Good News Agency – Year V, n° 9
Weekly - Year V, number 9 – 2
July 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 distributed free of charge through
Internet to the editorial offices of more than 2,400
media in 48 countries, as well as to 2,500 NGO and service associations.
It is a service of Associazione Culturale dei Triangoli e della
Buona Volontà Mondiale, NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Public
Information. The Association has been recognized by UNESCO as “an actor
of the global movement for a culture of peace” and it has been included as an
international organization in the web site http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development – Solidarity
Peace and security – Health
– Energy and Safety – Environment and wildlife
Religion and
spirituality
– Culture and education
Clinched
agreement on a Constitutional Treaty for the
European Union
23 June - At the
European Council meeting in Brussels June 17-18, 2004, the EU heads of state
and government clinched agreement on a Constitutional Treaty for the European
Union, which replaces the European Communities and the former European Union with
a new European Union endowed with legal personality; spells out more clearly EU
competences; and redefines qualified majority voting and the institutional
setup, taking account of EU enlargement.
A significant
innovation is the creation of a Union Minister for Foreign Affairs, merging the
present tasks of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security
Policy with those of the Commissioner for external relations. Put at the head
of a joint "European external action service", the Minister will be
responsible for the representation of the Union on the international scene.
A Message from
European Commission President Romano Prodi provides an excellent overview of
the Intergovernmental Conference's final results: http://www.europa-eu-un.org/article.asp?id=3600
All in all, it was a
remarkable, positive reversal of the disagreement so clearly displayed just six
months ago, and a testament to the Irish Presidency's efforts to find ways
forward. As the Constitution is, in legal terms, still a Treaty, it must now be
ratified by all Member States before it can enter into force. In a number of
cases, this will require popular referenda.
Delegation-New-York-EUInfo@cec.eu.int
Rome, 29
June 2004 - A crucial legally binding global treaty on sustainable agriculture
has become law today, FAO announced. The International Treaty on Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture has entered into force, 55 countries having
now ratified it.
"This is the start of a
new era," said FAO Director-General, Dr Jacques Diouf. "The Treaty
brings countries, farmers and plant breeders together and offers a multilateral
approach for accessing genetic resources and sharing their benefits. Humankind
needs to safeguard and further develop the precious crop gene pool that is essential
for agriculture."
"The agreement recognises
that farmers around the world, particularly those in the South, have developed
and conserved plant genetic resources over the millennia. It is now up to
countries to make the Treaty fully operative," he said. (…)
For the first time a binding
treaty acknowledges the collective innovation on which world agriculture is
based. It recognises the "enormous contribution that the local and
indigenous communities and farmers of all regions of the world, particularly those
in the centres of origin of crop diversity, have made and will continue to make
for the conservation and development of plant genetic resources". (…) The world's most important gene
bank collections, around 600 000 samples, held by the Consultative Group on
International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), will be put under the Treaty.
(…)
26 June - Women Facing War, an
ICRC photo exhibition that first opened in Amman at the end of 2002 under the
auspices of Queen Rania of Jordan and has since travelled to Beirut, Geneva and
Paris, will be shown in Monaco, in Grimaldi Forum during the 44th Monte Carlo
Television Festival.
The exhibition will run from
26 June to 9 July, presenting pictures of women caught up in war: women victims
of sexual violence, women who have been forcibly displaced, women who have been
arrested, either because they were suspected of having collaborated with the
enemy or because they took part in the fighting, women anxiously awaiting news
of missing relatives and women who are now at the head of their households
because their menfolk are off fighting, have been killed or are being held in
detention. Most of the pictures were taken by Nick Danziger (winner of the
World Press Photo 2004 best portrait award), who spent nine months travelling
through several countries at war.
In showing these striking
pictures, the ICRC wishes to draw attention to the obligation that the 191
States party to the Geneva Conventions have at all times to respect and ensure
respect for international humanitarian law, which affords protection to women
affected by armed violence.
During the festival, the ICRC
will also award, for the second year in a row, its press prize for the
documentary or news programme that has best promoted the principles of
international humanitarian law. (…)
21 June - Human rights
activists in Bangladesh recently traded places with public servants to try to
understand the difficulties in making the cumbersome criminal justice system
work. As part of a national consultation on access to justice and human rights,
the activists tried to resolve real-life legal problems and address human
rights concerns as officials - with actual, but bemused, public servants
looking on.
