Good News Agency – Year VII, n° 6
Weekly - Year VII, number 6 – 5th
May 2006
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 (in charge) and
Elisa Peduto. 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 3,700 media in 48 countries and to 2,800 NGOs.
It is an all-volunteer 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 in the web site http://www3.unesco.org/iycp/uk/uk_sum_monde.htm
International legislation – Human rights – Economy and development
Solidarity – Peace and security – Health
– Energy and Safety
Environment and
wildlife – Religion and Spirituality – Culture and education
World Press Freedom Day: Message of the UN Secretary-General
100
countries have ratified the international plant genetic resources treaty
Iran
just joined
Rome, 5 May 2006 – Iran has
ratified the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture, bringing the number of countries that have deposited their
instrument of acceptance to 100, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
announced today.
The treaty, which was approved
by the FAO Conference in November 2001, entered into force on 29 June 2004, the
ninetieth day after the deposit of the fortieth instrument of ratification,
acceptance, approval or accession in accordance with the provisions of the
treaty. FAO Director-General Dr Jacques Diouf said that “this is a legally
binding treaty that will be crucial for the sustainability of agriculture. The
treaty is an important contribution to the achievement of the World Food
Summit's major objective of halving the number of hungry people by 2015.”
The main objectives of the
international treaty are the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic
resources for food and agriculture and the fair and equitable sharing of the
benefits arising out of their use, in harmony with the Convention on Biological
Diversity, for sustainable agriculture and food security. (…)
UN
Secretary-General Launches “Principles for Responsible Investment” backed by
world’s largest investors
International
Funds Worth $2 Trillion Announce Endorsement at New York Stock Exchange
New York, 27 April – In a
historic development for global financial markets, United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan was today joined by a group of the world’s largest
institutional investors at the international launch of the Principles for
Responsible Investment. The heads of leading institutions from 16 countries,
representing more than $2 trillion in assets owned, officially signed the
Principles at a special launch event at the New York Stock Exchange. The
Principles were developed during a nearly year-long process convened by the UN
Secretary-General and coordinated by the UN Environment Programme Finance
Initiative (UNEP FI) and the UN Global Compact.
“These Principles grew out of
the understanding that while finance fuels the global economy, investment
decision-making does not sufficiently reflect environmental, social and
corporate governance considerations – or put another way, the tenets of
sustainable development,” the Secretary-General said.(…) The six overarching
Principles, which are voluntary, are underpinned by a set of 35 possible
actions that institutional investors can take to integrate environmental,
social and corporate governance (ESG) considerations into their investment
activities. These actions relate to a variety of issues, including investment
decision-making, active ownership, transparency, collaboration and gaining
wider support for these practices from the whole financial services
industry.(…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=475&ArticleID=5265&l=en
National
plans for eliminating 12 extremely hazardous chemicals
From
talk to action: Governments adopt national plans for eliminating 12 extremely
hazardous chemicals - Geneva to host Stockholm Convention on POPs from 1 - 5
May
Geneva, 27 April – Governments
participating in next week’s annual conference of the Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) will focus on the practical measures now
being taken at the national level to rid the world of some of the most
dangerous chemicals ever created.
The Stockholm Convention,
which became effective in May 2004, targets 12 hazardous pesticides and industrial
chemicals that can kill people, damage the nervous and immune systems, cause
cancer and reproductive disorders and interfere with normal infant and child
development. (…) Governments are required to submit a National Implementation
Plan (NIP) within two years of joining the Convention. They are using these
NIPs to establish their particular priorities and to set out detailed action
plans. They will then report every two years on progress towards achieving
their Plan’s goals. The first National Implementation Plans have been submitted
from a geographically diverse set of countries, including Bolivia, Burundi,
Egypt, Japan, Latvia, Moldova, Niue, Romania and the Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia. (…) Some 130 countries are expected to participate in the Geneva
meeting, which is known formally as the Second Meeting of the Conference of the
Parties to the Convention (COP 2). Over 50 industry, environmental and
community NGOs have also registered to participate (…)
http://www.unep.org/Documents.Multilingual/Default.asp?DocumentID=475&ArticleID=5263&l=en
UNICEF
Turkmenistan welcomes decree boosting wheat flour fortification
Presidential
decree will improve nutritional status of children and women in Turkmenistan
Ashgabat, 26 April – President
Saparmurat Niyazov issued a decree mandating the fortification of wheat flour
with iron and folic acid in Turkmenistan. The decree was signed on 24
April at the Presidential Palace. Micronutrient deficiency, including anaemia,
is one of the topics highlighted in UNICEF’s upcoming report card on global
malnutrition ‘Progress for Children’, which will be launched on 2 May.
