AFRICA/GLOBAL: WHY DEVELOPING COUNTRIES MUST UNITE TO FIGHT VIOLATION OF LABOUR RIGHTS
Many analysts of international trade decry the concept of a 'social clause' as an attempt by rich developed countries to protect jobs and dominate markets by stipulating minimum labour standards. However, little attention is given to competition between developing countries to gain access to markets in richer countries, which is equally detrimental to labour standards. In the absence of a common set of minimum labour standards, destructive competition deprives workers of the benefits of economic growth.
http://www.id21.org/society/s7cac1g1.html Rwanda
KIGALI, 13 August (IRIN) - The UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has identified at least 40 cases it intends to transfer to national courts in Rwanda in early 2005, the prosecutor for the tribunal, Hassan Jallow, said on Friday in the Rwandan capital, Kigali. "We will take the necessary steps to get some of the cases to [Kigali]," Jallow said after a meeting with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. The cases due to be transferred include some for genocide suspects currently held in a detention facility at the tribunal's headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, he said, as well others who are still at large. When they are apprehended, Jallow said they would be sent to Rwanda by the apprehending country. Jallow added that some individuals convicted by the tribunal would begin serving their sentences in Rwandan prisons next year. "The expectation is that by the end of the year [2004] we should have in place two agreements in force - one regarding the transfer of cases to Rwanda and the other regarding the transfer of prisoners to Rwanda," he said. Jallow was vague, however, regarding the thorny issue of indicting suspects currently in the Rwandan national army. "We are at a stage where we are evaluating the evidence that we have accumulated over the years in order to determine what cases, if any, that we have under that particular area," he said. Military officers in the former Tutsi-led rebel group, the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) allegedly committed war crimes prior to and during the 1994 genocide, which claims the lives of at least 930,000 people, according to the Rwandan government. Relations between Kigali and the ICTR had been strained partly because the former prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, had sought to arrest some members of the current Rwanda army. None have so far been brought to justice by the ICTR. It has only indicted members of the mainly Hutu former Rwandan armed forces or ex-FAR, who formed the national army during the genocide. Since the tribunal's inception in 1994, it has indicted 81 suspects, convicting 20 and acquitted three. Jallow has made several visits to Rwanda since becoming the ICTR prosecutor in September 2003.
ZAMBIA: AIDS drug shortage creates concern
JOHANNESBURG, 13 August (PLUSNEWS) - AIDS activists are concerned that Zambia's antiretroviral (ARV) treatment programme could be derailed by a lack of adequate planning. Health Minister Brian Chituwo recently announced in parliament that supplies of Triomune-30, a fixed-dose combination of Nevirapine, Lamivudine and Stavudine, had run out. Winston Zulu, coordinator of the AIDS NGO, Kara Trust, commented: "I am very scared about the provision of ARVs in Zambia because it is not being done well. As someone who has been taking ARVs for years, I know that bad treatment is worse than no treatment." But department of health spokesman Victor Mukonka told the UN news service PlusNews, there was "no reason to panic or get alarmed ... there will be no treatment interruptions - this is only one drug out of 16 formulations that are available in the country."
UGANDA: REFUGEE CHILDREN CONTINUE LESSONS IN UGANDA\'S SCHOOLS
http://tinyurl.com/4bab4 Education does not end with exile. In fact, it starts in exile for many of the over 65,000 primary school-aged refugee children in northern Uganda. Even after they have been displaced by Uganda's own civil conflict, these refugee kids are given access to free primary education alongside local students.
SOUTH AFRICA: BISHOPS WANT ACTION ON ZIMBABWE & SUDAN.
http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1571417,00.html Stronger action is needed to end the 'ongoing human suffering' in Zimbabwe and Sudan, the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) said this week. "The Catholic bishops decry the ongoing human suffering of their brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe and Sudan, and calls on Southern African Development Community governments, the African Union (AU) and the United Nations to take stronger action, including the consideration of targeted sanctions," a statement said.
ZIMBABWE: Clarity needed on harvest figures, Human Rights Watch
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has warned that the Zimbabwean government's alleged "lack of transparency" on grain availability could jeopardise access to food for millions of people in the coming months, IRIN reported on Thursday. The rights group called on the government to make information on grain availability public, as "concealing the basis for its 2004 crop yield estimate, the size of its strategic grain reserve and the details of the government's Grain Marketing Board operations in food distribution and assistance ... threaten its citizens' access to food". In May the government announced that this year's harvest would produce 2.4 million mt of maize, a figure significantly higher than last year. "While there is general consensus that the 2004 crop was better than that of 2003, UN agencies, donor countries and NGOs have challenged the government's estimate for this year," HRW said. More details:
http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=42649
