December 1999
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Issue 70 December 1999 |
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Many to Many Issue 70 December 1999
I. Trade, Environment and Human Rights Not only have the 135 nations of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) been preparing for the Seattle conference, expected by all to be the biggest trade meeting ever staged: through numerous civil society meetings throughout the world the impact of globalisation on people, environment and our communities, has been thoroughly discussed and debated. These discussions, each in their own way although some more constructively than others, will have contributed to the understanding of the complex links between international trade, environmental issues and human rights. After the public outcry against the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) resulting in it being, at least temporarily, dropped, the world's peoples are now hopeful that WTO's constitution (the first constitution, according to Vandana Shiva, to protect profit above the right to life of humans and other species) may also be reviewed. The following are examples of the many different commitments, resolutions and initiatives taken by groups within the world community: - At the conference "Natural Capital at Risk" held in Oslo, June 1999, and attended by 120 executives of financial services (insurers, banks, broker and pension funds etc, from North America, Europe, Asia and Africa) a US$100 million investment initiative was launched, called Sustainability Investment Partners (SIP). Said Klaus Tøpfer, UN Environment Programme Executive Director: "It is now time for active and aware insurers and banks, acting as responsible global citizens, to move from assessing the environmental challenge to implementing solutions. I therefore challenge all insurance companies to report publicly on their environmental performance." - The UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, is encouraging governments to promote the economic advancement of insisting that "in the future, multilateral trade agreements should pay more attention to the empowerment of women as actors and beneficiaries of the development process." - An international meeting of over 1,200 civil society representatives from 80 countries gathered in Paris from 24-26 June 1999, to discuss how to coordinate and mutually reinforce the activities of international NGO networks and campaigning on different aspects of economic globalisation. On the final day a resolution was adopted, highlighting among others the following points: * a moratorium on the forthcoming "millennium round" at the WTO, which should be replaced by an "assessment round" – meaning that assessment of existing WTO agents should be undertaken through democratic debates at the national level, in consultation with civil society organisations, including trade unions, and with small and medium-sized enterprises; * a global petition for the taxation of speculative capital movements and against the legality of fiscal havens, to be coordinated on a regional basis; * developing democratic oversight and regulatory mechanisms to ensure that research in biotechnology is placed at the service of society rather than for the "exclusive profit of multinational corporations"; *a halt to all intergovernmental negotiations in favour of patents on life; *supporting the 2000 global women's march and all initiatives aimed at promoting gender equality- It was agreed to continue the work of associating with and supporting civil society networks and campaigns focused on forthcoming intergovernmental events such as the third WTO ministerial conference in Seattle 30 November – 3 December and the G-7 meeting planned in July 2000 in Okinawa, and others. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is calling for comprehensive reform of the WTO so that it becomes a fair, environmentally friendly and publicly credible international organisation. There are three key areas where change is needed: (1) protection of the ability of nations to set environmental laws and regulations. Currently environmental laws can be challenged as being Technical Trade Barriers (TBT) and therefore countries can be forced to modify these; (2) ensuring international environment agreements are not over ridden by trade: according to the WWF the Convention on Biological Diversity, Basel Convention on Hazardous Wastes, the Persistent Organic Pollutants Agreement and Biological Diversity Protocol provisions on trade in Genetically Engineered Organisms are all considered to be under threat; (3) openness and democracy with WTO processes must be enhanced. II. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 1999 Calling for radical global governance reform, the focus of this report, commissioned by the UN Development Programme, is "globalisation with a human face". While globalisation "offers great opportunities for enriching people's lives and creating a global community of shared values", today's emphasis on market profitability and economic efficiency has resulted in "grotesque – inequalities". The income gap between those who are benefiting from the system and those who are passive recipients of its effects is rapidly increasing. The assets of the top three billionaires are greater than the combined gross national product of the 48 least developed countries and their 600 million people. The Report points out that a global economy, increasingly based on knowledge and Internet links, tends to create an invisible barrier between a relatively small elite who are "connected" and those who are unconnected. Globalisation is not only bringing integration but also fragmentation "dividing communities, nations and regions into those that are integrated and those who are excluded", resulting in a wave of social tension and conflicts and posing new threats to security and social cohesion. These new threats have blurred the line between conflict and, business, says the Report; private military firms are proliferating, selling their services to clients, such as multinational corporations who are seeking to protect their interests in conflict-prone countries. The Report Says that among the most enterprising beneficiaries of globalisation are the international crime syndicates, believed to gross US$1.5 trillion a year. Trafficking in illegal drugs, illegal weapons, illegal exploitation of women, and children, these syndicates add further deprivation and sense of insecurity to the already volatile situation in today's world. Among other sources of insecurity for people in both rich and poor countries, mentioned in the Report, are: the many corporate and economic restructurings taking place to face an increasingly competitive global market, leading to heavy job losses and worsening labour conditions; the trade liberalisation policies, bringing reductions in trade taxes, which in developing countries could account for up to a third of public revenue, and the "squeeze" that globalisation is putting on "care and caring labour". The Report also warns that the agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and other such agreements were signed before most governments and people understood their full social and economic implications. Acknowledging that there is today a widespread recognition of the need to reform global governance, the Report argues that global competition and market efficiency are still the main objectives of current efforts to restructure global economic governance to the exclusion of human development, environmental sustainability and social rights. Reform should be driven by concern for people, not for capital, says the Report and calls for a broader and more coherent set of international principles that restore an integrated approach to social and economic issues, built on: * economic, social, and cultural human rights as well as political and civil ones; * goals and commitments of the global conferences of the 1990s; and * democratic and equitable governance, globally and nationally. Among other proposals in the Report for radical reform of global governance are: - a "code of conduct for multinational corporations" which includes compliance with human rights and labour standards, ensuring fair trade, genuinely competitive markets and environmental sustainability; - the creation of a global forum to bring multinationals into open debate with other parts of the global community – governments, unions and NGOs; - global taxes, such as polluter-pays charges, Tobin tax etc, to help alleviate poverty, and "bit tax" on data sent through Internet to assist the financing of information technologies in countries and communities that market forces do not serve; - a "fairer" World Trade Organisation (WTO) – including an international legal aid centre and ombudsman, - the broadening of the United Nations with a "two-chamber General Assembly" to allow for civil society representation. Contact: Division of Public Affairs, UNDP, 1 UN Plaza, New York, NY 10017, USA Fax +1-212/906 5001, e-mail hq@undp.org "To everyone who proposes to have a good career, moral philosophy is indispensable." Cicero, 44 BC. III. DEBT WITH CHILD'S FACE In the latest annual report "The Progress of Nations", UNICEF calls for debt relief so countries that now spend a large portion of their national budgets on debt services can instead use the money for child-centred and social programmes. In the chapter, called Debt Has A Child's Face, Shridath Ramphal, Co-Chairman of the Commission on Global Governance, describes the effects of debt on the hundreds of millions poor by saying: "As though bound to feudal lords, their lives and labour have been mortgaged to rich country banks and governments, often by leaders they did not choose, to finance projects that did not benefit them. Debt, like an oppressive political system, strips them of their rights." For example: Zambia devotes 7% of its central government expenditure to basic social services and 40% in debt services. In the Philippines the same figures are respectively 8% and 31%. Contact: Helene Martin, Communications Assistant, UNICEF, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland, fax +1-212/326 7768, website (www.unicef-org) IV. 1999 SEOUL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF NGOs Representatives of over 1000 non-governmental organisations (NGOS) from 100 countries gathered at the Olympic Centre in Seoul, South Korea, from October 10-15 1999 to discuss the role and mission of NGOs in the new millennium, under the slogan: INSPIRE, EMPOWER, ACT! I was one of the estimated 10,000 people who came to listen and learn and hopefully to be inspired to make a contribution to the agreed goal of all those people – and that of people in many other parts of the world – the goal of lasting peace in the 21st century, and particularly to support UNESCO's call for next year to be the year of the CULTURE OF PEACE. The conference had been three years in the planning, and of course the resultant meeting embraced an enormous range of interest groups from professional, business, human rights, religious, welfare, indigenous peoples sectors – e.g. Madnr-Aer-Pu from Romania; Medicins-sans-Frontiers from Japan; Maryknoll Sisters From USA: Mongolia Women Lawyers Association; Maori Legal Services from New Zealand. I was representing WFUNA, the World Federation of United Associations, and one