News

Gw/oB news updates and highlights

February 6, 2012

Global Hunger, The Price Of Greed And Lack Of Foresight
Speculation on lands and commodities, the boom of biofuels, agricultural and aid policies set up by rich countries and multilateral organizations and the climate change exacerbates the food crisis all over the world. At the same time, FAO assistant director-general Hiroyuki Konuma warned that "as increased levels of investments are critically important to reduce the long-prevailing deficit of engagements, they have heightened demands and pressures on land and placed tensions on land tenure systems." More at: http://www.socialwatch.org/node/14242

NGO "Crisis" Distracts from Egypt Polls
Many Egyptian and foreign non-governmental organizations that have been helping train new parties and educate voters now find themselves at risk of prosecution, caught up in an investigation into their funding that some are blaming on a budgetary turf war waged by Egyptian cabinet minister Fayza Aboulnaga. The second part of the election process to fill Egypt's first post-uprising parliament begins this week, but voter apathy and an escalating crackdown on US-funded civil society groups mean few may be paying attention. More at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/01/201212933056633694.html

Wall Street Journal Rapped Over Climate Change Stance
The Wall Street Journal has received a dressing down from a large group of leading scientists for promoting retrograde and out-of-date views on climate change. In an opinion piece run by the Journal on Wednesday, nearly 40 scientists, including acknowledged climate change experts, took on the paper for publishing an article disputing the evidence on global warming. The offending article, No Need to Panic About Global Warming, which appeared last week, argued that climate change was a cunning ploy deployed by governments to raise taxes and by non-profit organizations to solicit donations to save the planet. More at: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577193270727472662.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLEThirdBucket

President Vows Not to Deter Wealthy From Giving
President Obama said last week that he wants to ensure that his efforts to force the richest Americans to pay more taxes do not hurt people who make big donations to charity. In his State of the Union address, the president said those making more than $1-million should be required to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. But, he said in an accompanying document, "the administration will work to ensure that this rule is implemented in a way that is equitable, including not disadvantaging individuals who make large charitable contributions." More at: http://philanthropy.com/article/President-Vows-Not-to-Deter/130448/?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

EU Climate Chief: Use Rio+20 to Overhaul Idea of Growth
The world must use a landmark environmental summit this year to change forever the current damaging model of economic growth, Europe's climate chief has warned, or face future crises as severe as the one currently enveloping the eurozone. "The 21st century must have a more intelligent growth model, or else it's really difficult to see how we feed 7 billion people now and 9 billion people [by 2050]," said Connie Hedegaard. "Resources were cheap before, but it seems we are in for a period where resources become more and more expensive. Oil is coming up in price, so many other commodities are coming up in price. Food prices are rising. We need to deal with this." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/rio-20-gdp-connie-hedegaard

January 30, 2012

Fighting for the Rights of Child Soldiers
In 2011, Somalia and the Central African Republic became the latest countries to commit to end the use of child soldiers – a move seen as "encouraging" by the UN, albeit with the proviso that the situation in both countries remains volatile. All sides to the Somali conflict have reportedly been recruiting children. An official working with an NGO that monitors the state of children in the country said that although the exact number of child soldiers was unknown, his group suspected between 2,000 and 3,000 children were in different armed groups. "Despite some examples of progress, the bigger picture remains essentially unaltered: the recruitment and use of boys and girls by armed groups remains widespread," according to the latest report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers. More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94657

With Prevalence of Nanomaterials Rising, Panel Urges Review of Risks
Tiny substances called nanomaterials have moved into the marketplace over the last decade, in products as varied as cosmetics, clothing and paint. But not enough is known about their potential health and environmental risks, which should be studied further, an expert panel of the National Academy of Sciences said last week. Researchers say these products and others can be ingested, inhaled or possibly absorbed through the skin. And they can seep into the environment during manufacturing or disposal.
More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/science/nanomaterials-effects-on-health-and-environment-unclear-panel-says.html

East Africa's Drought: The Avoidable Disaster
The deaths of tens of thousands of people during the drought in east Africa could have been avoided if the international community, donor governments and humanitarian agencies had responded earlier and more swiftly to clear warning signs that a disaster was in the making, according to a new report. The authors of the report, published by Save the Children and Oxfam, suggest current emergency response systems, which they believe to be seriously flawed, will soon be tested again as new humanitarian crises loom in west Africa and the Sahel, where growing food shortages are reported. "Early warning systems in the Sahel region show that overall cereal production is 25% lower than the previous year and food prices are 40% higher than the five-year average. The last food crisis in the region, in 2010, affected 10 million people," the report warns. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/18/east-africa-drought-disaster-report

Only Civil Society Can Save Rio+20, Say Activists
Large-scale social mobilization, including street protests and parallel activities, is the only thing can save the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) from ending in nothing but frustration, according to activists and analysts. A repeat of the failure of recent conferences to negotiate an international climate change pact seems inevitable, said Cândido Grzybowski, the director general of the Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analysis (IBASE) and one of the founders of the World Social Forum. Only strong pressure from civil society as a "unified voice" at parallel events to Rio+20 can potentially force clearer commitments out of the world's governments to tackle global imbalances, beginning with "financial hegemony", Grzybowski said. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106530

The Constant Gardeners: A New Crop of City Farmers Comes of Age in Africa
Three years ago, for the first time in human history, the number of people living in cities worldwide outnumbered those living in rural areas, and the United Nations projects that by 2050, up to 65 percent of the global population will be urbanized. The rate of urban migration is particularly high in sub-Saharan Africa, where 15 million people abandon the countryside every year to move to the cities. The good news is that urban gardens are making a difference. In cities across the developing the poor make use of everything from used grain sacks to old tires for planting and cultivating micro-farms. More at: http://www.onearth.org/article/the-constant-gardeners?page=1

January 23, 2012

Addressing Climate Change as a Human Rights Issue: An Interview with Mary Robinson
Twenty years after the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the promise of sustainable development will be revisited again at the 2012 Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development next June. Joining heads of state and other stakeholders at the conference aimed at securing a renewed political commitment for sustainable development will be Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and president of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice. Robinson discusses climate change, how it affects the lives of the world's most vulnerable people - especially women, in countries all over Africa - and steps being taken to make climate change a human rights issue. More at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201201150024.html

Sri Lanka: Tea Rich but Nutrient Poor
Tea in Sri Lanka is one of the country's biggest cash crops, but families working on tea estates are among the nation's poorest in terms of earnings as well as nutrition, say experts who back regional approaches to tackle nutrition disparity. One in every five children younger than five is malnourished nationwide and one in six newborns has a low birth weight, one cause of infant deaths, according to a recent study from the Colombo-based Institute of Policy Studies (IPS). But the situation is worse for children of tea estate workers, with one in three classified as underweight and 40 percent of babies born with too-low weight. More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94685

Social Media Meets 21st Century Statecraft in Latin America
A U.S. Senate report released in October 2011 urging the US government to expand the use of social media as a foreign policy tool in Latin America offers another warning for activists seduced by the idea of technology and social media as an indispensable tool for social change. While the positive contributions of technology to social movements and uprisings have been amply noted, if not overstated, more attention needs to be paid to the intrinsic dangers looming in the co-optation of this technology-driven networking, specifically by Washington, but by other repressive governments as well. More at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/international-archives-60/3410-decline-friend-request-social-media-meets-21st-century-statecraft-in-latin-america

2012: "The Year of Crisis" in the Middle East
If you thought 2011 was a historic year for the Middle East, 2012 is likely to be even more unpredictable. The region was swept up by mass demonstrations that forced four dictators out of power, threatened the rule of several others, and created huge humanitarian needs. But analysts say the region may get even hotter in the coming months, with serious consequences for security, displacement, livelihoods and access to food and water. "2012 is going to be the year of crisis," said Riad Kahwaji, founder and chief executive officer of the Dubai-based Institute for Near East & Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA). More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=94633

Nonprofits Tell State Department, USAID Proposed Vetting System Harmful
Ineffective and problematic is how several nonprofits and experts describe USAID's proposed Partner Vetting System in comments filed at the Department of State and at USAID. Nonprofits are actively objecting this burdensome and unwarranted program in which thousands of nonprofit workers and local partners would have to be screened against secret government databases. In September 2011, the agencies presented parts of a proposed pilot program for NGOs in five countries, but have not yet announced further details. If implemented, the pilot would create hazards for aid workers, prevent some potential grantees from applying for funds, and will hamper the efforts of others to deliver services and programs that serve the interests of the United States. More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/news/Nonprofits_Tell_State_and_USAID_PVS_Harmful

January 17, 2012

The African National Congress Turns 100
With its elder statesman, Nelson Mandela, 93, too frail to attend, its leadership splintered into feuding factions that threaten its ability to govern, and deep disillusionment among its supporters, Africa's oldest and most successful liberation movement sought to reconnect to its history, rooted in its struggle against white minority rule. Tens of thousands of party supporters streamed into a 45,000-seat soccer stadium on Sunday, singing and dancing under a blazing sun in the central South African city of Bloemfontein, where the forerunner of the A.N.C. was founded in a Methodist church a century ago. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/world/africa/the-african-national-congress-turns-100.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=african%20national%20congress&st=cse

The Role of Water – The Need for Collective Thinking for Rio+20
During World Water Day last year, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon commented "water problems will figure prominently at the forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, in 2012 – Rio+20." Judging by the number of Zero Draft submissions that highlight water, it's not only Ban Ki-Moon who has ambitions to tackle water issues in next year in June at the Rio+20 summit: there are 5,058 occurrences in 408 submissions. With six months to go, it's vital we get our collective thinking right on water. Water is an essential part of sustainable development; a fundamental resource that underpins both life and livelihoods. Yet environmental stresses such as water insecurity and scarcity affect a large proportion of the world's population and are felt most prominently by poor people and communities. More at: http://www.stakeholderforum.org/sf/outreach/index.php/cop17day13home/584-cop17day13item7

Twitter Data Accurately Tracked Haiti Cholera Outbreak
The informal information source Twitter was yielding data that would have been a quicker way of detecting and tracking the deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti than traditional methods, according to a study. The study found that online social media and news feeds were faster than, and broadly as accurate as, the official records at detecting the start and early progress of the epidemic, which hit Haiti after the earthquake in January 2010 and has killed more than 6,500 people. Rumi Chunara, a research fellow at HealthMap and Harvard Medical School in the US, and lead author of the study, emphasized that these informal reports were available online up to two weeks before official government reports, which had to go through the traditional chain-of-command structure of public health. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jan/12/haiti-twitter-tracked-cholera-outbreak

How to Occupy the World
The Occupy movement has been notably absent outside of North America and Europe. Not for want of trying, of course: in southern Africa, small groups of committed activists tried to instigate occupations in a few key regional cities, but without much success. In South Africa, a society divided by violent inequalities that proceed directly from neo-liberal policy, Occupy managed to attract only a few dozen souls – a poor showing for a country known for one of the highest protest rates in the world. What accounts for the failure of Occupy to capture the imagination of the global South, which comprises precisely the people whose lives have been most brutally affected by the recent global financial crisis? And in what sense can Occupy claim to be a world revolution if it leaves out – and in some cases even alienates – the vast, non-white majority of humanity? More at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/12/16

Thousands "Forcibly Relocated" in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government is forcibly moving tens of thousands of people in the remote western Gambella region, with villagers being told that their resettlement is connected to the leasing of large tracts of land for commercial agriculture, according to Human Rights Watch. The HRW report said the population transfers under the "villagisation" program are being carried out with little consultation or compensation. People are being moved to new villages that have inadequate food and lack health and education facilities, said HRW. Relocations have been marked by threats, assaults and arbitrary arrest for those who resist the move. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jan/17/ethiopia-relocation-programme-report

January 9, 2012

Egypt's Military Rulers Clamp Down on Civil Society
Raids on the Cairo offices of civil society organizations accused of receiving unauthorized foreign funds are part of a wider campaign by Egypt's ruling military council to silence its critics, say rights groups. "The goal of this campaign is clear to everyone, which is gagging us from exposing the violations and oppressive practices which are still being committed until this moment," the Arab Network for Human Rights (ANHRI) said in a statement. David Kramer, president of Freedom House, described the raids as "an escalation of repression unheard of even during the Mubarak regime." More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106371

India Plans Science Policy to Help Tackle Poverty and Development
India will press science and technology into serving a national policy of more inclusive, sustainable and rapid growth for its people. Addressing the 99th Indian Science Congress, the country's largest annual gathering of scientists, this week, the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, said the occasion demanded looking anew at the role of science in a country "grappling with the challenges of poverty and development." Singh emphasized that "the overriding objective of a comprehensive and well-considered policy for science, technology and innovation should be to support the national objective of faster, sustainable and inclusive development." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jan/04/india-science-policy-tackle-poverty

EU Slams "Deplorable" DRC Election Results
The European Union's election observation mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo added its voice to mounting criticism of polls that handed President Joseph Kabila a new five-year term. The Independent National Electoral Commission last month declared Kabila the winner of the November 28 vote, provoking violent protests and looting in the capital and calls from opposition leaders for the international community to intervene. The EU's observer mission joined the Carter Center and other election monitors in raising serious concern about problems in the vote count and the loss of huge numbers of ballots. "The European Union's electoral observation mission deplores the lack of transparency and irregularities in the collection, compilation and publication of the results," it said in a statement. More at: http://mg.co.za/article/2011-12-14-eu-discounts-chaotic-drc-election-results/

Sahel's Looming Food Crisis Gets Swift Response But No Long-Term Answers
Governments in the Sahel and international relief agencies have been quick off the mark in acknowledging a looming food crisis. Last October, the government in drought-hit Niger Ð where almost 1 million people are in urgent need of food after a poor harvest Ð drafted a response plan, focusing on pastoralists, farmers and stocks, in anticipation of a crisis later this year. Part of the reason for the swift response is a change of government in Niger, ranked 186th out of 187 countries in the human development index. The swift response contrasts sharply with the tardy response to major droughts in the region in 2005 and 2010. A report from the Sahel working group, consisting of Christian Aid, Care, Oxfam GB and other NGOs, described the international response to the 2010 crisis as "too little, too late." Encouraging as it is, the early response cannot mask the increasing frequency of droughts in the Sahel, which means communities are lurching from crisis to crisis with little time to recover from previous shocks. And things are not going to get better. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2012/jan/09/sahel-looming-food-crisis?intcmp=122

Rio+20: It's Time for Sustainable Development
In June 2012, two decades after the groundbreaking Earth summit, which put climate change and biological diversity on the global political agenda, attention will turn once again to Rio de Janeiro for the UN conference on sustainable development, or Rio+20. But the biggest environmental summit in 20 years is already proving controversial. The conference is a vital chance to renew political commitment for sustainable development at a time when urgent action must be taken to divert humanity from disaster. However, some commentators already believe it will be all talk and no binding action. The event's focus on the "green economy" is deeply dividing opinion. Some see the label as an opportunity to hitch global financial systems firmly to sustainable development goals. Others see it as an open invitation for the proliferation of "greenwash" initiatives, which continue to put profit before people and planet. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/jan/03/time-for-sustainable-development-at-rio

December 19, 2011

Human Rights Agenda Has Expanded in Latin America
Although the public identifies human rights organizations in Latin America with resistance to the dictatorships of the 1970s and 1980s, for years now these groups have broadened their concerns to encompass environmental and other issues. Environmental conflicts over access to land and the use of natural resources, triggered by the polluting activities of oil or mining companies or by the expansion of large-scale agriculture at the expense of woodlands, are now among the top priorities of activists. Also high up on the agenda of human rights defenders are violations of the rights of indigenous people, violence against women, and the rights of workers, immigrants and members of sexual minorities. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106130

Africa Affected by the Arab Spring?
The Arab awakening, with its inspiring uprisings and historic elections (most recently in Tunisia and Egypt), has been seen by citizens in other African countries as a model of how to instigate change. So far, it has triggered public demands for similar reforms from several African countries, such as Senegal, Malawi, Uganda and Swaziland. At the same time, governments throughout Africa are becoming increasingly apprehensive about the influence the North African revolutions may have on their countries. In the immediate aftermath of the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings, for example, the government of Zimbabwe arrested close to 45 activists and initially charged them with treason for watching videos on the revolutions in Egypt and discussing the implications of these events for Africans. More at: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30791&lan=en&sp=0

Afghan Civil Society Calls for Just Peace
Bonn's Beethoven Hall usually hosts violin, cello and bass players. From December 2-3 the stage supported Afghan engineers, university professors, media professionals and leaders from human rights, women's rights and Afghan NGOs harmonizing their voices at the Afghan Civil Society Forum. These Afghan calls for a just peace contrasted with tragic news from Afghanistan of horrific bombings targeting Shia believers, as well as the US air strike on Pakistani soldiers and the subsequent withdrawal of Pakistan from the December Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, attended by members of the international community to talk about the country's future. More at: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=30788&lan=en&sp=0

Indigenous Peoples Call for Carbon Market Moratorium
A new coalition of indigenous peoples and local communities called for a moratorium on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) programs, a key part of the negotiations for a new international climate treaty that took place over the last two weeks in South Africa. The new Global Alliance of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities against REDD and for Life issued a statement stating that based on "in-depth investigations, a growing number of recent reports provide evidence that indigenous peoples are being subjected to violations of their rights as a result of the implementation of REDD+-type programs and policies." More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106187

No Protection for Activists in Mexico
Gabriel Echeverr’a de Jesœs, 20, and Jorge Alexis Herrera, 21, paid a high price for taking part in student protests in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero: they were killed when police tried to break up their roadblock. After the December 12th police crackdown on the students, who were calling for funding for increased enrolment and better conditions at a rural teachers college, the bodies of the two students were left lying on the highway that runs from Chilpancingo to Acapulco in Guerrero, one of the three poorest states in Mexico. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106222

December 12, 2011

Russian Protests Offer Unusual Challenge to Political Order
An extraordinary political refashioning is underway in Russia as protesters galvanized by widely reported electoral fraud are demanding that their government obey the law. What began in the minds of individual Russians is now playing out on public squares where crowds of protesters have confronted swarms of police. Since last Sunday's elections, won by the ruling United Russia party with a reported total of just under 50 percent of the vote, a sense of disgust that had been gathering weight has found a public voice. Unsanctioned — illegal — protests have broken out in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don and elsewhere of a size rarely seen in Vladi–mir Putin's dozen years in power. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/gorbachev-calls-for-nullifying-elections-as-protests-continue-in-moscow/2011/12/07/gIQAyWnMcO_story.html

Nigerian Bill Criminalizes More Than Just Gay People
The Nigerian Same Sex Marriage (Prohibition) Bill, which must pass the House of Representatives and be signed by the president before becoming law, would diminish the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered Nigerians even further, as banning same-sex marriages and civil unions is just the tip of the iceberg. "Any person who registers, operates or participates in gay clubs, societies and organization, or directly or indirectly make public show of same sex amorous relationship in Nigeria" is liable to be imprisoned for 10 years, the bill says. More at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106131

Activists Call U.S. Inaction on Climate "Criminal"
The United States' delegation at the 17th annual Conference of the Parties on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa has come under heavy fire from civil society leaders and activists around the globe for standing in the way of real solutions to climate change. "We are mobilizing to denounce quick fix solutions being promoted by governments and corporations Ð like carbon markets, REDD++, and geo-engineering Ð all of which are just creative ways for corporations to continue profiting at the expense of the people and Mother Earth," said Dena Hoff, a Montana-based member of the National Family Farm Coalition. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106086

NGOs: Is the Dream Over?
After a long decade of growth and international recognition of the role of non-governmental organizations in fostering democracy, advancing social justice and participating in public policies, just to name a few, there are signs that the times are changing. Are Brazil and Israel just the tipping point of a broader phenomenon or isolated cases? More at: http://philanthropynews.alliancemagazine.org/ngos-is-the-dream-over/

Fragile Relief Efforts in Somalia Threatened by Aid Ban
A ban on 16 aid agencies from operating in southern Somalia by al-Shabaab must be lifted, said the head UN official for the country. UN humanitarian coordinator Mark Bowden also warned that intensified fighting in Somalia could have dire consequences for civilians trapped in territory controlled by the terrorist group. In July, the UN declared a famine in central and southern Somalia with at least 2 million people at risk of starvation. More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/news/Fragile_Somalia_Aid_Ban

December 5, 2011

Egyptian Elections May Give Islamist Groups Dominant Role in Parliament
Egyptians in Cairo, Alexandria and seven other provinces began voting today in run-offs for the first stage of an election that may give Islamist groups the dominant role in parliament. Partial results show the Muslim Brotherhood's party secured 37 percent of valid ballots cast, followed by the Salafi Nour party with at least 24 percent. While the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is widely predicted to secure the largest share of seats in parliament, the early success of the conservative Nour has surprised some election observers. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/egyptian-elections-may-give-islamist-groups-dominant-role-in-parliament/2011/12/05/gIQASt0wVO_story.html

