22 March 2011 World Water Day Special Edition

The United Nations has defined access to adequate water as an important global issue with an estimated BILLION people lacking such access. The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's message for the world today is available online here and includes the imperative that, “without water there is no dignity and no escape from poverty.” He also states that this year's theme is “WATER FOR CITIES” to highlight urban water issues. His future policies will “connect the dots among water, energy and food security.”

• A World Water Day Slideshow: Everything You Need to Know About H20 is available online here, courtesy of GOOD magazine.

• The UNICEF Tap Project is being implemented at thousands of restaurants this week; upscale dining establishments are asking patrons to donate $1 for tap water with their meals, reminding people that even tap water is a privilege in many parts of the world. Since it was launched in 2007, the Tap Project has raised $2.5million to support UNICEF's global water and sanitation projects. This year's revenue will be directed to Togo, the Central African Republic and Vietnam.

• For positive ways to contribute and celebrate World Water Day this year, check out Mashable's list here.

• A World Water Day photo slideshow and video are available on Terra's website here.

• Here is the Center for Disease Control's World Water Day informational page.

• The United Nations' Deputy Secretary-General has posted this youtube video for World Water Day.

• Treehugger has posted this story which includes 22 links to “key stories for understanding water issues.”

• Check out Chris Perry's award-winning animated short The Incident at Tower 37 here.

AFRICA:

• South Africa = This year's World Water Day conference concluded today in Cape Town. The theme was “Water and Urbanization: Responding to the Urban Challenge,” appropriately held on the African continent where the rate urbanization rate is the highest in the world. Over a thousand government, civil society and private sector representatives were present, discussing the relationship between water, public health, sanitation, and the need for better “collaboration and communication between sectors.” (IRIN)

AMERICAS:

• USA = American scientist Stephen Carpenter has won this year's Stockholm Water Prize for his work on practical frameworks for freshwater resource management. (WW)

ASIA:

• Philippines = Officials rehabilitating the Las Pinas-Zapote river system have won a UN Best Practice Award for their progress in a local re-greening process. The project has been underway since 2002, with local “river watch” volunteers planting bamboo and mangroves to prevent soil erosion after undergoing training in ecological solid waste and river management. (IRIN)

MIDDLE EAST:

• Occupied Palestinian Territories = A new wastewater treatment plant is being constructed near Rafah to serve 180,000 people with reduced-contamination water which will be clean enough for irrigation purposes. This should help reduce several public health and environmental risks, but overall the water situation in the Gaza strip remains critical. (ICRC)

23 January 2011

AFRICA:

• South Africa = This week, Johannesburg hosted a summit on global poverty. The participants were in general agreement that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are falling short of targets and will not be reached by the originally anticipated 2015 deadline. (IRIN)

• Do the MDGs remain helpful targets? Is there a way to address accountability which would prompt leaders to work harder toward achieving these goals?

• Sudan = The 9^th-15^th January voting period in Sudan on the Referendum for Secession was “peaceful and calm,” according to observers. The final results of the vote will be revealed on 14^th February and are expected to return strongly in favor of Secession. (IRIN)

• The women’s vote may be the deciding factor in the outcome of this Referendum. Local rights activists see separation as “liberation” for the women of the South, freeing them from the rule of Islamic law, which many see as the primary limit to their freedom. Polling returns show that the majority of women voted for Secession. (IPS)

AMERICAS:
• Haiti = This week the City University of New York’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic issued a press release regarding the incidence of sexual violence against displaced women in Haiti. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is now pushing the Haitian government to “take immediate measures” to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in the displacement camps, based on advocacy by CUNY and other Haitian and American human rights activists. (CUNY)

• The decision is available online here.

ASIA:
• Thailand = 85 detained Pakistani people remain in detention in Bangkok over a month after arriving in the country seeking asylum. The refugees are of Pakistan’s Ahmadi sect; while they consider themselves Muslim, Pakistan does not and discriminates against Ahmadi people. Local rights groups are concerned that the Ahmadi refugees face either indefinite detention in Thailand or persecution and prejudice back home in Pakistan. (IRIN)

EUROPE:
• Germany = This past Tuesday marks the start of Germany’s first Rwandan genocide trial. A former Rwandan mayor who sought asylum in Germany in 2002 is now being tried in a Frankfurt court for murder, genocide, and incitement to both. The German prosecutors partnered with the Rwandan government to gather evidence and secure over 50 witnesses. This case could mark the beginning of a trend: because many Rwandan refugees fled to European countries, the future will likely bring similar continued cooperation between European governments, the Rwandan government, and the International Criminal Court. (DW)

• Is this a positive justice-sharing program? Are the European courts over-stepping their bounds? Should the ICC support these types of cases? What role does the Rwandan government have here? Would justice be better served by trying all of the accused within Rwanda?