of only three New Zealanders at the conference. The predominant resolutions as embodied in the Conference Declaration were to: - Continue to build upon the work begun at the United Nations world conferences of the 1990s; - Forge a common vision for the 21st century; - Organise our collective energy and experience to make this vision a reality. It was noted that despite its promise of progress, globalisation is undermining local values and cultures, escalating disparities between rich and poor and marginalising large numbers of people in urban and rural areas. States are becoming weaker while an unaccountable private sector grows stronger. A single-minded focus on economic growth through unfettered free markets, combined with the adjustment and stabilisation policies of the international financial institutions are crippling many national economics, exacerbating poverty, eroding human values and destroying the natural environment. Yet, there are many reasons for hope. The last decades have witnessed the phenomenal growth of PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS, civil society organisations and NGOs committed to addressing these ills. Increasingly there is more shared awareness of what is at stake and what we need to do together. In this context, the Seoul Conference considered an of interrelated themes, declared a shared vision for the 21st century, and agreed on concrete actions to make this vision a reality. Three items of this vision were: -Our vision is of a world that is human-centred and genuinely democratic and where human beings are full participants and masters of their own destinies; -It is a world where peace and human security replace armaments, conflicts and wars, as reflected in the United Nations Charter, -It is a world in which science and technology are at the service of moral and ethical values. This whole Declaration which calls on actions by government, by the United Nations, and by NGOs everywhere is worthy of dissemination widely, particularly in educational institutions as a manifesto of hope and determination by a representative section of the world's people for the new Millennium. A very pleasant feature of the Conference was the presence of some 600 young university students who had volunteered to help the visiting delegates in any way needed to facilitate their easy progress in the vast Olympic Centre (the Olympics were held in Seoul in 1988). We all appreciated the cheerful and courteous assistance of these students. Apart from the many workshops, held in 32 large tents, and the general and thematic plenaries (10 themes: peace and security; environment and human settlement; gender equality; social and economic development; education for all; ethics and values; human rights; reproductive, public and mental health; productive ageing; youth and children) there were exhibitions by all sorts of NGOs demonstrating their "wares", and performances of singing, dancing, orchestral music, and martial arts and drumming. A particular bonus for me was the magnificent performance of Mozart's Don Giovanni by music students of the Kyung Hee University, given in the beautiful Grand Peace Palace of the University, specifically opened for the occasion of the Conference. A truly memorable experience. Laurie Salas, 2 Raumati Terrace, Khandallah, Wellington, New Zealand. V. FIRST GLOBAL MILLENNIUM PEOPLES ASSEMBLY APRIL 2-8, 2000, SAMOA The First Global Peoples Assembly has been organised by the Millennium Peoples Assembly Network (MPAN) whose mission statement is: "To provide means through which the world's people can actively participate in making decisions about issues affecting our lives and the well being of our planet". The programme for this event has been divided into three main sessions: 1) The Educational Programme consists of lectures and panel discussions on various topics relating to the promotion of peace and the elimination of wars. 2) The Inaugural Session of the First Global Millennium People's Assembly and Council Meeting Programme consists of: *The Plenary Meetings of the Delegates Assembly and the Delegates Council of the Global People's Assembly; *The Agenda for those meetings prepared in the Preparatory Millennium People's Assembly held in New York in September 1999; *The important issues to be included in the Agenda of the First Global Millennium People's Assembly include the considerations and approval of the G.P.A. Constitution or the Constitutional Framework (Charter). Permanent source of funding for G.P.A. and the possible and probable location for the G.P.A. Permanent Headquarters and Regional Headquarters throughout the whole world. 3) The International Culture Events and Entertainment centered on the Youth participation in building the peaceful world for the future culminating in the selection of a Young Lady and a Young Gentleman as Miss Messenger of World Peace and Mister Messenger of World Peace as role models for young people in a "World Without Wars and Armed Conflicts, when Peace Reigns finally in our lives." For more information: Millennium People's Assembly, P.O.Box 800, Apia, Samoa, E-mail: letagaloa@usa.net VI. Wanganui Safer Community Council New Zealand There are over 60 Safer Community Councils in New Zealand. Their primary purpose is crime prevention for their local communities. Here in Wanganui, the Safer Community Council has been running since 1994 and has been successful in initiating many projects from starting a Truancy Service for the city to running Confident Living programmes for our older citizens. Each year a business plan is made outlining the priorities for the coming year. This year our emphasis is on four key areas. Reducing the incidence of repeat victimisation, to