Good News Agency – Year IV, n° 16
Weekly - Year IV, number 16 – 17
October 2003
Managing Editor: Sergio Tripi,
Ph. D.
Rome Law-court registration
no. 265 dated 20 June 2000.
Good News Agency carries positive and constructive news from all over the world relating to voluntary work, the work of the United Nations, non governmental organizations, and institutions engaged in improving the quality of life – news that doesn’t “burn out” in the space of a day.
Good News Agency is
published in English on one Friday and in Italian the next. It is distributed free of charge through Internet
to the editorial offices of more than 2,400
media in 47 countries, as well as to 1,000 NGO.
It is a service of Associazione
Culturale dei Triangoli e della Buona Volontà Mondiale, NGO associated with the United Nations Department of Public
Information.
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development
Solidarity – Peace and security – Health
– Energy and Safety
Environment and wildlife – Culture and education
Kofi Annan on International
Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Ratification by
Bulgaria of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Heritage
7 October - Bulgaria has
communicated to the Director-General of UNESCO the instrument of its
ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater
Heritage adopted, in November 2001, by the General Conference of the Organization
at its 31st session. This ratification, which will take effect in 3 months, was
signed in Sofia, on 25 September (…) Bulgaria thus becomes, after Panama, the
second country to ratify this Convention which is designed to ensure and
strengthen the protection of the underwater cultural heritage “as an integral
part of the cultural heritage of humanity and a particularly important element
in the history of peoples, nations, and their relations with each other
concerning their common heritage”. (…)
Vienna, 2 October (UN
Information Service) - After almost two years of negotiations, Member States of
the United Nations (UN) finalised yesterday the text of a new international
treaty, the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The Convention was
agreed on by an Ad Hoc Committee, established by the General Assembly in
December 2000. The Committee was serviced by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) in Vienna, Austria. The Convention will be submitted to the General
Assembly, which is expected to adopt it and open it for signature by Member
States in Mérida, Mexico, from 9-11 December 2003. The Convention will enter
into force when it has been ratified by 30 countries. (…)
The Convention will engage the
crime prevention and criminal justice systems of all countries. The treaty
recognizes that the problem of corruption goes beyond crime. Corruption
impoverishes countries and deprives their citizens of good governance. It
destabilises economic systems, even of whole regions. Organised crime,
terrorism and other illegal activities flourish. In many countries, corruption
erodes basic public functions and the quality of life of people. (…)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2003-10-02_1.html
By Sylvie Brigot
October 1 - On 25 September
2003 Greece and Turkey formally joined the Mine Ban Treaty, during a joint
ceremony organised with the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs George Papandreou
and Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gulon on the margins of the United
Nations General Assembly.
Back in April 2001, both
countries announced simultaneously that they would ratify and accede to the
Convention jointly. Greece completed its domestic ratification procedure on 19
March 2002 and the Turkish Grand National Assembly adopted the accession law on
12 March 2003.
The International Campaign to
Ban Landmines (ICBL) warmly welcomes this joint move and thanks both countries
for this expression of their commitment in the fight against antipersonnel
landmines, and removal of them from their territories forever. This is an
example of how the Mine Ban Treaty can play a role in confidence building
between two neighbouring countries.
The ICBL trusts that both
Greece and Turkey will start implementing the Convention on their own soil
without delay, and thereby put an end to the suffering and deaths caused by
antipersonnel mines in these two countries. (…)
9 October - Human genetic data
should soon have its own standard-setting instrument: an international
declaration setting out the ethical principles that should govern their
collection, processing, storage and use. A draft declaration is being examined
by UNESCO’s General Conference, which is meeting in Paris for its 32nd session
until October 17. Collected from biological samples (blood, tissue, saliva,
sperm, etc.), human genetic data are playing an increasingly important role in
our lives. They are allowing scientists to identify, in advance, the diseases
that threaten us, and they hold the promise of new cures. Genetic data banks,
furthermore, are multiplying and growing all over the world. And certain
countries – Iceland, Estonia, Latvia and Tonga – are undertaking a genetic
census of their population. Such data are also providing answers to certain
questions - concerning paternity, for instance, or the identity of law-breakers
– posed by judges or police. (…)
World Food Day - building an International Alliance
Against Hunger to unite diverse groups in bid to end hunger
Rome, 10 October -- Creating an International Alliance Against Hunger will be
the core theme of this year's World Food Day on 16 October. World Food Day
marks the anniversary of the founding of FAO on 16 October 1945. It will be
celebrated with special events in some 150 countries around the world.