Environmental Groups Warn Clinton about Risks of U.S. Refusal to Negotiate Carbon Emissions
U.S. refusal to negotiate legally-binding carbon emissions cuts risks derailing a UN summit convened to tackle climate change, environmental groups have warned in a letter to Hillary Clinton. The letter, signed by 16 different organizations and sent to the Secretary of State, said that while President Barack Obama pledged in November 2008 to "engage vigorously in these negotiations, and help lead the world toward a new era of global co-operation on climate change," he had failed to deliver on that pledge. The letter claimed, America is fast becoming seen as a "major obstacle" to progress. Signatories included Greenpeace USA, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Oxfam America, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Wildlife Fund. More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8926101/Durban-Climate-Change-Conference-US-refusal-to-negotiate-carbon-emissions-cuts-risks-derailing-summit.html

South African Civil Society Voices Skepticism about COP17 Talks
The United Nations climate talks got under way in Durban last week amid much skepticism from civil society. While the delegates and officials battle to reach consensus, civil society groups are mobilizing to apply pressure in the hopes of achieving a just, fair and legally binding agreement. One such movement is Occupy COP17. Members of NGOs and concerned citizens met in an open area between busy city streets close to the Durban International Convention Center where the talks are taking place. More at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201111300356.html

Malaysia Passes Street Protest Ban as Lawyers March
The Malaysian parliament has passed a ban on street protests, despite a rally against the bill by crowds of lawyers. The move comes almost five months after Malaysians staged the biggest street rally against the government in recent years, calling for electoral reform. Some 500 lawyers marched in the capital ahead of the vote. They chanted "freedom to assembly" and "freedom to the people", before police stopped most of them from entering the complex. They say the new laws - which do allow gatherings in designated places like stadiums and public halls - are more repressive than the old ones. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15933269

Calling All Boomers: Don't Start More Nonprofits
Many people probably rejoiced when they heard about a study released last week showing that 12 million baby boomers want to start their own nonprofit or socially oriented business over the next decade. But it's hard to imagine those findings cheered many people who understand the nonprofit world. More than a million nonprofit groups already exist, and plenty of for-profit ventures are dedicated in part to providing some social benefit. Adding millions more of such entities is not good for this nation. As the philanthropy consultant Christopher Harris observed, our society again needs activists, not entrepreneurs. We need nonprofit organizations and foundations willing to challenge the fact that right now America's celebrated social mobility is only downward. More at: http://philanthropy.com/article/Calling-All-Boomers-Don-t/129839/?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

November 28, 2011

Vulnerable Countries Consider "Occupying" Durban Talks
Diplomats from some developing countries may "occupy" the UN climate negotiations that begin on Monday in Durban by staging sit-ins and boycotts over the lack of urgency in the talks. The move follows a call by the former president of Costa Rica for vulnerable countries to refuse to leave the talks until "substantial" progress has been made. "I have called on all vulnerable countries to 'occupy' Durban. We need an expression of solidarity by the delegations of those countries that are most affected by climate change, who go from one meeting to the next without getting responses on the issues that need to be dealt with," said JosŽ Mar’a Figueres. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/24/climate-change-occupy-durban-talks

Nigeria "Same Gender" Marriage Ban Would Attack Rights
The bill before Nigeria's National Assembly to ban "same gender marriage" would threaten all Nigerians' rights, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission said last week. The bill, under consideration for the third time in five years, would expand Nigeria's already draconian punishments for consensual same-sex conduct and set a precedent that would threaten all Nigerians' rights to privacy, equality, free expression, association, and to be free from discrimination, the groups said. More at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201111020868.html

ICTs: A Double-edged Sword For Women Human Rights Defenders
According to Jennifer Radloff of the Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking Support Program, "The ubiquity of ICTs (Information and Communications Technologies) and how WHRD (Women Human Rights Defenders) use the tools means that boundaries between the online and offline world are often blurred as we use ICTs so frequently and intuitively." But she also points out that "WHRDs are not a homogenous group and access, comfort, age, geographic location, familiarity, trust, language, resources, (dis)ability all play a part in potentially excluding those WHRDs without easy access to ICTs. In order not to unconsciously disrupt and tear the threads and experiences that bind us, we should acknowledge the limits of ICTs, as well as the built-in power dynamics. More at: http://awid.org/News-Analysis/Friday-Files/ICTs-A-double-edged-sword-for-Women-Human-Rights-Defenders

Al Shabaab Rebels Ban Some Aid Groups in Somalia
Al Shabaab rebels banned some U.N. and international aid agencies from working in Somalia on Monday and began seizing and looting some of their offices in southern and central areas of the country, the Islamist group and aid sources said. The move comes as aid groups battle to stem a famine that has left a quarter of a million Somalis in danger of starvation and Kenyan, Somali and Ethiopian forces fight the al-Qaeda-inspired rebels in the south and center of the country. Al-Shabaab, which controls large areas of the anarchic Horn of Africa country, said it had "decided to permanently revoke the permissions of the following organizations to operate inside Somalia." More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/28/us-somalia-aid-idUSTRE7AR0N720111128

Alarm as Corporate Giants Target Developing Countries
Diabetes, obesity and heart disease rates are soaring in developing countries, as multinationals find new ways of selling processed food to the poor. The companies say they are finding innovative ways to give isolated people the kind of choices the rich have enjoyed for years and are providing valuable jobs and incomes to some of the most marginalized. But health campaigners are raising the alarm. They fear the arrival of highly processed food and drink is also a vector for the lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and alcoholism, which are increasing at unprecedented rates in developing countries. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/23/ corporate-giants-target-developing-countries

November 21, 2011

Ceasefire in the War on Drugs?
President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, the country that has suffered even more than Mexico from the drug wars, is an honest and serious man. He is also very brave, because any political leader who advocates the legalization of narcotic drugs will become a prime target of the prohibition industry. He has chosen to do it anyway. "We are basically still thinking within the same framework as we have done for the past forty years," said in a recent interview in Bogota. "A new approach should try and take away the violent profit that comes with drug trafficking. . . . If that means legalizing [drugs], then I will welcome it." More at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/11/18

Rich Nations "Give Up" on New Climate Treaty until 2020
Governments of the world's richest countries have given up on forging a new treaty on climate change to take effect this decade, with potentially disastrous consequences for the environment through global warming. Ahead of critical talks starting next week, most of the world's leading economies now privately admit that no new global climate agreement will be reached before 2016 at the earliest, and that even if it were negotiated by then, they would stipulate it could not come into force until 2020. The eight-year delay is the worst contemplated by world governments during 20 years of tortuous negotiations on greenhouse gas emissions, and comes despite intensifying warnings from scientists and economists about the rapidly increasing dangers of putting off prompt action. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/20/rich-nations-give-up-climate-treaty

Donors Still Far from Transparent
When nations gather in Busan, South Korea, for the fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, transparency will be up for discussion. A study by campaign group Publish What You Fund finds that most international aid donors are still not open enough about their aid programs, and some offer no information at all. The aid watchdog checked on whether donors publish information about their budgets, their allocation and procurement policies, or audit reports on their own performance. And what about their country programs? Did they publish their strategies, projected budgets, evaluations and results? More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94216

How Citizen Journalism Is Reshaping Media and Democracy
The global media market is dominated by roughly nine or ten transnational corporations. However, with the advent of social media and blogging, the role of the citizen journalist is becoming more valuable than ever. S/he has the opportunity to present a unique perspective Ñ to breathe fresh air into a society herded by mainstream media. The citizen journalist provides invaluable information that can democratize media, as well as nations. For instance, the arrest of 29-year-old Egyptian blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah of Manalaa.net prompted Cairo activists to demand his release. More at: http://mashable.com/2011/11/10/citizen-journalism-democracy/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter

November 14, 2011

Haitian Cholera Victims Seek Reparations from U.N.
More than 5,000 Haitian cholera victims are seeking compensation, action and an apology from the U.N. and the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) for the ongoing epidemic that has killed more than 6,600 Haitians and sickened more than 476,000 since October 2010. The victims' petition alleges that the U.N. and MINUSTAH are liable for hundreds of millions of dollars for failing to screen and treat peacekeeping soldiers arriving from Southeast Asian countries experiencing cholera epidemics, dumping untreated waste from a U.N. base directly into Haiti's longest and most important river, the Artibonite, and failing to respond adequately to the epidemic. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105765

Aid Agencies Warn of Lack of Funds for Pakistan Flood Relief
Flood relief programs in Pakistan could be forced to close in the next couple of months because of a lack of funds, aid agencies warned last week. Oxfam, Save the Children, Care and other programs could be cut back in the new year unless the donor community increases its response to flooding that has hit the Sindh region since August. "People were not aware of the scale of the disaster," said David Wright, Pakistan country director for Save the Children. He called the floods a "mega disaster", on the scale of the southeast Asian tsunami in 2004 in terms of the destruction of livelihoods and homes and basic infrastructure, although without the high number of fatalities. "The DEC [disaster emergency committee] appeal was successful last year. It does come down to lack of coverage." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/09/aid-agencies-lack-funds-pakistan-floods

Contraceptive Used in Africa May Double Risk of H.I.V.
The most popular contraceptive for women in eastern and southern Africa, a hormone shot given every three months, appears to double the risk the women will become infected with H.I.V., according to a large study published last week. And when it is used by H.I.V.-positive women, their male partners are twice as likely to become infected than if the women had used no contraception. The findings potentially present an alarming quandary for women in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of them suffer injuries, bleeding, infections and even death in childbirth from unintended pregnancies. Finding affordable and convenient contraceptives is a pressing goal for international health authorities. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/health/04hiv.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

"Dramatic Developments," But Challenges Ahead for Myanmar
Much of the reaction to reforms introduced since President Thein Sein's inauguration in March 2011 reflects hope that the country can break from a heavy-handed authoritarian past involving human rights abuses that make it the target of economic sanctions. The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, described the dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the government as "very consequential", adding it was "also undeniably the case that there are dramatic developments under way". More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94149

Liberia's Presidential Runoff Takes Place Amid Confusion Over Call for Boycott
President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called on Liberians to "nurture" the peace they are experiencing after two decades of conflict by turning out to vote in Tuesday's presidential runoff. The 73-year-old incumbent, who won the first round with 44% of the vote, faces challenger Winston Tubman, who has asked his supporters to boycott Tuesday's poll. Observers speculate that Tubman is seeking to delay voting beyond the constitutionally mandated schedule so he can argue that the current administration is illegitimate and can press for a government of "national inclusion" in which he would have a role. The Economic Community of West Africa States (Ecowas), the 16-nation regional grouping of which Liberia is a member, called Tubman's decision "unfortunate", saying, "it is intended to undermine the election and the democratic process that Liberians are striving hard to consolidate." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/08/liberia-presidential-election-sirleaf

November 7, 2011

Rio Earth Summit Postponed Because of Diamond Jubilee for England's Queen
The Rio+20 summit was scheduled for June 4-6, 2012, but has been moved to June 20-22 to avoid jeopardizing the attendance of 54 Commonwealth leaders, many of whom plan on attending Elizabeth II's 60th anniversary as Queen of England. Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff indicated at the G20 meeting in Cannes on Friday that the summit would be postponed. Asian governments also asked for the new date following the next G20 summit which is to be held June 18th in Mexico. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/07/rio-earth-summit-postponed-queen-jubilee

Occupy Wall Street: Lessons from South African Civil Society
As Occupy Wall Street has gained momentum, international commentary has grappled - mostly unsuccessfully - with the comparative context of the increasingly global social movement. Seeking to articulate the nature of the movement's organizing strategy, tactics, messaging, and impact, OWS observers have drawn from a variety of historical and contemporary case studies. A comparative perspective from African civil society illuminates the shortcomings of OWS' strategic definition of social change. Not the romanticized, clichŽd civil society of pre-colonial Africa, though; rather, the dynamic, emerging Africa, seven of whose GDP-growth percentages top The Economist's "fastest-growing economies" list. More at: http://www.policymic.com/articles/2229/occupy-wall-street-lessons-from-south-african-civil-society

Regulating the Rush for Land
The adoption of international guidelines to regulate so-called land grabs has been pushed to next year after negotiators failed to agree on conditions for large-scale land investments and enforcement. More and more investors have flocked to the developing world over the past decade, snapping up huge tracts of farmland. Investment has intensified since the 2008 food and fuel price crisis. The guidelines, in the making for several years, were sparked by fears that a "land rush" is leading to hunger, conflict and human rights abuses. Once in place, the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security guidelines will be meant to protect people, mainly in poor countries such as Sierra Leone, from "land grabbing". More at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201110311915.html

Former General Wins in Guatemala; Ortega Victor in Nicaragua
A tough-talking former army general who promises an iron-fisted stance against drug mafias and crime gangs has won election as the next president of Guatemala, while the incumbent president was headed toward a decisive win in Nicaragua -- despite constitutional prohibitions against reelection. Otto Perez Molina, an ex-chief of military intelligence and a graduate of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning in Georgia, took 54 percent of the vote in Guatemala. In early results in Nicaragua, President and Sandinista revolutionary leader Daniel Ortega had won 64 percent of the ballots cast. Nicaragua's Constitution bars leaders from serving consecutive terms and limits them two terms. But Nicaragua's Supreme Court, which Ortega controls by appointments, ruled in 2009 that these limits violated human rights. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/americas/former-general-wins-in-guatemala-ortega-victor-in-nicaragua/2011/11/07/gIQA7PfdvM_story.html

Cholera in Haiti: Still an Emergency
It is now a year since the first cholera cases emerged in Haiti, and encouraging statistics have caused some donor agencies to declare the emergency phase over. But this remains an emergency that has only temporarily abated. If funding is cut and services closed, infection rates will rise and the relatively low fatality rates that have been achieved thanks to NGO interventions will quickly increase. Cholera thrives where water systems are weak and sanitation poor. A history of poverty, natural disaster, neglected public water and sanitation systems, and under-resourced health infrastructure has magnified the impact of cholera in Haiti. It is estimated that 80% of Haitians do not have access to latrines and more than half of the population lacks access to safe drinking water. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/nov/07/haiti-cholera-still-emergency-donors

October 31, 2011

Durban May Be Last Chance to Stabilize Climate Under Two Degrees
The window to limit global warming to less than two degrees Celsius is closing so fast it can be measured in months, a new scientific analysis revealed Sunday. Without putting the brakes on carbon emissions very soon, large parts of Africa, most of Russia and northern China will be two degrees warmer in less than 10 years. Canada and Alaska will soon follow, the regional study shows. "If one is sincerely committed to limit global temperature increase to below two degrees, committing to a global peak emission level and peak year makes sense from a science perspective," said Joeri Rogelj of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Zurich, who headed the analysis published Sunday in the journal Nature Climate Change. More at: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/24-8

Social Change a Priority for Americans
Almost all Americans made an effort to effect positive social change last year, and most say it is important to them personally to be socially engaged, a new study says. More than nine in 10 respondents say they have taken action to create social change within the last year, and over three-quarters say such involvement is personally meaningful, according to an online survey of more than 2,100 adults conducted by Walden University and Harris Interactive. The survey "affirms the power one individual has to make a profound difference in his or her local community and around the world," Jonathan Kaplan, president of Walden University, says in a statement. More at: http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/news/top-stories/social-change-priority-americans? utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Social+change+a+priority+for+ Americans&utm_content=Social+change+a+priority+for+Americans&utm_campaign=News+ Briefing%3A+Social+Change+%2B+Giving+in+Canada+%2B+More

Development vs. Human Rights: Where Do We Draw the Line?
Government "development" schemes don't always take into account the interests of the people affected by them. How do we decide whether or not the "right to development" should take precedence over human and people's rights. Recently, the Tanzanian government, motivating for the $480 million 800km "Superhighway" through the Serengeti National Park, learned the hard way that the architecture of development has to be placed in the context of rights talk, extending to the panoply of ratified HPR instruments – national, regional, continent-wide, and even international. Failure to do so arguably pits justiciable rights, defined and enforced by various layers of the law, against notions of "one-size-fits-all" development. More at: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/77256

Hunger Without Borders and Discriminatory Aid Policies
Food insecurity is a growing problem in the world, with the famine in the Horn of Africa being the most recent and tragic example. International nongovernmental organizations and donors are responding to this crisis as best as they can. However, rules governing what aid can be delivered to what geographical area has more to do with U.S. national security and foreign policy goals than it does with need. While these rules were not drafted with the intent of discriminating against hungry people trapped in conflict zones, they have that effect. More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/node/654

Egypt's NGOs Face Tough Post-Revolution Reality
Egyptian NGOs hoping for greater freedoms and more space to operate after the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government say they have encountered just the opposite: an unprecedented clampdown by the post-revolution military rulers. "Following Egypt's historic protests calling for basic political freedoms, it is deeply disturbing that the Egyptian military has targeted Egypt's democracy and human rights community in ways not even dared during Mubarak's despotic rule," wrote Stephen McInerney, executive director of the Washington-based Project on Middle East Democracy. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/oct/27/egypt-ngos-clampdown-military-rulers

October 24, 2011

Women and the Arab Awakening: Now is the Time
"All of us were there, throwing stones, moving dead bodies. We did everything. There was no difference between men and women." So says Asmaa Mahfouz, an Egyptian activist, remembering the protests that felled Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of the year. Though some men told her to get out of the way, others held up umbrellas to protect her. Amid the loud calls for democracy in the early days of the uprisings, little was said specifically about women's rights. But now that constitutions are being rewritten, many women in Egypt and Tunisia, whose revolutions are most advanced, hope to push their own liberation. More at: http://www.economist.com/node/21532256

Brazil Judge Halts Work On Belo Monte Amazon Dam
A judge in Brazil has ordered a halt to construction of a multi-billion-dollar dam project in the Amazon region. Judge Carlos Castro Martins barred any work that would interfere with the natural flow of the Xingu river. He ruled in favor of a fisheries group, which argued that the Belo Monte dam would affect local fish stocks and could harm indigenous families who make a living from fishing. Judge Martins barred the Norte Energia company behind the project from "building a port, using explosives, installing dikes, building canals and any other infrastructure work that would interfere with the natural flow of the Xingu river, thereby affecting local fish stocks." More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15102520

South Africa: Deportations of Zimbabwean Migrants Set to Resume
After months of rumor and speculation, South Africa's Department of Home Affairs appears to have quietly lifted a moratorium on deportations of undocumented Zimbabweans who did not apply for legal status through the Zimbabwe Documentation Process (ZDP). "This is not honest, the way they've done it," said Braam Hanekom of People Against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP), a Cape Town-based refugee rights NGO. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1-1.5 million Zimbabwean migrants are living in South Africa, but only 275,000 Zimbabweans had applied to be regularized through the ZDP by the 31 December 2010 deadline and the department has so far only issued permits to just over half of them. More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=93912

Small Farms, Big Results
For three decades the UN's World Food Day on Oct. 16 has offered a ready-made opportunity to tackle hunger's causes and solutions. Unfortunately, the conversation often focuses narrowly on ways to increase the food supply with purchased technologies originating far from farmers' fields. This narrow focus isn't working. The world produces more than enough for each of us to thrive. Yet the number of hungry people has hit all-time highs, now nearly one billion. Globally, our core problem is not a lack of quantity of food but rather the destructive quality of human power relationships: The gross imbalances from the village level to that of international trade create hunger no matter how much we produce. So, what if we widened our focus? What if we began to see that much of the solution to hunger Ñ along with an answer to a big piece of the climate conundrum Ñ lies with some of the world's poorest people, the small farmers themselves? More at: http://www.grassrootsonline.org/news/articles/small-farms-big-results

The Dangers of Privatizing Terrorist Lists
The last ten years has seen rapid growth of private companies that sell lists of people and organizations that are either on a government terrorist list or have been mentioned in news stories, blogs and unverified online sources as having suspected ties to terrorists. With the size and scope of these organizations, concerns have been raised over the lack of accountability and redress for innocent people who find themselves on such lists. This is particularly problematic in the context of charitable giving and program operation. More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/background/WorldCheck_Private_Databases_Raise_Concerns

October 17, 2011

African Leaders Agree Upon a Common Position on Aid, Development
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), members of the African Union, civil society groups, development groups and parliamentarians meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia last week have for the first time agreed a common position on development effectiveness and aid reform. The African common position acknowledges that aid continues to play a major role in development financing, but stresses efforts by African countries to mobilize domestic resources and build capacity to reduce reliance of on foreign aid in the long run. Civil society representative Fanwell Kenala Bokosi said: "Development effectiveness starts at home. Aid should help build, nurture, harness and use Africa to strengthen its own systems for development," he added. More at: http://www.nepad.org/fr/crosscuttingissues/news/2492/african-leaders-agree-common-position-aid-development

