in the Latrobe Valley, in the Australian
State of Victoria, needs to consider greenhouse gas pollution before any work
takes place. The legal decision is being welcomed by WWF as an important
national first in reducing the pollution that causes climate change. (…)
Currently, power stations are
the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Australia but their
greenhouse emissions aren’t substantially regulated, nor are greenhouse gases
explicitly required considerations in any Australian planning approval
processes.
Environment groups launched
the legal action because Australia’s future energy needs are better met from
cleaner energy sources already available and reductions in demand rather than
increases in highly polluting sources such as brown coal.
WWF's opposition to coal power
stations is based on analysis, which shows Australia can generate its power
needs from cleaner energy sources available today. The Clean Energy Future for
Australia study was commissioned by WWF along with six energy industry
associations and released in March 2004. The study found sufficient clean
energy resources available today to deliver Australia’s energy needs and result
in a cut of greenhouse emissions by 50% by 2040.
Through its international
PowerSwitch! campaign, WWF is challenging the power sector, the biggest global
CO2 emitter, to become CO2-emissions free by 2050 in developed countries and to
make a major switch from coal to clean in developing countries.
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/other_news/news.cfm?uNewsID=16211
Ixtapa, Mexico, 4 November -
WWF awarded a Mexican scientist for twenty years of devotion to leatherback
turtle conservation. Laura Sarti received the award at a conference on North
American marine species for establishing four conservation areas along the Pacific
coast in Mexico. With WWF support, the nesting project has been extended to
protect a total of 60 per cent of leatherback nests along that coast.
In the Pacific, populations of
the leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) has dropped from 90,000 nesting
females in the 1980s to approximately 2,000 today. The Mexican Pacific coast
population has been particularly affected. One beach at Playa Mexiquillo in the
State of Michoacan once hosted thousands of nesting females. This year, only
six females were found nesting there. (…) Leatherback turtles are not only
targeted for their eggs and shells, but for their oil, which is used in
traditional medicine against respiratory diseases.
Working with the Mexican
Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, Sarti has developed a project to
protect female leatherbacks and nesting sites, as well as train coastal
communities in turtle conservation. “Before the protection programmes were
established in priority Mexican nesting beaches, the extraction of eggs was 100%,"
said Sarti. "Today, egg extraction in those sites has almost disappeared,
but we need to work in other areas." (…)
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/other_news/news.cfm?uNewsID=16290
29 October - Nineteen new
sites in 13 countries have been added to UNESCO's World Network of Biosphere
Reserves. The World Network of Biosphere Reserves now consists of 459 sites in
97 countries. One extension and one change in the borders of an existing
biosphere reserves have also been approved, illustrating the vitality of the
network to continuously improve existing sites.
The additions and changes to
the biosphere network were approved by the International Co-ordinating Council
of UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme at its 18th session, October
25 – 29, at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. The MAB Programme has been pioneering
a scientific basis for sustainable development for over 30 years.
Biosphere reserves are places
recognized by MAB where local communities are actively involved in governance
and management, research, education, training and monitoring at the service of
both socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation. (…)
Amman, Giordania, 19 October –
Four grant agreements worth around US$ 189,700 will be signed on 20 October
2004 at 12:00 noon at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
headquarters in Amman. (…) The grants fall within the activities of the Global
Environment Facility/ Small Grants Programme (GEF/SGP) administered by the
United Nations Development Programme.
‘Ai Social Development Society
will implement the “Rural Women in the Management of Environmental
Income-generating Projects in Semi-arid Areas in Southern Jordan”. ‘Ai is a village of 8500 inhabitants located
15 Km south of Karak governorate. It is
famous for its indigenous olives and grapes and other fruit trees. Over the past two decades, both agricultural
and grazing lands in the area have been subject to deterioration and soil
erosion as a result of draught and damaging agricultural practices, such as
improper plowing and unorganized grazing.
The project will support activities that aim at controlling land
degradation and soil erosion through building the capacities of women, in
particular, and the local community in general, in the field of implementing
income-generating and other activities related to land and water resource
management. (…)
http://www.undp-jordan.org/newsroom/press_releases/releases68.htm
Hamilton, ON, October 18
– If there is to be peace in our time, it is up to the educators to teach it to
future generations. Of course, who will teach the educators? This is the main
purpose behind the Third Annual Peace Education Conference in Canada at
McMaster University, presented by the Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace this
November.
This four-day conference has
been a much-needed gathering place for the last two years – for not only peace
researchers, educators, and activists – but people from all backgrounds, who
recognize that the responsibility to cultivate a culture of peace in society
belongs to all. Participants in the past have ranged from those who live in
residence at McMaster to guests flying in from places as remote and distant as
Cyprus.