In Rome, Jorge
Luis Batlle Ibáñez, the President of Uruguay, will address the main World Food
Day ceremony, together with the Italian Agriculture and Forestry Policy
Minister, Giovanni Alemanno, and FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf. A message
from the Pope will also be read. (…) "The International Alliance Against
Hunger is a way to push aside apathy and indifference and usher in a new era of
cooperation and action, to decrease and ultimately eliminate the scourge of
hunger," FAO said in a statement. (…)
The Alliance
brings together many different groups, including food producers and consumers,
international organizations, governments, agribusiness, scientists, academics,
private individuals, policy makers, religious groups and non-governmental
organizations. (…)
www.fao.org
pierre.antonios@fao.org
Development Record of
Market-Driven Globalization Points to Urgent Need for Policy Rethink, Unctad
Study Concludes
Geneva, 2 October - For the
past two decades, the search for sound economic fundamentals in poorer
countries has been all about replacing a state-driven inward-oriented growth
strategy with a market-driven outward-oriented strategy. Much has been
promised, but according to the Trade and
Development Report 2003 released today by UNCTAD, the policies pursued to
eliminate inflation and downsize the public sector have often undermined growth
and hampered technological progress. (…)
The target level of investment
for catch-up growth – estimated by the Report to be in the range of 20-to-25%
of GDP -- has eluded most countries undergoing rapid market reforms. By
contrast, policy continuity in East Asia after the debt crisis produced a
strong investment performance, growing manufacturing value added and employment
and a rising share of manufacturing exports. With productivity and technology
gaps with leading industrial countries closing quickly, the region's
integration has come from a position of strength. Elsewhere, the Report finds a
less encouraging record (…)
The Report is doubtful that a
“second generation” of neoliberal reforms will start to put things back on
track. But nor will harking back to the easy industrialization policies of the
past. Rather, as Rubens Ricupero notes in his Overview to the Report,
“Rethinking options requires a candid assessment of the economic record of the
past two decades and of the experience of the more successful cases of
industrialization and development. It also requires a move away from
generalized approaches to accommodate the diversity of conditions and
challenges facing the developing world”.
Rome, 9 October – Reversing
the damage to natural resources, particularly soil and water, and improving
agricultural productivity will be the focus of a USD 26.9 million community
investment soil fertility programme in Burkina Faso. The seven-year programme will
be financed partly by a USD 12.01 million loan from the International Fund for
Agricultural Development (IFAD) to Burkina Faso. The loan agreement was signed
today at IFAD headquarters (…)
The Community Investment
Programme for Agricultural Fertility will improve agricultural productivity,
and contribute to soil protection and rehabilitation through soil and water
conservation techniques, soil restoration and agroforestry. The Programme is
also co-financed by the African Development Bank (USD 7.5 million) and the West
African Development Bank (approximately USD 2.5 million).
The programme will reach an
estimated 150,000 rural poor people in about 800 villages. Apart from its focus
on the rehabilitation of damaged agricultural land and natural resources, the
programme will also support income-generating activities and help vulnerable
people, particularly landless women and young people. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2003/33.htm
Brazil, India,
South Africa to fund South-South initiatives to achieve Millennium Development
Goals
New York, 4 October -
Representatives of the newly created India, Brazil, and South Africa Trilateral
Commission (IBSA) met today with Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), to discuss the structure and goals
of a new partnership between UNDP and the IBSA—an initiative unveiled by
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil in his speech at the opening of
the 58th Session of the General Assembly on 25 September 2003.