CULTURAL:
• Liberia Women Democracy Radio is now in its 6^th operating month. The station was launched in August 2010 by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf with funding from the UN Democracy Fund to focus on women’s advancement. The UN funding expires in March 2011 and the station is now looking for donations and sponsorships. The station focuses on both producing gender-relevant radio shows and on training female reporters, who are currently a tiny minority in Liberia’s media. (WEN, YWCA)

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• The Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights is offering an Advanced Training Course on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Geneva from 9^th-13^th May 2011. Course information and registration form are available here.

• Open Society Foundations just published a new study regarding the rule of law in international criminal cases in 3 African States, entitled “Putting Complementarity into Practice: Domestic Justice for International Crimes in DRC, Uganda, and Kenya” and available online here.

• The Final Report of the Organisation of American States Mission to Haiti regarding Vote Tabulation of the November 2010 Presidential election is available online here.

24 August 2010

AFRICA:
• Tanzania = women’s sexuality is being targeted, in the name of preventing the spread of HIV. A 21 year old woman was forced to strip naked in a public market and then was beaten up by a group of men for “dressing inappropriately” and therefore trying to spread the HIV. Community elders (male elders) are also using HIV as an excuse to “return to ancient cultural values” where women dressed “decently” and therefore did not entice men into sex, which spreads HIV. (IRIN)
o Thankfully community educators are challenging these ideas that HIV is not a personal responsibility and that the way women dress negates a man’s free will. In fact, Mkinga’s HIV/AIDS Committee has been facilitating educational workshops to educate community members about the legal consequences of perpetuating violence against women. (IRIN)
• South Africa = the currently proposed legislation, the Protection of Information Bill would severely restrict the independent press corps from reporting on governmental activity, as officials and state agencies would be given broad discretion to classify data as secret. The ANC is also proposing a special Media Appeals Tribunal to address complaints against the press. (CPJ)

CENTRAL ASIA:
• Pakistan = The effects of the massive flooding are obviously still being felt. For a Westerner’s take on what the past week has been like, click here to view UNICEF Regional Director Daniel Toole’s day-by-day diary. (UNICEF)
• Afghanistan = couple stoned to death (CNN, HRW)
• Bangladesh = Yay! In a move that supports the human right to freedom of religion and the practice thereof, a Bangladesh court has ruled that the wearing of religious clothing is a “personal choice” which may not be legally imposed upon anyone. (BBC)

AMERICAS:
• United States = Birthright Citizenship debates are the new racism (CAP)

EUROPE:
• Italy = Racism against people of the Roma and Sinti ethnicties has escalated again. Roberto Maroni, Italy’s interior minister, is continuing his lobbying efforts to be able to expel from Italy EU citizens who do not meet minimum income and housing requirements, despite the European Commission’s concerns about this racist plan. (AJ)
o France = Claiming that the repatriation was voluntary, France sent over 200 people of the Roma minority to Romania this week. (AJ, WP)

CULTURAL:
• A new musical compilation is out, entitled Yes We Can! Songs About Leaving Africa … it includes titles by K’Naan and Daara J Family among others.
o What do you think of this message? Its reference to Obama’s campaign?

ALSO OF INTEREST:
• The UN’s World Youth Conference is being held in Mexico this week and UNIFEM has organized a Young Women’s Forum for 24 August 2010 which will include a live webcast. Check it out here! (UNIFEM)
• Human Rights Watch and 95 other groups called upon the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to cancel the “Obiang Prize” to be rewarded in October because President Teodoro Obiang, for whom the prize is named and who donated $3million toward the prize, is widely criticized for his highly repressive regime, including his violation of the rights of his people to freedom of expression—one of the core rights recognized by UNESCO (HRW)