At the first meeting of the
National Fortification Committee held today, Committee Chairman and Deputy
Prime Minister Gurbangully Berdymukhammedov issued a statement highlighting the
President’s support of this initiative, which demonstrates high-level
commitment to improving the well being of children and women in
Turkmenistan. The Committee was established under Presidential decree and
is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the flour fortification
initiative. UNICEF Representative Mahboob Shareef welcomed the decree and
expressed gratitude to the Government for this crucial step towards reducing
the level of iron deficiency anaemia and contributing to the achievement of
Millennium Development Goals. (…)
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_33652.html
New
ILO report: Making the link between poverty and decent work in the fight
against child labour
Brussels, 4 May - The ICFTU
and WCL today welcomed the key findings of the ILO's Global Report "The
end of child labour: Within Reach". The report points to a reduction of
child labourers by 11 per cent over the last four years, with the number of
children in the worst forms of child labour falling most rapidly by 26 per
cent.(…) However, the increase by 15.6 million in the number of children
engaged in other forms of child labour is worrying as it may point to a trend
where children have shifted one form of child labour to another.
The report clearly identifies
that the success of the strategies employed by the ILO, with its employer,
trade union and government constituents, lies in its holistic approach linking
the demand for education for all and the pursuit of decent work to ending child
labour.
The report also points to the
role child labour plays in the vicious cycle of poverty and recognises that
child labour elimination and economic growth do not have an automatic
correlation but instead must be supported by coherent national-level policies
to address the myriad of issues that contribute to the problem. (…) The report
clearly identifies that the solution to the problem of child labour is found in
the nexus between the right of unions to collectively bargain to improve
parents' working conditions and engage in strengthened forms of social
dialogue. (…)
World
Press Freedom Day 2006 to focus on media, development and poverty eradication
April 25 - Media, Development
and Poverty Eradication is the theme of this year’s World Press Freedom Day, 3
May, which UNESCO will observe in Colombo (Sri Lanka) with a two-day
international conference on the subject and the award ceremony of the 2006
UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize to Lebanese journalist May
Chidiac. “Free and independent media should be recognized as a key dimension of
efforts to eradicate poverty, [one of the Millennium Development goals adopted
by the international community in 2000] for two main reasons,” explains the
Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura in his message marking World
Press Freedom Day. “First, free and independent media serve as a vehicle for
sharing information in order to facilitate good governance, generate opportunities
to gain access to essential services, promote accountability and counteract
corruption, and develop the relationship between an informed, critical and
participatory citizenry and responsive elected officials.”(…)
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=32741&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Police
Officers Graduate in Somalia
Armo, Puntland, 21 April
– The first police officers from northeast and south Somalia to be
trained in decades graduate from the recently established Armo Police Academy
in Puntland today. The 154 cadets, of whom 19 are female, joined the Academy on
1 December 2005 and came from different regions of Puntland and the Centre/South.
(…) “The significance of this day cannot be overemphasized,” Prime Minister Ali
Mohamed Gedi said. “These 154 police officers of the Somali Republic are the
foundation of the return of rule of law to our country and the respect of human
rights of every child, woman and man. This is a day that we are proud to
witness.”
To ensure quality and
uniformity across the police force, the challenging training course has been a
continuation of the one developed by the Rule of Law and Security Programme at
the Mandera Police Academy in Somaliland covering law enforcement,
international standards of human rights, community policing, basic police
training, investigations, non-violent disarmament, physical fitness,
self-defense and discipline. Computer lessons were also provided for female
cadets. (…)
http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/april-2006/police-somalia-20060421.en;jsessionid=aWbkm_0jkFp9
Women's
issues now part of legal training in Nepal
5 April - The Governing Council of National Judicial Academy
(NJA), the supreme policy making body headed by the Right Honourable Chief
Justice of Nepal, adopted a resolution for mainstreaming gender issues in its
policy and practice. The adoption of resolution is a landmark decision to help
bring about gender responsive legal reforms in the country. Legal workers like
judges and lawyers, now study gender issues related to justice as part of their
standard training. With support from UNDP’s Mainstreaming Gender Equity
Programme (MGEP), the NJA developed a training curriculum focusing on gender
equality and justice. Through the training, the judges acquire skills to
critically analyze the legal provisions related to gender issues. They also
become familiar with international women/ human rights instruments to which
Nepal is a signatory to. UNDP has supported the NJA to compile reference
materials for the training. This will also help the judges and lawyers to refer
to judgements relating to gender justice and women’s rights.(…)
http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/april-2006/womens-legal-training-nepal-20060405.en
Japan
steps up contribution to UNDP operations in Africa
27 April – Japan has been
one of UNDP’s key strategic partners in recent years. Japan’s
contribution to UNDP regular resources in 2005 was approximately $82.4
million. The regular resources, as the basis for UNDP’s core operations,
provide UNDP the critical capacity to be a trusted partner to meet global
challenges throughout the world. In 2005, Japan was the fifth-largest
contributor to UNDP regular resources after the Netherlands, Norway, US, and
Sweden. Japan was the top contributor to UNDP regular resources in 2000
and 2001.
