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Past Issues - July 2004 Note: Most hyperlinks will open in a new window. Please close the new window in order to be automatically returned to the GCE site. BANGLADESH: NGOs LAUNCH MASSIVE FLOOD RELIEF EFFORT Dhaka: “The floods are getting worse day by day,” reports Rasheda Choudhury, Executive Director of CAMPE, the GCE member organisation in Bangladesh. More than 2/3 of the country is under water. The death toll is estimated at 450 and millions more have been left without fresh food or drinking water, leading the UN to warn that a humanitarian crisis may be developing. “Government machinery, Civil Society Groups, NGOs and local communities are trying to help each other, particularly those who are affected,” says Choudhury. CAMPE is busy helping the Federation of NGOs in Bangladesh (FNB) to monitor the situation, collect information on basic needs and provide coordination and linkage for the flood relief effort. “As soon as the floodwater recedes the major challenge will be a massive rehabilitation programme including ‘back to school’ support,” Choudhury adds. If you would like to contribute to the NGO flood relief and rehabilitation programmes, please get in touch with Tajul Islam, Chief Operating Officer of FNB: email fnb@bdmail.net; phone +880 8151921; fax +880 8151921-107. 29 July 2004 EI ELECTS NEW EXECUTIVE BOARD At its world congress in Porto Alegre, Education International, a federation of teachers’ unions representing some 29 million teachers worldwide, elected a new Board. Mr Thulas Nxesi, of SADTU South Africa, is the new President while Fred van Leeuwen from AOb Netherlands was re-elected as General Secretary. Vice Presidents are Ms Juçara Maria DUTRA VIEIRA - CNTE Brazil; Ms Sandra FELDMAN - AFT USA ; Mr Patrick GONTHIER - UNSA Education France; Ms Susan HOPGOOD - AEU Australia; Mr Abdulwahed Ibrahim OMAR – NUT Nigeria. For more information see www.ei-ie.org. 27 July 2004 US DEMOCRATS INCLUDE EFA PLEDGE IN PARTY PLATFORM Boston – The Democratic Party promises to support efforts to achieve universal basic education in its 2004 electoral platform, launched during the party convention this week. Gene Sperling, former economic adviser to Bill Clinton and chair of the GCE in the US, lobbied for the wording to be included. Sperling says that the pledge is important because it ensures that an incoming Kerry administration would have to pay serious attention to EFA, while also raising the bar for the Republicans. The platform document states (p. 12): “We understand that promoting international economic development is a strategic imperative of the United States. We will use American economic power to extend security and prosperity – which leads to peace – around the world. And we will work with poor countries to help stabilize and diversify their economies, including through the consideration of sensible debt relief measures where appropriate. We will support efforts to reach universal basic education and the other Millennium Development Goals.” More attention to Africa is also promised. The platform says (p. 9) that “U.S. engagement in Africa should reflect its vital significance to U.S. interests and the moral imperative to help a continent struggling with the scourge of HIV/AIDS and under the long shadow of chronic poverty.” On domestic education policy, the party rejects private school vouchers but supports the creation of more “charter” and “magnet” schools within the public system. 27 July, 2004 Read more http://www.dems2004.org/atf/cf/{59B09D55-4544-4D5F-965C-8DBD20B51054}/Platform%202004%20-%20by%20Comm%20(2).pdf INTERACTION HOLDS HILL BRIEFING ON "EDUCATION FOR ALL" Washington, DC: US NGO network InterAction held a briefing on Capitol Hill to build support for the legislative initiative announced by Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) during the GCE Global Action Week, which would dramatically increase US aid to basic education. Titled "Education for All: Are We On Track?" the event was co-sponsored by Clinton and Senator Mike DeWine (R-OH) and also featured Beverly Jones, Senior Vice President of the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Ambassador Kassahun Ayele of Ethiopia. Participants emphasized the “fundamental role” that primary education plays in reaching the other development goals including reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, poverty alleviation and economic development. Yet many countries are not on track to achieve universal primary enrollment by 2015. Ambassador Ayele discussed the progress that Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest countries, has made in expanding both basic and higher education over the last decade. He underscored the fact that achieving universal primary completion will demand greater commitment from donors and other external stakeholders, as well from government. For more on the InterAction education briefing, visit http://www.interaction.org July 19, 2004 UPE: WE DID IT, SO CAN YOU, SAYS TANZANIAN PRESIDENT Tanzania’s education success story – with the number of children in school increasing by 50% in a few short years – is proof that the Millennium Development Goals can be achieved, if both rich and poor countries forge a global compact, says President Benjamin Mkapa. Writing in the International Herald Tribune, Mkapa calls on rich countries to support nationally-owned plans, anchored in local realities, by providing more aid, greater debt relief and fairer trade opportunities. Tanzania’s success had three main ingredients, says Mkapa
Read the article in full http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=529016.html 13 July 2004 LETTER FROM KAILASH SATYARTHI - OUTCOMES OF CIRCUS RESCUE ACTION Dear friends, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to you personally as well as on behalf of the organizations I represent. Your solidarity, support and actions gave us enormous strength in our struggle. In spite of the difficulties that we go through in India, the good news is that all the eleven trafficked Nepalese girls whose parents had made the initial complaints based on which we had conducted the rescue operation, as well as another 10 have been rescued. The momentum built by a series of movements has created enormous pressure in favour of children and the Habeas Corpus petition filed by us on behalf of the girls in the State High Court has yielded positive results. Now the children are safe, happy and are staying in a State run women's centre. They wait for the next court hearing scheduled on 23 July, 2004. We very much hope that they will be handed over to their parents on that day and repatriated subsequently to Nepal. All the girls are below fourteen years of age and have gone through horrifying experiences in the Great Roman Circus. In the meantime, it has been disclosed that this circus group which own more than five circuses across India is involved in a big mafia operation of trafficking of girls from Nepal and in illicit arms dealing. This unlawful operation encourages them to find good allies in the highest government circles. It is manifest since despite all the threats being given by the circus goons, no indication has been received from government for our safety and security in Delhi. But, the positive outcome of the whole episode is that the issue of trafficking and exploitation of young girls in the entertainment industry, particularly circuses in India and worldwide has been hugely highlighted which has resulted in considerable mass awareness. Let me tell you that this is not the first attack on my life. I have always taken such incidents as a big challenge. The fight against human slavery and trafficking is no mere charity. It is a tireless struggle and those who are responsible and have benefited from child labour are not easy people to deal with. I have always been of the strong opinion that all the worst forms of child labour are crimes against children and the perpetrators are criminals. I never believe in shedding tears at odds, instead, shedding blood in battles that has never gone waste in the history of humankind if it is for justice. For me, slavery of children is the biggest injustice and any arm or weapon used to harm those who fight against it will be buried soon along with the menace of child slavery in the grave of history. They can kill our body, but we will emerge again like the phoenix. Thanking you once again, In Solidarity, Kailash Satyarthi Email - kailashsatyarthi@globalmarch.org For more information Please visit www.globalmarch.org 20 July 2004 ©2004 GCE You are welcome to reproduce items from the GCE E-News for any non-profit use, as long as you credit GCE together with any original source mentioned in the article. |
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