This year’s
conference is preceded by a three-day “Leadership and Peace Workshop” and is
followed by a two-day “National Culture of Peace & Canadian Peace
Initiative Symposium” totalling an unprecedented nine-day period of peace
education seminars, discussions, workshops, and more.
http://www.peace.ca/CanadianAgenda2004.htm
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/children_day/index.html
One of the outstanding keynotes of our present time is the focus that is
being put on children: the rights of children; the needs of children; the
importance of considering children in every area of life. At a global level
this is reflected in The Convention on the Rights of the Child, an
international human rights treaty that is transforming the lives of children
and their families around the world. Under the Convention all but two of the
world’s countries have agreed to meet universal standards, guaranteeing
children the rights to survival, health, education, a caring family
environment, play and culture ….
Universal Children’s Day is observed on different days
in different countries. It is a Day to celebrate children and to empower the
vision of an interdependent world of families, communities and nations in which
the rights and needs of children are accorded the highest priority. 20 November marks the day in which
the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration
of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.
New
Strategy Presented to Accelerate Education for All in Countries Where Progress
is Lagging
Brasilia,
8 November – Acknowledging that HIV/AIDS, conflict and deepening poverty have
eroded gains in enrolling more girls in school in many countries, UNICEF
Executive Director Carol Bellamy today called on nations to respect promises
made to ensure that girls and boys receive the same educational opportunities.
(…) Bellamy outlined a specific five-point action agenda:
Sending supplies and services to those countries where enrolment levels
have been stagnating for decades.
Urging governments to abolish school fees and other costs where
deepening poverty combines with a rising populating of children orphaned or
made vulnerable by HIV/AIDS.
Establishing standards for quality experiences and quality learning as
an integral part of the new education systems (…)
Identifying countries which appear to be doing well but in which
national averages mask pockets of serious discrimination; and give rise to
complacency in the form of wider gender discrimination in society. (…)
Educating
girls is the best way to ensure that they will have a healthier, fuller life
and that countries will develop. It is the most effective tool to tackle such
problems as infant and maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS, child trafficking and
exploitation. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_24038.html
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Good
News Agency - In the last analysis, the transformation which the world is
slowly going through is an increasing search for the common good on the basis
of gradual limitations to national sovereignty. How do you see this essential
step in the perspective of key fields such as international legislation, human
rights, sustainable development,
environment?
Lawrence
Woocher - I actually would interpret the increasingly wide and deep
international cooperation you refer to differently with respect to national
sovereignty. Instead of understanding multilateral treaties and institutions as
a diminishment of national sovereignty, I believe they are better seen as an
exercise of national sovereignty. At the heart of the idea of sovereignty is
the ability of a government to make commitments on behalf of an independent
state. Thus, entering into treaties and other international agreements is a
choice a sovereign national government makes. We have been witnessing an
increase in institutionalized international cooperation—which I believe is
necessary given the nature of today’s global challenges—but I would not call it
a gradual limitation on national sovereignty.
During
this present world crisis concerning Iraq, the world has discovered that there
are two super-powers: USA and the public opinion. What do you think about the
emergence of this new force in the world scenario?
Public opinion does seem to
have taken on newfound importance in world affairs. Several factors have
contributed to this. The spread of democratic governance means it is more
difficult for political leaders to take decisions that differ sharply from their
population. The explosion of information and communications technologies has
allowed more people to learn about events taking place far from their homes and
has enabled interest groups to mobilize more effectively. And though still
imperfect, our ability to measure public opinion has improved significantly
over the last couple of decades. All three of these trends suggest we can
expect public opinion will become more and more central to world affairs.
Terrorism
is to be seen from different perspectives and needs different kinds and levels
of response. After neutralizing its immediate threat, what can be done to
prevent the formation of a culture of terror?
This is one of the most
important and elusive questions facing the world today. We must start by
recognizing that our knowledge of the psychological and sociological roots of
terrorism is quite limited. But based on what we do know, a long-term effort to
prevent a “culture of terror” should start with promoting liberal education,
representative government and economic opportunity for all.
In a
democratic world, the ‘weight’ of the people’s voice is becoming increasingly
important. Grassroots movements are
spreading spontaneously in many parts of the world and indeed within the U.S.
What are the common factors that unite these movements and what can be their
contribution to the creation process of a culture of peace?
Here I believe we should point
first to the revolution we are witnessing in information and communications
technologies. Never before has it been so easy and inexpensive for like-minded
people to share experiences and ideas. Technologies like the Internet may have
an inherent liberalizing impact given their reliance on individual choice. But
as we have seen, these same technologies can be used to promote war as well as
peace.
