Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer-The Musical Legend passed away more Kerala News
Visit by Mike O'Brien to Washington, 2 November
Oct 31: Mike O'Brien, UK Minister for Trade, Investment and Foreign Affairs is visiting Washington on 2 November, accompanied by representatives of British business, to discuss UK business involvement in assisting the Iraqi people in rebuilding their country. He will be meeting key figures from the various US administration bodies involved in reconstruction projects, including the US Army Corps of Engineers; US Department of Commerce; and US Agency for International Development. Ahead of his visit, Mike O'Brien said:
"Our priority is to help the Iraqi people establish a peaceful democratic state. UK companies have much to offer the Iraqi people in helping them to rebuild their country, with much relevant experience and expertise. Many UK companies have been responding to the needs of the Iraqi people and tendering and winning contracts that enable them to help in rebuilding their country despite the difficult situation in the country. My visit is in support of UK companies bidding for sub-contracts with US main contractors."-Keralamonitor.com
Advanced Skills Teachers in the UK have significantly improved the quality of teaching and learning, says Ofsted
Oct 31: Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs) have helped significantly to improve teaching and learning in more than three quarters of the secondary schools and two thirds of the primary schools inspected as part of an Ofsted survey into the government scheme, according to a report launched by Ofsted of Britain today. Advanced Skills Teachers were introduced by the government in 1998 to help schools attract and retain excellent classroom teachers, increase staff motivation, raise pupils' achievement levels and broaden the skills and knowledge base of schools. The survey found ASTs are generally skilled teachers who promote high standards in their home schools as well as in their outreach work.
The report reveals that the management and deployment of ASTs have improved recently, largely as a result of more active management by LEAs of their outreach work. It also showed that ASTs lead good
training sessions for other teachers and are effective in improving teaching and learning. Secondary ASTs, in particular, often provide very good support for newly qualified and trainee teachers.Ofsted's Director of Inspection, David Taylor, said:
"This report shows that the AST programme has become more and more effective in the majority of schools. It is gratifying to note the direct and positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning. "Areas for improvement in the AST scheme were also highlighted by inspectors, who found:
Mr Taylor concluded:
"I hope that schools will note the clear pointers to areas for the future development of the scheme, especially its 'outreach' functions. However, this is an encouraging report, which underlines
just how crucial good teachers are in school improvement." This report is based on a survey of the work carried out by ASTs in primary, secondary and special schools by HMI in 2002/03.The report
provides examples of good practice along with suggested action points
for LEAs and schools. -Keralamonitor.comFood Standards Agency issues warning about spoiled smoked mackerel
Oct 31: The Agency is advising people against eating spoiled smoked mackerel
which has been on sale in a chain of supermarkets in the North-Westof England. Eating the fish, which has not been properly smoked, could result in food poisoning. The fish has been on sale in the Booths chain of supermarkets across the North-West of England.Four people from Lancashire have suffered food poisoning after eating mackerel bought from the chain. The symptoms include nausea, headache, vomiting and diarrhoea The product, which has been withdrawn from sale, comes vacuum-packed and is labelled on the plastic pack as Booths Smoked Mackerel. The affected batch has a use by date of 02.11.03. The product is marked as being suitable for home freezing. Anyone who has any of this fish at home in the freezer or refrigerator should throw it away.The manufacturer, C&G Neve, based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, has established that the cause of the problem was a production fault, which resulted in the mackerel being smoked at a temperature that wasnot high enough to kill bacteria. -Keralamonitor.com
Time called on unclear prices for soft drinks
Oct 31: New laws will mean no surprises for consumers - Sutcliffe
New moves forcing pubs and restaurants to show the prices of soft drinks more clearly were unveiled by Consumer Minister Gerry Sutcliffe today.The initiative follows complaints from customers who have been hit by expensive soft drinks without being able to see the price before they
buy them.DTI research has shown that pubs and restaurants that display the
prices of soft drinks charge less on average than outlets that don't
display prices.Pubs and bars will have to show a range of soft drink prices so
customers can see them before they are served. Restaurants will also
have to show prices with their menu at or near the entrance so people
will know what their bill will look like before they go inside.The new laws will come into effect next March - giving traders time
to prepare for the new system.Mr Sutcliffe said:
"This will mean there are no nasty surprises when people buy a soft
drink in a pub or restaurant."People are entitled to know how much they are paying before they
order. That's not too much to ask."We have received complaints about the lack of pricing transparency,
so we have taken action."We are trying get real improvements in clear pricing without
imposing additional costs on traders or consumers."Chief Executive of Alcohol Concern, Eric Appleby said:
"We very much welcome this initiative. We are all for consumers being
given sufficient information to make informed decisions about their
drinking. A complaint we often hear is the unnecessarily high price
of soft drinks and this move will deter bars and restaurants from
ripping-off customers in this way."In addition, all outlets that accept payment in foreign currencies
will have to display any additional costs, for example commission and
handling charges. -Keralamonitor.com
U.N. To Pull Baghdad Staff
Oct 30: The United Nations plans to temporarily withdraw its staff from Baghdad, although workers will remain in northern Iraq, a U.N. spokeswoman said yesterday. The decision came two days after a suicide bomb exploded outside the Baghdad headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, killing 12 people. "We have asked our staff in Baghdad to come out temporarily for consultations with a team from headquarters on the future of our operations, in particular security arrangements that we would need to take to operate in Iraq," Maria Okabe said yesterday.
"This decision is not an evacuation, and it doesn't affect the North," she added.
Okabe did not say when the staff is scheduled to depart.