In addition to its
contribution to UNDP regular resources, Japan’s trust-fund and cost-sharing
contributions to specific UNDP projects have been significant in recent years
and, in particular, in 2004 and 2005. The most notable is the increase in
Japan’s support to UNDP projects in Africa including Sudan on commitment basis
from approximately $4 million in 2004 to $25.6 million in 2005; the Government
of Japan already disbursed more than $23.4 million to Africa through UNDP
during the first quarter of this year. In his “Message to Africa towards the G8
Summit” in July 2005 at Gleneagles, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged
that Japan would double its ODA to Africa in the next 3 years (to US$1.6
billion annually). From the overall perspective, Japan intends to
increase its ODA volume by US$10 billion in aggregate over the next five years,
compared to the level of ODA on the basis of 2004 net ODA disbursement. (…) http://content.undp.org/go/newsroom/april-2006/japan-africa-20060427.en;jsessionid=aWbkm_0jkFp9
High-tech
communications to boost Afghanistan development
Kabul 27 April - Afghanistan
is making enormous technological strides in communications to make up for lost
time during decades of conflict. Optical fibre networks, more than a million
new cell phone users, and wireless fixed telephone lines are all part of the
technological leapfrogging in a country that only a few years ago had banned
the internet.
Afghanistan’s first national
Information and Communication Technology Conference opens tomorrow to celebrate
the country’s communications successes and help make links between public
sector needs and private sector possibilities. The two-day forum, jointly
organized by Afghanistan’s communications ministry and the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) will showcase investment opportunities, and promote ICT
awareness within the country. The forum will also launch an easy-to-use online
capability for registering AF website addresses.
Four years ago, Afghanistan
had only 20,000 telephone lines in the whole country. There are now 1.2 million
cell phone owners. By the end of 2006, the wireless fixed telephone lines will
reach 285,000, allowing not only voice, but also data exchange throughout the
network, connecting hundreds of thousands of households in Afghanistan.(…)
Helping
young people in slums tell their story to the world
Nairobi 25 April - A
collection of photographs taken by teenagers given cameras and assigned to
document their lives in the crowded Nairobi slum of Mathari will go on display
at the third session of UN-HABITAT’s World Urban Forum in Vancouver in June as
part of a novel, internationally sponsored project to reflect the concerns of
young people and inspire their peers. The “Image-in” programme depicts the
world of 10 boys and girls aged 13 to 15 asked to focus on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at alleviating poverty and showing how they
apply to their lives among the poor and the very poor. Quickly, and with
considerable energy, they soon devised a way of presenting their pictures with
caption stories in a body of work that will also be published as a book.
All of the young photographers
are members of the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Run by young people, for
young people, the association formed in 1987 at the initiative of Bob Munro, a
Canadian former UN official, became the first of its kind to organize football
leagues in the slums. It was also the first to set up teams for girls, and the
first to send a girls’ team to the Norway Cup. (…) http://www.unhabitat.org/mathare.asp
Chinese
Government and ECLAC to Strengthen Cooperation in the Field of Economic
Development
Zeng
Peiyan, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, met with José Luis
Machinea, Executive Secretary of this regional United Nations commission.
25 April - A delegation of the
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), headed by its
Executive Secretary, José Luis Machinea, met with the Vice Premier of the State
Council of China, Zeng Peiyan, on Monday 24 April in Beijing. Zeng Peiyan
expressed his government's interest in increasing exchanges with this regional
United Nations commission. During the meeting, delegates discussed the status
of relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean, analysing the
different mechanisms available to increase cooperation between ECLAC and the
Chinese government. As one of the members of the State Council of China, Zeng
Peiyan is one of the country's highest ranking authorities. He praised ECLAC's
important role in developing economic cooperation with China. He emphasized
that as developing countries, China and the countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean share much in common on many key international issues and are
complementary in economic terms. Moreover, he placed a high value on the
relations between both parties and expressed his intentions of deepening
political ties, economic cooperation and cultural exchanges "to ensure the
development of friendly, mutually beneficial cooperation," he added.(…)
Launch
of a new version of FAO GeoNetwork
Spatial
data sharing among UN agencies
Rome, 24 April - A new version
of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's spatial data catalogue, FAO
GeoNetwork, which provides agricultural information to decision-makers,
allowing them to access satellite imagery, interactive maps and spatial
databases from FAO, WFP, CGIAR and others, was launched today. "This new
version of GeoNetwork is faster and more reliable than the previous one. In
addition, several other UN agencies have joined the network, thus adding an
impressive amount of valuable UN system-wide geospatial information,"
according to Mr Alexander Müller, Assistant Director-General of the FAO
Sustainable Development Department.