improve community safety, to reduce the incidence of family violence, and to improve the level of support to victims of crime. It is this last area that this article will focus on. In New Zealand, the Children Young Person and their Families Act 1989 has shown that a restorative rather than a retributive philosophy for youth offenders works extremely well. We decided to extend that success into the adult world here. Community meetings indicated that there was a need and a desire for a Restorative Justice programme for adult offenders here in Wanganui. Research has shown that restorative justice not only addresses the needs for victims to have a real and effective voice in the criminal justice system but it also impacts significantly in the area of reducing repeat offending. Recent studies on other programmes in New Zealand have shown just how successful they are. In some cases the re-offending rate is nearly half that of those going through the usual criminal justice process. There is no one model that is universally practised. Our process is designed for our community. The project is community based and funded but works in partnership with the main criminal justice agencies. Society in any given area, is often remote from the outcome of crime in its widest sense. What we have tried to do here is make crime a community issue and enhance the fact that the community could also do something about it. In other words involve the community in its own problem and the solutions to it, rather than as observers from a distance. Community ownership can help to solve crime problems. We do this by having a Community Panel who are participants in a victim/offender conference with a facilitator and support people for the parties involved. A group of twenty Wanganui citizens give their time and services voluntarily to the panel. They all had to go through a selection process and attend regular training. Two of them are chosen for each restorative justice conference. There, they act as advocates for both victim and offender as well representing the wider community view. The offender is required to sign a contract at the end of the conference which addresses the needs of the victim, reparation, and the needs the offender has that will help to stop them re-offending, ie drug and alcohol counselling, anger management, job skills training etc. The community panel has an input into this contract and often can help directly in achieving the outcomes. The programme has been running for nearly six months now and has had some remarkable successes. One victim, a shop owner, who had suffered several burglaries asked specifically to read a letter of thanks in open court recently as he felt that this was the first time that his needs had been met and that something positive was done for the offender. We still halve a long way to go but with careful evaluation and on going training, I am sure this community can build on its success. This is a new and exciting concept for a provincial town in New Zealand. If, by the introduction of this process, it helps to propagate real healing for victims and stop offenders from re-offending then this small city will have made its mark. Jacquelyn Goodwin Wanganui Safer Community Council Co-ordinator VII. A WORLD CHARTER OF LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT The United Nations Centre on Human Settlements (Habitat) together with the World Associations of Cities and Local Authorities Coordination (WACLAC), have initiated the proposal for a World Charter of Local Self-Government. The aim is to draw up an "internationally agreed, adaptable framework for the practice of local democracy to contribute to the improvement of people's living conditions in all continents and regions" with a view to this treaty eventually being turned into a UN Convention on local autonomy and local democracy by 2001. This initiative is gaining increasing momentum, with endorsements and declarations pledging full support for the Charter having already come from three regional meetings recently held by the Arab States (in Agadir), Europe (in Strasbourg) and by 15 Latin America and Caribbean countries (in Santiago). Contact: Sharad Shankardass, Media & Press, UN Centre for Human Settlements, UNCHS, PO Box 30030, Nairobi, Kenya. Fax +254-2/624060, e-mail habitat.press@unchs.org VIII. GENEVA 2000 FORUM: The Next Step for Social Development This Forum is being planned by the Government of Switzerland in cooperation with the Geneva authorities to provide a platform for debate and dialogue on social development topics and themes, running parallel to the Special Session of the General Assembly that will be reviewing the follow-up to the World Summit For Social Development (Copenhagen, 1995), scheduled to be held in Geneva, 26-30 June 2000. The Geneva Forum will be open to the broadest range of actors concerned with social development – from citizens groups, NGOs, professional organisations, industry and business academics to parliamentarians, intergovernmental organisations and governments. The programme will be based on proposals from all the above mentioned groups and their involvement. All the different activities: conferences, workshops, panel discussions, video presentations etc, will take place in the international district of Geneva where the Special Session will be held. For more information with regard to accreditation and involvement, contact: Geneva 2000 Secretariat, PO Box 125, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland Fax +41-22./749 2589, e-mail info@geneva2000.admin.ch IX. COMMUNITY AND COMMON SENSE In the November/December 1999 issue of "GREEN FUTURES' (flagship publication of Forum for the Future, UK) appears an article