There are currently 20 U.N. staff in Baghdad and 40 throughout Iraq. This is the second time the U.N. has pared its staff there. The initial pullout followed the late September attack on the organization's Baghdad headquarters.
Both the ICRC and the humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders also announced yesterday they will withdraw staff, despite U.S. pressure to stay.
U.N. security in Baghdad and other hotspots will likely preoccupy Annan and the heads of other U.N. agencies during meetings scheduled for this weekend (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Oct. 30).
Meanwhile, U.S. soldiers carried out raids early this morning in the Saddam Hussein stronghold of Tikrit, which has been rocked in recent weeks by a spate of attacks on coalition forces that U.S. officials have blamed on Hussein loyalists.
Fourteen suspects were detained, four of them "targeted individuals" thought to be part of a "new terrorist network … and planning terrorist attacks against coalition forces," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Russell told AP. The other 10 will held in custody and questioned for "additional information," Russell added (Katarina Kratovac, AP/Yahoo! News, Oct. 30).
U.S. Senate Approves $18.4 Billion For Reconstruction
U.S. Senate-House negotiators yesterday voted to fund Iraq's $18.4 billion reconstruction package entirely in grants as several senators backtracked on earlier pledges to offer some funding in the form of loans, the Washington Post reports.
The $18.4 billion supplemental falls short of the $20 billion requested by President George W. Bush, as the Senate trimmed back on money to restore wetlands and improve the postal service.
The lawmakers also voted yesterday to establish an inspector general for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. The inspector general would oversee finances, contracting and reconstruction activities and would release quarterly reports on the authority's work in those areas. He or she would answer directly to U.S. administrator Paul Bremer.
According to Republican Representative Jim Kolbe of Arizona, establishing such a position "will keep people out of trouble."
The group narrowly rejected, however, a proposal by Democratic Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia to make Bremer's appointment subject to Senate confirmation. The provisional authority "has not been held accountable for the money it spends," said Byrd.
The package also includes $60 million to Afghan women, which female negotiators fought to reinsert after learning that House Republican leaders planned to remove language earmarking that sum in an attempt to make the money unrestricted (Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, Oct. 30).
In other news on Iraq, U.S. officials yesterday postponed until December awarding two contracts to repair Iraq's oil infrastructure, saying sabotage and poor conditions have made the task twice as expensive as projected.
The two contracts, initially valued at $500 million each, will now be bid on at around $1.2 billion and $800 million each, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced.
Funding for the contracts will come from the supplemental bill under consideration and from seized assets and Iraq's oil revenue, said Corps spokesman Scott Saunders (Jackie Spinner, Washington Post, Oct. 30).
World Bank President Pleads Forgiveness For Iraq Debt
Washington Oct 30: World Bank President James Wolfensohn yesterday made a plea to the international community to follow the example it set with the former Yugoslavia and forgive two-thirds of Iraq's debt.
Wolfensohn, speaking at a luncheon at the National Press Club, said that although the international community could "easily reconstruct" Iraq with the $33 billion in grants and loans committed at a donors conference last week in Madrid, the best chance for economic recovery in Iraq lies with forgiving some part of its $120 billion debt.
Wolfensohn said he expected negotiations to begin among the 19 members of the Paris Club to work out a deal on forgiving part of Iraq's $40 billion debt to countries belonging to that organization. "I would think now there will be a lot of arm-twisting going on," he said.
The Paris Club is an informal group of creditor countries that coordinates solutions to payment difficulties faced by debtor nations, usually through the rescheduling or postponement of debt payments. The group includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Russia, Germany and France.
Almost $80 billion of Iraq's debt is owed to Arab countries and other countries not part of the Paris Club, Wolfensohn said.
He said much of the debt-relief negotiations would likely involve creditor countries asking to be included in bidding on Iraqi infrastructure projects.
Iraq's current debt obligations are the equivalent of 10 times the country's normal gross domestic product, whereas "the World Bank gets worried" when any country's debt obligations are 7 percent above gross domestic product, he said.
In 2002, creditor countries forgave two-thirds of Yugoslavia's $12 billion in debt owed through the Paris Club and through the London Club, which comprises commercial creditors. Yugoslavia's gross domestic product in 2002 was about $11 billion.
As part of that deal, the United States wrote off $354 million of Yugoslavia's $589 million debt, after months of negotiations between the two countries.
By Vince Morkri
U.N. WireSecurity Council Reviews Gender "Mainstreaming" In Peacekeeping
United Nations Oct 30: At a meeting of the Security Council yesterday marking the third anniversary of Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security, U.N. Undersecretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guehenno said his department has made "real progress" at "putting gender issues at the center of peacekeeping."
Resolution 1325, adopted by the council Oct. 31, 2000, calls on the secretary general and states to enhance the role of women in conflict resolution, "incorporate a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations" and "put an end to impunity" for crimes against women.
One of the major changes in the United Nations' behavior on gender has been in the handling of the demobilization of fighters, Guehenno told the council. In the past, Guehenno said, "Adult male ex-combatants were the focus of our attention," while the women accompanying the men - whether wives, cooks or sex slaves - "were being left out of the picture." Now provisions are being made for them as well.
Amy Smythe, gender adviser to the U.N. Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC), said her office has promoted the message that "behind every combatant there was usually a woman."
Guehenno said that much of the progress his department has made on gender issues "is due to the presence of full-time gender advisers."
"Gender mainstreaming," he said, needs to be seen "not as an afterthought, but as the key to any peacekeeping mission's success." He added that the peacekeeping department "often finds itself in the awkward position of advocating for more women in national police forces than it has in its own ranks."