Civil Society Comes of Age in Jamaica
The events of the past 18 months have shown the Jamaican populace that civil society has power and that such power must be used to protect the rights of people. For years, Jamaicans have known of the garrison politics that operates in the nation and, in particular, in Tivoli Gardens. This situation would be spoken of in hushed tones by many, but it is only in recent years that civil society has begun speaking out against this type of political arrangement. More at: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111002/cleisure/cleisure4.html

The Food Movement: Its Power and Possibilities
Some Americans see the food movement as "nice" but peripheral—a middle-class preoccupation with farmers' markets, community gardens and healthy school lunches. But Frances Moore LappŽ argues that it is at heart revolutionary, with some of the world's poorest people in the lead, from Florida farmworkers to Indian villagers. It has the potential to transform not just the way we eat but the way we understand our world, including ourselves. And that vast power is just beginning to erupt. Many call it simply "the global food movement." In the United States it's building on the courage of truth tellers from Upton Sinclair to Rachel Carson, and worldwide it has been gaining energy and breadth for at least four decades. More at: http://www.thenation.com/article/163403/food-movement-its-power-and-possibilities

Illiteracy on the Way Out in Argentina
Efforts by the government and thousands of volunteers in Argentina have succeeded in slashing the illiteracy rate to just 1.9 percent, with a goal to eliminate it completely within the next four years. Argentina now ranks among the most advanced countries in the region in terms of literacy, together with Uruguay, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba and Venezuela, all of which have illiteracy rates of under five percent, according to the Organisation of Ibero-American States (OEI). Argentina created the literacy program "Encuentros" in 2004, which called on civil society volunteers to teach literacy in a range of community centers, and provided them with the necessary materials. "This was a very encouraging result, because we saw a large majority of women, especially among the over-30s, coming to the literacy courses while their children were at school," said Delia MŽndez, of the Education Ministry's National Literacy and Basic Education Program for Young People and Adults. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105405

Civil Society Criticizes Broken Climate Promises at Panama Talks
Climate change negotiations are becoming like a Shakespearean tragedy, with betrayal piled on broken promises, said civil society groups from across the world preparing for the annual climate summit, scheduled for Durban, South Africa, next month. "Rich countries have long promised to take the lead on reducing emissions but are now insisting on shifting the burden onto developing countries," said Lim Li Lin, legal expert of Third World Network (TWN). Lim observed: "In good faith, developing countries have proposed to reduce five gigatonnes of emissions. Rich countries have proposed just four gigatonnes of their own reductions, and with the loopholes on accounting rules they want, they actually are proposing closer to zero reductions. In Panama it looks like a rowing boat with all the oars and effort only on one side." More at: http://www.afriquejet.com/climate-change-panama-talks-2011100924490.html

October 10, 2011

Beyond Wall Street: "Occupy" Protests Go Global
"Occupy Wall Street" began on September 17 and is now spreading to cities across the U.S., and around the world. The demonstrations, inspired by the Arab Spring protest movement, are against economic inequality and power vested in the top 1% income earners. Its rallying cry, "We are the 99 percent," is now being picked up by groups around the globe. There are Facebook calls for a global demonstration on October 15 in cities in more than 25 countries stretching from Hong Kong to Buenos Aires, Dublin to Madrid. "It's time that we too say, enough is enough. Bankers have got off scot-free whilst the people of this country are being punished for a crisis they did not create," said "Occupy the London Stock Exchange's" invite page." More at: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/07/business/wall-street-protest-global/

Nobel Peace Prize Honors African, Arab Women
Declaring women's rights vital for world peace, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize on Friday to three indomitable campaigners against war and oppression -- a Yemeni and two Liberians, including that country's president. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa's first freely elected female head of state, shared the $1.5 million with compatriot Leymah Gbowee, who led a "sex strike" among her efforts against Liberia's civil war, and Arab activist Tawakul Karman, who hailed the award as a victory for democracy in Yemen. "We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland told reporters. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/us-nobel-peace-liberians-idUSTRE79614F20111007

Violence Returns to Tahrir Square
Twenty-four people were killed and 150 injured in Cairo yesterday during the most violent scenes to hit the country since February's revolution ousted ex-President Hosni Mubarak. Reports said trouble escalated after Christians, protesting an attack on a church, threw rocks and petrol bombs and set cars on fire as they clashed with military police. The violence started after demonstrators from Egypt's Christian community headed towards the state television building in central Cairo late yesterday afternoon. Last month the ruling military council, which took power after Hosni Mubarak was toppled in February, said it would be reintroducing the much-hated Emergency Law following an attack on the Israeli embassy. Many activists will be worried that last night's violence will offer the generals even greater reason to implement martial law. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/ 24-killed-in-clashes-with-troops-as-violence-returns-to-tahrir-square-2368251.html

Why Protecting the World's Wildlife is Good for Our Wallets
A new world body on wildlife and ecosystems protection being set up by the UN must avoid blaming developing nations, where most of the world's biodiversity loss is occurring, says a top British scientist. The new body will assess how and why the natural world is being degraded, what it will cost society, and what can be done to halt the process. But it must avoid rows between rich and poor countries, says Professor Watson, Chief Scientific Adviser to Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. "If they think this is just the white world, the developed world, telling them what to do, that'll be the end of it . . . The climate debate has been, 'you rich countries got rich by using cheap fossil fuels, and now you're telling us not to use them.' We must not get into that," he said. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/why-protecting-the-worlds-wildlife-is-good-for-our-wallets-2364701.html

Colombia Still Unsafe for Unionists
A new Human Rights Watch study challenges claims from the administration of President Barack Obama that Colombia is making important strides in bringing to justice killers of labor activists and so deserves U.S. congressional approval of a long-stalled free trade pact. The study found "virtually no progress" in getting convictions for killings that have occurred in the past 4 1/2 years. But in Colombia, the world's most lethal country for labor organizing, the killings haven't stopped. At least 38 trade unionists have been slain since President Juan Manuel Santos took office in August 2010, says Colombia's National Labor School. "A major reason for this ongoing violence has been the chronic lack of accountability for cases of anti-union violence," Human Rights Watch said in a letter sent Thursday to Colombian Chief Prosecutor Viviane Morales that details the study's findings. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/ rights-group-little-progress-in-stemming-killings-of-colombian-trade-unionists/2011/10/02/gIQAJOIjFL_story.html

October 3, 2011

Wangari Maathai: A Life of Firsts
Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan environmentalist who began a movement to reforest her country by paying poor women a few shillings to plant trees and who went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize, died in Nairobi last week. She was 71. Dr. Maathai, one of the most widely respected women on the continent, played many roles -- environmentalist, feminist, politician, professor, rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement, which she founded in 1977. Its mission was to plant trees across Kenya to fight erosion and to create firewood for fuel and jobs for women. "Wangari Maathai was a force of nature," said Achim Steiner, the executive director of the United Nations' environmental program. He likened her to Africa's ubiquitous acacia trees, "strong in character and able to survive sometimes the harshest of conditions." More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/27/world/africa/wangari-maathai-nobel-peace-prize-laureate-dies-at-71.html?pagewanted=all

King Abdullah Gives Saudi Women Right to Vote for First Time
Saudi Arabia granted women the right to vote for the first time in its modern history as part of changes King Abdullah said will let them run in future municipal elections. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, was ranked the least democratic country in the Middle East in the Economist Intelligence Unit's 2010 Democracy Index. An absolute monarchy, it has been ruled by six kings since it was established in 1932. Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Riyadh-based activist, said the expansion of the voting franchise masks a refusal by Saudi rulers to grant substantial power to the population. "The issue of women is the easy way out, because it can polish the regime's reputation in the world," he said. "People could have gotten the message that they will be enfranchised into the political system. That did not happen." More at: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/09/26/bloomberg_articlesLS4DR91A1I4H.DTL

Myanmar Backs Down, Suspending Dam Project
In a rare concession to public pressure, Myanmar's government last week ordered the suspension of a controversial hydroelectric project financed and led by a state-owned Chinese company. The Myitsone dam project would have been the first to span the Irrawaddy River, the largest waterway in Myanmar, and was a showcase project for the previous military government. The halt in construction was a victory for dissidents in a country with a long history of stifling opposition. "Being the government elected by the people, it upholds the aspiration and wishes of the people," said a statement by President U Thein Sein. "It is also responsible to solve the problems that worry the public. Therefore, the government will suspend the Myitsone dam project during its tenure." More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/world/asia/myanmar-suspends-construction-of-controversial-dam.html?_r=2&ref=world

From Playground to Battleground: Children on the Frontline in Somalia
As the rattle of gunfire becomes louder, Mohamed Abdi sits in the corner of a Mogadishu restaurant wondering how much longer he can survive in one of the world's most dangerous capital cities. "Mogadishu is full of miseries. Sometimes you fall into traps and can be abducted by either government forces or insurgents, to fight for their cause," says the 15-year-old. Thousands have been displaced because of fighting between government forces and al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group linked to al-Qaida. Abdi is fortunate in that he recently found work as a waiter, but not so long ago he was involved in urban warfare. As Somalia's civil conflict continues, the use of child soldiers is causing growing concern. In a report last month, Amnesty International detailed cases of children as young as nine being forced into combat. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/sep/30/somalia-war-children-on-frontline

Peruvian Indigenous Communities Kick Out Canadian Mining Company
Earlier this summer, an anti-mining Indigenous movement in Peru successfully ousted a Canadian mining company from their territory. "In spite of government repression, if the people decide to bring the fight to the bitter end, it is possible to resist the pressure of mining and oil companies," Peruvian activist and journalist Yasser G—mez said. The David and Goliath scenario of this anti-mining uprising highlights the vast economic inequality that has beset Peru. The country's economy has been booming for the past decade, with a seven per cent growth expected this year—one of the highest growth rates internationally. Sixty-five per cent of the country's export income comes from the mining industry, and investors are expected to spend over $40 billion in the next 10 years on mining operations. More at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/peru-archives-76/3229-showdown-in-peru-indigenous-communities-kick-out-canadian-mining-company-

September 26, 2011

Land Grabs In Developing Countries Increasing
The scale of the rush by speculators, pension funds and global agri-businesses to acquire large areas of developing countries is far greater than previously thought, and is already leading to conflict, hunger and human rights abuses, says Oxfam. The NGO has identified 561million acres of land Ð an area the size of north-west Europe Ð as having being reportedly sold, leased or licensed, largely in Africa and mostly to international investors in thousands of secretive deals since 2001. "Many of the world's poorest people are being left worse off by the unprecedented pace of land deals and the frenetic competition for land. The blinkered scramble for land by investors is ignoring the people who live on the land and rely on it to survive," said Oxfam chief executive Dame Barbara Stocking. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/22/oxfam-land-grab-developing-countries

Amid Statehood Bid, Tensions Simmer in West Bank
In a Palestinian village where a mosque was defaced and cars were burned, young men now patrol nightly against settler intruders. Nearby, Jewish settlers worry that Palestinian militants buoyed by international support of their statehood will step up attacks. Settler rapid response teams are practicing with M-16s; women are learning to shoot handguns. As the Palestinians seek United Nations membership in New York, the situation on the ground remains calm. But tensions lie just below the surface. Israel has stationed thousands more police officers in the West Bank armed with tear gas, noise machines and putrid liquid to stop possible marches on settlements. More at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/24/world/middleeast/west-bank-tensions-simmer-amid-palestinian-united-nations-statehood-bid.html?_r=1&ref=world

The Networked Nonprofit
Management wisdom says that nonprofits must be large to do the most good. But some of the world's most successful organizations instead stay small, sharing their load with like-minded, long-term partners. The success of these networked nonprofits suggests that organizations should focus less on growing themselves and more on cultivating their networks. By mobilizing resources outside their immediate control, networked nonprofits achieve their missions far more efficiently, effectively, and sustainably than they could have by working alone. Many traditional nonprofits form short-term partnerships with superficially similar organizations to execute a single program, exchange a few resources, or attract funding. In contrast, networked nonprofits forge long-term partnerships with trusted peers to tackle their missions on multiple fronts. More at: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_networked_nonprofit/?utm_source=Enews09_22_11&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Networked_Nonprofit

Land Tenure and Evictions in Uganda
Francis Longoli, a small farmer from Kiboga district of central Uganda, is tearful: "I remember my land, three acres of coffee, many trees Ð mangoes and avocados. I had five acres of bananas, ten beehives, two beautiful permanent houses. My land gave me everything. People used to call me Ôomataka' Ð someone who owns land. Now that is no more. I am one of the poorest now," he says. Longoli and his family of six lost everything last year when, with three months notice, the Ugandan government evicted him and thousands of others from the Mubende and Kiboga districts to make way for the UK-based New Forests Company to plant trees, to earn carbon credits and ultimately to sell the timber. More than 20,000 people have been made homeless and Longoli now rents a small house in Lubaali village. He says he cannot go back for fear of being attacked. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/22/uganda-farmer-land-gave-me-everything

Shaken by Increase in Attacks Since 2001, Many Pakistanis Fault U.S.
Since 2001, when Islamabad partnered with Washington to combat the Taliban and al-Qaeda, there have been 335 suicide bombings in Pakistan. Before 2001, there was one. More than 10,000 Pakistani civilians killed in a decade-long spiral of armed conflict, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies. The bloodshed has traumatized the national psyche, spawning chains of security checkpoints and robbing families of breadwinners and children. To Washington, which provides Pakistan with billions of dollars in aid, the carnage should be enough to turn the country's public and its power structure firmly against Islamist militancy. But to ordinary as well as influential Pakistanis, the view is far less clear. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/shaken-by-increase-in-attacks-since-2001-many-pakistanis-fault-us/2011/09/19/gIQAFe9D0K_story.html

September 19, 2011

Seeking Social Justice Through Education in Chile
The ongoing student protests in Chile are an unwavering accomplishment aimed at combating the social injustice riddling the country's education system. What started out as a series of peaceful protests has become a manifestation of unity between students, artists and much of the general population in a stance defying the current government's position regarding social class, cultural difference and political division with regard to education. Students are demanding the state assumes responsibility to provide free education and broader access to education. The students' proposals include eliminating the business concept of education, ensuring the quality of public education, the creation of an education system which falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and ensuring educational rights for Chile's indigenous people. More at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/chile-archives-34/3190-seeking-social-justice-through-education-in-chile

Nepal May Officially Recognize Third Gender
Almost four years after Nepal's Supreme Court recognized the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, the South Asian country may get a new constitution that secures their rights. Nepal is currently undergoing a constitutional reform process as the country transitions from a monarchy to a full democracy. The promulgation of a new constitution was part of a 2006 peace deal to end a ten-year Maoist insurgency. The draft constitution proposes "citizenship rights for third gender individuals… bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity; calls for government affirmative action in support of LGBT people; and proposes gender-neutral language on the rights to work, health, education, and marriage." More at: http://awid.org/News-Analysis/Friday-Files/Nepal-Looks-Set-to-Officially-Recognize-Third-Gender

Obama's Jobs Bill Includes Plan to Limit Charitable Deductions for the Wealthy
President Obama's proposed $447-billion jobs bill would be financed mainly by limiting the percentage of income wealthy donors could write off, including tax breaks for charitable gifts. The president, who has proposed similar changes to the charitable deduction several times throughout his presidency, has faced stiff opposition from nonprofit leaders. They say that limiting the value of the tax break would cause wealthy people to reduce their giving. "Limiting the itemized deduction would certainly lead to a significant decrease in charitable contributions. If charities have less resources, they'll be forced to choose between laying off employees or cutting needed services," said William C. Daroff, vice president for Public Policy at the Jewish Federations of North America. "In our view, cutting the deduction is like cutting your nose to spite your face." More at: http://philanthropy.com/article/Jobs-Bill-Would-Limit-Charity/128966/?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

China Cuts Childbirth Mortality Rate by Promoting Hospital Births
China has slashed the death rate of newborn babies by almost two-thirds in 12 years by promoting hospital births, research has shown. More than 22 million mothers have benefited from a program giving each pregnant woman in the countryside 500 yuan for hospital delivery. Deaths fell from 24.7 per 1,000 live births in 1996 to 9.3 in 2008. Only half of women gave birth in hospital at the start of that period, whereas by the end almost all did so outside the most deprived rural areas. The Peking University study was based on data from 37 Chinese urban districts and 79 rural counties. "The decline is spectacular across all the regions," said Professor Carine Ronsmans of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who co-authored the study. "I think the Chinese government can be congratulated on its efforts to reduce neonatal mortality and maternal mortality – which has declined just as much." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/16/china-cuts-childbirth-mortality-rate

Fighting Erupts for Second Day in Yemeni Capital
Violence convulsed the streets of Yemen's capital for a second day on Monday as government security forces battled soldiers who have joined antigovernment protesters in their movement to force President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. It was the worst violence since March in Yemen, the Arab world's most impoverished country and a haven for Islamic militants. Medical officials in the capital said at least 28 people were killed on Monday, pushing the death toll from two days of fighting in Sana, the capital, to more than 50 — most of them unarmed protesters — and raising fears here that the escalation of deadly mayhem is hurtling Yemen toward a civil war. President Saleh, the long-time autocrat and American ally who has been recuperating in Saudi Arabia from an assassination attempt at his presidential compound more than three months ago, has vowed to return to Yemen, despite his repeated pledges to relinquish the post in a negotiated transfer of power. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/middleeast/fighting-erupts-for-second-straight-day-in-yemeni-capital.html?_r=1&ref=world

August 29, 2011

Climate Change Linked to Civil Wars
Cyclical climatic changes double the risk of civil wars, with analysis showing that 50 of 250 conflicts between 1950 and 2004 were triggered by the El Niño cycle, according to scientists. Researchers connected the climate phenomenon known as El Niño, which brings hot and dry conditions to tropical nations and cuts food production, to outbreaks of violence in countries from southern Sudan to Indonesia and Peru. Solomon Hsiang, who led the research at Columbia University, New York, said: "This study shows a systematic pattern of global climate affecting conflict right now. We are still dependent on climate to a very large extent." Hsiang said that pre-emptive action could prevent bloodshed because El Niño events could be predicted up to two years ahead. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/aug/24/el-nino-cycle-deadly-conflict

Chile's Commander Camila, the Student Who Can Shut Down a City
Not since the days of Zapatistas' Subcomandante Marcos has Latin America been so charmed by a rebel leader. This time, there is no ski mask, no pipe and no gun, just a silver nose ring. Meet Commander Camila, a student leader in Chile who has become the face of a populist uprising that some analysts are calling the Chilean winter. Her press conferences can lead to the sacking of a minister. The street marches she leads shut down sections of the Chilean capital. She has the government on the run, and now even has police protection after receiving death threats. Yet six months ago, no one had heard of Camila Vallejo, the 23-year-old spearheading an uprising that has shaken not only the presidency of the billionaire businessman Sebasti‡n Piñera, but the entire Chilean political class. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/24/chile-student-leader-camila-vallejo

China's Middle Class: Mobilizing for Political Action?
While discontent among laid-off workers, peasants who've lost their land, poorly paid migrant workers and others in the so-called "bottom stratum" of Chinese society has bubbled to the surface over and over again in street protests across the country, China's middle-class is said to have played the role of social stabilizer. Members of the middle class may not be fully satisfied with their present situation, the theory goes, but they have little interest in challenging the political status quo. The reaction to the deadly July 23 train collision has left some wonder if the previous assumptions about China's middle class might have been wrong. As Pan Caifu, a columnist for Hong Kong's Phoenix New Media, wrote: "The most direct consequence of this rail accident has been to ignite middle class anger. For me, that is the most serious Ôsecondary disaster' of the Ô723' high speed rail disaster." More at: http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/08/24/china%E2%80%99s-middle-class-mobilizing-for-political-action/

Amazon Pipeline Gets Go-Ahead Amid Reports of "Cover-up"
A 200km oil pipeline in the Amazon has been given the go-ahead, amidst controversy over a "cover-up" of evidence that uncontacted Indians live in the region. French oil company Perenco plans to spend $350 million building the pipeline in northern Peru to transport $35 billion worth of oil from its block 67 project to the Pacific coast. But a detailed article published in US news outlet Truth Out alleges that government officials, environmental consultants and oil companies have been implicated in covering up the existence of uncontacted tribes living along the pipeline's route. Perenco has rejected any suggestion that its work could endanger the lives of the isolated Indians. More at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/news-briefs-archives-68/3171-amazon-pipeline-gets-go-ahead-amid-reports-of-cover-up

Civil Society Fights Graft in India
Last week, an estimated 100,000 people gathered in the capital's Ramlila Grounds, where Anna Hazare is sitting on his fast, in a show of solidarity that reminded many of the days of India's independence movement which peacefully ended the British colonial rule in 1947. Hazare, 74, the face of a growing anti-graft movement focused currently on getting a strong Lokpal (ombudsman) Bill passed through Parliament. "We are here to support the only true Gandhian left in India," said Rajkumar Goel, who left his drugstore to join the rally. "They have siphoned away large amounts of money in the name of liberalization so that the gap between rich and poor is widening faster than ever before." As people across Indian cities and towns and villages rallied in support of Hazare, it was a warning to not just the centrally ruling Congress party but the entire political class that India's civil society was truly fed up with their corrupt ways. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=104841