The launch coincides with the
release of a new version of the World Food Programme GeoNetwork, which
contributes substantially to the effective sharing and dissemination of
geographical datasets with major emphasis on food security and vulnerability
issues. The WFP network includes nodes at WFP headquarters, regional bureaus
and country offices.
Madagascar
launches new drive to upgrade urban settlements
Antananarivo, 20 April – Prime
Minister Jacques Sylla of Madagascar has launched a national programme to
upgrade informal settlements and prepare sound urban development with the
support of UN-HABITAT and the United Nations Development Programme. He
announced the plan at a seminar 20 April attended by regional leaders, mayors,
municipal administrators, banks, NGOs and civil society representatives. Urban
dwellers currently constitute some 30 percent of the island nation’s total
population of six million people. It is estimated that Madagascar’s cities will
accommodate 10 million more people in the next 20 years.
The national programme jointly
supported by UN-HABITAT and UNDP will build on pilot projects implemented in
major cities. He said it would also include the decentralization and
simplification of urban land management, the establishment and improvement of
financial mechanisms and operational instruments, and the reinforcement of
local government’s capacities to develop and implement local programmes and
projects in partnership with the private sector and local communities.
http://www.unhabitat.org/madagascar_launches2006.asp
Guatemala's
indigenous people to get US$30 million support from UN IFAD for development
programme
Rome, 20 April – Guatemala’s indigenous Mayan people, who
have often been marginalized, will now play a role in planning, managing and
supervising their own development activities. The first phase of the National
Rural Development Programme worth US$38 million is partly financed by a US$30
million loan from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
More than 300,000 Guatemalan people, about 50 per cent of them from indigenous
groups, are expected to benefit from the first phase of the programme. (…) The
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is also providing a loan
of US$10 million.
The programme will focus on
five areas in the west of Guatemala, where 60 per cent of the country’s
indigenous people live. For many years, discrimination and exclusion have
contributed to the poverty and inequality of Mayan people. Poverty among the
Mayan people is also linked to poor access to natural resources including land
and water, as well as to technology and financial services. (…)
A key idea is to involve
people in planning, managing and supervising activities themselves, so that
they can fully participate in the programme and express their own needs and
concerns. They will be trained in how to participate in community planning
councils, and mechanisms will be set up to give people the chance to express
their views. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2006/17.htm
Camel
milk:
booming demand offers bright prospects
for traditional food source
18 April - The United Nations
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) sees bright prospects for camel dairy
products, which could not only provide more food to people in arid and semi-arid
areas, but improve the incomes of nomadic herders.
Tapping the market for camel
milk, however, involves resolving a series of humps in production,
manufacturing and marketing. FAO is hoping financing will come forward from
donors and investors to develop the sector not only at local level but to help
camel milk move into lucrative markets in the Middle East and elsewhere.
http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000275/index.html
"Trans-Latins" the New Investment Trend in Latin America and the
Caribbean
Most
of the region's transnational firms are from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and
Mexico.
12 April - Expansion abroad by
companies based in developing countries has become an increasingly important
trend in the world economy. Within this process, developing Asia has
outperformed Latin America and the Caribbean. Of the 50 largest transnational
firms from developing countries, just seven are from this region. This
contrasts with 1977, when 14 of the 30 main transnational firms from developing
countries were based in Latin America.