Smythe made the same point, saying "there is a serious need" for more female police and peacekeepers. "Victims, usually female, have repeatedly intimated that the sight of a male officer in uniform make them relive the experience of violation all over again," she said.
However, in MONUC, the percent of police who are women has decreased this year, she said. "I would strongly urge police-contributing countries to take prompt action in this area."
"[Police] behavior is not only used to judge MONUC in many instances but becomes the yardstick emulated by the population and government," said Smythe.
Smythe said the work of her office shows the two faces of the issue: working with the Congolese "to bring the realities of the conflict as they especially affect women to the attention of decision makers in the peace process" and integrating "a gender perspective within MONUC itself."
For MONUC, this is especially important for the civilian police assigned to the mission, since "sexual violence is one of the major tragedies of the conflict," she said. In the continuing war in the D.R.C., "tens, if not hundreds of thousands of girls and women are being raped as a result of the conflict," she added.
Promoting gender awareness in the D.R.C. began with supporting women's participation in the Inter Congolese Dialogue, Smythe said. "The outcome of the [dialogue] reflects the voices of the women in the negotiations," she said. "We have also developed a network of partners … which represents women from all factions and political parties," she added. "They have been articulating the political views of women on the evolution of the transition process and working to increase women's involvement and participation in the elections."
Guehenno said it is easiest to incorporate a gender office in "complex" peacekeeping missions - those that involve civilian administration, policing and nation-building as well as peacekeeping. There are gender advisers in Afghanistan, D.R.C., East Timor, Kosovo and Sierra Leone.
Guehenno also said the United Nations is doing more to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS by peacekeepers and to "uphold a 'zero tolerance' stance aimed at preventing and effectively responding" to charges of sexual abuse by peacekeepers.
"We acknowledge that there is a long road ahead of us, and that gender mainstreaming in post-conflict environments is not easy," he said.
More than 30 countries addressed the Security Council meeting. For more on the debate, click here.
Tomorrow, the Inter-Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security will host a panel discussion on the impact of Resolution 1325. Panelists will include Noeleen Heyzer, the director of UNIFEM, Smythe and U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte, this month's president of the Security Council.
UNIFEM Launches Web Portal For Information On Conflict Countries And Gender Issues
Today, the U.N. Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) will launch both a new Web portal and a documentary.
The portal is meant to be "a centralized repository of information featuring gender profiles of countries in conflict, issue briefs on pertinent thematic areas and information on the United Nations' gender programming in conflict zones," according to a UNIFEM statement.
The documentary, Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines, deals with women and peace-building in Afghanistan, Argentina, Bosnia, Burundi and the United States.
By Jim Wurst
U.N. WireU.S. Ambassador Suggests Closing UNIC Washington Office
Washington Oct 30: A Bush administration suggestion that the U.N. Information Center here be closed to save money has raised objections in and out of the U.S. Congress.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Negroponte made the suggestion Tuesday, saying, "Closure of the U.N. Information Center in Washington, D.C., would save about $1 million."
Congressional staff sources told U.N. Wire this morning that they were "not consulted" on the proposal, which concerns an office whose responsibilities include dealing with Congress. The center, they said, has "broad congressional support," and plays an important role in helping Congress deal with the United Nations.
Steven Dimoff, of the Washington office of the U.N. Association of the U.S.A., cited other functions of the center, including making information available to Americans about job openings in the U.N. system, which he said is important partly because Congress wants more Americans working in the U.N. system.
Dimoff also noted that the center conducts briefings for private organizations working with the United Nations and serves as an information base for all of North America. He lauded the office's work, saying it has worked as an information center, not a lobbying organization, that has provided information to the public, journalists and others, as well as Congress, calling its performance "very professional."
By Steve Hirsch
U.N. WireNigeria Agrees To Hand Over 33 Villages To Cameroon
Oct 30: Nigeria yesterday agreed to surrender 33 border villages to its neighbor Cameroon, raising hopes of a peaceful end to a long-standing territorial dispute, Agence France-Presse reported.
The decision concerns a 700-square-kilometer area near Lake Chad, which was awarded to Cameroon by the International Court of Justice last year.
"Nigeria will not be dragged into a meaningless and avoidable conflict with any of its neighbors," Nigerian Justice Minister Akin Olujinmi said at the opening of the sixth meeting of the Nigeria-Cameroon Mixed Commission. "I want to assure you, we shall continue to abide by our commitment to respect the judgment of the International Court of Justice," he added.
The commission was set up after the ICJ last October awarded Cameroon ownership of the Bakassi Peninsula, a 1,000-square-kilometer, potentially oil-rich patch of swampland jutting into the Gulf of Guinea (AFP/Yahoo! News, Oct. 29).
Both countries had agreed during a meeting with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to respect and implement the court's ruling, and on the need to implement confidence-building measures, demilitarize the area and avoid inflammatory statements (U.N. Wire, Oct. 11, 2002).
But Nigeria has refused to give up Bakassi, whose population of fishermen regard themselves as Nigerian, AFP said (AFP/Yahoo! News).
The U.N.-chaired joint committee will conclude its two-day meeting today in Abuja, Nigeria, after discussing the first phase of the withdrawal process from the Lake Chad area, which is scheduled to happen by the end of the year (U.N. release, Oct. 29).
Nigeria To Test Polio Vaccine To Dispel Rumors Of U.S. Plot
Oct 30: Nigerian Vice President Abubakar Atiku yesterday ordered that polio vaccines recently administered in a nationwide campaign be tested for agents that could spread HIV or sterility to calm fears that the United States is using the immunization drive to limit the Muslim population, Associated Press reports (Dulue Mbachu, AP, Oct. 29).