The novel approach seeks to break
down barriers between different groups working on criminal justice issues, said
UNDP Programme Officer, Monjurul Kabir. "We want to map out a set of
commonly agreed and doable recommendations that the Government can adopt, and
UNDP can incorporate into a large-scale programme in the area of human
rights," he said. "We are pursuing a human rights-based approach in
our programmes in the justice sector, focusing on disadvantaged
groups." (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2004/june/21jun04/index.html
Growing trees on farms to
reduce hunger and poverty
To restore degraded land and
provide wood, food, medicine and forage
Orlando, Florida, 30 June
- Trees grown on farms could help to
alleviate poverty by providing income and food for poor farmers, whose
livelihoods are increasingly threatened by harsh environmental conditions and
land degradation, FAO said today. (…)
About 75 percent of the
world's poor - some 1.2 billion people - live in rural areas. Most of them rely
on small-scale agriculture and the intensive use of natural resources for
nutrients, medicines and other products to generate income.(…) Diversifying
income-generation from natural resources is key to the sustainability of
smallholder farms, FAO said.
FAO has been assisting
countries to improve the livelihoods of the rural poor by designing policies
and developing field projects on agroforestry. Among them, a two-year community
based FAO project in northern Namibia has enabled local farmers to select,
plant and manage fruit tree species and to produce and market fruit-based
goods.
In Vietnam, a project has been
launched to diversify agricultural output by planting trees on farms. The
project will provide capacity building and technical support for the
development of market-oriented forest gardens and agroforestry systems in Quang
Nam Province, so that the farmers may benefit from the sale of their farm
produce. .
WRI
inks pact with Indian industry to promote green business
Mumbai,
India and Washington, DC, June 24 - The World Resources Institute (WRI) and the
Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre of the Confederation of Indian Industry
(CII) agreed today to collaborate on various projects to advance sustainable
enterprises in India. The agreement was announced during the Green Power 2004
Conference organized by the CII, the US Agency for International Development
and ICICI Bank, June 24-25, 2004, in Mumbai. (…)
Under the agreement, the CII
and WRI will set up a program to assess, measure and report greenhouse gas
emissions following the internationally accepted Greenhouse Gas Protocol
(www.ghgprotocol.org) developed by WRI and the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development.
CII and WRI will also help to
expand markets for renewable electric power, promote sustainable enterprises
and build public-private partnerships to attract significant investment in
green technology, following WRI’s New Ventures model (www.new-ventures.org). (…)
The agreement will initially
run for one year, though both organizations envision that it could extend to
four years. (…)
http://newsroom.wri.org/newsrelease_text.cfm?NewsReleaseID=292
Among
the recommendations of the 12-member Panel of Eminent Persons on UN-Civil
Society
Relations, appointed last year by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, are that the
General Assembly involve civil society organizations more regularly in its
affairs, that civil society dialogue with the Security Council be extended and
deepened and that civil society groups should be more closely involved in UN
field work. The Panel also suggests the establishment of a special fund to help
civil society organizations in developing countries build up their capacity to
work effectively with the UN. (…)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2004-06-21_1.html
Inaction
could cost more than 10 million lives by 2015, Kofi Annan warns
Dakar, Senegal, 11 June – All
African countries today reaffirmed their strong commitment to the Programme of
Action of the 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and
Development, stressing that the Millennium Development Goals cannot be achieved
unless the Cairo Programme is fully implemented.
Apart from being important
ends in themselves, gender equality and the empowerment of women were “key to
breaking the cycle of poverty and improving the quality of life of the people
of the continent”, the countries emphasized.
The nations of Africa
expressed their view on the Cairo consensus when their ministers for population
and development adopted a declaration and a report from a preceding meeting of
more than 400 experts from all parts of the continent. (…) Today’s ministerial
meeting was organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to review the
implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action. It was supported by UNFPA, the
United Nations Population Fund.
According to today’s
declaration, the countries of Africa decided to intensify and “exert maximum
efforts” to build on the progress achieved in the last 10 years through the
Cairo and Dakar-Ngor programmes and to implement proposals in the report from
the expert meeting. More efforts will focus on poverty eradication,
reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, maternal death and the empowerment of
women. (…)
http://www.unfpa.org/news/news.cfm?ID=459
The Copenhagen Consensus panel
of leading economists agree that the lack of safe and affordable access to
water and sanitation services is a great burden for more than a billion of the
world's poorest people.