Notwithstanding, the companies
of Latin America and the Caribbean have continued to internationalize,
especially from the 1990s onward, driven by factors such as economic reforms,
saturated local markets, opportunities in neighbouring countries, and the need
to diversify risk, ECLAC notes, in its report Foreign
investment in Latin America and the Caribbean 2005, released today in
Santiago, Chile. Most of the region's transnational firms, referred to as
"trans-Latins"- are based in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The
largest trans-Latins, with geographically diverse investment, are involved in
natural resource-based sectors such as mining (CVRD), steel (Techint, Gerdau),
oil and gas (Petrobras, PDVSA, ENAP), and cement (CEMEX). Generally speaking,
the companies in this group have enjoyed strong state support for their
development. Some began life or remain state-owned companies. Others grew by
taking advantage of privatization plans in their own or neighbouring
countries.(…)
Japanese
Parliamentarians pay tribute to IFAD-supported rural income diversification
project in Vietnam
Hanoi, 10 April - Yoshio
Yatsu, Japanese Member of Parliament and Chairman, Global Legislators for a
Balanced Environment (GLOBE Japan), commended the rural income diversification
schemes, supported by IFAD, that has helped improve significantly the
livelihood of farmers and ethnic minorities in more than 66 communes in the
rural province of Tuyen Quang of Vietnam. Yatsu is a former Chair of Asian
Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD). Addressing
Vietnamese officials during his visit to the province as a part of the Asian
Parliamentarians’ Seminar on Poverty Alleviation, organized by the AFPPD, Yatsu
said that the rural income diversification scheme is a model to follow in other
countries in the region.(…)
The parliamentarians visited a
bamboo-chopsticks production factory, which is part of the income
diversification project, at a village in Xuan Van Commune. The chopsticks have
been exported to other Asian countries, including Japan and Hong Kong thus
increasing the incomes of the rural poor villagers. (…)
http://www.ifad.org/media/press/2006/19.htm
BBC
World Announced The General Media Partner In “The Passion For Africa” Event
10 -
11 May in Bamako, Mali
Internationally renowned BBC
World correspondent Lyse Doucet will chair the opening panel “TOURCOM Dialogue
– The Passion for Africa,” at the forthcoming Regional Conference on Tourism
Communications (TOURCOM Africa). The conference will be held on 10 - 11 May in
Bamako, the capital of Mali. It will be a groundbreaking event for tourism
communications and the objective is to release untapped tourism potential on
the continent.
(…) The “TOURCOM Africa”
conference is organized by the United Nations tourism agency World Tourism
Organization (UNWTO), in cooperation with the Malian Ministry of Handicraft and
Tourism and will follow the UNWTO Regional Commission meeting. (…) A similar
event, but adapted to the Americas, will be staged from 28-30 May 2006 in
cooperation with the Argentinean Government in Rosario, in the province of
Santa Fe.
http://www.world-tourism.org/newsroom/Releases/2006/april/bbc.html
UNDP
and Japan Bank for International Cooperation forge partnership to fight poverty
UNDP and the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation (JBIC) have agreed to join forces to end poverty
across the world. The two organizations agreed on 20 initiatives in more than
10 countries. These include an initiative in Cambodia, where JBIC and
UNDP will address HIV/AIDS in the work place in the context of the expansion of
Sihanoukville port, which is also known as the “virus harbor.” Also, a
proposal for Northeast Thailand will look at providing employment opportunities
to poor farmers affected by the agricultural reform and reduction of
deforestation in the area. “This is a milestone in our partnership with JBIC,
and I expect to see the MOU translated into actual collaborative activities in
many parts of the world,” UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis said in Tokyo, where
he signed a partnership agreement between UNDP and JBIC to work towards
promoting the MDGs.
EI
Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme: first fully furbished school completed in
Indonesia April 26 - As part of Education InternationaI's Tsunami Rehabilitation
Programme in partnership with NOVIB (Oxfam Netherlands) to restore education
back in the areas affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami in Dec 2004, the first
school has been reconstructed and refurbished.
The "National Elementary
School 70" of the Kampong Jawa village, located in the Banda Aceh district
of Aceh province on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia, was completed on 10
April 2006. It not only contains all the furnitures necessary, but also
equipment such as computers. However, the gradual completion of schools is only
the first step towards bringing education back to the area. Pupils who survived
the disaster are already relocated to other schools, and reconstruction of the
surrounding houses has been very slow. The cost of transport between the
current temporary dwellings and the new schools, 4000 rupiahs (0.36 euros or
0.45 US dollars), is unaffordable for the displaced families.
The EI-NOVIB Tsunami
Rehabilitation Programme began in January 2005 to help local teacher
organisations rebuild education for teachers and children affected by the
disaster, in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia. In Indonesia, the main disaster area
is located in the Aceh province. (…)
The EI Tsunami Rehabilitation
Programme is being implemented in partnership with the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) and the Building Workers International (BWI) and is part of
EI's Solidarity Programmes. EI has a Solidairy Fund to which member
organisations and the public contribute. The Fund is then deployed to aid
teachers when their lives are under threat. So far, half of the funds collected
for the Tsunami contributed to the immediate humanitarian assistance after the
disaster. The rest of the funds is being deployed to carry out projects under
the Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme. (…)
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=168&theme=solidarityfund&country=indonesia
Rotary
to build youth complex in Banda Aceh
Evanston, Illinois, USA, 26
April — Rotary clubs have launched an ambitious project to build a children’s
village and a youth center in Banda Aceh for orphans of the Tsunami. The
project will include accommodations, medical and education facilities and a
mosque. When completed, the youth center complex will be able to house 150
children and 500 boarding university students at any one time.