This innovative South-South
partnership is an example of the determination of India, Brazil and South
Africa to contribute actively to the implementation of the Millennium
Development Goals—in particular that of halving, by 2015, the proportion of the
world’s people who suffer from poverty and hunger. (…)
$6
million project for one of the poorest regions in Afghanistan to improve agricultural livelihoods
in the mountains of the Hazarajat
Rome, 6 October -- More than 430 000 farmers in the mountains of the
Hazarajat, one of the poorest regions of Afghanistan, will receive assistance
over the next four years through a major development project, FAO said in a
statement today. The United Kingdom has agreed to provide $6 million for
sustainable agricultural livelihoods development in the Eastern Hazarajat. The
objective of the UK-funded FAO project is to reduce hunger and malnutrition in
the region, improve farm production, generate income opportunities, and build
up or strengthen institutions at community, district and provincial level, FAO
said. (…)
People in the
Hazarajat depend almost exclusively on agriculture for their survival. Their
living conditions could be significantly improved through better crop and
livestock production. (…)
www.fao.org erwin.northoff@fao.org
10 October - The Government of
Cameroon is reforming management of its more than 110,000 state employees to
boost efficiency, promote transparency and curb corruption. UNDP is providing
US$160,000 from its Thematic Trust Fund for Democratic Governance for the
initiative, which includes upgrading payroll and employee information systems.
(…)
The initiative, which supports
the Government's broader decentralization programme, includes codification of
human resource management procedures in coordination with the computerized
state personnel and payroll management system (…) It will also help simplify
and harmonize job classifications and provide training in modern management
techniques.
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
9 October - From 29 September
to 4 October, the ICRC distributed 137 tonnes of vegetable seed, beans, maize
and other relief items (blankets, pots, hoes) to 7,600 families living in
Kibabi, a town situated in North Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. (…)
After fighting broke out in
October 2002, between 16,000 and 18,000 families had fled their villages in the
Katoyi and Osso regions and taken refuge in outlying areas. Kibabi, with 9,000
households, received an influx of about 12,000 displaced families, making it
one of the most severely affected towns. Despite the hardship this caused,
residents welcomed the newcomers and shared the little they had.
In order to relieve the burden
on host families, the ICRC had already distributed supplies to some 6,000
displaced families in April. The most recent distribution is intended to assist
residents, in particular by enabling them to increase agricultural production.
Priority was given to families that work the land, single-parent families and
host families.
UN, New York: More than 800
attend Rotary/UN Day on October 4
More than 800 Rotarians,
Rotaractors, and guests from 22 U.S. states and more than 30 countries attended
the Rotary/UN Day at the United Nations Headquarters, New York.
RI President Jonathan
Majiyagbe drew participants' attention to the connection between humanitarian
service and peace, saying that hunger, poverty, and ignorance breed despair,
anger and fear - which often fan the flames of intolerance, conflict, and
war. "And those who suffer the miseries of abject poverty, cut off
from hope for a decent future - these are the people who are most vulnerable to
the rhetoric of war," he said.
In panel presentations, UN
leaders representing UNICEF, UNESCO, UNAIDS, the Food and Agricultural
Organization, and others informed Rotarians about their agencies, encouraged
Rotary-UN cooperation, and praised Rotary's work with the World Health
Organization and UNICEF in the global effort to eradicate polio. Participants
were briefed on a variety of topics such as finishing the race to save the last
child from polio, overcoming HIV/AIDS, and addressing concerns about the
environment, poverty and population. An interactive dialogue between
Rotarians and Rotary leaders concluded the day's program.
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA,
October 10 - Due to ongoing violence in and around Monrovia, thousands of
Liberians are receiving additional assistance from the Adventist Development and
Relief Agency (ADRA). This assistance will benefit more than 100,000 people.