Three proposals, including
small-scale water technology for livelihoods, community-managed water supply
and sanitation, and research on water productivity in food production, were
regarded as likely to be highly cost-effective, and were placed sixth, seventh
and eighth in the panel's ranking. The panel was asked to address ten challenge
areas and to consider "the best ways of advancing global welfare, and
particularly the welfare of developing countries, supposing that an additional
US$ 50 billion (EUR 41 billion) of resources were at governments'
disposal?" The panel gave highest priority to proposals on control of
HIV/AIDS (disease challenge), providing micronutrients (malnutrition), trade
liberalisation (subsidies and trade barriers), malaria control (diseases) and
the development of new agricultural technologies (malnutrition).
http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/Default.asp?ID=228
By
Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga (Rotary International)
25 June - Two years ago,
Edward Coman of the Rotary Club of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, USA, had scant
knowledge of Bolivia but lots of questions about how he could help make a real
difference in the lives of that country's poor. For answers, he turned to his
friend Enrique Via-Reque of Wheaton, Illinois, a physician who had organized
several medical missions to Bolivia. The doctor introduced him to Alfonso
Via-Reque, his brother, who is a member of the Rotary Club of Cochabamba in a
Bolivian city of the same name. (…)
Soon, Coman learned that many
schools on the outskirts of Cochabamba, a city of 600,000, lacked proper
bathroom facilities and relied on a contaminated supply of water, which posed
serious health concerns. The two clubs teamed up to sponsor a clean water and
sanitation project targeting four elementary schools where conditions were
actually worse than in the poor neighborhoods they served. (…)
Members of the Rotary Club of
Glen Ellyn sold fresh grapefruit and oranges ordered directly from groves in
Florida to raise US$5,000 for the initiative. The Rotary Foundation and
District 6440 (Illinois, USA) each contributed $2,500 in matching funds and
District Designated Fund allocations toward the project. (…) Underground water
tanks and septic tanks were sunk or built up on rocky terrain, often from
scratch; bathrooms demolished and rebuilt, repaired, or constructed anew; and
plumbing unblocked. Parents often volunteered their labor to help with
excavation. With freshly painted walls, patched roofs, properly insulated
electrical wiring, and newly flushing cisterns connected to elevated water
tanks or underground tanks serviced with efficient water pumps, the bathrooms
once again became safe and hygienic for the children. (…)
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/programs/news03.html
Bujumbura, 16 June – The
United Nations World Food Programme is feeding thousands of refugees who have
crossed into Burundi and Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo to escape
violence that temporarily paralysed WFP’s aid operations in much of eastern
DRC. (…)
The first WFP food was
distributed at the three sites of Gatumba, Cibitoke and Rugombo last Saturday
and more rations were handed out yesterday. (…) WFP has also supplied almost 20
tonnes of food to some 2,300 Congolese who have crossed into Rwanda from the
eastern DRC city of Bukavu since 27 May. A new distribution will take place
this week. Renegade troops captured the capital of South Kivu province on 2
June and subsequent looting and violence halted most of WFP’s aid operations in
the east. Rebel forces pulled out a week later and government troops took
control of Bukavu on 8 June.
In a separate operation, WFP
is sending food from the northeastern DRC city of Bunia for more than 260
families who fled their homes in Drodro in Ituri district in the last two weeks
after an attack on civilians by a dissident militia commander. The displaced
include women and children – some of whom are wounded or suffering from
malnutrition. German Agro Action, WFP’s partner in the area, will also provide
food and distribute it to the displaced. (…)
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA,
June 18 - To help fight child malnutrition in the Democratic People’s Republic
of North Korea (DPRK), the Adventist Development and Relief Agency’s (ADRA)
bakery in Pyongyang, DPRK is producing high-nutrient, whole wheat cookies to
benefit 32,000 children. Daily, 300,000 cookies are produced in two shifts by
the 50 bakery staff. The cookies are delivered to the provinces of North and
South Pyongan where they are packaged and weekly transported by ox cart to 450
local kindergartens. The biscuits, each imprinted with a smiley face, are
lightweight, easily stored, and readily packaged and transported.
The machinery and personnel
costs of this joint venture are co-funded by ADRA Switzerland and Deutsche
Welthungerhilfe (DWHH)/German Agro Action (GAA), and are valued at more than
$100,000. In addition, raw materials are being funded by DWHH.
In 1995, ADRA started project
activities in North Korea that included the distribution of food, medicine, and
seeds. ADRA has also introduced solar-powered cooking to parts of North Korea
where electricity and heat are not readily available. (…)
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/061804.html
By
Vukoni Lupa-Lasaga (Rotary International)
11 June - For a growing number
of Rotary clubs, the image of children with fingers stained in gentian violet
is now indelibly associated with polio fundraisers. The Purple Pinkie Project
of the Rotary Club of Lake City, Florida, USA, is a perfect example of what a
group of Rotarians can achieve for polio with just a few bottles of purple dye.
The effort involves recruiting students to participate, with their parents'
permission, in fundraising and polio education events.
For every 60 U.S. cents a
child donates, he or she gets a finger painted with the same type of dye used
at National Immunization Days (NIDs) around the world to identify those
children who have been immunized. Gentian violet is typically used, though the
iridescent dye sometimes appears to be green.