entitled "It's the Community, Stupid" in which Peter Woodward reports on some of the findings of a research undertaken by the Shell Better Britain Campaign. Peter Woodward, who is the Director of this Campaign, explains that the decision to seek the view on sustainable development of some 400 groups from among its network of 25,000 community organisations was based on the premise that the only place where the complex issues of sustainability really seem to "join up" is at the grass roots. The very fabric of community living brings the issues together; it is at the organisational level, suggests the article, that these become separated as they are "dealt with by different people in distant offices." The Shell Better Britain Campaign found that communities would define sustainability as this concept related to their particular area, in terms of a wide range of issues which did not appear to have a direct connection with the question of sustainable development. Presented with 24 specific subjects people were asked which of these concerned them the most. The research found the answers most revealing: 72% Community spirit 68% Facilities for young people 56% Public open space 53% Poverty/social exclusion 51% Unemployment and work Although community concerns way not be seen by environmentalists as relevant to the issues of sustainability and development it might be precisely this gap between grass roots and organisational definition of the term "sustainable development" that needs to be faced and dealt with. When asked what key things individuals can do to contribute to sustainable development the most common answer was "getting involved in the community". And local campaigns and grants tuned to the needs of local groups were seen as far more important ways of promoting sustainable development than creating new laws and regulations. It seems that the message of this research is that "special issue" environmental organisations have still much to learn about how the theories behind sustainable development can be turned into good practices by communities, thus creating an environment in which all life can prosper. The Shell Better Britain Campaign is part of Shell UK's Community Investment Programme. It encourages community-based action for sustainability; provides an information service to its 25,000 members; and highlights UK good practices for sustainability, 250,000 in grants to community projects each year. Contact: Green Futures Magazine, Circa, 13-17 Sturton Street, Cambridge, CB1 2SN, UK. E-mail greenfutures@circa-uk.demon.co.uk X. 1999 RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARDS The Right Livelihood Awards, also called the "Alternative Nobel Prizes", (founded in 1980) are annually presented in the Swedish Parliament on the day before the Nobel Awards. Founder and Chairman, Jakob von Uexkull, introduced the Awards "to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today". In 1999 individuals and organisations from Spain, Cuba, Columbia, and Germany will receive the Awards. Dr. JUAN GARCES, a Spanish lawyer, is honoured for his pioneering work in preparing the legal case for the arrest of Pinochet in London in October 1998, which has created the real prospect that in the new millennium there will be no hiding place for anyone who commit crimes against humanity. Juan Garces was born in 1944, graduated as a lawyer in 1967 from the University of Madrid. When Salvador Allende became president of Chile in 1970, he invited Garces to be his advisor. He was with the President when the troupes bombed the presidential palace and found himself the sole survivor among Allendes political advisors when the coup had run its course. Garces was subsequently forced to leave Chile and return to Spain. The case against General Pinochet has implications far beyond the indictment of one old ex-dictator and marks a breakthrough in the struggle against unaccountability and impunity. It confirms that heads of state or government can no more hide behind the shield of immunity from criminal procedures. It illustrates the need for universal jurisdiction with respect to prosecution and punishment of international crimes and constitutes a vital catalyst in support of the establishment of an effective International Criminal Court. Dr. Juan Garces has written a number of books about – the Allende years among which "Allende and the Chilean Experience" (1976) is the most well known. Contact: Alfonso XII, 18, E-28014 Madrid, Spain. THE GRUPO DE AGRICULTLJRA ORGANICA (GAO) was recognised by the Jury for the exemplary combination of grassroots commitment and agricultural expertise that brought organic agriculture to the heart of the Cuban system. GAO was founded in 1993 as the Asociacion Cubana de Agricultura Organica (ACAO) at a time when the country was facing its most serious food crisis since the revolution. The collapse of the Soviet Union spelled the end of highly favourable sugar prices and access to cheap agricultural and food imports. At the same time, the US intensified its economic blocade further pressuring other trade partners not to trade with Cuba and thus further raising the cost of good imports. With no possibility of purchasing more than a fraction of the agrochemicals previously used, these alternatives were necessarily organic or semi-organic. Within four years the membership of ACAO spanned the whole agricultural sector, from farmers and farm managers to extension agents, researchers, professors and government officials. Based in Havana, ACAO now has local chapters in most provinces and each is active in his or her own workplace. As part of the United Nations Development Programmes "Agroecological Lighthouse" programme, ACAO has created a