Two separate projects - a
$105,000 joint project by the ADRA network and a $267,000 project by ADRA
Germany - will improve the living conditions of residents and Internally Displaced
Persons (IDP's) in and around Monrovia. The projects are providing blankets,
cooking and household utensils, mats, and bed nets. Also, as part of these
projects, community clinics are being restocked with pharmaceutical supplies,
an environmental campaign to clean drains and collect garbage has begun, and
latrines and wells are being dug at IDP camps.
A $150,000 project being
implemented by ADRA Denmark in camps for IDP's will improve water, hygiene, and
sanitation conditions through the construction of pit latrines and hand pump
water wells. The project will construct 10 wells and 20 latrines, distribute
blankets, 2,000 bed nets and mats, and provide temporary shelter.
http://www.adra.org/ADRANews/101003.html
On 29 and 30 September, the
Red Crescent Society of Djibouti and the ICRC carried out a one-off
distribution of emergency relief supplies for some 9,000 people stranded at the
Aour-Aoussa refugee camp about 100 kilometres south-west of the city of
Djibouti. The camp was originally designed to house no more than 3,000 people.
(…)
The people sheltering in the
camp – who come from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen
– have converged on the area in recent weeks following a Djibouti government
order expelling more than 100,000 illegal immigrants from the tiny State in the
Horn of Africa. An ICRC survey conducted last week found that they were in
urgent need of clean water and shelter materials. (…) In addition to
distributing relief, the Djibouti Red Crescent plans to send 40 volunteer
first-aid workers to the camp.
3 October - The UNICEF
launched a book on Mine Risk Education (MRE) at the Puthukulam Maha Vidiyalayam
in Vavuniya with the support of the Department of Education, and the book will
be included in the curriculum of Vavuniya schools to create an awareness among
children of the dangers posed by land mines, booby traps and unexploded
ordnances, sources in Vavuniya said.
The book was created with the
assistance of the Sri Lankan State-controlled National Education Organization
and it will immediately become part of the curriculum for primary and
intermediate students in the Northeast schools, the sources said. From the
start of next year, mine awareness will become part of the curriculum in all
schools in the country, the sources added. (…)
Statistics show that more than
2 million mines are buried in the war-affected Northeast. The United Nations
Development Plan and many countries including the United Kingdom, Norway,
Switzerland, Japan, Thailand and India are assisting in de-mining the
region. (…)
Evanston, Illinois, USA -
Among the 70 outstanding individuals from around the world who have been chosen
this year as recipients of the two-year Rotary World Peace Scholarship, two are
from Seoul. The scholarship provides funding for the study of peace and
conflict resolution at one of the Rotary Centers for International Studies located
at eight prestigious universities worldwide.
Lee Ji-hyang, a junior program
officer at the Korean National Commission for UNESCO is now studying at the
University of Berkeley. Another recipient, Lee Hyejung, an exchange student and
faculty coordinator at Sookmyung Women's University, is now pursuing her
studies at the International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan.
Up to 70 Peace Scholars are
selected each year in a globally competitive selection process. The scholars
chosen in this second year of the program represent 30 different countries and
work in fields including law, youth counseling, and environmental research.
Candidates interested in the program can contact their local Rotary clubs in
South Korea.
New York, 29 September -
UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy praised Canada’s push to quickly enact
legislation allowing Canadian generic medicine companies to export cheaper
versions of patented medicines to poor countries hard hit by the AIDS pandemic.
If the law passes, Canada
would become the first G7 nation to implement World Trade Organization
agreements that allow hard-hit countries to import critically-needed cheaper
medicines provided they prove they cannot produce the medicines domestically,
and will not use them for commercial purposes. The move answers an urgent call
by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa,
Stephen Lewis, a former Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF.
Cholera
control: Poverty mapping helps disease control
The poverty mapping tool
developed by Henninger, deputy director of the Information Program at the World
Resources Institute (WRI) has found a new use as tool for cholera control.
Poverty mapping makes it possible to better define and locate poor regions and
communities.