In May, about 3,000 students
raised more than US$3,000. Baya Pharmacy, a local business sponsor, contributed
an additional $1,000 toward the initiative. (…)
Several Rotary clubs in
Florida plan to organize similar fundraisers in the fall. The purple pinkie
idea has also spread beyond the borders of the United States — not entirely
surprising, considering that the original inspiration came from an NID
photograph of Ethiopian children with dyed fingers. For example, in April, the
Rotary Club of Brighton, Ontario, Canada, sent the local community on a
finger-painting spree for polio. (…)
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/main/news02.html
Kabul, 24 June – The programme
to demobilize and re-integrate former child soldiers in Afghanistan, led by
UNICEF with Government, NGO partners and local communities, has now helped to
demobilize 2,203 children in eight provinces of the country, since its launch
in February. The majority of children demobilized to date – all of whom are boys
– are aged between 14 and 18 years old.
The programme is now underway
in Kunduz, Badakhshan, Takhar, Baghlan, Bamyan, Laghman, Nangrahar and Nuristan
provinces. The operation is divided into two phases; firstly, children are
assessed for eligibility within the programme, registered and offered medical
screening facilities and then secondly provided with durable alternative
opportunities to military life including education and vocational skills
training opportunities.
Of the children who have been
demobilized to date, more than 1,700 have been assessed for reintegration
programmes and many are now benefiting from education, skills training courses
and income generation support in their home communities.
The demobilization process
takes place at the community level, involving family members and local
community structures to ensure ownership by the larger community. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21942.html
22 June - More than 40 Red
Cross and Red Crescent representatives from the most mine-affected countries of
the world met in Sweden last week to pool their experience and intensify
efforts to reduce casualties and suffering caused by mines and explosive
remnants of war. The meeting, which took place from 10 to 19 June, was the
fourth such event organized by the ICRC for Red Cross and Red Crescent
mine-action staff from around the world. (…)
The ICRC is currently running
mine-action programmes in conjunction with National Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies in 26 countries affected by mines and explosive remnants of war, from
Afghanistan to Angola and from Cambodia to Colombia. These programmes seek to
raise awareness of the dangers of mines among people at risk, and to speed up
the process of clearing mines by collecting and analysing information about
mine incidents and areas known to be dangerous. In Iraq, where the ICRC
continued its activities throughout the war, the collection of data has been
crucial for mine-clearance operations.
Despite the adoption in 1997
of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, mines and explosive
remnants of war continue to claim thousands of new victims every year. (…)
In December 2004, governments
and mine-action organizations will meet to review the Ottawa Convention for the
first time since it was adopted.
22 June- Sierra Leone is emerging from a decade long
civil conflict but some firearms still in the possession of local communities
pose a threat to lasting peace. The Government and UNDP are trying to encourage
people to turn in weapons through an Arms for Development initiative begun last
year. Since the Lomé Peace Accord of July 1999, various disarmament programmes
have generally met with success, but porous borders throughout the region allow
weapons to enter from neighbouring countries.
The initiative assumes that
security brings communities the peace of mind to turn to development
activities. This requires a mindset change – people abandon the prestige of gun
ownership for the benefits of a weapons-free environment, conducive to
development.
After disarmament, communities
receive a grant of about US$20,000, helping to reinforce the link between
community security and long-term development. As the District Officer for
Moyamba pointed out, “the weapons-free certificate is actually a licence for
development”. (…)
The initiative is supported by
the Governments of Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2004/june/22jun04/index.html
14 June -
The Sudanese Anti-Land Mine Network, the director of the Land Mine Programme
run by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the representative of
the organizations working in the field of land mines last Friday (11 June)
signed a memorandum of understanding through which a joint programme would be
launched to remove land mines.
A member of the government
delegation, Dr Siraj-al-Din Abd-al-Ghafar, said an agreement was reached with
SPLM representatives to set up a unified national programme to undertake the
task of land mine clearance and to set up one network bringing together all the
organizations working in the field of land mine clearance in the north and in the
south, called the Sudanese Anti-Land Mine Network.
They also agreed to submit
joint proposals to donors on the issue of land mine clearance, which will be
jointly implemented by organizations working in the north and in the south.
http://www.mineaction.org/countries/_refdocs.cfm?doc_ID=1952
Author:
Sylvie Brigot
Vilnius, Lithuania, 8 June -
On 7 June, Lithuania destroyed its remaining 340 PMN antipersonnel mines at the
Pabrade military range, located 40km from the capital Vilnius, in the presence
of Minister of Foreign Affairs Antanas Valionis and Mr. Jonas Gecas, National
Defence Vice-Minister.
Lithuania destroyed part of
its stockpile of 8,091 antipersonnel mines, including 3,975 PMN mines, and
converted others (409 MON-100 and 3,703 OZM-72s) to command-detonated
munitions.