number of exemplary farms, serving as a demonstration to other farmers, policy makers etc of what is possible. ACAO has held three international conferences on organic farming, hosted numerous delegations from around the world and helped to develop a Master's Degree in Sustainable Development at the University of Havana. In 1999 ACAO achieved formal recognition by the Cuban Government and become the Grupo de Agricultura organica (GAO) within the Cuban Association of Agricultural and Forest technicians (ACTAF), an institutional Change which gives it more freedom of action and influence with the Cuban Government. The president of GAO is Dr. Fernando Funes Aguilar. Contact: Tulipan 1011 e/Loma y 47, Apdo. 6236C, Postal 10600, Nuevo Vedado, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba THE PROGRAMME FOR THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE AMAZON REGION (COAMA) was honoured for showing how indigenous people can improve their livelihood while sustaining their culture and conserving the rainforest in which they live, in contrast to the social and environmental destruction that has accompanied conventional development strategies. Between 1986-1990 the Colombian Government legally recognised 20 million hectares of rainforest in the Colombian Amazon region as "collective indigenous territory". This policy was an unprecedented move towards the recognition of indigenous rights and the important role of forest peoples in the conservation of the world's tropical rainforests. It was achieved through the pressure of indigenous communities, and the determined support of many Colombians, including Martin von Hildebrand, Head of Indigenous Affairs at that time. Martin von Hildebrand, born in 1943, is a nationalised Colombian. His family were driven from Germany due to Nazi persecution and arrived in Colombia in 1949. Martin studied sociology in Dublin and received a doctorate in Ethnology at the Sorbonne, Paris. In 1991, the adoption of a new Political Constitution in Colombia further safeguarded the territorial rights of indigenous peoples, along with their right to remain culturally distinct, to receive education in their own languages, and to establish autonomous local government institutions: ETIs (Entidades Territoriales Indigenas) or indigenous territorial entities. The COAMA group of NGOs have continued to cooperate conceitedly over this period, while maintaining respect for each other's differences, and thereby provided united support for about 250 indigenous communities of 22 different cultural groups in this enormous rainforest sanctuary. COAMA has provided a context in which a mutually respectful alliances -has evolved between indigenous communities and occidental specialists which has helped to transform the historical relationship of exploitation into a creative joint search for sustainable options in the present context. Taking advantage of the new Constitution, indigenous ties and the COAMA network have made progress in developing inter-cultural education, and supporting the creation of community schools and the training of indigenous teachers. COAMA is given particular credit for having sustained such a broad programme of cooperation between indigenous organisations, NGOs and government entities. The current programme of activities – COAMA III – focuses on assisting the work of regional indigenous organisations to strengthen their capacity to meet the legal, political and administrative requirements for setting up self-governing Indigenous Territorial Entities and increasing the participation of indigenous women in the process. Financial support has come from the EC, Denmark, Austria, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and the Netherlands. Contacts are also being strengthened with NGOs and indigenous groups in Venezuela and Brazil with the objective of establishing a "trans-frontier protected area of 50,000,000 hectares in the north-west Amazon", which is considered by many as the best preserved and the most bio-diverse part of the Amazon Basin. Contact: COAMA, c/o Fundacion Gaia-Amazonas, Cra. 4 No.26B-31, Santafe de Bogota, Colombia. http://www.coama.org.co DR. SCHEER, founder of EUROSOLAR and member of the German Parliament, received the 1999 Right Livelihood Honorary Award for his indefatigable work for the promotion of solar energy worldwide. In 1988 Scheer founded the European Association for Solar Energy (EUROSOLAR) which has as its goal the replacement of nuclear and fossil fuels and their sources with environmentally sound energy sources, using both direct and indirect sources of solar energy. This goal springs primarily from the perception that solar energy is "the most important necessity for upholding the natural foundations of life, as well as for new lasting economic and development politics." In 1997 and 1998, EUROSOLAR organised international conferences on "Financing Renewable Energies" and the European conference on "Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Planing". Scheer recently received the World Solar Prize at the 2nd World Conference on Photovoltaics in Vienna. Contact: EUROSOLAR e.V., Kaiser-Friedrish-Strasse 11, D-53113 Bonn, Germany. XI. SANTA FE LIVING TREASURES Santa Fe Living Treasures is in the forefront of a movement of awareness, which could impact how this culture treats its elders. The movement is growing nationally through establishment of similar programs honoring elders who make a difference in their community. We are beginning to realize the loss of balance, wisdom and experience suffered by not including grandmothers and grandfathers In mainstream deliberations. It is an exploding Idea whose time has come. It is a loving event that makes everyone feel