In South Africa poverty
mapping has been employed with great success, saving hundreds of lives. The
government combined information from a poverty map with information on
sanitation and safe water supplies to create a targeted, on-the-ground strategy
for halting a cholera outbreak in the KwaZulu Natal province in 2001. The
country's health, water, and statistics agencies worked together to create maps
showing high-risk areas. The maps showed that cholera was following river
floodplain, moving through and toward poor areas. Health officials warned people
to boil water and take other preventive measures. Thanks to the information
from the maps, the government was able to contain the outbreak within three
months, and stop cold the fatality rate at 0.22 percent (the fatality rate for
cholera is usually 10 percent of those infected).
http://pdf.wri.org/wri_annual_review_2002_poverty_mapping.pdf
School children can be treated
against worms for as little as US$ 0.20 (EUR 0.17) per year, said Lorenzo
Savioli, head of parasitic diseases (WHO), at a conference of education
ministers from nine countries in the Sahel. The meeting looked at ways to
increase school enrolment and improve child health through school feeding
programmes and the provision of clean water and basic health care in schools.
Savioli pointed out that an informal group called Partners for Parasite Control
(PPC) had been formed to bring together the governments of countries where worm
infestations are endemic with research institutions, donors, specialised aid
agencies and drug companies to tackle the problem. This organisation had set a
target of treating 75% of all children at risk in the world by 2010, but at
present, only 6-7% were covered. He said it was essential to encourage
competition between drug manufacturers to keep down prices and to persuade them
to manufacture high quality medicines within the countries most affected.
http://www.who.int/wormcontrol/en/
(top)
Online
scientific information on food and agriculture for poorest countries
AGORA offers students and
academics free or low-cost access to scientific literature
Rome, 14 October - Students, researchers and academics in some of the world's
poorest countries will gain free or low-cost access to a wealth of scientific
literature under a new initiative announced today by FAO and a range of public
and private sector partners.
The AGORA (Access
to Global Online Research in Agriculture) initiative will provide access to
more than 400 key journals in food, nutrition, agriculture and related
biological, environmental and social sciences.
The demand for
scientific literature in developing countries has gone unfulfilled for many
years. Gaining access to current scientific information has become a daily
struggle for thousands of students, researchers and academics.
8 October - UNDP, with support
from Sweden, will work with communities in five countries on innovative ways,
such as using wind and solar energy, to improve water supplies and sanitation.
The small grant Community Water Initiative, launched at the Third World Water
Forum in March, is getting underway this month in Guatemala, Kenya, Mauritania,
Sri Lanka and Tanzania. The pilot phase, running through next year, will
support two or three small-scale projects in each country. Funding from Sweden
will provide up to US$20,000 for each project.
The project aims to promote
progress towards Millennium Development Goal 7, including the provision of
sustainable water supplies and halving the proportion of people without access
to safe drinking water. (…)
http://www.undp.org/dpa/index.html
Geneva, 7 October - Germany
has become the 16th country to ratify the Protocol on Heavy Metals. The
Protocol will, consequently, enter into force on 29 December 2003.
The Protocol, originally adopted on 24 June 1998 in Aarhus (Denmark) and signed by 35 countries and the European Community, will be the seventh to take effect under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The sixth Protocol, that on Persistent Organic Pollutants, will take effect later this month on 23 October.
The Protocol on Heavy Metals
focuses on three toxic heavy metals, cadmium, lead and mercury, and its
ultimate objective is to control the man-made emissions of heavy metals that
cause harm to our health and the environment.
All three metals in the
Protocol are well-known pollutants that have caused severe damage in some parts
of the world and more widespread chronic effects in some populations. (…) Many
Governments have taken steps to remove lead from petrol, and the phasing-out of
leaded petrol is one of the requirements of the Protocol. (…)
http://www.unece.org/press/pr2003/03env_p21e.htm
From the Maldives to Mexico,
Victoria Falls to Venezuela over 40 million people from around the world united
on the weekend for the 11th Clean Up the World. Volunteers from 109 countries took practical action over the
weekend and throughout the year to combat polluted waterways, declining water
quality and the growing amount of waste that threatens the health of our earth.