As a region, North and Eastern
Europe has the largest remaining stockpile of antipersonnel mines. Lithuania's
deadline for destroying its stockpiled mines, as required by Article 4 of the
1997 Mine Ban Treaty is 1 November 2007 and the ICBL would like to congratulate
Lithuania for destroying its stockpiled mines so far ahead of the
Treaty-imposed deadline. This demonstrates the strength of the global norm
against landmines in the months leading up to the Nairobi Summit on a Mine-Free
World, the First Review Conference of the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty, to be held 29
November- 3 December 2004 in Nairobi, Kenya. (…)
Vienna,
25 June (UN Information Service) -- “Drugs: treatment works” is the theme of a
year-long campaign launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) on 26 June, the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit
Trafficking. The campaign aims at emphasizing the importance and effectiveness
of drug treatment – to drug dependent individuals, as well as to the general
public.UNODC also hopes to diminish the stigma attached to drug users by
illustrating the possibilities for a positive future, using the stories of
individuals who have successfully undergone treatment and are engaged in
productive lives. (…)
Effective drug abuse treatment
can also help alleviate some of the most devastating social ills – crime, the
transmission of infectious diseases, loss of productivity, and family as well
as social disorders.
UNODC’s recently published
World Drug Report estimates the total number of drug abusers worldwide at
approximately 185 million. Cannabis is the most widely abused drug, followed by
amphetamine-type stimulants. In terms of health impact measured by the demand
for treatment services, opiates remain the most serious problem drugs in the
world. (…)
http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/pressrels/2004/unisnar848.html
Rome, 24
June -- The phytosanitary system in Syria needs to be modernized to prevent the
introduction of plant pests and meet the requirements of international trading
partners, according to FAO. Syria would need to update its sanitary and
phytosanitary system to be able to participate fully in world trade while
protecting its own resources, said Mahmoud Solh, Director of the FAO Plant
Production and Protection Division. FAO will work with the Syrian institutions
to improve their national system for pest surveillance, inspection and
certification of exported and imported plant and products, added Mr. Solh. (…)
In addition to the updating of
the phytosanitary legislation, some 20 senior staff and 25 inspectors will be
trained under the FAO project, with the aim of strengthening the technical
capabilities in terms of critical equipment for inspection and pest detection
at the priority ports of entry. The project complements a food safety plan for
"strengthening the national codex committee and updating, harmonizing
foodstuff standards and regulations", Solh said.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/46687/index.html
Kabul, 24 June - The Afghan
Ministry of Health and Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development are
joining forces with UNICEF and other partners to launch a new nationwide
campaign to tackle water-related disease in Afghanistan. The campaign, which is
officially launched on Sunday 27 June, will combine a number of initiatives,
including hygiene education, health promotion and the physical safeguarding of
the water supply.
Afghanistan faces high
incidences of water and sanitation-related diseases, such as cholera,
dysentery, scabies and trachoma. UNICEF estimates that up to half of the deaths
of all children under the age of five are related to diarrhoeal disease, caused
by inadequate sanitation, lack of clean drinking water and poor hygiene
practices. (…)
The focus of the school and
community hygiene education will be on five water, sanitation and hygiene
issues, coined “Panj Pak” (or “Five Cleans”). These are Clean Water; Clean
Latrines; Clean Hands; Clean Environment and Clean Food. The Afghan Ministry of
Health has just completed the training of over 1,000 hygiene promoters who will
undertake house-to-house, school and mosque-based hygiene promotion exercises
and the dissemination of hygiene messages to local populations. An estimated 2
million people will be reached through these exercises over a five day period
following Sunday’s launch. The campaign will extend from Kabul to other cities
including Jalalabad, Kandahar, Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_21945.html
22 June, Geneva - Since
traditional, complementary and alternative medicines remain largely
unregulated, consumers worldwide need to be informed and given the tools to
access appropriate, safe and effective treatment. To help address this issue,
the World Health Organization (WHO) today releases a new set of guidelines for
national health authorities to develop context specific and reliable
information for consumer use of alternative medicines. (…)
Many traditional /alternative
medicine products are sold over the counter. In a WHO survey of 142 countries,
99 responded that most of these products could be bought without prescription.
In 39 countries, many traditional remedies were used for self-medication,
bought or prepared by friends, acquaintances or the patient. These trends raise
concerns over the quality of the products used, their therapeutic
appropriateness for a given condition, and the lack of medical follow-up. (…)
Accessible, easy to understand information is key to guiding consumers in their
choices. The guidelines provide simple, easy to follow tips on issues to look
out for and a brief checklist of basic questions which may be used to help
facilitate proper use of traditional and alternative medicine.
