This essay on the website of Sur - International Journal on Human Rights deals with the intrinsic relationship between the Millennium Goals and Human Rights. It analyzes how countries – specifically those where hunger and poverty are rapidly increasing – should adopt the human rights discourse in order to demand the monitoring and the implementation of the Millennium Goals by 2015. It shows that, despite its alleged flaws, the Millennium Goals can greatly contribute to the advancement of the Human Rights agenda.

The ACQUIRE Project is pleased to announce its revamped and upgraded Web site at http://www.acquireproject.org. This Web site will serve as an important resource for anyone interested in the efforts of this partnership to improve and increase access to reproductive health and family planning services in the developing world.

Today, a week after the OpenOffice.org project turned five years old, the team has released the long-awaited open source OpenOffice.org 2.0 suite. OpenOffice.org 2.0 is available in 36 languages and runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, Mac OS X (X11) and several other platforms and can be downloaded from the OpenOffice.org website.

The range of available resources on the CIVICUS Civil Society Index (CSI) section of the CIVICUS website has been expanded. Using an action-research methodology, the CIVICUS Civil Society Index programme assesses the state of civil society in countries around the world, creating a knowledge base and impetus for initiatives to strengthen civil society. As country reports from the more than 50 countries implementing the project are being completed over the coming months, they will become available for free download on the website.

The Tanzanian government has fired Prof. Abdul Sherriff, who is probably the world's living authority on Zanzibar, and is certainly one of the most accomplished intellectuals East Africa has ever produced. Please follow the link to read a report on the situation and take action to protest.

Tony Blair is running out of time on achieving the third and most controversial part of the 'Marshall Plan for Africa' he promised earlier this year: trade justice. With just weeks to go before critical World Trade Organisation talks in Hong Kong, Europe and the US are in deadlock over how far they should open up their markets to farmers from poor countries - and what they will demand from the rest of the world in return.

On 24 October 2005, Nigeria's broadcasting regulatory agency, the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), authorized Daar Communications Limited, operators of Africa Independent Television (AIT) and RayPower FM, to reopen the stations, which were shut down the previous day over alleged unprofessional coverage of an airliner crash in which all 117 passengers and crew members died. The NBC announced at about 9:00 p.m. (local time) on 23 October that it was shutting down the operations of Nigeria's leading privately-owned radio and television stations because after the stations located the site of the crash of Bellview Airlines earlier that day, AIT broadcast close-up shots of decapitated body parts and announced on location that "there could be no survivors," when the competent authorities had not fully assessed the situation and when the families of the victims had not been informed.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that the deadly bird flu virus, H5N1, could arrive in Africa and the Middle East in weeks, carried by birds migrating from Asia. Following October 19th’s statement from the organization’s chief veterinary officer, Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania have all imposed restrictions on poultry imports.

RightsWire is Human Rights First's free electronic newsletter, published bi-weekly. RightsWire provides analysis of timely human rights issues and opportunities to take action on them.

One World Week is an annual opportunity to join a worldwide movement of people taking action for justice locally and globally through local events to celebrate the diversity of cultures in our communities, joining together to learn and share in caring for the Earth and its resources and taking action for justice, equality, peace and fullness of life for all.

This guide is written for field staff working in both emergency and development-related programmes. Centering around participatory vulnerability analysis (PVA) it aims to assist field workers and communities to analyse people's vulnerability, draw action plans, mobilise resources and enact appropriate policies, laws and strategies to reduce their vulnerability to disaster.

In addition to the possible benefits from increased aid, what might also be the downside? From the recent G8 Summit to UN declarations, calls for a "Big Push" in official development assistance by OECD countries are becoming more frequent and pressing. In this working paper, CGD Research Fellow Todd Moss and Arvind Subramanian (IMF) highlight the importance of aid effectiveness.

Non-reciprocal preferential trade agreements allow least developed countries to benefit from lowered tariffs on certain products, to boost their access to international markets without the requirement of lowering their own tariffs in return. In the run-up to the WTO Summit in December, there has been debate over the value of these PTAs. Those not in favour argue that they distort the market and prevent multilateral free trade. Those supporting PTAs argue that their erosion will adversely affect developing countries, and especially small-scale producers. This link takes you to recent research compiled by the Eldis Trade editor.

Authors: Tooley, J.
Produced by: E.G West Centre for Market Solutions in Education, UK (2005)

This report argues that private, unaided schools, can play an important role in reaching the poor and satisfying their educational needs. Private education has an important role in helping the government meet its 'education for all' targets. But private schools could be improved, by creating revolving loan schemes to help infrastructural investment .Following the private schools' own example, scholarships could be extended, through private or public means, to ensure 'pupil passports', targeted at the poorest children, enable them attend private schools.

Time is ripe for some serious consideration to be given to the introduction of ICT-based education at various levels. The use of ICTs in education takes many forms including: the use of ICTs as learning tools, use in capacity building of teachers, use in distant learning, use in technical education, and use in dissemination of information on best practices. ICTs can be used as a potent medium to reach education to the excluded groups in society. The use of ICTs as learning tools can supplement and strengthen the institutional system since it can encourage self dependence and creative learning, besides providing new tools for enriching the student-teacher interface.

The challenge for everyone committed to democracy and human rights is how to trigger determined commitment from politicians to implement Resolution 1325 and its European sister resolution. In the aftermath of dictatorship and conflict, everyone talks of human rights and democracy – yet women find themselves having to fight for any voice at all. It seems that the situation of millions of women around the world still fails to arouse passions in "mainstream” politics. How does the scorecard look for the implementation of either the spirit or letter of these two great resolutions, five years later? Even now, very few women are included in peace negotiations or in politics in general in countries affected by conflict and war. Despite a plethora of conferences, advocacy from NGOs and good words from politicians, world leaders, diplomats and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, not enough has happened.

During the days of the G8 summit, London's Soho Theatre worked with South African and British schoolchildren, documenting its impact on their day-to-day lives. These diaries, woven with reports from the summit, are presented in a "thought-provoking and insightful new show", 18-22 October, in London.

Although the mining industry is an important economic sector in many developing countries, it has been heavily criticised by many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations for its impacts on the environment, human rights and social protection. The mining industry has recognised that these criticisms threaten its 'social licence to operate', and may lead to certain areas or even whole countries being 'off limits' to the industry. One part of the industry's response has been to develop environmental and social codes of conduct.

Reuters on Thursday examined the challenges of tracking financial donations to nongovernmental organizations dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa. There are thousands of NGOs in the region, and it is "unclear" how much money they have received and how the money has been spent, according to Reuters. Some of the funding is misspent and never reaches those who need it most, but the "main concern" is that the amount of funding NGOs receive is insufficient, Reuters reports.

UNHCR is at a critical point in its 54—year history. Set up to protect refugees, it is now poised to take on a leading role in protecting internally displaced people. The Emergency Relief Coordinator, the heads of the major relief and development organisations, NGO umbrella groups and the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement—which together comprise the UN's Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)1—on 12 September assigned the major responsibility for the protection of IDPs to UNHCR. The coordination and management of IDP camps and emergency shelter will also become UNHCR's responsibilities.