Activities ranged from volunteers cleaning up waterways, parks, forests, world
heritage sites, overhauling entire cities and countries to the implementation
of ongoing environmental workshops, recycling programs and educational
programs.
Campaign Founder and Chairman,
Ian Kiernan AO said that the combined actions of millions of people acting in
unison to clean up their local area makes a huge impact on a global scale.
“After 11 years of continuous growth and expansion it is great to see the
campaign’s popularity and relevance is still growing with record numbers
participating in the 2003 campaign,” Ian Kiernan said. (…) Around the world
volunteers transcend geographical, religious and political barriers by uniting
with the common goal to clean up, fix up and conserve the environment through
activities.
European
Commission adds life to environmental projects
The European Commission has
awarded €146 million to 198 innovative environmental projects under its 'LIFE'
scheme. The LIFE scheme aims to promote environmental and nature conservation
within member states and the surrounding countries. It has three components:
life-nature, life-environment and life-third countries. The programme intends
to enable and contribute to the development and implementation of EU
environmental policy through financing specific projects.
http://www.edie.net/gf.cfm?L=left_frame.html&R=http://www.edie.net/news/Archive/7503.cfm
8 October - The Football
without Borders camp is bringing together young football players from Iraq,
Kuwait, Jordan and Qatar to play football together, share cultures and learn
healthy life skills. The camp aims at promoting goodwill, leadership and living
a healthy lifestyle through sport. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
(UNODC) and the Asian Football Confederation are organizing Football without
Borders, and the camp is being hosted by the Qatar National Olympic Committee.
Eighty boys, aged 12-14, have been selected from the participating countries
for the camp.
Once at the camp, the boys
will be divided into four multinational teams (…) The UN workshops will be held
as a complement to the football aspect of the camp, using practical experiences
that arise in the camp to emphasize the principles of sport and their value in
real life decision-making. (…)
http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/press_release_2003-10-08_1.html
New York, 8 October – As excitement builds to a fever pitch in
the last week of the FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003, children around the world
will be celebrating Global Girls Football Day, jointly designated as 11 October
by UNICEF and FIFA. Global Girls Football Day, taking place one day before the
Women’s World Cup championship match in Los Angeles, marks UNICEF and FIFA’s
efforts to open up new avenues for girls in the developing world.
UNICEF and FIFA have teamed up
again this year, this time to highlight two crucial areas of child development
that are often absent or overlooked for girls because of poverty and
discrimination: the right to play and the right to education.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup USA
2003 is dedicated to Go Girls! Education for Every Child, UNICEF’s global
initiative to get more girls into school. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_14911.html
Reporting the World: The Role
of Media Organisations and Journalists in Reporting on War, Conflict and Peace
- December
4 - 6, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
A three days intensive
workshop/training programme for professional
journalists and media organizations organized by Reporting the World,
TRANSCEND, and the Peace Action,
Training and Research Institute of Romania (PATRIR).
It is an intensive three-days
training programme/workshop for
professional journalists and media organizations reporting on conflict situations in South-Eastern Europe and
internationally. Bringing together professional journalists from
across South-Eastern Europe and the
world, the workshop aims to discuss the
challenges and difficulties faced by journalists reporting on war, conflict and peace, and to explore concrete
skills and methods for peace journalism. The programme will be highly
interactive and participatory, building upon the professional experiences of
participants to address the concrete challenges and issues affecting
journalists reporting on conflicts, the impact of war and conflict on the
media, and principals, standards and tools for professional peace journalism.
(…)
For more information: Crina
Resteman, Programme Coordinator Peace Journalism
"Free Computers for Education": Stop dumping computers in
landfill !