(…) While the guidelines
cannot compensate for poor products or inappropriate practices, they can help
governments educate consumers on how to maximize the benefits and minimize the
risks of traditional medicines. (…)
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/releases/2004/pr44/en/
ICN Mobile nursing library celebrates success
by reaching out to refugee camps
Geneva, Switzerland, 22 June -
The International Council of Nurses celebrated the success of the ICN-Merck
Mobile Library by reaching out to the vulnerable refugee populations. Now in 50
rural African communities, the Mobile Library will next reach health workers in
refugee camps, through a partnership with the United Nations High Commission
for Refugees (UNHCR) and Merck. The ICN
project has been generously supported by funding from Merck & Co., Inc.,
coupled with donations of the Merck
Manual Home Edition. Elsevier has
contributed preferred pricing for books from their vast nursing list and their
facilities and expertise in coordinating the packing and shipping of the
trunks.
The nursing mobile library is
packed at the Elsevier warehouse into a specially designed transportable trunk
resilient to moisture, insects and hard knocks. Each library contains more than 80 titles, and is crammed with
up-to-date information on family and community health, disease prevention,
health promotion, and health services management and training.
The International
Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of 125 national nurses' associations
representing the millions of nurses worldwide.
17 June - Liberia is getting a
US$ 24.3 million grant from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and
Malaria to help it deal with diseases exacerbated by dislocations of war and
damage to its health system. UNDP,
which is helping the Transitional Government rehabilitate the country after 14
years of civil conflict, will manage the grant.
Together with its partners,
UNDP plans to allocate $7.65 million of the money in the campaign against
HIV/AIDS during the next two years, $ 4.53 million against tuberculosis and
$12.14 million against malaria.
The
Liberia Coordinating Mechanism, chaired by the Minister of Health, will take
responsibility for implementing the programmes being funded. These will focus
on increasing access to treatment and providing support services for people
living with these diseases. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2004/june/17jun04/index.html
16 June - Radiotherapy
treatment is crucial for a majority of cancer patients but most people in
developing countries simply cannot access it. The IAEA (International Atomic
Energy Agency) has set up PACT -- "Programme of Action for Cancer
Therapy" -- to take radiotherapy to where it is most needed. The IAEA's
Board of Governors backed the PACT plan at its meeting in Vienna 14-18 June
2004. It paves the way for the IAEA to seek and direct funds from individuals,
charitable trusts, foundations and the public and private sectors to help
patients in poor countries fight cancer. The World Health Organization (WHO)
has welcomed the initiative.
Cancer kills more people than
AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria put together. A single radiotherapy machine can
deliver nearly a million treatments during its 20 to 30 year lifespan. But the
need is enormous. The number of cancer patients in the developing world is set
to double, from 5 million in the year 2000, to nearly 10 million per year by
2020.
Through PACT, the IAEA will
build partnerships within and among countries, and with other United Nations
organizations, like WHO, and other non-UN bodies. With enough support, the
programme could save or improve the quality of millions of lives each year. (…)
http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2004/pact.html
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The age of
renewables has arrived
Bonn,
Germany, June 4 (ENS) - Pledges of increased funding for renewable sources of
energy have brightened the four day International Conference for Renewable
Energy which concludes here today. The nearly 2,000 participants - government
ministers and business people, trade unionists, nongovernmental organizations,
and renewable energy manufacturers - heard investment promises of hundreds of
millions of new dollars a year for renewables.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2004/2004-06-04-01.asp
Washington, June 30 - Sister
Cities International recently joined the coalition for the Earth Legacy
Campaign, a non-partisan group of environment and foreign affairs
organizations. The coalition issued a declaration earlier this month calling on
Congress to re-affirm the United States is a leader in supporting the global
environment.
The declaration asks Congress
to establish a commission to examine scientific understanding and efforts to
protect the global environment, to assess the impact of continued global environmental
deterioration on U.S. interests, and to make recommendations for U.S.
environmental leadership.
(…) As a member of the Earth
Legacy Coalition, Sister Cities International will encourage its members to
learn more about the campaign. (…) www.earthlegacy.org.
Representing more than 2,500
communities in 124 countries, Sister Cities International is a citizen
diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between the U.S. and
communities abroad. (…)
UK
expands public access to environmental decision-making
Washington,
DC, June 24 - Bill Rammell, the United Kingdom’s Parliamentary Under-Secretary of
State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, announced today new commitments by
his government to expand public access to information and participation in
environmental decision-making both at home and abroad. Speaking at a press
conference on the Partnership for Principle 10 (PP10) organized by the World
Resources Institute (WRI), Rammell announced greater cross-government working
on environmental governance as well grants of more than $600,000 to promote
public access to environmental decision-making in Latin America and Africa. (…)
Some $450,000 of the U.K.
financial commitment will fund national assessments of government policies and
practices that facilitate public access to decision-making in Argentina,
Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru. (…) The
balance of the UK’s funding will be made available on a competitive basis to
developing country governments and non-governmental organizations that have
committed to improving public access to decision-making that affects the environment.