In
this crucial time of world tension, suitable education programs must reach
young people, those who will come onto the scene as the managers and the actors
of the human community in the next ten years. Without their understanding,
without the development of their consciousnesses, our future is at risk. How is
UNA-USA responding to this need?
UNA-USA is responding to this need through its variety of educational
programs. Our major program is Global Classrooms ®, which brings Model United
Nations to public schools in nine major U.S. cities. The Global Classrooms ® program provides curriculum materials,
professional development and a culminating activity to schools free of charge.
For schools not participating in the Global Classrooms program, UNA-USA
provides resources to over 400 Model United Nations conferences worldwide. Aside from Model United Nations, UNA-USA
encourages young adults to get involved in the work of the U.N. through our
Student Alliance program. More information on all of these activities can be
found at www.unausa.org.
Beside
youth programs, what are the other major programs adopted by UNA-USA to educate
Americans about the work of the United Nations?
UNA-USA boasts a membership of
over 20,000 Americans, organized in over 200 chapters nationwide. UNA-USA’s chapters organize local
educational campaigns, public events, town hall meetings and other
community-based initiatives that raise American awareness about the United
Nations, the issues it deals with and the role the United States should play in
multilateral organizations. Through its
advocacy efforts, UNA-USA encourages Americans to push for responsible U.S. participation
in the U.N. system in a variety of ways.
UNA-USA’s E-Action Network provides timely updates on appropriate
developments in Washington D.C. vis-à-vis the United Nations, and offers tools
for on-line grassroots advocacy, including electronic letters to Congress and
the Executive Branch. UNA-USA’s Council
of Organizations involves over 100 national membership organizations in the
work of the U.N. Members of the Council
of Organizations, like the League of Women Voters, Rotary International and the
National Education Association, are provided the opportunity to learn more
about the U.N. and identify ways to participate in U.N. initiatives and build
coalitions to educate Americans about the impact the U.N. makes on their daily
lives.
The international community is becoming increasingly aware that
achieving the Millennium Development Goals is a crucial passage to our common
future on this planet.. Do you view these goals as attainable within the time
given, or do you consider that some of them will be more difficult to achieve
than others and might require more time? And if so, with what consequences?
From what we know about the
progress to date, we can expect some of the MDGs will be attained by 2015 while
others will lag behind absent a major change of course. Failing to achieve
these goals, after the leaders of the world stood behind them, would be a
serious setback to the human development agenda. It would also be a major blow
to the UN as an institution. Though the lion’s share of responsibility for
achieving the MDGs lies with national governments, the UN itself would almost
surely be blamed, and this would damage the organization’s credibility in the
development field.
Why
are media still not sufficiently aware of the formidable expression of
voluntary service supporting the process of achieving the Millennium
Development Goals? What evidence will make them more attentive to this profound
social transformation, still not predominant but nevertheless quite meaningful
and constantly growing?
First, most media tend to
focus much more on issues related to peace and security than any humanitarian
or development work. This is strikingly true with respect to the UN, where its
non-security activities are rarely covered by the media despite their
accounting for the bulk of the organization’s work. I fear that the 24-hour
news cycle and consolidation of media corporations may be exacerbating this
long-standing bias against positive stories.
Do
you think that an ethical code of the media as launched by our Good News
Agency, a code which underlines the responsibility of the media for a complete
and balanced information of public opinion, can be received by the media to the
point of accelerating their readiness to consider positive news as worthy of as
much attention as negative news?
I salute you for promulgating
this ethical code. It is always useful to remind people that all of our work
has an ethical dimension. I’m skeptical, however, of the likelihood that your
efforts alone will have more than a marginal impact. The incentives for
reporting salacious, “negative” news are strong. A strategy to promote
reporting of “positive” news should focus also on consumers of media since
ultimately, competitive forces ought to push media outlets to report what
consumers demand.
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Good News Agency is distributed free of charge through Internet to over 3,700 editorial offices of the daily newspapers and periodical magazines and of the radio and television stations with an e-mail address in 48 countries: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bosnia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, USA, and it is also available in its web site: http://www.goodnewsagency.org
It is a service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, a registered non-profit educational organization chartered in Italy in 1979 and associated with the Department of Public Information of the United Nations.
The Association operates for the development of consciousness and promotes a culture of peace in the ‘global village’ perspective based on unity in diversity and on sharing.
Via Antagora 10, 00124
Rome, Italy. E-mail: s.tripi@tiscali.it
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