Construction began in January
and the opening of the Rotary Youth Centre is planned for December 2006. The
Centre will include a children’s village, called Gampong Anak, which will have
15 homes that each house 10 children and an adult caretaker. The total cost for
the entire project is estimated to be more than US$5 million. To date, more
than $2 million has been provided by Rotary International and Rotary clubs in
Australia. The land is being provided by the Aceh local government. The local
government in Aceh and five universities in Banda are project partners. Rotary
clubs in Australia, key partners of the project, have committed US$1.5 million
to build the children’s village. In addition to construction funding and
expertise, they will provide living expenses and operation of the orphanage for
five years.
“The building design and
construction drawings will be tasked to students from the universities in
Sydney and the five universities in Banda Aceh,” said Ritje Rihatinah, co-chair
of National Committee for the Solidarity South Asia Fund of the Rotary
Foundation, the disaster relief fund set up immediately following the Tsunami.
(…)
http://www.rotary.org/newsroom/presscenter/releases/2006/259.html
Indonesia: launch of the
Tsunami Skills Development and Vocational Training project in the Aceh province
April 25 - As part of the
Global Unions Tsunami Solidarity (GUTS) programme, co-operating partners
including EI launched the Tsunami Skills Development and Vocational Training
project in the Aceh province in Indonesia. A Manpower Training Centre was set
up in this area most affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami, and the centre aims
to train 300 persons over the next 12 months in various skills. The project is
co-ordinated by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Asia -Pacific
Regional Office (ICFTU-APRO) of the International Confederation of Free Trade
Unions (ICFTU), the Global Union Federations (GUF) including Education
International (EI), as well as the Indonesian Trade Union Centre (ITUC). (…)
The GUTS Programme is a joint
effort designed to aid workers and their families whose lives were under threat
after the Tsunami disaster of 26 Dec 2004. Under the programme, several
projects are being developed. Specifically in the Aceh province, the projects
centre around trade union awareness, leadership training, organising, gender
equality, publication of trade union materials, occupational health and safety
(OSH), English language classes, computer skills training etc. A Global Unions
Workers Welfare Centre has also been established in the office building of EI
affiliate PGRI in the city of Banda Aceh.
EI's Tsunami Rehabilitation
Programme is also building 28 fully furbished and equipped schools in
Indonesia, in co-operation with NOVIB (Oxfam Netherlands).
http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=170&theme=solidarityfund&country=indonesia
Pakistan:
ICRC moves to kickstart farm production in quake zone
April 19 - The earthquake on 8
October destroyed many agricultural assets in Pakistan-administered Kashmir such
as tools, seeds and animals.
To help the local economy
recover, the ICRC is distributing seeds and tools by helicopter and by road to
30,000 households. The following items are involved: 750,000 kg of maize seed,
600 kg each of onion, turnip, tomato, carrot, chilli and spinach seed, 3,000 kg
of ladyfinger seed, and 450,000 kg of fertilizer. Each household will also
receive tools for planting and harvesting.
Farming is a pillar of the
traditional way of life in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and the ICRC hopes
that the operation, which should be completed by the end of April, will help
local people become self-sufficient.
Six
months has passed since heavy rains from Hurricane Stan lashed the whole
Central America region, affecting Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico and Nicaragua,
and causing extensive flooding and mudslides. (By Linda Nordahl Jakobsen and Heinrich Ludwig
Stachelscheid)
April 18 - The hurricane
destroyed homes, crops and other property, putting many poor people already at
risk before the hurricane, under further threat. (…) Like doña Ana and her
family some 500 families in the municipalities of Ixchiguán and Tajumulco
(named after Guatemala´s highest volcano Tajumulco with its 4.220m) have lost
their homes. Some of them have found shelter in barns or remaining kitchens, or
now live with their relatives or neighbours.
The local partner, the
Pastoral Social of San Marcos’ Diocese, supported by DanChurchAid and ECHO, has
started to rehouse doña Ana and another 359 families with provisional, but
firmly built transitory homes, while 175 new latrines are being constructed as
well.