A World Health Organization-sponsored polio eradication campaign launched on Friday aiming to immunize 15 million children at immediate risk of the disease was disrupted in northern Nigeria after Islamic clerics in the region said the vaccination drive was part of a U.S. plot to curb the population by spreading AIDS and infertility (U.N. Wire, Oct. 27)
The Washington Post reports that polio has spread from Nigeria to neighboring Chad, prompting WHO to expand its $10 million emergency vaccination campaign in Niger, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Togo to Chad at an additional cost of $3 million (David Brown, Washington Post, Oct. 29).
Numerous Animals Host SARS Virus, Study Says
Oct 30: The list of animals that harbor severe acute respiratory syndrome may be longer than first believed, Nature Online reported today.
SARS is thought to have spread from animals sold at marketplaces to humans in China's Guangdong province last November, claiming over 770 lives before it was contained in July.
Researchers in Hong Kong and the Netherlands have now found that the SARS coronavirus infects domestic animals, such as cats and ferrets, even though the two are only distantly related. The ability of the virus to hop easily from different types of animals could also mean that it is lurking in a host of wild or domestic beasts - meaning chances are great that it could jump to humans again.
Tracking and containing the disease could also be more difficult, officials say. According to Dick Thompson, spokesman for the World Health Organization, "It could be much, much harder than we thought" (Helen Pearson, Nature Online, Oct. 30).
Officials in Hong Kong, meanwhile, have created a commission to investigate how authorities may have mishandled the SARS epidemic there, where 299 people were killed, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday.
An initial report earlier this month blamed the spread of the disease on a lack of communication between health workers and the government (AFP/Cyberpresse, Oct. 29, U.N. Wire translation).
AIDS Campaigns Should Involve Youth, Annan Says
Oct 30: With about one-third of the 40 million AIDS sufferers worldwide under the age of 25, governments need to incorporate young people in the fight against the disease, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said Monday.
"National leaders must make programs for young people a priority," said Annan, speaking at a YouthAIDS event in New York. "We must maximize the participation of young people in prevention and care. We must work for a massive increase in education programs and services for young people - especially for girls, orphans and other vulnerable children."
While young people make up more than half of the world's new infections, they have also been pioneers of prevention programs to date, effectively educating their peers about the disease and helping to take care of sick patients, he said (U.N. release, Oct. 28).
Speaking at the Children's AIDS Protection and Treatment Forum in China, experts on the disease served up a similar message, Xinhua reported yesterday.
According to Zhao Yuqi of Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, at least 3.2 million children under 15 have died from AIDS, and more than 11 million have been orphaned by the disease. He estimates that by 2010, that number will have grown to 40 million.
The forum aims to organize training courses by foreign experts to teach Chinese pediatricians about preventing and treating the disease among young people (Xinhua/China Daily, Oct. 29).
In nearby India's southern state of Kerala, UNICEF is helping to combat discrimination against young AIDS sufferers, who have been barred from attending school in some cases, Associated Press reported yesterday.
The plight of two children - Bency, 8, and her brother Benson, 6 - won media attention after parents and teachers banded together last year to prevent the pair from enrolling at four schools, forcing the Kerala government to create a one-teacher school for the two.
UNICEF is working with the state government to "chalk out and implement a comprehensive education-cum-health care policy in schools," said P. Shankaran, Kerala's health minister. He also said the government plans to launch an AIDS education program in all schools to "convince people that they will not get the disease by touching an HIV-infected child in school."
The U.N. agency will donate some of the $400 million for children's rights issues across India to the program, UNICEF India representative Maria Calivis said (V.M. Thomas, AP, Oct. 29).
In Congo, Thousands Of Accused "Sorcerers" Suffer Abuse
Oct 30: In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where superstitions and poverty are abundant, thousands of unwanted children and elderly people are abused and abandoned for being suspected sorcerers, Knight Ridder News Service reported yesterday.
Most of the victims are children and elderly because these groups are easy scapegoats for poor harvests, lost jobs and other problems. The disruption of traditional family life due to the country's civil war and the growth of revivalist churches, where preachers rally emotions against Satan and witches, have aggravated the abuses.
UNICEF estimates that more than 60 percent of the children in its shelters in the capital, Kinshasa, are accused sorcerers. "Nearly everywhere in the country you'll find children accused of witchcraft," said Trish Hiddleston, a child protection worker for UNICEF. "It's growing more and faster in some areas, especially urban ones."
The accused face abuse at the hands of their family or of revivalist preachers who force gasoline or acid down their throats in order to purge the demons believed to be inside. Suspected sorcerers may also be exploited, raped or murdered.
The top child protection police officer in the eastern town of Bukavu, Jean Muvishemba, said four people had been arrested this year for abusing children accused of witchcraft and 30 accused child witches had been placed in shelters. Earlier this month, the country's transitional government pledged to combat the problem (Sudarsan Raghavan, Knight Ridder, Oct. 24).
Neighboring Republic of the Congo faces the same problem. Gatsono Yoka Iccoulah, governor of the north-central district of Cuvette, says that many Congolese do not believe in natural death, so they may brand friends or relatives of the dead as sorcerers - abandoning the accused and sometimes killing them. According to Iccoulah, 87 murders involving accusations of sorcery have been documented in the last four years in Cuvette.
"For several years now, we have been denouncing these acts of another age that constitute grave violations of human rights," said Alain Oyandzi, head of the Congolese Human Rights Observatory's Ouesso office. "However, the authorities have not been able to find the means for preventing youths, for the most part, of freely taking the lives of others."