Every year in the UK 1.5 million computers are dumped in landfill sites
and it is estimated that over 30 million are dumped throughout the world. But
there are still 40% of UK households that do not have a computer, and over 90%
of children in developing countries have no access to computers at all ! Help
us to stop this criminal waste !
"Free Computers for
Education", registered charity no. 1059116, collects computers that are no
longer needed, has them refurbished, and then gives them free of charge to
schools and other educational organisations in need.
Free Computers for Education
is compiling a nationwide (and eventually worldwide) list of refurbishing
centres who will be pleased to receive any computers that you no longer need,
Also, their "Computers for All" scheme aims to provide anyone who
cannot afford a new computer with a refurbished one at a fraction of the cost.
On
National Computer Day, 2 October, a
press conference was held at the Rotary International District 1130
Headquarters in London, where representatives of the public, private and
voluntary sectors discussed ways in which the situation can be improved.
Network of
cooperation between UNESCO and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to be
launched
A network of cooperation
between the 145 Parliaments that make up the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU*)
and UNESCO will be launched on Monday, 6 October, at UNESCO Headquarters in
Paris. Under the terms of the agreement between the two Organizations,
"focal points" will be designated within each parliament to create an
institutional link, on a national level, between the National Commissions for
UNESCO, the parliamentarians and the IPU. It will allow information concerning
education, science, culture and communication to be circulated among national
parliaments, National Commissions and UNESCO offices around the world. (…) The
aim of these networks is to urge the parliaments and parliamentarians to take
into consideration and to promote the goals of UNESCO, such as the fight
against poverty, education for all, sustainable management of the environment -
especially freshwater resources, dialogue between cultures and civilisations
and freedom of the press. The overriding objective of the network is to
encourage parliaments to put these goals on their agenda and include some of
their elements into their regular work schedule.
UNECO will lend its
international expertise to the parliaments of the IPU in its fields of
competence, areas in which parliamentarians are often called on to legislate,
such as education, bioethics or the adoption of international standards. (…)
(top)
* * * * * * *
A WORLD MIRED IN DESPAIR OF POVERTY ‘WILL NOT BE A WORLD AT PEACE’
SAYS
SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY
Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message on the International Day for the Eradication of
Poverty, observed 17 October (source: UNIC Rome):
Yesterday, we observed World
Food Day. Today, we observe the International Day for the Eradication of
Poverty. This year, we are holding joint events in recognition of the
close links between hunger and poverty.
Approximately 1.2 billion
people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. An estimated 840
million suffer the gnawing pain of hunger, and as many as 24,000 people, many
of them children, die every day as a result. People who are hungry are
more susceptible to disease, and find their capacity to work diminished as
well. Hunger also impairs children’s ability to learn, with consequences
that are felt long after childhood is over. There is no time to lose if
we are to reach the Millennium Development Goal -- agreed by all the world’s
countries -- of halving by 2015 the proportion of people who live on less than
a dollar a day and the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
The achievement of that goal
-- and all the other Millennium Development Goals -- depends on many
things. But none is more vital than forging a truly global partnership
for development -– which is itself one of the Millennium Development
Goals. Such a partnership requires bold reforms from many developing
countries. But it also requires bold action from developed countries.
An essential component is a
trading system that is both free and equitable. The failure of the recent World
Trade Organization meeting in Cancún to reach agreement on reducing and
ultimately phasing out tariff and non-tariff barriers is a source of great
concern. These barriers shut out many developing countries from the
markets of developed countries -– stunting growth, stifling opportunity and
starving millions of people who want to trade their way out of poverty.
The Monterrey and
Johannesburg conferences on financing for development and sustainable
development also set out key parameters and commitments for building a global
partnership for development. Some progress has been made, but much more
needs to be done to meet those commitments.
A world that is not advancing towards the
Millennium Development Goals -– a world mired in the deprivation of hunger, the
prevalence of disease and the despair of poverty -- will not be a world at
peace. On this day, as we recall the link between poverty and hunger, let
us also recall the link between development and peace. And in that
spirit, let rich and poor alike rededicate themselves to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals.
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