August 22, 2011

More Clashes After Rebels Sweep Tripoli
Rebels encircled the beleaguered Libyan capital on Saturday, claiming to have taken major towns to its east, west and south, leaving only the NATO-patrolled sea to the north. Bombing has intensified in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, and rebel gains in Zawiyah have added to the pressure. With residents continuing to stream out of the capital, and reports of the third defection of a major government official in a week, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's grip on the country he has ruled for 42 years appeared increasingly tenuous. Rumors swept Libya that he was preparing to flee, if he had not already. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/world/africa/21libya.html?_r=1&ref=world

Concerns in Senate about Terrorism Laws Impacting Famine Relief in Horn of Africa
Sen. Patrick Leahy, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Attorney General Eric Holder recently expressing "deep concern that the current interpretation of the law governing material support for terrorism is prohibiting organizations from delivering essential humanitarian relief in the Horn of Africa." The letter also expressed concern that peacebuilding groups "are unduly constricted" in their efforts. The letter urges Holder and Clinton to facilitate a dialog between the administration and affected organization to produce "a set of guidelines that remove the uncertainty with the scope of the material support law, and the establishment of a process by which actors may seek exemptions." More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/news/Leahy_Letter_Concerns_Famine_Relief_Peacebuilding_Material_Support

Charitable Giving in Short Supply in Mexico
As researchers and advocacy groups look to confront the underlying causes of the spreading drug violence in Mexico, they are also focusing on another shortfall: a lack of corporate and individual philanthropy. The numbers point to a sizable charity gap. Mexico has the lowest taxes and second-highest income inequality among the 34 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and yet it also has had some of the weakest levels of charitable giving. Mexican philanthropy has improved significantly in recent years, researchers say, but it remains anemic, despite high levels of need created by the government's poor record of tax collection and social investment. More at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/charitable-giving-in-short-supply-in-mexico/2011/08/09/gIQAnJ3dDJ_story.html

UN Voices Concern about Sexual Violence Against Fleeing Somali Women
A United Nations envoy on Thursday expressed her concern about reports of sexual violence against women and girls who are attempting to flee famine-stricken Somalia. UN Special Representative to Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallstršm, said in a statement on Thursday that she is concerned over reports that women and girls fleeing famine in Somalia were being raped or abducted and forced into marriage by bandits and other armed groups as they tried to reach refugee camps in Kenya. "Once they cross the Somalia-Kenya border or reach Dadaab - the world's largest refugee settlement - their hopes of finding a safe haven are often overshadowed by new dangers and hardships, including the risk of rape," said Wallstršm. More at: http://channel6newsonline.com/2011/08/un-voices-concern-about-sexual-violence-against-fleeing-somali-women/

March of Umbrellas: Chile's Student Protesters Reject Education Proposal
More than 50,000 protesters have marched through Chile's capital to press the government for changes in the nation's education system. Students who participated in Thursday's demonstration, dubbed the "March of the Umbrellas" were not deterred by cold or rain, reported Santiago's La Tercera newspaper. Minor skirmishes broke out between police and protesters, and La Tercera reported that students set a small number of barricades on fire. Police said that all incidents were quieted by other students participating in the march. The "March of Umbrellas" took place hours after Chile's government offered a settlement that fell short of student demands for a better education system. Those demands have fueled months of demonstrations in Santiago and other Chilean cities. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/08/201181914321631261.html

August 15, 2011

Ecuador: Closure of Sixteen Foreign NGOs an Omen for International Groups
Ecuador's order to close sixteen foreign non-governmental organizations is the latest in a series of actions that seem to strictly regulate local and foreign NGOs in the country. These measures lay pressure on groups perceived to oppose the government and raise the possibility that more NGOs could be targeted next. Among the groups ordered to shut down are Doctors Without Borders and NGOs from the United States, Spain, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Colombia, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. In the past couple of years, Ecuador has passed a series of laws that require international groups to sign a treaty with the government that would disclose information on their objectives, specific activities and funding sources for them to secure government authorization to operate in Ecuador. More at: http://www.devex.com/en/blogs/the-development-newswire/in-ecuador-closure-of-16-foreign-ngos-an-omen-for-other-international-groups

Australia's Great Barrier Reef At Risk from Pesticide
Agricultural pesticides are causing significant damage to the Great Barrier Reef, according to a new Australian government report on water quality at the site. The report found that nearly one-quarter of horticulture producers and 12% of pastoral farmers were using practices deemed unacceptable by the industry. The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage-listed natural wonder. Pesticides have been found up to 38 miles inside the reef at toxic concentrations known to harm coral. The heavy flooding and a cyclone that ripped through northern Queensland earlier in the year are thought to have made things worse, by flushing pollutants out to sea. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-14516253

New Law to Address Child Sexual Abuse in India
Like all over the world sexual abuse against children exists in India, and reports suggest it exists on a rampant scale. According to a 2007 survey sponsored by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, over 53 percent of India's children have been sexually abused in some way. In February, The Times of India reported that India is the country with the highest number of cases of child sexual abuse in the world. Now, for the first time, a bill entitled: "The Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses 2011" will be introduced to Parliament. The comprehensive bill defines a range of sexual offenses against children that have been ignored and proposes more stringent punishments for offenders. More at: http://thewip.net/contributors/2011/06/new_law_to_address_child_sexua.html

Somalia Wants Humanitarian Force to Guard Food Convoys
Somalia's government called for the creation of a special humanitarian force to protect food aid convoys and feeding camps in the famine-hit Horn of Africa country and secure the capital. The al Qaeda-affiliated al Shabaab insurgents began pulling their fighters out of Mogadishu over the weekend, raising hopes humanitarian groups would be able to step up aid deliveries after years of blockages by the militant group. But, Mogadishu is still dangerous to visit, given the increased specter of more guerrilla-style attacks such as suicide bombings. The government and an African peacekeeping force admit they do not control all of the capital even after the rebels' withdrawal, placing thousands of Somali refugees who are streaming into Mogadishu searching for food in danger. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/13/us-somalia-famine-idUSTRE77B1TN20110813?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FworldNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+International%29

2011 Millennium Development Goals Report Upbeat Despite Mixed Progress
Not surprisingly, the latest UN Millennium Development Goals report reveals mixed results and has met with a varied reception. Most regions have made progress towards the goal of halving extreme poverty Ð according to the UN yardstick, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day Ð but not always fast enough to meet the target by the designated date of 2015. Between 1990 and 2005, East and Southeast Asia (largely thanks to the development of China) already exceeded the target. However, the Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean are lagging behind and, as UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon concedes in his foreword, "progress tends to bypass those who are lowest on the economic ladder or are otherwise disadvantaged because of their sex, age, disability or ethnicity. Disparities between urban and rural areas are also pronounced and daunting." More at: http://www.alliancemagazine.org/en/content/august-ebulletin-2011#mdg

August 8, 2011

Economic Development Leaving Millions Behind
The Society for International Development's triennial World Congress, which concluded last week in Washington, drew over 1,000 attendees this year, 40 percent hailing from the global South. "The emergence of new paths to development has [grown] along with the rise of middle- and low-income countries," Rebeca Grynspan, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program, said at the opening plenary. "But we have seen that we can also have growth without inclusion. In Latin America, for example, one in every four young people is not studying or working -- out of the education system and out of the labor market. If that's not exclusion, then I don't know what is," she said. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56700

Egyptian Tanks Enter Tahrir Square
The Egyptian army deployed troops in Cairo's Tahrir Square last week and fired shots in the air to disperse remaining pro-democracy protesters. A few hundred demonstrators were staying put, state television reported, showing army vehicles in the square and people taking down tents and canopies. Al Jazeera reported, "There were a good 200 to 300 people who were still camped out earlier. Now it's filled with tanks and army soldiers. They've essentially driven out all the people. There do seem to be some civilians moving around but the army is continuing to move out anyone trying to get back into the square. People have been telling us, 'they can do what they want but we will just come back once they leave.'" More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/2011811355629619.html

Somali Famine Affects Children Under Five
Thousands of parents are grieving in Somalia and in refugee camps in neighboring countries amid Somalia's worst drought in 60 years. The drought and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of 5 in the last 90 days in southern Somalia alone, according to U.S. estimates. The U.N. says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, suggesting the death toll of small children will rise. On Wednesday, the U.N. declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones — including the camps for displaced persons in Mogadishu. These are areas where the highest rates of malnutrition and mortality are taking place. More at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/International/2011/Aug-05/Somalias-famine-kills-29000-children-under-5-US-says.ashx#axzz1USjxS3AG

Cuba: A Development Model that Proved the Doubters Wrong
Cuba has one of the most impressive and distinctive stories to tell in the annals of modern development. Apart from achieving near 100% literacy many years ago, its health statistics are the envy of many far richer countries. It is a small country, but not too small – with 11 million inhabitants it is the same size as Bolivia and four times the size of neighboring Caribbean island Jamaica. Cuba has certainly forfeited any chance of becoming an economic powerhouse because of the egalitarian policies it adopted, but that possibility was always a long shot anyway. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/aug/05/cuban-development-model

Why Digital Privacy and Security are Important for Development
Digital technologies, such as mobile phones and the Internet, provide the development sector with new opportunities to plan and coordinate activities, expose hidden truths, and mobilize and engage new audiences. But it's not all good news: new technologies introduce plenty of risks as well. While new communication technologies have become cheaper and easier to use, they have also become more opaque. There are concerns about who owns data when it's uploaded on or created using a commercial service; there is confusion about default privacy settings; and there is the issue of whether individuals are able to control traces of sensitive information they or others leave behind. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/aug/04/digital-technology-development-tool

UN Experts Alarmed over Reports of Atrocities in Southern Kordofan Region of Sudan
United Nations human rights experts expressed alarm over reports of mass killings in the Southern Kordofan region of Sudan. The experts appealed for an immediate cessation of the violence and called for an urgent investigation into the reports and close monitoring of the ongoing situation in the region where conflict continues between the Sudanese Government forces and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. "We are gravely concerned by what appears to be strong evidence that atrocities are being carried out right now in Southern Kordofan and credible reports that civilians as well as combatants are being killed and targeted for gross and widespread human rights violations by Sudanese Government forces," stated Ms. Gay McDougall, the Independent expert on minority issues. More at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11263&LangID=E

August 1, 2011

Calls for Aid Agencies to Channel Famine Relief Through Somali NGOs
The Somali NGO Forum called upon large international aid agencies to work through local NGOs in Somalia to ensure that supplies reach areas controlled by al-Shabaab, the Islamist insurgents. Somalia is the worst affected country in the east Africa crisis that has left more than 11 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. The UN last week declared a state of famine in two areas of southern Somalia, largely under the control of al-Shabaab: Bakool and Lower Shabelle. "There are divisions within al-Shabaab and there are Somali NGOs that are able to work around al-Shabaab and bypass them, but there is hardly any international engagement with these local NGOs," said Mustakim Waid, a spokesman for the forum, which is about to launch a drought appeal. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jul/28/somalia-famine-aid-relief-insurgents

Thailand, Sinking: Parts of Bangkok Could Be Underwater in 2030
Day after day, Bangkok sinks. Inexorably. The most pessimistic experts are afraid part of Thailand's capital will be submerged by 2030. Specialists complain about the absence of any policy in place to prevent a disaster that seems bound to occur. This looming natural disaster risk will be a central challenge for the new government arriving after the July 3 elections. Climate change, rising sea level, coastal erosion: a variety of converging factors could lead to the end of the biggest city of the Chao Praya river delta, originally built up after a commitment in 1782 by the first sovereign of the Chakri dynasty. More at: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2084358,00.html#ixzz1Tk9qEVw7

Malawi Riots a Warning to Government
The deadly anti-government riots against President Bingu wa Mutharika in Malawi are a signal that public anger will not be silenced in this impoverished southern African nation, analysts say. The usually calm country exploded into two-day riots that killed 19 people after police tried to block anti-government protests accusing Mutharika of economic mismanagement and stifling human rights. "What we are seeing now has been bottled up but people expected is to see the state changing, said Malawi Human Rights Commission chair John Kapito. "Now there is a revolt. There is a message ringing out there that the people are not happy and Malawi is changing." More at: http://www.timesofoman.com/innercat.asp?detail=48094

Egyptian Forces Roust Tahrir Square Sit-In
Central Tahrir Square was forcibly cleared Monday of the remnants of a three-week-old sit-in protesting the slow pace of change since the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak, with hundreds of Egyptian troops and security police officers shredding tents, arresting dozens of protesters and sending about 200 others fleeing into nearby streets as the Ramadan holiday was about to begin. The army deployed at least a dozen tanks in the square, but a group of 30 to 50 protesters managed to reassemble, demanding the release of their arrested compatriots and shouting “Down with military rule!” and “We want revenge!” Army officers beat many of those protesters with batons. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/02/world/middleeast/02egypt.html?_r=1&ref=world

July 25, 2011

UN Declares First Famine in Africa in Three Decades as US Withholds Aid
Tens of millions of dollars in urgently needed US aid for Somalia are being withheld even as parts of the country are set on Wednesday to be declared a famine zone. Conditions in the country, hit first by war and then by drought, are so severe in some places what was an "emergency" has now tipped into a "catastrophe," according to the UN. In parts of one of the two regions to be officially certified, 10 times the number of people are dying than the official threshold classifying famine. The UN declaration will be the first in a series of "food crises" in the Horn of Africa, and the first time the term famine has officially been used since almost a million Ethiopians starved to death in 1984. More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/somalia/8648296/UN-declares-first-famine-in-Africa-for-three-decades-as-US-withholds-aid.html

Arms Trade Treaty May Bypass Anti-Riot Weapons
When weeklong negotiations on the control and regulation of the global arms trade were concluded last week, there was one missing link in the proposed treaty: riot control equipment used recently against peaceful demonstrators in the streets of Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Jordan. The Arms Trade Treaty, which is expected to be finalized and signed next year, is either ambiguous or excludes "weapons of repression," including rubber bullets, water cannons, tear gas canisters, and high voltage electric-shock stun guns. Amnesty International warned that if certain types of security and police equipment such as non-military firearms, including riot guns, crowd control vehicles, shotgun ammunition and tear gas, are not clearly covered by the ATT, "many governments will not prevent such arms being supplied and used for serious violations of human rights." More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56532

Civil Society Key to Reform in Sudan
The establishment of the world's newest state attracted global attention when South Sudan finally seceded from the North. The south's future has been widely discussed, but the split's impact on the north has received less attention. Addressing Sudan's National Assembly last week, President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir promised a freer, more inclusive government. But, the UN warned that war crimes may have been committed in the South Kordofan region, and some observers believe reform is unlikely without international pressure. While the citizens of South Sudan continue to celebrate their hard-won independence, and begin to tackle the challenges that lay ahead, in the remaining Sudan, there hangs an air of uncertainty about the coming period. More at: http://www.demdigest.net/blog/2011/07/civil-society-key-to-reform-in-sudan

Gates Foundation Seeks to "Reinvent the Toilet"
After five years of making grants to help the developing world deal with water, sanitation, and hygiene issues, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced last week that it will narrow its focus to sanitation. Gates anticipates spending the same amount—roughly $40-million per year—on sanitation as it has been giving to date in the three areas combined. In calling on the world to help "reinvent the toilet" for the 21st century, foundation leaders said they were putting more money into sanitation because such projects have been neglected by other donors. "We've decided to flip that and say we'll focus 90 percent of our attention on sanitation," Frank Rijsberman, the philanthropy's director of water, sanitation, and hygiene, said. More at: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/the-giveaway/gates-foundation-seeks-to-reinvent-the-toilet/443?sid=pt&utm_source=pt&utm_medium=en

July 18, 2011

Giving to Global Causes Grows
Giving to international causes is growing faster than any other area of interest for donors, a new study says. Giving to international affairs grew 6.2 percent in 2010, says Moving Beyond Boundaries, a report by Global Impact that compiles data from other studies. The report also says giving to international causes has grown at an average annual rate of 10.4 percent since 1987, that 22 percent of U.S. households make donations to international charities, and that 37 percent of major U.S. companies plan to increase their funding focus on international issues and causes. More at: http://philanthropyjournal.org/news/top-stories/giving-global-causes-grows?utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Giving+to+global+causes+grows&utm_content=Giving+to+global+causes+grows&utm_campaign=News+Briefing%3A+Corporate+Giving+%2B+Global+Giving+%2B+More

Clinton's Shoddy Haiti Shelters
A recent investigation conducted by the Nation revealed that the shelters in Haiti provided by the Clinton Foundation are dangerously flimsy and filled with toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde. Similar shelters were used in the US as temporary FEMA trailers immediately after Hurricane Katrina, and Clayton Homes, the company that provided those trailers to Americans, is now being sued for formaldehyde levels in the trailers. The foundation described the project as "hurricane-proof emergency shelters that can also serve as schools to ensure the safety of vulnerable populations in high risk areas during the hurricane season." But reporters who recently visited the "hurricane-proof" shelters found them to consist of twenty imported prefab trailers beset by a host of problems, from mold to sweltering heat to shoddy construction. More at: http://www.thenation.com/article/161908/shelters-clinton-built

What's Happening to Donor Support for Women's Rights?
Recent years have seen a marked shift in official development discourse, with less emphasis on a rights-based approach and more on an efficiency approach to gender equality, a tone set by the World Bank's 2006 action plan – "Gender equality is smart economics" which a number of official development agencies committed funds to resourcing. Other trends are emerging, such as the Nike Foundation's "Girl Effect" theme of stopping poverty before it starts by "investing in girls" – an approach that entirely ignores the historically derived structural inequities that are keeping many millions of girls (and boys) in conditions of poverty. More at: http://www.contestations.net/issues/issue-4/what-is-happening-to-donor-support-for-women%E2%80%99s-rights/

Climate Change Could Kill One in Ten Species by End of the Century
Climate change is speeding up the rate at which animals and plants are becoming extinct. Scientists said that previous predictions of how fast species are being lost because of climate change match the actual observed losses. They calculate that around 10 percent of species alive today could be facing extinction by 2100. "We tried to see whether predictions were backed up by things that have already happened and this was what we found," said Dr Ilya Maclean, one of the study's co-authors. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/climate-change-could-kill-one-in-10-species-by-end-of-the-century-2312114.html

Growing Sense of Hope at International Aids Conference
There appears to be real excitement at the International Aids Society conference in Rome. There is still no vaccine on the horizon -- once the biggest hope -- but the news from recent studies that taking antiretroviral drugs protects people without HIV from infection and reduces the risk of people with HIV passing it to their partners has changed the landscape. Suddenly we are in a world where AIDS is more preventable than ever before -- and both prevention and treatment come pill-shaped. "We have to remember that history will judge us not by our scientific breakthroughs, but how we apply them," said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/sarah-boseley-global-health/2011/jul/18/aids-hiv-infection

July 12, 2011

South Sudan: History is Made As Nation Becomes Independent State
Before an overflowing crowd of tens of thousands of his ecstatic countrymen, President Salva Kiir Mayardit used the historic occasion of the entry of South Sudan into the world's community of states to tell his people that they would never again willfully return to war. "This is a day that will be forever engraved in our hearts. Citizens in every village and county of South Sudan are celebrating." President Kiir told his war-weary citizens that the new nation, which was home to a conflict that claimed the highest number of civilian casualties since the Second World War, that South Sudan would now be a maker of peace and never a wager of war. "We will live at peace with our neighbors in the north, east, west and south. We shall be part of endeavors to strive for freedom, dignity and peace." More at: http://allafrica.com/stories/201107100002.html

Rights Groups Fear Wave of Deaths As Thailand Faces New Drug Crackdown
The number of methamphetamine users in Thailand has soared by 100,000 annually over the last five years, and will reach 1.1 million this year. More than 2,500 people died in three months after former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ordered police to draw up blacklists of suspected dealers and act "decisively and without mercy." Though the police blamed gang crime for most of the deaths, human rights groups say there is compelling evidence of extra-judicial killings. A committee later reported that more than half the dead, including a nine-year-old boy, had not been involved in the drugs trade. But the campaign was hugely popular and as drug use rises, many want a return to this tough action. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/10/thailand-war-on-drugs-rights-groups

Protests Spread in Egypt as Discontent with Military Rule Grows
Protests have brought Egypt's administrative and commercial nerve centers to a standstill, as government attempts to stem a growing wave of opposition to military rule succeeded only in galvanizing demonstrators further. The interim prime minister, Essam Sharaf, took to the airwaves last week pledging to "meet the people's demands," following mass rallies across the country in which Egyptians accused officials of betraying the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak this year. In a short and strained address to the nation, Sharaf said all police officers accused of killing protesters would be stopped from working, and promised that the trials of former Mubarak ministers and other regime officials would proceed "as soon as possible". More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/10/egypt-protests-spread-cairo-suez