Government officials say they are working to end the killings and other abuses, although judicial proceedings to disprove allegations of sorcery are exceedingly difficult.
"The fetishists often refuse to come forward to provide evidence and identify an alleged sorcerer," explained Michel Miambi, president of the Oeusso court and member of the Superior Council of Magistrates. "There is also the problem of a lack of true independence of the judiciary: faced with a case involving alleged sorcery, it is not unusual that a high-level civilian or military authority will testify on behalf of an assassin."
"So many people are superstitious in this country that sometimes the order for such heinous murderers even comes from well-placed individuals in Brazzaville [the national capital]," he added.
According to Pierre Tchimanga Mameta, a Congolese sociology professor, little progress can be made until there is greater accountability. "As long as these crimes go unpunished, the belief in sorcery will prevail. These murderers can no longer be allowed to operate with complete impunity," he said (Integrated Regional Information Networks, Oct. 29).
Abuse Of Women A Global Public Health Concern, Officials Say
Washington Oct 30: Public health officials yesterday urged the U.S. government to provide more funding for preventing violence against women and girls, which they say is a global public health problem as well as a violation of human rights.
With the support of the U.S. government, violence against women can be prevented and reduced through "sustainable efforts that recognize that violence against women is an epidemic," said Deputy Director of the Pan American Health Organization Joxel Garcia, one of five panelists speaking at a congressional briefing on gender-based violence and women's health.
"One woman in every three worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime," Garcia told U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky, Barbara Lee and Shelley Moore Capito.
"Worldwide, it has been estimated that violence against women is as serious a cause of death and incapacity among women of reproductive age as cancer. It is a greater cause of ill health than traffic accidents and malaria combined," Garcia added.
According to the World Report on Violence and Health published last October by the World Health Organization, in 48 population-based surveys from around the world, 10 percent to 69 percent of women reported being physically assaulted by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Also, intimate partners commit 40 percent to 70 percent of homicides of women worldwide.
"Because violence against women has been seen mostly as a criminal justice matter, we are only now beginning to understand the health consequences of violence," said Esta Soler, president of the Family Violence Prevention Fund.
Aside from physical injuries, violence against women can lead to serious and long-term mental health problems, as well as suicide. Abuse also affects the economic stability of women, their communities and their countries. Abused women are often afraid to seek health care, and the violence prevents them from participating in economic and social activities, the panelists said.
In the United States, domestic violence costs the health care system almost $6 billion a year, Soler said.
Violence against women is also contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide, the group said.
"There is an imbalance in power that typically favors men and undermines women's ability to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS," said Ileana Arias of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also a panelist at the hearing.
The United States could help reduce violence against women through specific actions, the group said. The U.S. government should fund intervention programs through health care settings designed to prevent and intervene in the early stages of abuse, Soler said.
The United States should also help integrate training, education and services into existing development projects, including HIV/AIDS prevention programs, and provide funding to the U.N. Development Fund for Women's Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence Against Women, to which it currently does not contribute funds, Soler said.
The legislators hoped to use the recommendations of the panel to "come up with strategies and initiatives that begin to reduce the incidences of violence against women both in our own country and abroad," Lee said.
The briefing was sponsored by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, the International Center for Research on Women and the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States.
By Fanen Chiahemen
U.N. WireLithuania Says Russian Oil Plan Threatens UNESCO Site
Oct 30: Lithuania yesterday raised concern about a Russian plan to drill for oil near the Curonian Spit, echoing environmentalists' fears that a spill could cause irreparable damage to a unique ecosystem and UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The 60-mile-long peninsula, nicknamed the Baltic Sahara for its sand dunes, is only a half-mile wide in some places. Shared by Russia and Lithuania, the spit has long been a popular summer destination for Lithuanians, Russians and foreign tourists. It was designated a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Russian petroleum giant Lukoil expects to start drilling next year at a site 12 miles off the Curonian Spit to reach an oil field that it says could yield as much as 700,000 tons of crude each year for several decades. The Lithuanian government says it cannot object to the drilling, which will be done in Russian waters, but it wants assurances that the project will be done in accordance with environmental standards. Lithuania also wants compensation in case there is any environmental damage.
"If there were ever a spill and oil washes up on shore, you'd have to basically remove the sand. That part of the spit would just disappear. It wouldn't exist anymore," said Lithuanian Environment Ministry spokeswoman Androne Zyckute.
Environmentalists from both countries have voiced similar fears.
Lukoil says the project conforms with international environmental protection standards (Associated Press, Oct. 29).
FAO Stresses Maximizing Water Potential In Agriculture
Oct 30: At a conference in Rome yesterday, the Food and Agriculture Organization stressed the importance of including agriculture in any dialogue on water issues, since farms are responsible for two-thirds of global water consumption.
"Each person needs two to four liters of water a day to drink," said the FAO's senior water resources officer, Jean Marc Faures. "But some 4,000 liters (1,040 gallons) of water are needed to produce the food you eat on your plate. If you want to address the problem of water you have to address agriculture."
According to Faures, irrigation systems must be modernized, while governments and farmers must work together to improve water management.
"On an individual basis it is very hard to do anything," Faures said. "This is a problem that needs to be addressed at a governmental level."
In a report released last year, the FAO said that farming, industrial and urban needs will increase water demand by 40 percent in 2030 in arid, developing countries (James Crawford, Reuters/Environmental News Network, Oct. 30).
U.N. Sees Mixed Results In Development Goals
United Nations Oct 30: Secretary General Kofi Annan today told a high-level session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the 2002 International Conference on Financing for Development that the pledge by developed countries to channel more official development assistance (ODA) to developing nations and work to remove trade barriers has so far been relatively ineffective, as indicated by the increasing flow of money from developing to developed countries.