The whole project is funded by
the EU Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) with 215.000 Euros and
with 23.889 Euros from DanChurchAid (DCA), a Danish ngo, that has been working
in Guatemala for more than 20 years. (…) All together 4.275 persons in
Ixchiguán and Tajumulco will benefit from new provisional shelters, water and
sanitation. (…)
http://www.dca.dk/sider_paa_hjemmesiden/news_focus/news/rebuilding_after_stan
ADRA
responds to heavy flooding in Ecuador
Silver Spring, Maryland, USA,
April 21 - During the month of March, the Adventist Development and Relief
Agency (ADRA) provided aid for 200 Ecuadorian families devastated by the
intense rainfall that drenched the coastal region during this winter’s rainy
season. The most severely affected areas lie in the coastal provinces of Los
Rios, Manabi, Guayas, El Oro, and Esmeraldas.
An estimated 20,000 families
have been directly or indirectly affected by the evacuations implemented by
Ecuador’s Civil Defense, and the Ecuadorian Red Cross. (…)
ADRA has provided medicines
and medical care, mattresses, bed linens, and mosquito nets. Additionally, 500
schoolchildren living along the hard-hit coastline received urgently-needed
backpacks filled with school supplies from ADRA.
The project, which is valued
at $10,000, is funded in partnership by ADRA International, the ADRA office
located in Ecuador, and the ADRA South American division office located in
Brasilia, Brazil. The distribution was completed in late March. (…)
http://www.interaction.org/newswire/detail.php?id=4985
IHD launches anti-mine
training drive (Turkey)
IHD
draws mine risk map; prepares to educate children and adults on protection.
Results to be shared with MPs. General Secretary Tastan says "Mined
settlements are being ignored. An Action Plan and Law are required".
27 April (Istanbul) - Turkey's
Human Rights Association (IHD) is launching a challenging educational drive
targeting populations of settlements that are under the threat of land mines
and other types of unexploded military ammunition in the country.
IHD General Secretary Nejat
Tastan, interviewed by Bianet, said the first stage of the project consisted of
creating a mine risk map which identifies the dangerous regions and that with
this map, both children and adults in the areas of risk would be offered
education in protective measures. Tastan said they aimed to inform the public
of this project by May 15 and listed its components as:
* Concluding the mine risk map
* Preparing an educational documentary on protection from mines * Delivering
protection education to children and adults in risk areas * Cooperating with
the National Education Ministry to organise for hour-long protection classes in
village schools
* Preparation of a documentary
on the accounts of mine victims (…)
Ankara, 12 April (IRIN) -
Efforts are now under way to clear landmines along Tajikistan's 1,344 km-long
border with Afghanistan, one of the highest mine-risk areas in the former
Soviet republic. (…) The Tajik demining body is planning to demine the area -
which spans some 2,000 sq metres - within three weeks. Tajikistan has the
largest landmines problem in Central Asian, with more than 25,000 sq km of land
to be cleared of mines - an area over half the size of Switzerland. (…)
In 2003, Tajikistan acceded to
the 1997 Ottawa Convention. According to the Convention, Tajikistan is expected
to destroy all anti-personnel landmines and clear its territory of them by 1
April 2010. (…)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/RURI-6NSLFW?OpenDocument
"Building
A Just And Sustainable Peace: Improving Education, Healthcare, the Environment,
and Social Equity," conference in
Hiroshima, August 31 - September 4, 2006
The
Honorary Chair Tadatooshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima, Japan, and President of
Mayors for Peace will open the conference.
On august 6, 1945, the first
atomic bomb used against humanity exploded over Hiroshima. Instantly, most of the city crumbled and
burned. More than 140,000 people perished.
Those who managed to survive suffered from grievous mental and physical
trauma from which many continue to suffer.
Since then, Hiroshima has become a spiritual center for the movement to
ban nuclear weapons. Rising from the
ruins the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum opened, mandated to convey the facts,
contributing to the abolition of nuclear weapons and the realization of genuine
and lasting world peace.
In this spirit all are invited
to participate in "a gathering of global conscience" to galvanize
support for a just and sustainable world peace. Several institutions of higher
learning are collaborating to sponsor this international symposium, Lehman
College, Penn State Abington, The University of the District of Columbia and
United Nations Non Governmental Organizations, International Health Awareness
Network and The Ribbon International.
The conference will provide an open forum to learn from each other, and
together address the challenges we face in achieving global security and universal
human rights. For more information and
application see:
www.lehman.edu/hiroshimaconference
ERD
celebrates Africa Malaria Day 2006
April 25 - Episcopal Relief
and Development (ERD) recognizes Africa Malaria Day 2006. Each year in Africa,
300 million people contract malaria and one in 20 children under the age of
five die from the disease.