good. The purpose of Living Treasures is: * to understand that elders are available mentors and teachers *to shine light on elders with their simplicity, kindness and grace *to learn from their wisdom, serenity and peace *to enjoy their humour, spirit, heart and attitude *to honour their beneficence *to gently remind that we need more thank you's *to serve as a remedy for today's ills Santa Fe Living Treasures invites other communities to start a similar program. This adds a dimension of kindness and respect, as it models values of the finest in humanity. It's easy and simple, in fact we call it "all love and no money." Phone Mary Lou Cook at 505/983-2894 to receive a free 16 page how-to handbook. You must be the change you wish to see in the world . . .Gandhi XII. WORLD MARCH FOR WOMEN 2000 This march, focusing on equality, development and peace, is being organised by the Federation des Femmes du Quebec (FFQ). Together with over 200 women's groups from 132 countries, FFQ is busily preparing for the march itself and the various activities related to it. Women's movements in each country will organise national actions which will represent their particular priorities regarding inequalities, poverty and violence against women. Some of the stated goals are to: * stimulate a vast movement of grassroots women's groups; * promote equality between men and women; *highlight common demands and initiatives issuing from the global women's movement relating to the issues of poverty and violence against women; and * pressure governments and decision-makers to institute the changes necessary for improving the status of women and women's quality of life. The World March for Women 2000 will start on Women's Day, 8 March 2000, and mark the new millennium by demonstrating women's continuing determination to change the world. Federation des femmes du Quebec, 110 rue Ste-Therese, Suite 307, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1 E6, Fax +1-514/395 1224, e-mail marche2000@ffq.qc.ca XIII. THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF VOLUNTEERS 2001 In 1997 the United Nations General Assembly resolved to proclaim 2001 the International Year of Volunteers. A UN Volunteers (UNV) secretariat has been set up to focalise the year's activities which has already had "brainstorming sessions" with NGOS, UN agencies and member states to outline themes, programmes and events. It has also produced an information kit and established a website to ensure that the preparations for the year of volunteers will become a truly "bottom up" people-participating event, emphasising the role of volunteers in today's world. The objectives of the year are: * increased recognition – for instance, governments and local authorities could ensure that they have mechanisms for consultation with the voluntary sector to national welfare and development; * Increased facilitation – for example, by providing state training facilities to volunteer groups on confessional terms, providing the same legal status and social protection rights to volunteers as to other workers, or according special leave of absence for public and private sector employees to undertake voluntary service; * networking – for example, by using television, radio and printed media to exchange and replicate "best practices" and best procedures; and * promotion – closely linked to recognition and facilitation promotional activities could aim at attracting more offers of voluntary service while seeking better support from official institutions and public opinion. Governments and various civil society groups in many countries have begun to set up national committees for the International Year of Volunteers. Contact: Team IYV 2001, c/o UNV, Postfach 260111, D-53153 Bonn, Germany, fax +49-228/815 2001, e-mail team@iyv2001.org, website www.iyv2001.org "We shall never learn to feel and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider every thing as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart." Sir Walter Scott. XIV. HERE I AM
All of you with tears in your eyes Turned to the sky in painful begging, All you you, from everywhere, Going from conferences to symposiums to forums to round tables, Mobilising men and capital, Always yearning for me. But you will never see me If you don't understand each other, If you always fight, If you always hate each other, If you act like animals in a jungle, If you don't work for your own happiness Yes, I'm this secular five-letter word. I'm not new to you. Yes, I'm Peace. It's me, the softness of your quiet times, It's me, the sweet perfume of your life, It's me, love, respect and tolerance, It's me, freedom, justice and equality. I will raise you before all nations, I will develop your country and your children, I will quench their thirst and satisfy their hunger, I would make you happy your whole life long. I am PEACE, your intimate friend. Poem by Tabo Augustin, Chad printed in HAGUE MATTERS, September 1999
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Many to Many a quarterly publication issued by Operation Peace through Unity Anthony Brooke and Gita Brooke, co-founders Te Rangi, 4 Allison Street, Wanganui 5001, New Zealand phone/fax: +64-6-345-5714 ~ e-mail: larrym@clear.net.nz OPTU is an accredited NGO in association with the UN Dept of Public Information |
Many to Many under the aegis of Operation Peace Through Unity is a communicating link between 'we, the peoples' of all nations, races, creeds and ideologies offering in the spirit of the preamble of the United Nations Charter an instrument for the furthering of better relationships based on deepening mutual understanding and the aspiration to promote unity and cooperation beyond all differences. |