For six years, developing countries have been transferring more money to the developed states, rather than the other way around, he said. "Moreover, last year's was the largest such negative resource transfer ever: almost $200 billion."
"The overall result defies common sense," Annan said. "Funds should be moving from developed countries to developing countries, but the numbers tell us the opposite is happening."
"We face an uncertain economy, wide-ranging social distress and faltering trade negotiations that need a real jump start at December's WTO [World Trade Organization] talks in Geneva," Annan added. "If what we say about financing for development is not to ring hollow, if financing for development means anything, we must reverse this negative balance sheet, and fix the system so that all countries, and all people, especially the poorest, can benefit."
In March 2002, participants at the conference in Monterrey, Mexico, struck an agreement that included a commitment by developed countries to increase ODA and work to remove trade barriers and a commitment by developing countries to improve governance and accountability.
In reviewing progress since the conference, General Assembly President Julian Hunte told today's gathering, "By any yardstick, our assessment is a mixed one." On the positive side, there has been a 4.8 percent increase in ODA since the Monterrey conference, although this is still short of the U.N. goal of 0.7 percent of developed countries' gross national income, he said. In addition, there are "nascent and encouraging signs" of resolving the debt crisis and strengthening governance, Hunte said.
On the other hand, there has been "little change" in market access, debt, protectionism and the deteriorating situation of developing countries dependent on commodities, he said.
World Bank President James Wolfensohn told the session, "Everyone knows the steps that need to be taken and the issue is to take action. Everyone knows where the gaps are in structure and where those who are corrupt are to be found. It is difficult to move forward, but it is essential if the aims of Monterrey are to be met."
In addition, Wolfensohn said, the World Bank is "concerned with the imbalance" of allocations for defense versus development and said remittances from migrant workers to their home counties total $80 billion, "dwarfing the development assistance that is coming from the developed countries."
U.N. Undersecretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Jose Antonio Ocampo said yesterday that fixing the balance sheet requires more efforts in three "essential" areas - trade, debt and taxation.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday to discuss the assembly meeting and Annan's report on the follow-up to Monterrey, Ocampo said trade is "the major source of financing for developing countries."
After the collapse of WTO talks in Cancun, Mexico, last month, he said, he hoped this meeting of the assembly would give "some positive momentum towards restarting the negotiations of the World Trade Organization." He said the Cancun round "made major advances in narrowing down the differences among countries on agriculture [and] created better mechanisms for dialogue in the future." He also expressed hope that delegates would be able to build on the talks' positive aspects.
On debt relief, Ocampo said, "Some of the assumptions for the debt write-off [for the poorest countries] were not realistic enough." Some events have made things worse, he said, such as the fall of commodity prices, therefore the link between debt and commodity prices "should be stressed in the future." In addition, there is "no mechanism" for managing debt relief for middle-income countries, he added, calling this "a major gap in the international agenda."
Ocampo said the United Nations was the only forum "for a dialogue on tax matters between developed and developing countries." This issue is becoming "increasingly important, particularly due to the tax competition that is taking place among many countries to attract capital." Greater cooperation on this front is "essential," he added.
The two-day meeting began yesterday with eight roundtables, some with government ministers participating, on topics including coherence in the international monetary system and the promotion of sustainable development.
By Jim Wurst
U.N. WireU.S. Nominee For UNESCO Post Sails Through Senate Hearing
Washington Oct 30: Louise Oliver sailed through a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing yesterday in preparation for what is expected to be an easy committee approval of her nomination by the Bush administration to be the first U.S. representative to UNESCO since the United States rejoined the organization last month.
Oliver's background is in education, philanthropy, public policy and organization management. Among her past affiliations, according to the State Department, are service as chairman and vice chairman of the Philanthropy Roundtable, chairman of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, and vice chairman of the Center for Education Reform. She has been an adviser to the U.S. Education Department during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations. She has also served with the Republican National Committee and GOPAC, which trains Republican candidates for elected office.
The Senate committee is expected to vote on Oliver and a number of other administration nominations in coming weeks. Committee staff sources expect little controversy over her nomination and Oliver was praised during the hearing by Senator Joseph Biden, the committee's senior Democrat.
By Steve Hirsch
U.N. Wire6.5 Million North Koreans Will Need Aid In 2004, U.N. Says
Oct 30: North Korea will face another food crisis next year despite better harvests, and some 6.5 million people - or a quarter of the population - will need international aid, the World Food Program said today.
This year's shortfalls in food aid donations will force the WFP to begin trimming its recipient lists beginning in November unless other sources of food are found, Rick Corsino, WFP country director for North Korea, said. As many as 3.2 million people could stop receiving aid.
"We have again a series of breakdowns in our aid pipelines. For 2003 we have mobilized 320,000 tons of food from a target of 500,000 tons, so we only fulfilled about 60 percent of our goal," Corsino said.
About 700,000 mostly elderly North Koreans will no longer receive aid from the WFP starting next month, while children will drop off aid lists in January and the most needy in March, he said.
After the famine and natural disasters of 1995, North Korea has become the largest recipient of WFP aid ever, having received more than 8 million tons of food worth $2 billion dollars (Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, Oct. 30).
Trade Barriers Threaten Food Security, Institute Warns
Oct 30: International Food Policy Research Institute Director General Joachim von Braun on Tuesday warned that the collapse of trade talks in September at the World Trade Organization's meeting in Cancun, Mexico, could threaten food security.