This year, ERD will expand its
malaria program in Africa to work in 10 countries and provide education and
training, long-lasting insecticide-treated nets and access to effective drug
therapy to over 300,000 people. The program will expand to 16 countries over
the next three years. ERD's malaria program targets the most vulnerable rural
communities, particularly pregnant women and children under five. In sub
Saharan Africa where malaria is the leading cause of death, ERD is working in
Angola, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia,
Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia to improve the long-term health of
local communities. (…)
In Angola and Zambia, ERD has
been working for the past year on education, community mobilization and
training health care workers. A weeklong series of events hosted by ERD and the
Anglican Church of Zambia will celebrate Africa Malaria Day. On April 27, a
community launch in Lusaka, Zambia, being attended by the Zambian Minister of
Health and other dignitaries, will distribute nets. In Angola, nets are being
distributed in Vige, in the north, and the Cunene Province, in the south. (…)
http://www.interaction.org/newswire/detail.php?id=4994
New
malaria treatment introduced in Somalia
Africa
Malaria Day boost for children and women
Nairobi, 25 April – A new
effective treatment has been introduced in Somalia to curb the incidence of
malaria, one of the leading killers of children and women, UNICEF Somalia
Representative Christian Balslev-Olesen announced today on the occasion of
Africa Malaria Day. An estimated one million children under five years of age
die of malaria annually in Africa. In central and southern Somalia,
malaria is estimated to account for approximately eight per cent of all illnesses
among children under five. The burden is highest along the rivers and
settlements with artificial water reservoirs where there is all-year-round
transmission. “By introducing effective drugs for malaria treatment in Somalia,
UNICEF and its partners will be addressing the challenge faced by children and
women in combating malaria,” said Balslev-Olesen. (…) Africa Malaria Day, which
is commemorated annually on April 25, will mark the launch of ACTs and
diagnostic tests in Somalia. To sensitize the public on the availability
of the new treatment, UNICEF, in collaboration with international and local
NGOs, is organizing public events today in different locations.
http://www.unicef.org/media/media_33593.html
The
ICRC, in cooperation with the Red Cross Society and the Armed Forces' Military
Medical Bureau of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has opened a new
physical rehabilitation centre in Pyongyang for both military and civilian
patients.
April 24 - The Rakrang
Physical Rehabilitation Centre, located in the southern outskirts of Pyongyang
has been constructed over a one year period, and once fully operational will
have a capacity to treat up to 400 patients annually.
Specialized ICRC technical
delegates have provided their expertise for the design of the workshop and the
ICRC has fully equipped it to be able to provide professional, up to date
physical rehabilitation. They continue to train and cooperate with local
orthopaedic technicians and physiotherapy assistants. As part of a longer-term
investment in training, the ICRC is financing a three-year course of five
orthopaedic technicians from the armed forces and the Ministry of Public Health
at the Cambodian School of Prosthetics and Orthotics in Phnom Penh. (…)
ICRC activities in physical
rehabilitation began in 2002 with the establishment of the Songrim orthopaedic
centre in cooperation with the Ministry of Public Health and the Red Cross
Society of DPRK. To date, some 2,300 disabled persons have been fitted with
orthopaedic devices. (…)
Chernobyl: Red Cross Red
Crescent thyroid cancer detection programme can prevent hundreds of premature
deaths
18 April - Twenty years after
Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear accident, the number of cases of thyroid
cancer among those who were children at the time of the disaster continues to
increase markedly. The explosion of the nuclear power plant, on 26 April 1986,
irradiated vast areas of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine.
Scientists predict the rise in cancer cases will continue to peak over the next
five years, while remaining a major health problem for years to come.
Through its Chernobyl
Humanitarian Assistance and Rehabilitation Programme (CHARP), the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is screening rural and
remote populations in the irradiated zone for thyroid cancer, through palpation,
ultrasound examinations and biopsies. (…) Using six mobile diagnostic
laboratories (MDLs) staffed by national Red Cross medical personnel, CHARP
provides medical screening to 90,000 people per year. (…)
Since its inception in 1990,
the CHARP programme has assisted more than three million people, screened
almost 810,000 and provided millions more with medicine, multivitamins, health
information and psychological support. Each year, CHARP ensures some 50,000
children receive multivitamins through the Red Cross Societies of Belarus, the
Russian Federation and Ukraine. Annually it also provides vital psychological
support to some 15,000 people, who suffer from depression and anxiety. (…)
http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/pr06/2606.asp
Bangladesh
launches mass immunization campaign after polio re-emerges