Rich Nations Risk Breaking Their Pledges on Agricultural Aid
Rich nations are failing to keep their pledge to help farmers in developing countries, according to the anti-poverty group ONE. With 10 million people facing a crisis, ONE said donors had delivered only a fifth of promised money to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries. According to ONE, Canada and Italy have disbursed two-thirds of their pledges but France, the US and the UK have fulfilled only a small percentage of their promises. The US pledged the largest amount, $3.5 Billion, but has paid out only $73 Million. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jul/10/farming-africa-aid-food-pledge

Rural Women and Agricultural Land Conversions in China
China's unprecedented economic growth and rapid urbanization have created a massive demand for arable land to be converted to real estate or industrial development. Women may be in a particularly vulnerable position. In a system based on patrilocal marriage, it is easy to see how the current laws against big reallocations of land-use rights can effectively lead to a weakening of women's land rights at marriage. Furthermore, a large proportion of rural households lack land documents, but even among those families who do possess them, women's names are rarely included in those documents. More at: http://www.landesa.org/rural-women-agricultural-land-conversions-china/

July 5, 2011

Drought in East Africa the Result of Climate Change and Conflict
Prolonged drought in the Horn of Africa is the immediate cause of the severe food crisis already affecting around 10 million people in parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia. Rains have failed over two seasons, with a strong La Niña event having a dramatic impact across the east coast of Africa. Now this year's wet season has officially ended, there is little prospect of rain or relief before September. The last intergovernmental panel on climate change report suggested that the Horn of Africa would get wetter with climate change, while more recent academic research has concluded that global warming will increase drought in the region. However, according to aid agencies, the weather has become more erratic and extreme in recent years. The same area suffered a drought in 2006 as well as flash floods. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/04/drought-east-africa-climate-change

Present at the Birth of Libya's Civil Society
The yet to be born civil society in Libya has already been tasked with an enormous mission. It is daunting. Najla Mangoush, the director of the National Transitional Council's Public Engagement Committee admits she does not know where to begin. A lawyer by training, her heart lies within civil society. "The concept of civil society is new for all of Libya. We are trying to respond one step at a time." Khaled Zeyo, a Professor of Law at Ger Younos University and a recently appointed member of the NTC's Constitutional Committee, felt that incorporating civil society into the process would be a challenge. "Civil society is still in a crawling stage," he explained. "It will take time, and the achievements will be incremental. In the meantime, we will create town hall meetings to ensure they have a platform to input into the process." More at: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/29/opinion/main20075348.shtml

Water Wars: 21st Century Conflicts?
As global warming alters weather patterns, and the number of people lacking access to water rises, millions, if not billions, of others are expected to face a similar fate as water shortages become more frequent. "There was nothing to harvest," Hassain said through an interpreter during an interview at a refugee camp in Dadaab, Kenya, which is housing some 160,000 Somalis displaced by a lack of water. "There had been no rain in my village for two years. We used to have crops." As global warming alters weather patterns, and the number of people lacking access to water rises, millions, if not billions, of others are expected to face a similar fate as water shortages become more frequent. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/06/2011622193147231653.html

Kazakhstan's Workers Fight Massive Crackdown
Workers striking in what has been described as the biggest organized threat to Kazakhstan's authoritarian regime in the last decade are being beaten by hired thugs as the government ignores pleas for basic international labor rights to be observed. Thousands of workers at gas and oil facilities are protesting, some even mutilating themselves, over what activists have called the exploitation of Kazakh workers in heavy industry projects largely financed by foreign capital the government has been keen to attract in recent years. But the protests have taken on a wider social significance. Opposition groups have begun to publicly support the workers, and their strike has apparently inspired similar action in different cities across the country. More at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56277

June 27, 2011

UN Passes First-Ever Resolution on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
In a groundbreaking achievement for upholding the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council has passed a resolution on human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity (L9/rev1). The resolution, presented by South Africa along with Brazil and 39 co-sponsors from all regions of the world, was passed by a vote of 23 in favor, 19 against, and 3 abstentions. In its presentation to the Council, South Africa recalled the UDHR noting that "everyone is entitled to all rights and freedoms without distinction of any kind" and Brazil called on the Council to "open the long closed doors of dialogue". More at: http://www.ishr.ch/council/428-council-not-in-feed/1098-human-rights-council-adopts-landmark-resolution-on-lgbt-rights

The Problem with Fair Trade Coffee
Fair Trade-certified coffee is growing in consumer familiarity and sales, but strict certification requirements are resulting in uneven economic advantages for coffee growers and lower quality coffee for consumers. By failing to address these problems, industry confidence in Fair Trade coffee is slipping. Among the concerns are that the premiums paid by consumers are not going directly to farmers, the quality of Fair Trade coffee is uneven, and the model is technologically outdated. Over the past 20 years, Fair Trade coffee has evolved from an economic and social justice movement to largely a marketing model for ethical consumerism. Yet, the model persists regardless of its limitations. More at: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_problem_with_fair_trade_coffee/?utm_source=enewsletter06_23_11&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fair_trade

Loggers Accused of Killing Peasant Activist in Brazil's Amazon Region
A landless peasant activist has been killed by a gunshot to his head outside his home in Brazil, the fifth murder in a month amid a conflict over land and logging in Brazil's Amazon region. The body of Obede Loyla Souza was found over the weekend in the dense forest surrounding his home in Esperança, a settlement in the state of Pará, said Hilario Lopes Costa, coordinator for the watchdog Catholic Land Pastoral in Pará. Costa went to the remote settlement, near the town of Pacajá, to interview witnesses and support the victim's wife and children, who were afraid for their lives. Costa said that in January Souza had an argument with a representative of loggers who were illegally harvesting wood in the region, particularly the region's Brazil nut trees, which are protected under law. Police from the nearby town of Tucuruí confirmed the death. More at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/15/peasant-activist-killed-brazil?CMP=twt_gu

Sudan Air Attacks Causing "Huge Suffering"
Sudan has stepped up air attacks in South Kordofan, a state on the south Sudan border, causing "huge suffering" to the civilian population and endangering emergency aid, the United Nations says. Heavy fighting between forces from the north, including both the Sudanese Armed Forces northern army - or SAF - and government-back forces, and fighters aligned to the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), the former southern rebel group - has raged across South Kordofan since June 5. "We are extremely concerned about the bombing campaign, which is causing huge suffering to the civilian population and endangering humanitarian assistance," Kouider Zerrouk, a spokesman for the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), told the AFP news agency. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/06/201161414624120949.html

Arab Activists Criticize Conditions Attached to Western Aid
Arab activists warned on Monday that conditions attached to western aid threatened to undercut the goals of economic and social justice at the heart of the Arab spring, following Egypt's decision to spurn a loan offer from the International Monetary Fund. The Arab NGO network for Development said liberalization of trade, investment and deregulation advocated by the US and the EU as part of their aid packages had contributed to the unrest in the first place. "Such conditionalities should not be reinforced through various forms of partnerships and aid packages promoted in the name of democracy support," said a joint statement from 65 civil society groups. "The path to development of each country should be decided by its own people, via constitutional processes and national dialogue." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jun/27/arab-activists-criticise-western-aid?intcmp=122

June 20, 2011

Humanitarian Crisis in Kenya as World's Largest Refugee Camp Declared Full
The biggest refugee camp in the world is full, creating a humanitarian emergency that threatens thousands of malnourished children, a medical charity has warned. Dadaab, a sprawling desert "city" in Kenya with a population expected to reach 450,000 by the end of the year, has run out of space, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) said. "We've got nothing to build a shelter with," Fatima, a 34-year-old refugee from Mogadishu, told MSF. "It's very unsafe here – at night, we're scared that wild animals will eat the children, and we've had threats of violence from local people who say the land is theirs. Children are even being killed by hyenas because they have no protection." MSF's report said it takes an average of 12 days for new arrivals to receive a first ration of food and 34 days to receive cooking utensils and blankets from the UN's refugee agency, which runs the camps. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/10/humanitarian-crisis-refugee-camp-declared-full

US-Occupied Afghanistan "Most Dangerous Place for Women"
Afghanistan has been ranked as the world's most dangerous country for women, with Congo taking a close second position. Violence, dismal healthcare and brutal poverty afflicts women in Afghanistan, while in Congo there are horrific levels of rape, the survey conducted by TrustLaw, an arm of Thomson Reuters, said last week. Pakistan, India and Somalia ranked third, fourth and fifth respectively in the global survey of perceptions of threats ranging from domestic abuse and economic discrimination to female foeticide, genital mutilation and acid attacks. "Ongoing conflict, NATO air strikes and cultural practices combined make Afghanistan a very dangerous place for women," Antonella Notari, head of women change makers, a group that supports women social entrepreneurs around the world, said. Some experts said the poll showed that subtle dangers such as discrimination that don't grab headlines are sometimes just as significant risks for women as bombs, bullets, stonings and systematic rape in conflict zones. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/06/201161582525243992.html

Ethnic Protests in China Have Lengthy Roots
The ethnic Mongolian protests that have swept a number of cities in recent weeks are a sobering reminder that government largess, assimilation or an iron fist cannot entirely extinguish the yearnings of some of China's 55 ethnic minorities, who account for 8 percent of the country's population. Even as an exemption from the nation's one-child policy granted to minorities helped expand their numbers, Mongolians are still outnumbered by Han five to one in Inner Mongolia, a region twice the size of California that borders the independent nation of Mongolia. "We feel like we are being drowned by the Han," said a 21-year-old computer science student, speaking through the fence of Hohhot Nationality University, where he and thousands of other Mongolian students were penned up for five days last week to prevent them from taking to the streets. "The government always talks about ethnic harmony, but why do we feel so oppressed?" More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/11/world/asia/11mongolia.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

Private Sector Given Greater Role in UK International Aid
The UK government's vision for greater private sector investment in developing countries was laid out this week in a report explaining how aid money will be used to directly fund businesses in poor countries and open "some of the world's most challenging markets" to British companies. The report, published on Tuesday, says UK aid will directly fund up to 300,000 companies in poor countries and encourage foreign investors to take advantage of highly profitable opportunities. Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary and a former investment banker, said the new approach would help wean developing countries off traditional aid. "Aid alone will never be the answer," he said. "It is business, trade and enterprise that will stimulate the economic growth that will help people, communities and countries to lift themselves out of poverty." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jun/03/private-sector-greater-role-uk-aid?CMP=twt_fd

Gaddafi Faces New ICC Charges for Using Rape as Weapon in Conflict
The chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) is likely to add rape to the war crimes charges against Muammar Gaddafi on the back of mounting evidence that sexual attacks on women are being used as a weapon in the Libyan conflict. Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters at the UN in New York last night there were strong indications that hundreds of women had been raped in the Libyan government clampdown on the popular uprising and that Gaddafi had ordered the violations as a form of punishment. The prosecutor said there was even evidence that the government had been handing out doses of Viagra to soldiers to encourage sexual attacks. Moreno-Ocampo said rape was a new tactic for the Libyan regime. "That's why we had doubts at the beginning, but now we are more convinced. Apparently, [Gaddafi] decided to punish, using rape." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/08/gaddafi-forces-libya-britain-nato

June 6, 2011

Nepal on The Brink of Constitutional Crisis
On Kathmandu's main shopping street, a group of 50 men and women stand silently. Many have stuck pieces of paper to their chests bearing the words "no work, no pay". After a few minutes, the demonstration ends in a round of applause and an impromptu meeting begins. These young, middle-class Nepalis have gathered to protest against the lack of progress by the country's constituent assembly - the 601-member body tasked with writing Nepal's new democratic constitution. Over the past few weeks, public protests like this have flared up across the capital, organized through the internet and social media sites. For many, it is the first time they have demonstrated in public. "We don't have a very long history of democracy in our country," says Prashant Singh, who is a founding member of the Facebook group called Nepal Unites. "People lack trust that they can actually come out on the streets and have their say, without having a political party behind them," he says. More at: http://southasia.oneworld.net/todaysheadlines/nepal-at-the-brink-of-constitutional-crisis

Germany's Nuclear Phase-out "An Historic Moment"
Angela Merkel's government has decided to phase out nuclear power by 2022, in a reversal of its previous policy. German commentators are split over the wisdom of the decision, with one newspaper comparing the move to the fall of the Berlin Wall and another saying it will harm future generations. In marathon talks that went into the early hours, the government hammered out the details of its plans to phase out nuclear power. The new strategy foresees all Germany's reactors going offline by 2021 if possible and 2022 at the latest. Eight plants which are currently temporarily offline will be shut down immediately. The phase-out will be accompanied by a massive increase in the use of renewable energy, and the government intends to pass a law making it easier to construct the new energy infrastructure that will be needed. More at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,765681,00.html

Yemeni Forces Kill 21 Protesters as Sit-In Smashed
Forces loyal to Yemen's embattled president killed 21 protesters as they crushed a sit-in demonstration in Taez, an organizer said on Monday. Security service agents backed by army and Republican Guards stormed the protest against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the city's Freedom Square, shooting at demonstrators and setting fire to their tents, protesters said. The four-month-old sit-in in Taez, south of capital Sanaa, was the longest-running protest against Saleh's rule. Troops backed by tanks also stormed a field hospital and detained 37 of the wounded receiving treatment there, among hundreds rounded up as security forces pursued the protesters into nearby streets, medics and organizers said. "This was a massacre. The situation is miserable. They have dragged the wounded off to detention centers from the streets," said activist Bushra al-Maqtari. More at: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/239700/yemeni-forces-kill-21-protesters-as-sit-in-smashed

Organic Agriculture's Resilience Shows Untapped Potential
Despite the crippling effects of the recent economic slowdown on many industries, the organic agriculture sector not only sustained itself during this period but also showed signs of growth. "In 2009, organic farming was practiced on 37.2 million hectares worldwide, a 5.7 percent increase from 2008 and 150 percent increase since 2000," writes policy analyst E.L. Beck, in the latest Vital Signs Online release from the Worldwatch Institute. The International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) defines organic agriculture as: "a production system that sustains the health of soils, ecosystems and people. It relies on ecological processes, biodiversity and cycles adapted to local conditions, rather than the use of inputs with adverse effects. Organic agriculture combines tradition, innovation and science to benefit the shared environment." More at: http://www.worldwatch.org/organic-agricultures-resilience-shows-untapped-potential

May 31, 2011

Honduras Ousted Leader Zelaya Signs Deal For Return
Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted from power and forced into exile in 2009, has signed an agreement with his successor, Porfirio Lobo, which will allow him to return to the country. The accord also paves the way for Honduras' re-entry into the Organisation of American States (OAS). Honduras was expelled from the OAS after Zelaya was removed from power. Earlier this month, a court in Honduras dropped all corruption charges against Zelaya, paving the way for his return. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13496588

NATO Targets Tripoli With Heaviest Raid Yet
A string of blasts shook windows across central Tripoli last week and sent a plume of black smoke high into the sky. Moussa Ibrahim, the Libyan government spokesman, said that the base was used for a reserve force of the People's Army, but had been evacuated because of the likelihood it would be a target. He claimed the three dead, young men aged 22, 25, and 27, and most of the 150 injured were civilians from the surrounding civilian neighborhood. NATO is continuing to use air power to try to shake the Gadhafi regime, after its initial objective of preventing its further advance into rebel-held territory in the east of the country, the port city of Misurata and an enclave in western Libya succeeded. More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/libya/8532193/Libya-Nato-targets-Tripoli-with-heaviest-strikes-yet.html

Brazil Shreds Laws Protecting its Rainforests
Brazil has taken a big step towards passing new laws that will loosen restrictions on the amount of Amazon rainforest that farmers can destroy, after its lower house of parliament voted in favor of updating the country's 46-year-old forest code. In a move described as "disastrous" by conservationists, the nation's congress backed a bill relaxing laws on the deforestation of hilltops and the amount of vegetation farmers must preserve. The law also offers partial amnesties for fines levied against landowners who have illegally destroyed tracts of rainforest. The legislation, which must still be passed by the Brazilian Senate and approved by President Dilma Rousseff, aims to help owners of smaller farms and ranches compete with under-regulated rivals in countries such as the USA and Argentina. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/slash-and-burn-brazil-shreds-laws-protecting-its-rainforests-2289107.html

Women Rise to the Challenge in the Arab Spring
It was only a few months ago that demonstrations exploded across the Maghreb and the Middle East. If you trace the sweep of the revolutionary contagion, a trend line emerges: The seedbed of the revolt, Tunisia, may have lacked democracy but was fairly advanced in providing equal rights for women. The next domino to fall, Egypt, could not have toppled dictator Hosni Mubarak without the support of women activists who took the helm at Tahrir Square. And now Yemen, a relatively conservative and impoverished country, has seen women gathering in a groundswell of resistance–paralleled by increasingly tense uprisings in Syria and Libya. More at: http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2011/05/26/women-rise-to-the-challenge-in-the-arab-spring/

Green Economy Needs Respect for Indigenous Rights
Nations must pay more than lip service to the idea of indigenous rights if they hope to seriously address problems like species loss and climate change, say delegates at the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, a U.N. body created to safeguard the rights of the world's 370 million indigenous people. "They present very good studies and information, but not for us," said Marcos Terena, a prominent leader of the Brazil's indigenous people, about the officials running U.N. projects on environment and development across the world. "They talk to Sao Paulo, New York, and the World Bank, not us," In his view, the transition to a so-called "green economy" will not work as long as humanity doesn't respect the rights of Mother Earth. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55733

Seizure of Disputed Province Brings Newly Divided Sudan to Brink of Civil War
Sudan was back on the brink of civil war last week after an escalation in fighting over a province disputed between the north and south of Africa's largest country. Northern forces occupied the town of Abyei, which is claimed by both the Arab-led government in Khartoum and the government of southern Sudan, which voted this year to secede. Authorities in the south accused the north of "an act of war" after three days of heavy fighting saw their forces pushed out of Abyei. "We didn't declare war," said the southern army spokesman Colonel Philip Aguer. "The National Congress Party and the Sudan armed forces declared war on us." The crisis comes only two months before Sudan was due to split in two, and threatens to plunge the country back into a damaging conflict. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/seizure-of-disputed-province-brings-newly-divided-sudan-to-brink-of-civil-war-2287814.html

May 23, 2011

Renewable Energy Can Power The World, Says Landmark IPCC Study
Renewable energy could account for almost 80% of the world's energy supply within four decades -- but only if governments pursue the policies needed to promote green power, according to a landmark report published on Monday. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the body of the world's leading climate scientists convened by the United Nations, said that if the full range of renewable technologies were deployed, the world could keep greenhouse gas concentrations to less than 450 parts per million, the level scientists have predicted will be the limit of safety beyond which climate change becomes catastrophic and irreversible. Investing in renewables to the extent needed would cost only about 1% of global GDP annually, said Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the IPCC. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/09/ipcc-renewable-energy-power-world

China Admits Problems With Three Gorges Dam
The Three Gorges dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project and a symbol of China's confidence in risky technological solutions, is troubled by urgent pollution and geologic problems, a high-level government body acknowledged last week. The venture, costing China about $23 billion according to official estimates (but perhaps double that amount in estimates by outside experts), has been plagued by reports of floating archipelagoes of garbage, carpets of algae and landslides on the banks along the vast expanse of still water since the 600-foot-tall dam on the Yangtze River was completed in 2006. Critics also have complained that the government has fallen far short of its goals in helping resettle the 1.4 million people displaced by the rising waters behind the dam. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/world/asia/20gorges.html?ref=world

India's Anti-Poverty Programs: Big But Troubled
India spends more on programs for the poor than most developing countries, but it has failed to eradicate poverty because of widespread corruption and faulty government administration, the World Bank said Wednesday. “India is not getting the ‘bang for the rupee' that its significant expenditure would seem to warrant, and the needs of important population groups remain only party addressed," John D. Blomquist, lead economist at the World Bank, wrote in a nearly 400-page study released last week. India spent 2 percent of its gross domestic product, or $28.6 billion last year, on social programs to alleviate and prevent poverty, the World Bank said, a higher percentage than any other country in Asia and about three times China's spending. The programs, central to the Congress party's platform, include food distribution and health insurance initiatives that are supposed to reach hundreds of millions of households. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/world/asia/19india.html?ref=world