"In the absence of a new agreement on agriculture trade, current food subsidies remain in place and barriers to trade may become steeper," von Braun said in Nairobi. "This situation is not conducive to advancing food security."
According to the director general, developed countries spend around $75 billion per year on subsidies to farmers and agricultural industries, which "forces consumers to pay an extra $240 billion for food because of their own protectionist measures" (East African Standard/allAfrica.com, Oct. 29).
Human Rights Watch Urges Afghans To Run Fair Elections
Oct 30: Human Rights Watch yesterday called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to do more in combating violence in Afghanistan in the ongoing elections for the loya jirga, or "grand council," which will meet in December to consider a new constitution for the country.
Reports of intimidation and threats against candidates and prospective candidates in the elections have come in from all over Afghanistan.
Brad Adams, executive director of the nongovernmental organization's Asia Division, said in a letter to Karzai that after conducting dozens of interviews with Afghans seeking election to the body, Human Rights Watch had "heard that a climate of fear exists in every region of the country, and that many representatives and former loya jirga participants are afraid to be involved in the forthcoming constitutional loya jirga."
In one case in the Badakshan region, Human Rights Watch said a candidate withdrew after being told by a local military commander, "Avoid nominating yourself, otherwise we will kill you and throw your corpse into the Kokcha River."
There are also reports of regional military commanders and troops nominating themselves for the loya jirga despite Karzai's July 2003 decree forbidding their attendance at the December meeting.
The letter from Adams calls on Karzai to enforce the decree, condemn public intimidation, investigate the threats, urge the disqualification of anybody found guilty of such behavior, and uphold the mandate that the loya jirga elections be conducted in a free and fair manner (Human Rights Watch release, Oct. 29).
Security Council To Discuss D.R.C. Plunder, Arms Trade
Oct 30: The Security Council is scheduled to discuss a report today from a U.N. panel urging the international community to crack down on the flow of illegal arms into the Democratic Republic of the Congo in order to end the country's civil war and stop the unlawful plunder of its natural wealth.
This is the panel's final report after three years of study. In October 2002 it accused criminal groups tied to Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe and D.R.C. of stealing the country's gold, diamonds and other mineral wealth and sought U.N. censure of 29 companies and 54 individuals for similar activity.
Of the 157 parties the report cited last year for inappropriate conduct in D.R.C., 119 had responded, the panel said (Edith Lederer, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Oct. 28). The report ranks companies' responses to the allegations in five categories ranging from "resolved" to "requiring further investigation" to "unresolved" (Mark Turner, Financial Times, Oct. 27). The cases against 18 companies, including diamond giant De Beers, Avient Air and Das Air, remained unresolved (Lederer, AP/Yahoo! News). The Financial Times reported yesterday that De Beers, which officially removed itself from D.R.C. four years ago, says it is seeking permission from D.R.C. to restart explorations (William Wallis, Oct. 29).
The U.N. panel trimmed some controversial details from the public version of the report about groups and individuals implicated in illicit arms trafficking, reportedly at the behest of U.N. officials who feared the information could derail the peace process. The Security Council, which received the excised text, can release the information if it decides to (Lederer, AP/Yahoo! News).
More than a dozen rights groups, including Human Rights Watch and Oxfam International, are asking the Security Council to demand investigations of the companies involved.
"The Security Council can no longer ignore clear evidence linking the exploitation of resources to the war in the Congo," said the groups. "It must insist that member states hold the companies and individuals involved to account, including companies based in Western countries" (Turner, Financial Times).
The report, which will be delivered to the council today by panel chairman Mahmoud Kassem of Egypt, says D.R.C. needs help stopping the arms flow, increasing border security, breaking up its inefficient mineral resource companies and creating a natural resource fund to benefit the common people.
"There should be no illusion that the Congolese people will be able to carry out this colossal task on their own," the panel said. "Without the active engagement of the international community, the chances of success will be minimal" (U.N. release, Oct. 28).
U.N. Thwarted In Attempt To Check Rwandan Troop Presence
The U.N. Organization Mission in the D.R.C. (MONUC) says its efforts to investigate whether Rwandan troops are inside D.R.C. have been hampered in the last few weeks.
MONUC said it had sent military observers to the eastern province of Kivu-Nord in response to reports of Rwandan military presence, but the monitors were denied access to a military camp in one instance and prevented from speaking to soldiers in a second (U.N. release, Oct. 29). The camps were run by the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie, which was in the past supported by Rwanda in its attempt to overthrow the government in Kinshasa.
Recent media reports say that significant numbers of Rwandan soldiers have been seen entering D.R.C., according to Integrated Regional Information Networks, although Rwanda has repeatedly denied having a troop presence in D.R.C. since October 2002 (IRIN, Oct. 29).
Rwanda, along with Uganda and Burundi, signed a U.N. good-neighbor pact with D.R.C. in September. Yesterday U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative to the Great Lakes Region, Ibrahima Fall, praised Uganda and D.R.C. for re-establishing diplomatic relations. The two countries issued a statement Tuesday from the Ugandan capital of Kampala establishing direct air links and committing to the resumption of full diplomatic ties (IRIN/ReliefWeb, Oct. 29).
In other news, Amy Smythe, the gender issues adviser to the U.N. peacekeeping force in D.R.C., told the Security Council yesterday that women had suffered terribly from the war. Tens of thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of Congolese women had been raped, she said, and the breakdown of family life and virtually all other social institutions had compounded their sorrows (News24.com, Oct. 30).