(…)
Principle 10 of the 1992 Rio
Declaration articulates public access to information, participation in
decision-making, and access to justice as key principles of environmental
governance. In 2002, the international community reaffirmed these goals during
the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. The
Partnership for Principle 10 (PP10), launched two years ago, puts this
commitment into action and supports transparent, inclusive, and accountable
decision-making for sustainable development. (…)
http://newsroom.wri.org/newsrelease_text.cfm?NewsReleaseID=291
Gland, Switzerland, 24 June -
Africa's critically endangered black rhinoceros could be on its way to recovery
if present trends continue. That's according to new estimates announced by the
African Rhino Specialist Group (AfRSG) of the IUCN Species Survival Commission
and WWF, the global conservation organization.
Africa's white rhinoceros also
appears stable at much higher numbers than the black rhino.
The black rhino suffered a
drastic decline from about 65,000 in the 1970s to only 2,400 in the mid 1990s.
The latest findings show black rhino numbers have increased to just over 3,600,
a rise of 500 over the last two years. The white rhino population, down to just
50 individuals a hundred years ago, now stands at 11, 000. While the continuing
increase in continental black rhino numbers since the 1990s is encouraging, two
African rhino sub-species still face a high risk of extinction.
The northern white rhino has
been reduced to a single, small population of just over 20 animals in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. It is highly vulnerable because of the emergence
of organized poaching. In Cameroon, the western black rhino is in an even worse
state with only a few animals scattered widely. (…)
http://www.panda.org/news_facts/newsroom/press_releases/news.cfm?uNewsID=13815
Nairobi/Bangkok 21 June – The
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced a one million Euro
per annum partnership with German-based chemicals and healthcare company Bayer
AG to support its global long-term strategy to involve young people in
environmental issues. Called ‘Tunza’, meaning to treat with care or affection
in the east African language of Kiswahili, the strategy aims to engage young
people in the work of UNEP and enhance their participation in environment and
sustainable development issues. (…)
Under the agreement UNEP and
Bayer will create a steering committee to develop projects to be implemented
under the partnership. Identified projects include continuation of the Young
Environmental Envoy Programme, further development of the Eco-Innovate learning
forum, a youth-orientated media award, World Environment day activities in
Europe and Latin America, and support for sub-regional youth networks in
Asia-Pacific, based on the successful South Asia Youth Environmental Network (www.sayen.org ). (…)
The partnership agreement is
for three years. (…)
Rome, 26 May -
Countries in the Near East are showing increasing interest in planting trees to
improve water quality and increase food security, FAO said on 25 May 2004 at
the FAO Near East Forestry Commission (24-27 May) in Beirut. Around 20
countries discussed the role of forests in food and water security.
"Planted trees not only help the region to have better quality water but
trees serve as windbreaks and shelterbelts against desertification," said
Hosny El-Lakany, FAO Assistant Director-General for Forestry.
Forest cover in the
region amounts to around 110 million hectares, equivalent to 5.9 percent of the
land area. Countries in the Near East currently face an imminent shortage of
water and the threat of deforestation as a result of agricultural expansion and
urbanisation. An increasing number of countries in the region, including Egypt,
Jordan, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, have begun using treated waste
water to irrigate forest plantations and greenbelts.
www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/42648/index.html) erwin.northoff@fao.org
Religion and
spirituality
This
year the ceremony of thr World Peace and Prayer Day will take place on Mount
Fuji, Japan.
From ancient
times, Mt. Fuji has been considered to be a sacred mountain. It is said that
the name "Fuji" comes from the Ainu world "Fuchi", meaning
Great Mother, and also from the word "Fuji" which means "Only
One".
It has become clear that in
order to provide a better future for our children, we must stop thinking of the
earth as a resource to be exploited, and instead remember that it is our
Mother. We need a philosophy that cherishes and respects our connection with
all other life on this earth. Just such a philosophy has been taught for
thousands of years by indigenous people all over the word: Native Americans,
Inuit, Aborigines, Ainu, Maori to name a few, and many other indigenous peoples
of Asia, Africa, South America, Pacific Islands.