Malawi's Expulsion of British Diplomat Signals Africa's Tense Ties with West
Malawi's president on Sunday defended his decision to expel Britain's senior envoy, a move symptomatic of how African governments are increasingly prickly toward criticism from the West. In his first statement on the issue, President Bingu wa Mutharika told reporters that he would not take insults from Britain, including former envoy Fergus Cochrane-Dyet's statement in a leaked diplomatic cable that the president is “intolerant of criticism" – which led to his April 26 expulsion. The president's spokesman had previously explained that "the tone in the leaked cable was not diplomatic." Tiffs between Africa and the West are in no short supply these days. Kenya's spokesman recently said it was "malicious" for the US ambassador to call the government “a swamp of flourishing corruption" in a statement leaked by WikiLeaks. Uganda's president has so far ignored US criticism over repressive tactics and voting irregularities in the April election. More at: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/0509/Malawi-s-expulsion-of-British-diplomat-signals-Africa-s-tense-ties-with-West

Chinese Villagers Driven Off Land Fear Food May Run Out
Stories of forced evictions and bloody protests in rural China have been commonplace in recent years as cities sprawl outwards and more land is needed for industrial parks, housing blocks, roads and railways. Many farmers believe local officials are in cahoots with developers to cheat them of fair compensation and a share of the surge in the land's value when it is recategorized for commercial use. This is a common complaint among the protesters in Xujiancheng, who have smashed the windows in the developer's office, torn down walls erected round their requisitioned farmland and spread protest banners across fences near the building site. In the fiercest protests in January, they carried two empty coffins to the frontline to show their willingness to die. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/may/19/china-food-illegal-land-grab-protests

May 16, 2011

In the Dominican Republic a Model Factory Enshrines Workers' Rights
Two years ago, Knights Apparel, based in South Carolina, decided to lead the race to the top by opening a factory in The Dominican Republic that not only paid its employees a living wage, but also guaranteed their rights to a union. Taking over a factory that had moved to a cheaper location, Knights Apparel chose to work with the Worker Rights Consortium, a monitoring agency funded by participating universities. Together, they designed a model to ensure that clothing produced there be certified as "not produced under sweatshop conditions". As a result, the company has garnered free publicity and ongoing marketing support from activist groups around the world. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55655

Women Leading Bangladesh Away from the LDC Tag
Women entrepreneurs and workers will soon help Bangladesh shake off the Least Developed Country (LDC) label, business leaders say. "Soon Bangladesh will come out of LDC [status]," Nasreen Awal Mintoo, president of the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Bangladesh, said at the Fourth U.N. Conference on the LDCs (LDC-IV) in Istanbul last week. Women entrepreneurship is growing fast, helping Bangladesh to grow. That may not seem surprising in a country where the prime minister and the leader of the opposition are both women. But those facts do not make it easy for women, either as entrepreneurs or as workers. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55656

Crushed by Debt and Neoliberal Reforms, Indian Farmers Commit Suicide at Staggering Rate
A quarter of a million Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 16 years—an average of one suicide every 30 minutes. The crisis has ballooned with economic liberalization that has removed agricultural subsidies and opened Indian agriculture to the global market. Small farmers are often trapped in a cycle of insurmountable debt, leading many to take their lives out of sheer desperation. Smita Narula of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, co-author of a new report on farmer suicides in India, says that "what we're faced with in India is a human rights crisis of epic proportions." More at: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/5/11/every_30_minutes_crushed_by_debt

Malawi: Boat Earmarked as a Floating Clinic
It is a challenge for a lot of people living on the shores of Lake Malawi to access health facilities when they get sick. The lake is Africa's third largest and makes up one fifth of the country's total area. For most of the thousand miles of Lake Malawi's shoreline there is no road and access to health facilities for about four million residents living at the lakeside. "When we are desperate for health care many of us travel by dugout canoes, risking the dangerous current storms and crocodile attacks to get to the nearest health centre," said Orwin Totomkamwa Banda, a Chizumulu Island resident. Now to help residents along the shoreline of Lake Malawi access health facilities there is a very ambitious challenging project of reconverting Malawi's oldest ship, Chauncy Maples, into a mobile clinic. Once transformed, the mobile clinic will serve lakeside villages along the 360 mile long and 50 mile wide Lake Malawi shared by three countries: Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. More at: http://www.africanews.com/site/MALAWI_Boat_earmarked_as_a_floating_clinic/list_messages/38361

U.N. Forecasts 10.1 Billion People by Century's End
The population of the world, long expected to stabilize just above 9 billion in the middle of the century, will instead keep growing and may hit 10.1 billion by the year 2100, the United Nations projected in a report released Tuesday. Growth in Africa remains so high that the population there could more than triple in this century, rising from today's one billion to 3.6 billion, the report said — a sobering forecast for a continent already struggling to provide food and water for its people. The new report comes just ahead of a demographic milestone, with the world population expected to pass 7 billion in late October, only a dozen years after it surpassed 6 billion. Demographers called the new projections a reminder that a problem that helped define global politics in the 20th century, the population explosion, is far from solved in the 21st. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/04population.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Dashboards Guide Philanthropic Decision-Making
You hear a lot from funders these days about their hunger for "dashboards" that display the latest information to guide their decision-making. Dashboards have taken over the corporate sector as part of the "business intelligence" movement, so naturally the boards of foundations and nonprofits want to try them in the philanthropic sector. The quest for "dashboards" to display organizational performance in the philanthropic sector is part of the clamor to apply metrics to everything, to quantify and monetize outcomes, and to hold grant recipients accountable for bottom-line results. Unfortunately, most dashboards don't really do more than cram a bunch of info that's already in the annual report into pretty graphs, pie charts, histograms, sparkling line graphs and such. More at: http://justphilanthropy.org/2011/04/21/dashboards-for-philanthropy/

May 9, 2011

What's in Store for US-Pakistan Relations Post-Bin Laden?
Scenes of rejoicing in Washington and New York accompanied the news that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been killed by US special forces last week. But in Pakistan, many remained glued to their television sets, wondering what this event means for their nation's security and sovereignty. The killing of bin Laden signals to the Pakistani public that the United States can act with autonomy and impunity on their territory. For most Pakistanis, news of the terrorist leader's death was overshadowed by questions of what role their country's government and military had played in the operation. More at: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=29679&lan=en&sp=0

30 Protesters Killed in Syria by Security Forces
Syrian security forces opened fire last week on thousands of protesters demanding regime change, killing at least 30 people in a sign that President Bashar Assad is prepared to ride out a wave of rapidly escalating international outrage. The U.N. said it is sending a team into Syria to investigate and the European Union is expected to place sanctions on Syrian officials next week — both significant blows to Assad, a British-educated, self-styled reformer who has tried to bring Syria back into the global mainstream over his 11 years in power. Friday's protests were the latest spasm in what has become a weekly cycle of mass protests followed by a swift and deadly crackdown. More at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/986784--thousands-of-syrians-take-to-streets-for-day-of-defiance

Epidemics Breed Public Disorder and the Breakdown of Trust
As we saw with the cholera outbreak in Haiti, when new epidemic diseases strike, scientific opinion is initially uncertain and often divided. The mass media and the internet allow dissident scientists to gain a hearing, just as they did in the more restricted media environment of the 19th century. Governments and politicians are frequently driven to choose the science that best serves their interest, or their ideological standpoint. It's too simple to say that the public should trust scientists. Why should they, when scientists can get things wrong? More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/may/09/epidemics-cholera-aids-trust-scientists

Tens of Thousands March in Mexico City
Javier Sicilia, the poet who has become an unlikely hero in a movement calling for an end to Mexico's drug war, asked for five minutes of silence at the end of a Sunday rally in this city's giant central plaza. The silence was to honor the dead — more than 35,000 since President Felipe Calderón sent the military to fight drug cartels four and a half years ago. Sicilia's grief and fury have resonated with many Mexicans who believe they have become the ignored victims in a battle between organized crime on one side and soldiers and the police on the other. "We want to hear a message from the president of the republic that with this resignation, yes, he has heard us," Mr. Sicilia said. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/world/americas/09mexico.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=world

May 2, 2011

The War on Africa's Family Farmers
The World Bank's World Development Report presents a one-dimensional stereotype concocted to arouse pity rather than inspire the respect that Africa's farmers deserve, says a feature article in Pambazuka News. It ignores their intricate knowledge of local resources, the crop varieties they have developed to cope with a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, and their complex and resilient agro-ecological family farming systems. It perpetuates the false notion that Africa's family farms are inefficient and non-productive. Farmer groups across the continent are working tirelessly to increase their incomes, against all the political and economic odds stacked against them, and in the face of increasing hardship of climate change. More at: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/features/72302

Cambodian Government Plans to Tighten Noose Around Civil Society
A proposed law governing NGOs in Cambodia will impose severe restrictions on civil society groups and tighten control over public discourse, critics in this South-east Asian country say. International analysts and local groups have widely condemned Cambodia's draft law on associations and non-governmental organizations, arguing the proposed rules foist unnecessary restrictions on freedom of expression. At a donor conference in Phnom Penh last week, a U.S. official took the unusual step of publicly linking government restrictions on civil society to valuable aid funds from one of the country's largest donors. "In these times of fiscal constraint, justifying increased assistance to Cambodia will become very difficult in the face of shrinking space for civil society to function," Flynn Fuller, the Cambodia mission director USAID said. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55361

Global Switch Needed on Severe Malaria Drug
Up to 200,000 deaths from severe malaria could be averted each year if malarial countries were to switch to a more expensive but more effective drug, the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said last week. In a report on the mosquito-borne disease, MSF said data from recent trials in Africa had shown that the drug, called artesunate, was more effective and easier to use than quinine, a cheaper malaria medicine often used in poorer countries. There are around 240 million malaria cases across the world every year and the disease kills more than 850,000 people annually, many of them children, the World Health Organization says. Most malaria cases are in Africa, where it kills a child every 45 seconds. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/19/us-malaria-drugs-idUSTRE73I1G120110419

Uganda's Opposition Leader Arrested
Uganda's opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, was arrested Monday shortly after he stepped out of his home for the Walk to Work protest. Dressed in his trademark Blue cap, a pair of Khaki trousers, a Kitenge loose fitting shirt and black sneakers, Besigye was quickly rounded up by police and bundled up onto a police pickup truck and taken to Kasangati Police station. This is the second time the leader of the Forum for Democratic Change has been arrested. Last week, Besigye was arrested in Kajjansi about five Kilometres from the capital city when he launched the Walk to Work demonstration. The protest walk to work is in line with the high food and fuel prices in Uganda. More at: http://www.africanews.com/site/Ugandas_opposition_leader_arrested/list_messages/38191

Haiti's Reconstruction: Who Benefits?
Georges Marie is a proud and angry Haitian lawyer who lost her husband in the earthquake. As she mourned, the humanitarian industry exploded. She watched with concern as Port au Prince's narrow streets became clogged with white Land Rovers, each stamped with an aid agency logo on the driver's door. It still rankles her when the humanitarians dine and dance in a four-star restaurant overlooking the Place Boyer, a public square now strung with tarps, home to some of the million-plus people still displaced from the 2010 earthquake. Quebec, said Georges Marie, offers Cuban-trained Haitian doctors a license to practice and a plane ticket. La industrie de misere, she called it — "our misery, their jobs," she said. More at: http://www.fpif.org/articles/haitis_reconstruction_who_benefits

April 25, 2011

Grameen Bank Cleared of Financial Breaches by Bangladesh Government
A Bangladeshi government probe has cleared microlender Grameen Bank of financial irregularities, the finance minister said, but the finding will not change the decision to fire Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus. Yunus, 70, was dismissed by a central bank order – upheld by the high court and supreme court – on the grounds that he had overstayed in his position and refused requests to quit. Lauded at home and abroad by politicians and financiers as the "banker to the poor", Yunus has been under attack by the government since late last year, after a Norwegian documentary alleged the bank was dodging taxes. Yunus denied any wrongdoing and a Norwegian government investigation later also cleared him of any malpractice. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/grameen-bank-cleared-irregularities-bangladesh

Haitians Forced Out of Tents to Homes Just as Precarious
More than half of the Haitians driven into tent cities and makeshift camps by the January 2010 earthquake have moved out of them, officially bringing down the displaced population to 680,000 from a peak of 1.5 million, according to the International Organization for Migration. But what may seem like a clear sign of progress, officials warn, is also a cause of concern. Very few of the people who left the camps — only 4.7 percent, by the group's estimate — did so because their homes had been rebuilt or repaired. Instead, a vast majority appear to have been forced out through mass evictions by landowners, or to have left the camps on their own to escape the high crime and fraying conditions there. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/world/americas/24haiti.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=world

Syria's Crackdown on Protesters Becomes Dramatically More Brutal
The Syrian government's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations has escalated dramatically, with tanks rolling on to the streets for the first time and troops reported to have opened fire in several towns and villages across the country. Scores were reportedly killed and many more arrested in a widespread pre-emptive crackdown that was described by one human rights activist as a "savage war" against the pro-democracy movement. The southern town of Deraa, which has been a center of the rebellion, bore the brunt of the regime's assault. Witnesses said at least 3,000 troops, backed by tanks and heavy weapons, entered the town in the early hours of Monday. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/syria-crackdown-protesters-brutal

Earth Day Network Aims for Billion Acts of Green
Earth Day Network and Facebook are collaborating to engage people worldwide in environmental action through the Billion Acts of Green campaign. The two organizations have created a new application to motivate people to reduce their impact on the environment. The Facebook application is part of Earth Day Network's campaign to reach "a billion acts of green" in advance of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012, as evidence that people all over the world are working to protect the Earth. These actions can be immediate changes like switching to energy efficient light bulbs, or large-scale projects that achieve lasting change, such as efforts to make cities or schools greener. More at: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/apr2011/2011-04-21-02.html

Foundation Giving Flat in 2010
Giving by U.S. foundations fell 0.2 percent to $45.7 billion in 2010, rebounding from a record-high 2.1 percent drop between 2008 and 2009, and is expected to grow 2 percent to 4 percent this year and make another modest gain in 2012, a new Foundation Center report says. "Foundations provided stability for nonprofits during a time of crisis," Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center, says in a statement. "Many made extraordinary efforts to maintain their giving levels, while other, often newer foundations even increased their giving." More at: http://philanthropyjournal.org/news/top-stories/foundation-giving-flat-2010

April 18, 2011

Greg Mortensen Controversy's Impact on Philanthropy
This week, an exhaustive journalistic investigation by CBS News revealed that Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea, the wildly popular book about educating girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan was partially faked. "We began investigating complaints from former donors, board members, staffers, and charity watchdogs about Mortenson and the way he is running his non-profit organization," said CBS' 60 Minutes. "We found there are serious questions about how millions of dollars have been spent, whether Mortenson is personally benefiting, and whether some of the most dramatic and inspiring stories in his books are even true." What is most troubling about these revelations is how they show a dangerous conflation of pomp and circumstance with philanthropy. Often, the easiest way to secure funds from the public is through theatrical melodrama rather than simple, honest hard work. More at: http://tribune.com.pk/story/151861/philanthropy-reconsidered/

Burkina Faso Students and Soldiers Mount Violent Challenge to President
Students burned down the ruling party headquarters and the prime minister's house in Burkina Faso on Monday as a soldiers' mutiny spread to several corners of the west African country, posing a grave challenge to a president who seized power in a bloody coup 24 years ago. President Blaise Compaore announced on Friday he was dissolving his government and naming a new army chief and a new head of presidential security, but the steps have failed to stem discontent. Anatole Kiema, a teacher at a grammar school in the town of Kaya, north of Ouagadougou, said schools in the area closed after soldiers shot into the air. "There was a panic in town and we have closed classes as a precautionary measure," Kiema said. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/18/burkina-faso-students-riot

Women Protest for Rights in Bangladesh
Police in Bangladesh broke up angry protesters blocking a main highway in the capital Dhaka, over a new law giving women equal property rights. Dozens were arrested and injured as police used tear gas and batons. Schools, businesses and offices across the country remained closed in a nationwide strike enforced by a group of Islamic parties. Bangladesh has a secular legal system, but in matters relating to inheritance it follows Sharia law. Under Bangladeshi law a woman normally inherits half as much as her brother. But under the new rules, every child would inherit an equal amount. Protesters blocked a key road linking the capital, Dhaka, with the main port of Chittagong. Officials say around 100 protesters have been taken into custody. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12956907?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Exiles Say Chinese Police Blockading Tibetan Monastery
Chinese state media have confirmed reports of clashes between monks and police at a Tibetan monastery in Sichuan province, but deny it has been blockaded. Tibetan exiles said armed police surrounded the complex last Tuesday and refused to allow monks to enter or leave. The Dalai Lama warned late last week that the situation could turn "explosive." The International Campaign for Tibet said hundreds of residents gathered outside Kirti last Tuesday fearing authorities would forcibly remove monks for a "patriotic education" campaign after the self-immolation of a young lama. Citing exiled sources, it alleged that security forces beat protesters and unleashed dogs on the crowd as they forced their way through to the monastery, surrounding it and preventing up to 2,500 monks from leaving. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/18/china-police-blockade-tibetan-monastery

Nigerian Election Victory for Goodluck Jonathan Sparks Riots
Rioting erupted across Nigeria's largely Muslim north on Monday, with the Red Cross saying many people were killed as youths torched churches and homes in anger at President Goodluck Jonathan's election victory. The count showed Jonathan, from the southern oil-producing Niger Delta, had beaten Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler from the north, in the first round. Observers have called the poll the fairest in decades in Africa's most populous nation, but Buhari's supporters accuse the ruling party of election rigging and his Congress for Progressive Change party rejected results announced so far. The Nigerian Red Cross said churches, mosques and homes had been burned in rioting across the north. "A lot of people have been killed but early reports are still coming in," said Red Cross official Umar Mairiga. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/18/nigeria-election-goodluck-jonathan-riots

Decision Looms for Laos Dam
This week the four countries that share the lower reaches of the Mekong River will announce whether they agree to the construction of a controversial dam, a decision that could forever alter the character and natural diversity of one of the world's longest and most bountiful rivers. The proposed dam, known as the Xayaburi for the province in Laos where it is located, is a test case for a 1995 agreement signed by Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to share the river's resources -- its fish, water and the minerals carried by the silt that fertilize the soils of places like the Mekong Delta. The agreement, which called for a process of consultation on actions affecting the river, was seen as a major step toward greater cooperation for countries that a few decades ago, during the Vietnam War, were often at odds. But Laos appears to be undermining the spirit of that cooperation. All four countries retained the right to build dams with or without agreement by neighboring countries. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/world/asia/18mekong.html?ref=world

Sacred Indigenous Site in Mexico Threatened by Canadian Mining Company
Located in the state of San Luis Potosi, Wirikuta is one of the most biologically rich and diverse deserts in the world. In 2001 UNESCO declared it a Sacred Natural Site. In spite of this, it is currently under siege by First Majestic Silver, a Vancouver-based mining company that paid $3 million to obtain 22 mining concessions in the area Wirikuta is now the backdrop for a social environmental conflict that is unfolding around First Majestic Silver's intentions to reinitiate mining activities in the area. More at: http://upsidedownworld.org/main/mexico-archives-79/2981-sacred-indigenous-site-in-mexico-threatened-by-canadian-mining-company

April 11, 2011

Former Leader of Ivory Coast Captured to End Standoff
The Ivory Coast strongman, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured on Monday after a week-long siege of his residence, according to the French military and a senior American diplomat. For months, Gbagbo has refused to accept Alassane Ouattara's victory, insisting that he is still the legitimate president of this West African nation. The capture came a day after French and United Nations helicopters fired missiles at key positions held by forces loyal to Gbagbo. As fighting resumed Monday, columns of black smoke rose over Abidjan, and French troops were reported to be advancing toward Mr. Gbagbo's residence. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/world/africa/12ivory.html?_r=1&hp

Aid Certain to be a Casualty of U.S. Federal Budget Cuts
According to the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, the deal reached last week on Capitol Hill will cut humanitarian assistance and disaster relief programs by 41%, food security and food aid programs would be slashed by 30% and multilateral contributions would drop by 40%, under budget proposals put forward by congressional Republicans. Many of these proposed cuts have come as a surprise, particularly as global health and food security have traditionally garnered substantial bipartisan support. The head of USAID, Rajiv Shah, a former medical doctor, warned Congress last week that the proposed spending cuts would lead to the deaths of 70,000 children. "I believe these are very conservative estimates," Shah said. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/apr/08/us-federal-budget-cuts-aid-certain-casualty

Cambodians Fight for Land Rights
"This isn't right at all," says Mr Ponlok, owner of a waterfront cafe at Boeung Kok Lake in Phnom Penh. "People are being forced out and the compensation is way too small." Lakeside residents are being driven from their homes as developers try to fill the landmark lake in Cambodia's capital with earth and sand, prior to turning it into a residential and shopping complex. Land rights are a complex and controversial issue in Cambodia, where under the brutal Khmer Rouge regime, cities were emptied as part of a forced ruralization scheme. The regime nationalized all private property and gutted ownership records. In a bid to settle the confusion and lay the bedrock for some sort of property rights and legal framework for ownership, a 2001 law said that people who could prove five years of continuous occupancy could apply to formally own the land, but that does not seem to apply to the lakeside residents. More at: http://the-diplomat.com/2011/04/09/cambodia%E2%80%99s-ngo-blues/