Palestinian Prime Minister Offers Plan To End Violence
Oct 30: Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia yesterday offered a two-stage strategy for ending three years of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, saying he would first negotiate a truce with Palestinian militant groups and then ask Israel to match it.
Qureia said he would first persuade the militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad to agree to a cease-fire and then bring the Israelis in as part of the deal.
"I don't have American and Israeli assurances. I want Palestinian assurances, and if I get these Palestinian assurances, then there will be no problem," Qureia said, adding that his talks with Hamas on such a deal had been "constructive."
Hamas spiritual leader Ahmed Yassin has already stated that his group is amenable to such a deal but would not give up its right to strike at Israelis. However, the political chief of Hamas, Khaled Mashaal, said a quick agreement was not likely. "[Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon does not want a cease-fire and the U.S. is preoccupied with Iraq and its elections," he said yesterday in Beirut.
Qureia said the real stumbling block to any peace agreement is the Israelis. "When the Israeli side is ready and prepared for a mutual and serious cease-fire, a mutual cease-fire with clear conditions" could be worked out, he said.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers yesterday shot and killed a 12-year-old boy who was near a group of people throwing rocks at the soldiers in the Balata refugee camp. Witnesses said the boy was some distance away from the rock-throwing, while the Israeli military said it was targeting a Palestinian who was throwing firebombs.
Israeli soldiers also shot and killed a Palestinian man and wounded another after they crossed into a restricted area that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel. The military said the men had planted a 44-pound explosive, but that the army managed to neutralize the bomb (Mark Lavie, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Oct. 30).
Peres Urges Sticking To Road Map Plan
Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres warned today against scuttling the U.S.-sponsored peace road map for an alternate peace agreement, saying it would be better if all the sides involved stuck with the original plan.
"Since we already have a plan which is accepted by Palestinians, Israelis and the rest of the world, I wouldn't change it for something that could become controversial," Peres told reporters after meeting with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris. "Why give it up? It's better to invest energy to move ahead with the road map than start again to negotiate another agreement."
Peres currently leads the opposition Labor Party (Reuters/Washington Post, Oct. 30).
Israeli's Military Chief Of Staff Criticizes Policies
A statement by Israel's top-ranking soldier that Israel's hard-line policies against Palestinians were working against Israel's "strategic interest" has left Sharon "furious," according to a New York Times report.
The report said General Moshe Yaalon, the military's chief of staff, was quoted by an Israeli newspaper as saying that comprehensive travel restrictions and curfews imposed on Palestinians were actually harming Israel's overall security. "It increases hatred for Israel and strengthens the terror organizations," he was quoted as saying. "There is no hope, no expectations for the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, nor in Bethlehem and Jericho. In our tactical decisions, we are operating contrary to our strategic interest."
Yaalon also said Israel's policies had helped to bring about the downfall of previous Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who resigned Sept. 6 after just four months on the job. Yaalon said Israel should have eased punitive measures against Palestinians if only to bolster the fortunes of Abbas.
Israel eased travel restrictions somewhat yesterday, allowing 4,000 Palestinian businesspeople and workers to enter Israel (Greg Myre, New York Times, Oct. 30).
Sharon Questioned For Corruption
Sharon was questioned by police on Thursday on corruption charges, marking the third time a sitting Israeli prime minister has been investigated by police.
The main corruption charge police are investigating involves a $1.5 million loan from a South African businessman to Sharon's two sons - money allegedly used to cover illegal campaign contributions to Sharon.
A second charge involves a business deal between Sharon's younger son, Gilad, and businessman David Appel, who has links to Sharon's Likud Party. Appel allegedly paid Gilad Sharon hundreds of thousands of dollars to market a tourism project in Greece in an attempt by Appel to get Ariel Sharon to influence Greek authorities to approve the deal.
Sharon has denied the allegations (Ramit Plushnick-Masti, AP/Yahoo! News, Oct. 30)
Ghana And Nigeria Presidents To Visit Ivory Coast For Talks
Oct 30: Presidents John Kufuor of Ghana and Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria are to meet with the leader of Ivory Coast in the troubled nation's commercial capital Abidjan today in an effort to restart its stalled peace process, Integrated Regional Information Networks reported yesterday.
Already tense relations between the government of Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo and former rebel leaders have soured in recent months after accusations of intentional delays on the part of the government to create a broad-based Cabinet and the failure of the rebels to disarm. The rebels pulled out of the government on Sept. 23.
The planned discussions will center on three immigration-related issues: reformation of the constitution to allow Ivorians with a foreign parent to occupy important government positions, revision of nationality laws and new land ownership rules.
Sources told IRIN that if there is progress on these three issues, Ghana may host another summit to discuss the situation in Ivory Coast. There have already been two such meetings in the Ghanaian capital Accra this year (IRIN, Oct. 29).
Last weekend, Guillaume Soro, the leader of the main opposition group, met with Obasanjo in the Nigerian capital Abuja, saying his group would only return to the government if Gbagbo left office. Despite the power-sharing deal, the country is still split between the rebel-controlled north and government-controlled south (BBC Online, Oct. 30).
Writing from exile in Paris, former rebel commander Ibrahim Coulibaly commented in the French newspaper Le Monde that the United Nations should take a more active role in the discussions.
"What can be done? In my opinion, we urgently need to end this futile standoff between the former rebellion and the regime, which has reduced France to the role of powerless arbiter," Coulibaly wrote. "That will only be possible if the United Nations becomes more involved in the process of national reconstruction."
Coulibaly organized a coup in December 1999 and was one of the leaders of the rebellion launched in September last year that has divided the country, crippled its economy and created the instability seen today (Agence France-Presse/ReliefWeb, Oct. 29).