Among these peoples
are prophecies and messages passed on from generations regarding the future of
the earth. Sensing a growing crisis in the global environment, indigenous
people from around the world gathered in 1993, the U.N. Year of Indigenous
Peoples, and started a movement to share their traditional prophecies and
teachings with the rest of the world.
http://www.wppd2004.org/eng/index.html
The College of the Humanities and Sciences
becomes the founding partner of the Sister Cities Youth and Education Network
Washington DC, June 30 - The College of the Humanities and
Sciences, an accredited distance learning college, signed on as the founding
partner of Sister Cities International’s new Youth and Education Network. The College’s $50,000 donation over three
years will help sister city members sustain and develop their youth and
education projects by creating new programs. (…) The new network will be
formally launched during the annual conference for Sister Cities International,
to be held in Fort Worth, Texas July 14-18, 2004.
Organizers say that
cultivating young leadership is vital to the future. (…) The new youth network
will go beyond traditional sister city youth programs, which have focused on
two communities conducting a program collaboratively. “The autonomous and
grassroots nature of the sister city network is a tremendous strength because
it allows local programs to be tailored to community needs,” said Elisa
Stafford, coordinator of the Sister Cities Youth and Education Network. (…) The youth network is modeled after the
successful Sister Cities Network for Sustainable Development, launched in 2003.
Representing more than 2,400 communities in 124 countries, Sister Cities International is a citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between the U.S. and communities abroad. (…) Sister Cities International promotes peace through mutual respect, understanding and cooperation by focusing on sustainable development, youth and education, arts and culture, humanitarian assistance and economic growth programs.
UNA-USA Model United Nations Summit & Leadership Conference – New
York, 11 July
Every
summer, UNA-USA holds a Model U.N. Summit and Leadership Conference, bringing
together students and faculty advisors who share a desire to deepen their
understanding of Model U.N. The conference consists of workshops for novice and
experienced delegates, conference organizers, and advisors.
In Model U.N.,
students step into the shoes of ambassadors from U.N. member states to debate
current issues on the organization's vast agenda. Student "delegates"
in Model U.N. prepare draft resolutions, plot strategy, negotiate with
supporters and adversaries, resolve conflicts, and navigate the U.N.'s rules of
procedures - all in the interest of mobilizing "international
cooperation" to resolve problems that affect almost every country on
Earth.
This year's summit
is hosted by Seton Hall University's School of Diplomacy and International
Relations (40 minutes from New York City). Participants will spend a day at
U.N. Headquarters for seminars on U.N. issues. Fee per participant includes 5
nights lodging at Seton Hall, 5 breakfasts, 3 lunches, reservation for banquet,
day at U.N. Headquarters, Model U.N. Simulation at Seton Hall, and UNA-USA
materials. Please log on to our webpage for more information.
26 June - A 15–year old
Israeli girl, Lotus Ammar, passed the Olympic flame to a 15 year old
Palestinian boy, Zayd Khader Mostafa, in front of the Organization’s Paris
Headquarters this evening, in a gesture charged with the spirit of peace and
reconciliation that both the Olympic Games and UNESCO embody.
“The passage of the Olympic
Flame by UNESCO is a moment of high symbolism given the close affinity between
the goals and values of UNESCO and the ideals of the Olympic movement,” said
UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura who joined hands briefly with the
teenagers as they passed the flame. “This symbolic gesture is further enhanced
by the passing of the Olympic Flame from the hands of an Israeli girl to a
Palestinian boy, reminding us that peace, fraternity and mutual respect between
neighbours, and among all the peoples of the world, are the strongest
expression of our common humanity,” said the Director General. (…)
More than 130 sporting and
media personalities, including UNESCO Champion for Youth David Douillet, who is
also olympic and world judo champion, carried the flame across the French
capital throughout the day, each running a distance of 400 metres.
The Olympic Flame is passing
through 34 cities ahead of the official opening of the Games in Athens on
August 13.
We,
The World: 11 Days of Global Unity –
September 11-21
It's been nearly 2 months
since we invited organizations and individuals to partner with us for 11 Days of Global Unity September
11-21, 2004, and the response has been literally overwhelming! There will be 11
Days events taking place in over 100 cities around the world! We look forward
to working with all who have contacted us to make this historic global
celebration a success!
Working with Amnesty
International, the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots Youth Program,
the Earth Charter Initiative, Dennis Kucinich's Department of Peace Initiative
and many others, we are reaching out not only to the progressive activist
communities, but far beyond. Therefore, we are insuring that each event has 3
crucial components:
- engage & inspire the
public engendering a spirit of unity and compassion;
- raise awareness about
critical issues & the urgency of getting involved through dynamic
presentations and distributed materials;
- provide coordinated civic
actions and ongoing campaigns supporting solution-oriented endeavors that event
viewers and participants can take part in on-the-spot and afterwards.
Inspire, Inform and Involve -
that's our plan. To maximize the results we need your support now! (…) See We, The World Vision and Implementation
for a concise overview of our strategy.
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