Social Networking Sites Mobilize Mexicans Fed Up with Violence
Thousands of people took to the streets in 20 cities across Mexico last week to protest the wave of drug-related killings, in demonstrations triggered by the murder of the son of poet Javier Sicilia, in another show of the power of social networking sites in channeling public outrage. Estimates by participants in the protest in the Mexican capital ranged from 5,000 to 20,000 demonstrators. "It is an impressive demonstration, if you consider that there was no organization, political party or TV station behind it," said Agustín Guerrero, a federal lawmaker of the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). More at: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=55176

Bolivia Enshrines Natural World's Rights for Mother Earth
Bolivia is set to pass the world's first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth redefines the country's rich mineral deposits as "blessings" and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry. These new rights for nature include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. "It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all", said Vice-President Alvaro García Linera. "It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights

April 3, 2011

Ethnic Violence Intensifies in Ivory Coast
The full horror of the violence sweeping Ivory Coast has emerged as the battle for Abidjan raged and thousands of civilians faced critical shortages. Forces loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo defied expectations by mounting stubborn resistance in the economic capital for a third day, raising fears of protracted urban warfare and soaring casualties. The heavy weapons fire and fighting left thousands of people barricaded inside their homes and in increasingly urgent need of food, water and medical treatment. Looting is rife amid a sense of lawlessness and anarchy. Deepening the fear in the capital, at least 800 people were massacred in the western town of Duékoué, which fell to rebels last week, despite the presence of hundreds of UN peacekeepers there. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/02/ivory-coast-abidjan-duekoue-gbagbo

Doctors Go Far Afield to Battle Epidemics
Across sub-Saharan Africa, an extreme shortage of health workers remains a critical barrier to fighting illness. The region bears a quarter of the world's burden of disease, but has only 3 percent of its health care workers, according to the World Health Organization. In an attempt to respond to this crisis, more than 70 universities in the United States and Canada now offer formal academic programs in global health, most of them developed in just the past five years. "Today's students really want to make a difference in the world," said Michael H. Merson, director of Duke University's Global Health Institute. "They have a passion for sacrifice and service. It reminds me of the '60s." More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/world/africa/03aids.html?_r=1&ref=world

Rape Used as a Weapon of War in Libya
Walking through the corridors of the El-Mgareaf hospital, Dr Suleiman Refadi spoke about the women he had treated who said they had been raped by government soldiers. One woman was snatched from outside her home as she called for her child to come indoors. Another was inside her own house near the west gate to the city when soldiers broke in and raped her. His sadness turned to bewilderment when the doctor described how he believed this rape was very much pre-meditated. He described how he had personally searched the bodies of Gaddafi troops that were brought into the hospital morgue: "When they bring the cadavers to the hospital I search their pockets. I have seen Viagra and I have seen condoms." This, he ascertained, was because they had been instructed to rape. More at: http://blogs.aljazeera.net/2011/03/27/Week-of-horror-in

African Leaders Pressure President of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe's neighbors, long accused of being soft on its autocratic president, Robert Mugabe, are putting an unusual amount of public pressure on him to halt the political violence, intimidation and arrests that have surged since his party began agitating for elections in recent months. Zimbabwe had achieved a tenuous political stability in the two years since regional leaders first pressured Mr. Mugabe to enter a power-sharing government with his longtime rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, after a discredited 2008 election. But that stability has been shaken in recent months. In recent days, the state media, controlled by Mr. Mugabe, has called for the arrest of Mr. Tsvangirai. South Africa's president, Jacob Zuma, the region's mediator in Zimbabwe's crisis, made it clear in meetings with Mr. Mugabe and Mr. Tsvangirai in Zambia on Thursday that Mr. Tsvangirai was not to be arrested and that acts of violence, harassment and intimidation needed to cease. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/02/world/africa/02zimbabwe.html?ref=world

Crews Facing 100-Year Battle at Fukushima
A nuclear expert has warned that it might be 100 years before melting fuel rods can be safely removed from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant. Water is still being poured into the damaged reactors to cool melting fuel rods. But one expert says the radiation leaks will be ongoing and it could take 50 to 100 years before the nuclear fuel rods have completely cooled and been removed. "As the water leaks out, you keep on pouring water in, so this leak will go on for ever," said Dr John Price, a former member of the Safety Policy Unit at the UK's National Nuclear Corporation. More at: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2011/04/01/3179487.htm

March 28, 2011

As Change Comes to Arab Nations, Opportunities Arise for Charities
While the popular uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa have posed immediate challenges for charities, many nonprofit officials say they are hopeful that philanthropy will soon have new opportunities in the region. The starkest example of a new climate may be in Tunisia, where the mid-January ouster of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the country's authoritarian president, has meant that nonprofits once repressed by the government are now advising the political transition. Regan E. Ralph, executive director of the Fund for Global Human Rights, in Washington, says the handful of Tunisian human-rights groups supported by her organization have been asked to weigh in on questions about changing the country's constitution and holding elections. "They have gone from being marginalized and harassed at best, with very limited resources, to having huge demand placed on them," she said. More at: http://philanthropy.com/article/Changes-in-Arab-Nations-Create/126775/?sid=&utm_source=&utm_medium=en

Global Food Scare Widens From Japan Nuclear Plant
Countries across the world are shunning Japanese food imports as radioactive steam leaked from a disaster-struck nuclear plant, straining nerves in Tokyo. The toll of dead and missing from Japan's monster quake and tsunami on March 11 topped 26,000, as hundreds of thousands remained huddled in evacuation shelters and fears grew in the mega city of Tokyo over water safety. The damage to the Fukushima nuclear plant from the tectonic calamity and a series of explosions has stoked global anxiety. The United States and Hong Kong have already restricted Japanese food, and France wants the EU to do the same. "Food safety issues are an additional dimension of the emergency," said three UN agencies in a joint statement issued in Geneva, pledging they were "committed to mobilizing their knowledge and expertise" to help Japan. More at: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Global+food+scare+widens+from+Japan+nuclear+plant/4489367/story.html

Relatives Sue Chiquita Over Killings in Colombia
Families of victims in Colombia's civil war are suing the biggest banana importer in the United States for its role in funding illegal armed groups in the country's conflict. Relatives of 931 people killed by left-wing guerrillas and right-wing paramilitaries want compensation after Chiquita Brands admitted paying the groups at various times during the conflict to protect its banana plantations in the Caribbean Urabá region. One of the filings made with a US federal court in Washington DC on Tuesday relates to 254 murders by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Chiquita paid the guerrilla movement between 1987 and 1999 to defend its plantations from attack by a rival guerrilla force, the Popular Liberation Army. "They just considered these payments part of the business of growing bananas. Chiquita had a policy of paying whoever it was they had to pay off and to this day still consider themselves the victims in all this," says Paul Wolf, the human rights lawyer representing many of the families. More at: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0324/1224292956541.html

EU Court Deals Blow to Anti-GM Crops Lobby
France broke the law when it halted cultivation of genetically-modified crops without first asking the EU to impose emergency measures, the legal advisor to Europe's top court said last week. Advocate-general Paolo Mengozzi's opinion represents a major blow to France, Austria, Greece and Poland, all of whom sought European Court of Justice guidance after being taken to court in national jurisdictions by GM-foods giant Monsanto and others. "The French authorities could not suspend the cultivation of genetically-modified maize MON 810 on national territory without having first asked the European Commission to adopt emergency measures citing a risk to health and the environment," Mengozzi said. Judges are not bound by the legal opinion, but in the vast majority of cases the legal argument holds firm. More at: http://www.france24.com/en/20110322-eu-court-deals-blow-french-led-anti-gm-crops-lobby

Plastic Particles Circulating Endlessly in World's Oceans
That plastic bottle or plastic take-away coffee lid that has 20 minutes of use can spend decades killing countless seabirds, marine animals and fish, experts reported last week. There is now so much plastic in the oceans it is likely that virtually every seabird has plastic in its belly if its feeding habits mean it mistakes plastic bits for food. The same is true for sea turtles, marine animals or fish, experts say. Northern fulmars, a common seabird numbering in the millions, have a collective 45 tons of plastic bits in their bellies, estimates Jan Andries van Franeker, a biologist with the Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies at the University of Wageningen in Holland. At least 95 percent of fulmars in the North Sea where van Franeker has been working for three decades have pieces of plastic in their stomachs. The same is true for related species like the tiny Wilson's storm petrels, which unknowingly transport an estimated 35 tons of plastic from their wintering grounds in the North Atlantic to breeding grounds in the Antarctic. More at: https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/03/24-4

Haitians Go to Polls Amid Violence and Ballot Station Chaos
Haitians went to the polls last week to elect a new president amid the ruins of an earthquake that has left 800,000 people homeless, fears of a cholera outbreak and reports of campaign violence and ballot station chaos. The run-off candidates vying to succeed President René Préval are a former first lady and a popular carnival singer. They offer similar prescriptions for unlocking billions of dollars in international aid and rebuilding the Caribbean nation, but they could not differ more in their personal histories. The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed for a calm, transparent vote and Mr Préval, casting his ballot, said he hoped Haiti's first ever run-off election would consolidate the country's democracy. Missing voting materials marred the start of voting at some polling stations. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/haitians-go-to-polls-amid-violence-and-ballot-station-chaos-2247786.html

Bahrain and Yemen Declare War on Their Protesters
A brutal counter-revolution is sweeping through the Arabian Peninsula as Bahrain and Yemen both declare war on reform movements and ferociously try to suppress them with armed force. In Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa called for military support from other Gulf monarchs and 1,000 troops from Saudi Arabia crossed into the island kingdom. "This was the green light for our army to kill people," says Ali Salman, the leader of al-Wefaq, the main opposition party. He added that there was no information on the whereabouts of the seven reform leaders who have been detained, but they have been charged with "incitement to kill" and being in communication with a foreign power. More at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/bahrain-and-yemen-declare-war-on-their-protesters-2247066.html

March 21, 2011

Can Military Intervention Help Development in Libya?
The military action against Libya began last week, and with it comes a debate about whether military intervention can actually help the development sector there. Many argue that humanitarian military intervention is firmly within the remit of the international community, and it can work. It is broadly agreed that Britain's military intervention in Sierra Leone was necessary and successful, as was NATO's intervention in Kosovo. However, the plethora of mixed motives for the west's engagement with the Arab world make doing the right thing harder in the Middle East and North Africa. The main issues surrounding the internal conflict taking place in Libya are not primarily humanitarian, even if they are dressed up as such. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/21/libya-military-intervention-help-development

Violent Crackdown in Bahrain Condemned
Amnesty International has called on the governments of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia to immediately restrain their security forces after an anti-government protester was shot dead in Bahrain and many others sustained gunshot injuries. Eye-witnesses told Amnesty International that Bahraini riot police and plain-clothed security forces used shotguns, rubber bullets and teargas against demonstrators in Sitra and Ma'ameer. Several ambulance drivers were attacked by riot police with batons as they tried to reach the wounded. An eyewitness told Amnesty International that riot police blocked access to the Sitra Health Center where many of the injured were taken, while leaving other injured people lying unassisted in the streets. The electricity supply to the center was cut. More at http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/evidence-bahraini-security-forces%E2%80%99-brutality-revealed-2011-03-16

Aristide Returns to Cheers and Uncertainty in Haiti
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former priest who rose to become Haiti's first democratically elected president before being forced into exile twice, returned home on Friday to a raucous welcome from supporters and jitters that he would rattle a presidential runoff intended to settle months of political discord here. Thousands of people cheered, danced and blocked streets around the airport upon his arrival. Aristide arrived like a conquering hero on a chartered flight from his adopted home in South Africa, stepping onto Haitian soil for the first time since he left the country in 2004 under strong American pressure as rebels closed in on the capital. "In 1804, the Haitian revolution marked the end of slavery." Aristide said, "Today, may the Haitian people end exiles and coup d'états, while peacefully moving from social exclusion to inclusion." More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/19/world/americas/19haiti.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=aristide&st=cse

Battle over Mumbai's Slums
Golibar, Mumbai's second largest slum, spanning 140 acres is at the center of a fierce battle between its residents and a developer that wants to raze the area to make way for a commercial project. Already concrete homes across this narrow maze of more than 300 dwellings have been demolished. In January, violence erupted when the developer tried to evict 45 families following a high court order. None of the families moved, claiming their signatures consenting to the project had been forged. Conflicts between developers and slum dwellers have been unfolding across the city for more than a decade, stalling slum redevelopment projects designed to pull 60% of Mumbai's population out of harsh living conditions. Under a controversial slum rehabilitation policy, developers can snap up land for commercial development in exchange for building free houses for slum dwellers. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/11/mumbai-slums-developers-profits-residents

March 14, 2011

Charities Respond to Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami
The strongest-ever earthquake to hit Japan triggered a tsunami on Friday that moved across the Pacific Ocean. Japanese news outlets are reporting that about 1,800 people are confirmed dead, and some sources fear the toll could be more than 10,000. The Chronicle of Philanthropy is tracking the work of relief, aid and development organizations in response to these tragic events. Their updated list can be found here: http://philanthropy.com/article/Charities-Respond-to-Pacific/126706/

A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History
Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades. They fused their secular expertise in social networks with a discipline culled from religious movements and combined the energy of soccer fans with the sophistication of surgeons. Breaking free from older veterans of the Arab political opposition, they relied on tactics of nonviolent resistance channeled from an American scholar through a Serbian youth brigade — but also on marketing tactics borrowed from Silicon Valley. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html

Aid Donors Get an F for Education
This year's Unesco Global Monitoring Report on education looks at some of the links between education and other areas of human development. It also looks at the performance of aid donors in supporting education – and in acting on their own commitments. And it's not a pretty story. We need around $16 billion in aid to achieve the international development targets in education – targets that donors have signed up for. Currently, aid levels are running at around $4.7 billion and stagnating. Education in conflict-affected states is getting spectacularly short shrift. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/mar/01/unesco-report-aid-donors-education-conflict

Eco-Farming Could Double Food Output of Poor Countries, Says UN
A move by farmers in developing countries to ecological agriculture, and away from chemical fertilizers and pesticides, could double food production within a decade, a UN report says. Insect-trapping plants in Kenya and ducks eating weeds in Bangladesh's rice paddies are among examples of recommendations for feeding the world's 7 million people, which the UN says will become about 9 billion by 2050. "Agriculture is at a crossroads," says Olivier de Schutter, the UN special reporter on the right to food, "in a drive to depress record food prices and avoid the costly oil-dependent model of industrial farming." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/08/eco-farming-double-food-output

Women Voice their Concerns about REDD+
Women's groups, civil society organizations and activists have come together to call out for alternatives to the proposed policies and incentives under the United Nations Framework on Climate Change Convention to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhance carbon stocks (REDD+). In a statement, individuals and groups, including indigenous peoples assert that REDD + is still a covert way of allowing greater destruction to the world's remaining forests and communities, especially women. Ana Filippini of the World Rainforest Movement explains, "REDD + will contribute to a global land grab of communities' and indigenous peoples' lands and territories, which will particularly affect women." More at: http://www.gendercc.net/network/forum-news-and-debates/news-details/article/women-voice-their-concern-about-redd/83.html?no_cache=1

March 7, 2011

Feminism's Global Challenge: With One Voice
Tomorrow, International Women's Day, one issue that will be in the forefront of attention will be the struggle that millions of women still face against injustice and discrimination. From Mozambique to Chad, South Africa and Liberia, Sierra Leone to Burkina Faso, feminism is the buzzword for a generation of women determined to change the course of the future for themselves and their families. At female gatherings all over sub-Saharan Africa you'll find enthusiasm and eager signatories to the cause. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/06/feminism-global-challenge-one-voice?intcmp=122

China Tracks Foreign Journalists
On Sunday, about a dozen European and Japanese journalists in Shanghai were herded into an underground bunker-like room and kept for two hours after they sought to monitor the response to calls on an anonymous Internet site for Chinese citizens to conduct a "strolling" protest against the government in Shanghai. The intimidation of foreign journalists is a marked shift for the Chinese authorities and a sign of the government's resolve to head off any antigovernment revolts like those that have swept the Middle East and North Africa during the past two months. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/world/asia/07china.html?src=me&ref=world

Côte d'Ivoire: Urban Exodus as Violence Escalates
Hundreds of families have fled their homes in parts of Abidjan amidst clashes between armed groups supporting Côte d'Ivoire's two rival leaders, Alassane Ouattara and Laurent Gbagbo. The fresh violence in the commercial capital's Abobo District comes as fighting hits parts of the interior, particularly around the political capital, Yamoussoukro, which is held by forces loyal to Gbagbo. As aid groups appeal for funding to help tens of thousands of Ivoirians who have fled to neighboring countries, many to escape violence in the volatile west, residents of Abidjan say the city is looking more and more like a war zone. "With the radicalization of our two leaders, tribalism is intensifying," said one youth. More at: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92047

Women Fight to Maintain Their Role in the Building of a New Egypt
Egypt's popular revolution was the work of men and women, bringing together housewives and fruit sellers, businesswomen and students. At its height, roughly one quarter of the million protesters who poured into the square each day were women. Veiled and unveiled women shouted, fought and slept in the streets alongside men, upending traditional expectations of their behavior. The challenge now, activists here say, is to make sure that women maintain their involvement as the nation lurches forward, so that their contribution to the revolution is not forgotten. "Things have not changed, they are changing," said Mozn Hassan, the Executive Director of the organization Nazra for Feminist Studies. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/06/world/middleeast/06cairo.html?src=me&ref=world

Muhammad Yunus Disputes Grameen Firing
Bangladeshi Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has said that he will fight attempts to remove him from the Grameen microfinance bank that he founded. The central bank fired him saying he was past retirement age and had been improperly installed in his post. Grameen Bank disputes the accusations. It says it is taking legal advice and that Yunus remains in office despite pressure from the government to step down. The effort to remove Yunus is the culmination of a long-running feud with the government, which has been taking a series of measures in recent months to remove him. More at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12619580

February 28, 2011

Libya's Gaddafi Clings to Tripoli
As more cities fall into the hands of the pro-democracy protesters, Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, is hanging on to the capital where security forces loyal to him seem to have a firm hold, even amid reports of sporadic gunfire. On Sunday, protesters had reportedly taken over the towns of Misurata and Zawiyah, further shrinking the control of Gaddafi's government. In an interview with Serbian television, a defiant Gaddafi repeated his message that he will stay in Libya and blamed foreigners and al-Qaeda for the unrest that is threatening his 41-year rule. Residents said banks were open but bread and petrol remained tightly rationed as the opposition grip on large swathes of the nation disrupted the distribution of basic goods. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/02/201122792426740496.html

La Paz Landslide Wrecks 400 Homes
Prolonged heavy rains have caused a hilltop to collapse in a poor neighborhood of the Bolivian capital, cracking roads, destroying at least 400 homes and burying people's belongings under mud and debris. Edwin Herrera, a city government spokesman, called Sunday's slide the worst that La Paz has ever seen, and he said the earth was still moving downhill. "So far we are talking about 5,000 [people] affected, but the slide is affecting neighborhoods in lower areas," he said. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/27/la-paz-landslide-wrecks-homes

Putting People Over Money in El Salvador
El Salvador faces environmental issues that include deforestation, soil erosion, water pollution, and soil contaminated from decades of cotton and sugar cane production using toxic herbicides and fertilizers. In response to increasing natural disasters related to climate change - and as an effort to promote environmental protections and sustainable living - a group known as The Mangrove Association was birthed in 1999. "Local communities are on the front-lines of climate change, and many local organizations like the Mangrove Association are offering the only significant response to this very serious problem," says Nathan Weller of Gw/oB member EcoViva. More at: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/02/2011213174138761638.html

How Can We Achieve Development Goals if We Ignore Human Rights?
Amnesty International's new general secretary Salil Shetty says poverty and exclusion will continue unchallenged unless human rights take centre stage in development policy. Shetty argues that the development world's quest for results was happening at the expense of rights – an approach that was convenient for governments but detrimental to the world's poorest – the very people development organizations are trying to reach. "A lot of development work is driven by aid and the aid model," Shetty argues. "The MDGs have became conflated with foreign aid and this does drive the worlds of development and human rights further apart." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/feb/28/shetty-amnesty-human-rights-development

February 14, 2011

World Social Forum Activists Buoyed by Fall of Egypt and Tunisia Regimes
The protests in Tunisia and Egypt that brought about the fall of autocratic regimes delivered the perfect backdrop to the World Social Forum, held in Dakar, Senegal, last week. The annual forum campaigns for an alternative to capitalism, and it brought together 75,000 activists, NGOs, trade unionists, academics, development thinkers and journalists from around the world for six days to debate and find strategies to oppose capitalism. "It [the forum] opened with the joy of revolution in Tunisia and is now closing with honoring the Egypt revolution. We hope in the future that we will be able to celebrate other African revolutions," Taoufik Ben Abdallah, a member of the organizing committee, told the crowd at Friday's closing meeting. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/feb/14/world-social-forum-ends-activists-buoyed

Egypt-Inspired Protests Across Middle East Meet Violent Clampdown
Governments in the Arab world have violently dispersed demonstrations apparently inspired by or in solidarity with Egypt's democracy protesters and have detained some of the organizers, Human Rights Watch said last week. The security forces' clampdown is part and parcel of regular prohibitions on public gatherings in Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, the West Bank, and Yemen. These governments curtail free expression and assembly despite the fact that almost all of the region's countries have signed international agreements protecting both rights. More at: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2011/02/08/egypt-inspired-protests-across-middle-east-meet-violent-clampdown

Mass Tree Deaths Prompt Fears of Amazon "Climate Tipping Point"
Billions of trees died in the record drought that struck the Amazon in 2010, raising fears that the vast forest is on the verge of a tipping point, where it will stop absorbing greenhouse gas emissions and instead increase them. The dense forests of the Amazon soak up more than one-quarter of the world's atmospheric carbon, making it a critically important buffer against global warming. But if the Amazon switches from a carbon sink to a carbon source that prompts further droughts and mass tree deaths, such a feedback loop could cause runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/03/tree-deaths-amazon-climate

Political Crisis in Cote d'Ivoire, its Impacts on Women and Women's Organizations
Côte d'Ivoire has been in a political impasse since the declaration of contested results of a second round of presidential elections held in November 2010. Since both candidates claimed victory and have been sworn in, the country has two presidents and two governments. In order to understand the impact of this situation on women and women's rights organizations, Mata Coulibaly President of SOS EXCLUSION and Honorine Sadia Vehi Toure, President of Génération Femmes du troisième Millénaire share their views. More at: http://www.awid.org/eng/Issues-and-Analysis/Issues-and-Analysis/Political-crisis-in-Cote-d-Ivoire-The-impact-on-women-and-women-s-rights-organizations

The New Scramble for Africa
Some are calling it the second scramble for Africa – the growing appetite of external interests in securing huge tracts of land in Africa, displacing the small-scale farmers who form the backbone of the continent's own food security. The issue has been one of the main talking points at this year's World Social Forum. And while there are no immediate answers, activists are warning about its effects on African people's livelihoods and food security. More at: http://www.ips.org/TV/wsf/the-%E2%80%9Cnew-scramble%E2%80%9D-for-africa/

February 7, 2011

Google Finds It Hard to Reinvent Philanthropy
Just before Google first sold its shares to the public in 2004, Larry Page, one of its founders, excited the nonprofit world with a bold commitment to philanthropy. He vowed to dedicate about 1 percent of Google's profits, 1 percent of its equity and a significant amount of its employees' time to the effort, which became known as Google.org. "We hope someday this institution may eclipse Google itself in terms of overall world impact by ambitiously applying innovation and significant resources to the largest of the world's problems," Mr. Page wrote in a letter to potential investors. Nearly five years later, however, the hyperbole looks more like hubris. Google.org has narrowed to just one octave on the piano: engineering-related projects that often are the outgrowth of existing Google products. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/business/30charity.html?_r=1

Yemen Protests See Tens of Thousands Take to the Streets
A battle for hearts and minds took place in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a last week as major demonstrations both against and in support of President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime were held within a few miles of each other. Yemen's opposition coalition went ahead with nationwide demonstrations in defiance of a plea from Saleh yesterday to freeze all planned protests, rallies and sit-ins. Around 20,000 protesters, most of them young men, occupied three major roads around Sana'a University in some of the biggest anti-government protests Saleh has faced in his 32-year rule. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/03/yemen-protests-sanaa-saleh

Low Overhead Doesn't Equal High-Quality Philanthropy
Organizations that build robust infrastructure—which includes sturdy information technology systems, financial systems, skills training, fundraising processes, and other essential overhead—are more likely to succeed than those that do not. This is not news, and nonprofits are no exception to the rule. Yet it is also not news that most nonprofits do not spend enough money on overhead. Nonprofits often agree with the idea of improving infrastructure and augmenting their management capacity, yet they are loath to actually make these changes because they are pressured to keep their overhead spending low. But underfunding overhead can have disastrous effects. More at: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_nonprofit_starvation_cycle/

U.S. Hatches Mubarak Exit Strategy
The Obama administration is working on a plan in which the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, would stand down immediately in spite of claims yesterday he was intent on clinging on to power until the elections in the autumn. The White House, the state department and the Pentagon have been involved in discussions that include an option in which Mubarak would given way to a transitional government headed by the Egyptian vice-president, Omar Suleiman. But Mubarak was defiant yesterday, insisting that he intended remaining in office until the autumn election. He said that while he was fed up after six decades of public service and wanted to leave, he feared that an early departure would lead to chaos. More at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/03/egypt-regime-death-toll-tahrir

South Africa to Launch Development Aid Agency
South Africa announced last week that it will launch its own development aid agency in 2011 – the South African Development Partnership Agency. This move places South Africa ahead of other emerging donors such as India and China, who have yet to create separate agencies to dispense aid. No longer just a recipient of aid, South Africa has quietly ramped up its role as a leader on the African continent, largely via peacekeeping, post-conflict reconstruction, and even analytical work. South Africa's development assistance program originated in the post-apartheid era, as an attempt to improve South Africa's international image and win friends at the United Nations. In 2001, South Africa launched the African Renaissance Fund, although the majority of aid continues to be given through various government departments. More at http://blogs.cgdev.org/globaldevelopment/2011/01/south-africa-to-launch-development-aid-agency.php? utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+cgdev/globaldevelopment+(Global+Development:+Views+from+the+Center)

Exploitation of Foreign Domestic Workers in Saudi Arabia a Growing Problem
Saudi Arabia abolished slavery by royal decree in 1962, but customs prevail and lack of oversight and impunity impede progress. Royal and aristocratic households continue to treat domestic workers as slaves, and this behavior is reproduced by those lower in the social hierarchy. In addition, many foreign domestics face sexual abuse and violence from their employers at home and when outside as they must run errands alone and often do not wear head coverings. This is the relationship that so many young women from the Philippines, Indonesia, India, and other labor-sending Asian countries unwittingly step into when recruitment agencies place them in Saudi homes. More at: http://www.fpif.org/articles/sexual_prey_in_the_saudi_jungle

January 31, 2011

Egypt Protests: Live
The Telegraph (UK) is posting regular updates from Egypt featuring live news of the police attempts to quell street protests as President Hosni Mubarak seeks to assert his authority. More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8288167/Egypt-protests-live.html

Microcredit: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
For more than twenty years, microcredit has been widely heralded as the remedy for world poverty. Recent news stories, however, have sullied microcredit's glowing reputation with reports on scandals, exorbitant compensation to managers, skyrocketing interest rates, and aggressive marketing schemes. Once praised as a universal panacea, microlenders are now being widely attacked as predatory loan sharks. In December, Sheik Hasina Wazed, the prime minister of Bangladesh and former microcredit advocate, accused microcredit programs of "sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation." What happened? More at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/microcredit-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly

Brazil's New President Adopts Gender Focus in Poverty Alleviation Strategy
The initial steps taken by Brazil's first woman president, Dilma Rousseff, have confirmed that a stronger female presence will indeed be a hallmark of her administration. After taking office on January 1st and naming nine female ministers, a record in Brazil, Rousseff announced that her main social goal is to eradicate extreme poverty. To achieve that, she says a gender focus will have to be adopted, because extreme poverty is largely a phenomenon with a female face, which withstood the successful policies against poverty and inequality implemented by her predecessor and former boss Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. More at: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=54103

Venezuela: Several Bills Pose a Serious Threat to Human Rights
A series of laws adopted or under review by the Venezuelan National Assembly could dramatically curtail freedom of expression and freedom of association in Venezuela. If approved, these proposals could seriously jeopardize the work and independence of human rights organizations in Venezuela. "A free and independent civil society, able to research, monitor, advocate and campaign, plays a fundamental role in human rights protection and in holding governments and others to account," said Malak Poppovic, Conectas Human Rights Director. More at: http://www.conectas.org/index.php/Noticias/view?n=775

Ugandan Who Spoke Up for Gays Is Beaten to Death
A few months ago, a Ugandan newspaper ran an antigay diatribe with gay rights advocate David Kato's picture on the front page under a banner urging, "Hang Them." On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Kato was beaten to death with a hammer. In Uganda homophobia is so severe that Parliament is considering a bill to execute gay people. This homophobia has been fueled in recent years by evangelical churches in the U.S. "David's death is a result of the hatred planted in Uganda by U.S. evangelicals in 2009," said Val Kalende, the chairwoman of Freedom and Roam Uganda (and a guest speaker at Gw/oB's 2010 conference). "The Ugandan government and the so-called U.S. evangelicals must take responsibility for David's blood." More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/28/world/africa/28uganda.html

Brazil Approves Clearing of Amazon Forest to Make Way for Controversial Dam
The Belo Monte dam, which will be the third largest such project in the world, has been strongly opposed by environmental campaigners and indigenous people who face being displaced. Ibama, the Brazilian environment agency, said on its website that it has approved the clearing of 588 acres (238 hectares) of forest at the site where the dam will be built in the state of Para. It also said that Norte Energia, the consortium that won the bidding to construct the dam, could begin building roads to reach the remote site on the Xingu River, a tributary to the Amazon. More at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/brazil/8286640/Brazil-approves-clearing-of-Amazon-forest-to-make-way-for-controversial-dam.html

January 24, 2011

UN Issues Food Appeal for Sri Lankan Flood Victims
Record monsoon rains driven by an unusually strong La Niña weather pattern in the Pacific have caused devastating floods in Sri Lanka, killing dozens and driving more than 300,000 people from their homes in recent weeks, the United Nations said in an urgent appeal for relief funds last week. Sri Lanka's agriculture ministry reported that 21 percent of the country's rice crop had been destroyed, raising fears of food shortages. "I hope donors will respond rapidly to help the survivors of these devastating floods, which have hit many people who were desperately vulnerable to begin with," said Catherine Bragg, the United Nations deputy emergency relief coordinator. More at: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/20/food-appeal-for-sri-lankan-flood-victims/

USAID to Take Inspiration from Venture Capitalists
The head of the US Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, said last week that the agency will cut costs and become "more business-like" in how it operates in an effort to shore up public and congressional support for US foreign assistance ahead of anticipated budget cuts. Delivering a major address on "the modern development enterprise" at an event sponsored by the Washington DC-based think tank, the Center for Global Development, Shah said the agency was on the verge of the most aggressive operational reform of a major federal bureaucracy. "This agency is no longer interested in writing big checks to big contractors and calling it development," said Shah, who added that "like an enterprise, we are committed to delivering the highest possible value to our shareholders". More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jan/20/usaid-rajiv-shah-development-business

Haiti's "Baby Doc" is Back: But For Love Or Money?
Haiti's ex-dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier says "solidarity" led him to return to his Caribbean homeland where his name is still reviled by many and where he faces claims for retribution from alleged victims. But lawyers from Human Rights Watch think there may be more cold calculation than homesickness in his return to the poor, disaster-prone nation from which he fled to gilded exile in France in 1986. "Rather than having the interest of the people of Haiti at heart, it seems like he was thinking about his wallet," said HRW's Peter Bouckaert. Bouckaert sees a link between the homecoming and several million dollars of Duvalier funds allegedly amassed by ill-gotten means in one of the world's poorest states, Haiti, and squirreled away in the banks of one of the world's richest, Switzerland. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70M1CB20110123

U.S. Government Ordered to Pay $2.5 Million for Illegal Wiretap of Charity
A federal judge ordered the government to pay legal fees and damages for illegally spying on a U.S. charity. Nine months after ruling that the government had conducted "unlawful surveillance" of phone calls between leaders of the now defunct Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation and two of its U.S. attorneys, U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker awarded $2.5 million in attorney's fees for their lawyers. The Department of Justice has not said if it will appeal or pay the damages as ordered. More at: http://www.charityandsecurity.org/news/Government_Pay_Illegal_Wiretap_Charity_and_Lawyers

Nobel Peace Laureates Call for Justice for Human Rights Defender in Mexico
Six Nobel Peace Laureates -- Rigoberta Menchu, Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi, Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams and Wangari Maathai -- today joined activists from around the world who are calling on the Mexican government to fully investigate the murders of Marisela Escobdedo Ortiz and her daughter Rubi Marisol Frayre. Escobedo Ortiz was killed on December 16 while protesting on the steps of the governor's office in Chihuahua, demanding progress on her daughter's case. More at: http://www.nobelwomensinitiative.org/news/article/nobel-peace-laureates-justice-for-human-rights-defender-in-juarez-mexicoarticle

January 18, 2011

Agricultural Innovation is Key to Reducing Poverty, Stabilizing Climate
Worldwatch Institute today released its report, State of the World 2011: Innovations that Nourish the Planet, which spotlights successful agricultural innovations and unearths major successes in preventing food waste, building resilience to climate change, and strengthening farming in cities. The report provides a roadmap for increased agricultural investment and more-efficient ways to alleviate global hunger and poverty. Drawing from the world's leading agricultural experts and from hundreds of innovations that are already working on the ground, the report outlines 15 proven, environmentally sustainable prescriptions. More at: http://www.worldwatch.org/node/6567

In Tunisia, Clashes Continue as Power Shifts a Second Time
Tanks, police officers and gangs of newly deputized young men wielding guns held the deserted streets of Tunis after a weekend of sporadic rioting and gunfire. Power changed hands for the second time in 24 hours, and the swift turnabout raised new questions about what kind of government might emerge from the chaos engulfing Tunisia. The interim government named Friday had hoped that the toppling of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who fled the country, would satisfy protesters, but continued unrest over the weekend made clear that they were determined to chase his allies from power as well. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/world/africa/16tunis.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=tunisia&st=cse

The Population Explosion
This year, there will be 7 billion people on Earth. But how will the planet cope with the expanding population – and is there anything we can, or should, do to stop it? We've got more than enough land upon which to collectively sustain ourselves, we just need to use it more wisely and fairly. But, given the stubborn realities of global inequalities, the question remains: are there too many of us to achieve a sustainable future? Numerous reports published recently aim to address this issue. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/14/population-explosion-seven-billion

Estate Tax Changes May Crimp Charitable Giving
The tax law signed by President Obama on December 17th cuts both the estate tax rate from pre-2010 levels and slashes the number of people subject to it. That makes it far easier for wealthy families to pass on money tax-free to their heirs, which could mean reduced funds for charities. Any threat to nonprofits' income streams comes at a difficult time. Giving to U.S. charities fell 3.6 percent last year, to $303.8 billion, says the Giving USA Foundation. More at: http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/dec2010/pi20101223_554594.htm

2010 Earth's Warmest and Wettest Year on Record
Last year tied with 2005 as the world's warmest on record, according to data released Wednesday by the National Climatic Data Center. It was also the wettest year on record globally as measured by average precipitation, according to the center. Heavy rain in Asia due to the monsoon (which led to disastrous floods in Pakistan) and tropical storms in Central America contributed to the extreme precipitation amounts. The Earth's average temperature in 2010 was 58.12 degrees, which is 1.12 degrees above the 20th-century average of 57 degrees. More at: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/2011-01-12-2010-warmest-year-climate-change_N.htm

January 10, 2011

Southern Sudan Feels Freedom Close at Hand
After decades of war and more than two million lives lost, southern Sudan has arrived at the moment it has been yearning for, a referendum on independence. All signs point to the people voting overwhelmingly for secession in yesterday's election, and the largest country on the continent will then begin the delicate process of splitting in two. A proud, new African country is about to be born, but it will step onto the world stage with shaky legs. As it stands now, southern Sudan is one of the poorest places on earth. "We are underdeveloped, yes, but we will do it," said Gideon Gatpan Thoar, the information minister of Unity State, near the north-south border. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/09/world/africa/09sudan.html

Microlenders, Honored With Nobel, Are Struggling
Microcredit was once extolled as a powerful tool that could help eliminate poverty has now prompted political hostility in Bangladesh, India, Nicaragua and other developing countries. In December, the prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheik Hasina Wazed, who had championed microloans alongside President Clinton at talks in Washington in 1997, turned her back on them. She said microlenders were "sucking blood from the poor in the name of poverty alleviation," and she ordered an investigation into Grameen Bank, which had pioneered microcredit and, with its founder, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. More at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/06/business/global/06micro.html?_r=2

UN Ambassador Calls for International Intervention in Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast is on the "brink of genocide" and the world must take urgent action, the country's new ambassador to the UN has warned. Youssoufou Bamba also claimed that some houses were being marked according to the tribe of the occupier. The plea came as the UN accused the security forces of the incumbent president, Laurent Gbagbo, of blocking access to mass graves, saying investigators believed as many as 80 bodies may be in one building. World leaders have stepped up pressure on Gbagbo to quit in favor of Alassane Ouattara, who is widely recognized as having won last month's elections. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/30/ivory-coast-brink-genocide-election-crisis

World Food Prices Enter "Danger Territory" to Reach Record High
Soaring prices of sugar, grain and oilseed drove world food prices to a record in December, surpassing the levels of 2008 when the cost of food sparked riots around the world, and prompting warnings of prices being in "danger territory". An index compiled monthly by the United Nations surpassed its previous monthly high in December to reach the highest level since records began in 1990. Published by the Food and Agriculture Organization, the index tracks the prices of a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat and sugar, and has risen for six consecutive months. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/05/world-food-prices-danger-record-high-un

Is the ICC Overlooking Women?
The International Criminal Court, the first permanent tribunal set up to prosecute individuals for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, opened its doors in 2002. Some of the best feminist lawyers in the world worked on creating the court, and the Rome Statute – the treaty that established the court – made a qualitative leap forward by integrating gender-based violence into its definitions of international crimes. Unfortunately, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has "failed to realize the Rome Statute's original intention to place the prosecution of gender-based violence on an equal footing with that of other war crimes," argues Meredith Tax. More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/dec/13/international-criminal-court-moreno-ocampo

January 3, 2011

Sex Workers Left Out of HIV Prevention Programs in Uganda
Although they are among the populations most at risk of HIV infection in Uganda, sex workers say they are yet to realize their right to health. Ugandan sex workers have been left out of national HIV prevention programs and have difficulty accessing life-prolonging drugs. "When we visit health centers, some health workers say, ‘But you are just a sex worker and we are just wasting our ARVs. Why should we give you our treatment? We have to give it to someone who needs it.' That is total discrimination," says Maclean Kamya, a Ugandan sex worker and human rights defender. More at http://www.ips.org/africa/2010/12/uganda-why-waste-arvs-on-sex-workers/

Miami Rice: The Business of Disaster in Haiti
Among those benefiting handsomely from the disaster aid to Haiti are U.S. corporations who have accessed U.S. government contracts. One U.S. corporation has received contracts that involve both a conflict of interest and harm to one of Haiti's largest and most vulnerable social sectors, small farmers. "We were already in a black misery after the earthquake of January 12. But the rice they're dumping on us, it's competing with ours and soon we're going to fall in a deep hole," said Jonas Deronzil, who has farmed rice and corn in Haiti's fertile Artibonite Valley since 1974. More at http://www.otherworldsarepossible.org/another-haiti-possible/miami-rice-business-disaster-haiti

United States Endorses International Declaration on Indigenous Rights
In an important step toward upholding and promoting the United States' commitment to international human rights at home, President Obama announced last month that the U.S. will lend its support to the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The decision is a reversal of the position taken by the Bush administration in 2007, when the U.S. voted against UNDRIP even as 145 nations supported it. More at: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6BF4QJ20101216

Working Together For Development: Including People With Disabilities
This year's International Day of Persons with Disabilities focuses on "Keeping the Promise of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)" to ensure that disability and the concerns of people with disabilities are reflected in the commitments made by the international community to reduce poverty by 2015. Disability-inclusive development not only helps improve the lives of people with disabilities, but can boost achievement of the MDGs. More at http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/press-and-media-centre/insight/WCMS_149530/lang--en/index.htm

Why Bolivia Stood Alone in Opposing the Cancún Climate Agreement
"We were accused of being obstructionist, obstinate and unrealistic," says Bolivian ambassador to the UN, Pablo Solon. "But we feel an enormous obligation to set aside diplomacy and tell the truth." In the early hours of Saturday December 11th, Bolivia found itself alone against the world: the only nation to oppose the outcome of the United Nations climate change summit in Cancún. "Many commentators have called the Cancún accord a ‘step in the right direction,' we disagree," says Solon. "It is a giant step backward." More at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/dec/21/bolivia-oppose-cancun-climate-agreement

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