The International Coalition of Historic Site Museums of Conscience works to build the capacity of historic sites around the world to foster dialogue on pressing social issues and promote democratic and humanitarian values. It seeks to change the role of historic sites in civic life from places of passive learning to centres for active citizen engagement. It develops sites of conscience as places for communities to have ongoing dialogues about the meaning of their past and the shape of their future - as places to build a lasting culture of human rights. You can find out more or join a discussion on this issue by clicking on the URL provided.

"The resistance against corporate globalization is global in scope and is dedicated to international cooperation to achieve economic justice for every person on the planet," according to a paper by Barbara Kalima presented at the conference “Women’s voices on Alternative Globalisation Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE): A consultation of Southern Women on Alternatives to Economic Globalisation" held recently in Manila, Philippines. Kalima, from the organisation African Forum on Debt and Development, says in the paper: "The World Bank has recently responded to grassroots demands to allocate funds to restore environmental damage, and we see the emergence of community banks. These are promising trends, but the world economic philosophy needs to be reversed at its core, not just on the fringe."

A Mauritanian human rights committee, after a three-year delay, finally has been able to report on the progress in the fight against slavery, female genital mutilation (FGM) and racial discrimination in the country. While the Committee mapped grave problems, authorities in Mauritania keep denying there are any matters of concern.

The world has changed dramatically since the September 11 terrorist attacks on the USA. A progressive and development-oriented global agenda which was beginning to define the post-Cold War era, in the form particularly of the United Nations Millennium Summit and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), has since then receded.

Total aid flows to education have declined at the beginning of the present decade. The current level of US$1.5 billion of support to basic education is still far short of the roughly US$7 billion per year required to meet the universal primary education (UPE) and gender goals. How should governments and the international community translate their commitments into real resources?

Donors have flocked to support Tanzania's pastoralist land rights movement. However, well-intentioned desires to promote democracy, indigenous rights, participatory development and community conservation have had perverse consequences. Leaders of pastoral non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have become less and less accountable to their communities. The pastoralist movement has lost momentum as its energies have been diverted into activities to please donors.

States that have ratified the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court must provide the necessary financial and political support for the court as it begins its first field investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch says. The ICC's annual Assembly of States Parties is set to meet in The Hague from September 6 to 10. "Now that the ICC is beginning to reach out to witnesses and victims, we expect these states to step up to the plate and provide the appropriate funds for the court to do its job," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice program. "It's not about giving the court a blank check, but making sure that the ICC has the necessary financial and political backing for this critical phase of its work."

Recent increases in global oil prices will have an impact on economies in the region, although it will be softened by the weaker US dollar, analysts told IRIN. John Loos, a noted economist with one of South Africa's largest commercial banks, ABSA, told IRIN that because oil prices had peaked at almost US $50 a barrel before gradually easing off this week, a "gradual uptick in inflation" could be expected in the region. Brent crude oil was trading at US $40.77 a barrel on Tuesday afternoon.

This paper produced by the International Council on Human Rights Policy argues that human rights NGOs, unlike development and humanitarian organisations, have not developed formal accountability procedures. It argues that it will be necessary to do so in order to defend their reputations against scepticism, as well as to strengthen the sector's ability to promote respect for human rights. It examines the contributions that donors, governments and other organisations can play to enable human rights NGOs to strengthen their accountability mechanisms and thereby their effectiveness.

Union International Network

"The persistence of extreme poverty and the failure to meet many development goals are usually linked to lack of employment, poor wages and working conditions, and violations of workers' rights. In their most fundamental functions, trade unions work to combat these causes of poverty. Furthermore, in their campaigns trade unions often play a major role in the forefront of working towards results that have become part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as achieving universal primary education or combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. All too frequently however, policy advice and loan conditions counteract trade unions' efforts to contribute to achievement of the MDGs, particularly the attainment of MDG 1 for eradicating extreme poverty."

This article, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), focuses on health as central to the achievement of all the millennium development goals (MDGs). Key challenges for health improvement include reversing the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and reducing child and maternal mortality. The authors acknowledge the need for more aid but argue that this is only part of the picture. To effectively absorb increases in aid, poor countries need strong, equitable health systems and institutions. They also need the capacity to deliver services, which includes having enough skilled staff.

The Nigerian Minister of Science and Technology, Professor Turner Isoun, has stated that it would benefit Nigeria tremendously if it joined the Global University System (GUS). According to the GUS, the system "helps higher educational institutions in remote and rural areas of developing countries to deploy broadband internet...and act as the knowledge centre of their community".

After declining in the post-Cold War era of the early 1990s, global military spending is on the rise again - threatening to break the US$1 trillion barrier this year, according to a group of United Nations-appointed military experts. The 16-member group estimates that military spending will rise to nearly $950 billion by the end of 2004, up from $900 billion in 2003. By contrast, rich nations spend $50 billion to $60 billion on development aid each year.

Corruption charges against the former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and Attan Shansonga, the former Zambian ambassador to the United States, were dismissed last week when it was ruled that they were beyond the jurisdiction of Zambian courts after they jumped bail and fled abroad. Chungu faces more than 100 charges of corruption and theft of public funds but his current whereabouts are unknown. Shansonga is in Britain where he is a citizen through marriage.

Police in Sierra Leone have arrested the head of a local aid agency suspected of helping to smuggle 29 children out of the country for adoption in the United States, a senior police official said on Monday. Roland Kargbo, director of Help a Needy Child International (HANCI), was arrested with three co-workers following a report by Interpol into child trafficking to Western Europe and the United States, Inspector General Acha Kamara told reporters.

The UN's cultural organisation, Unesco, set 23 August as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.The UN General Assembly has also proclaimed 2004 as International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition. Koichiro Matsuura, head of Unesco, said, "Although abolished and penalised in international instruments, [slavery] is still practised in new forms that today affect millions of men, women and children across the world."

A new tool, known as TxtMob, is being used to help protestors in America. Launched at the Democratic Convention, TextMob enables an individual to send an SMS message to the mobile phones of hundreds of other subscribers in an instant. If the technology proves successful, "it could prove to be a crucial tool for anyone trying to organise groups of people amid rapidly evolving circumstances", says Emily Turrettini, author of textually.org

Ambassador Randall Tobias, head of the State Department's Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator said he will extend a deadline for other countries to contribute to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to ensure that the United States can supply the maximum amount authorized by Congress for the fund. Congress authorized $547 million for the fund for fiscal year 2004. However, the bill authorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief stipulates that the total U.S. contribution to the fund cannot exceed 33% of total contributions to the fund.

Toby Shelley has talked to Moroccan, Western Saharan Polisario and other diplomats, as well as contacts in the oil industry. He has visited the territory and had access to both the Moroccan administration and the underground opposition. What emerges is that there is now a real prospect of a definitive resolution to this long-running, often bloody, conflict between Morocco and the Sahraoui people.

The Zambian government's crusade against corruption has suffered a major setback with the collapse of a court case against two key suspects, former intelligence chief Xavier Chungu and his co-accused Attan Shansonga, the former Zambian ambassador to the United States. Charges against Chungu and Shansonga were dismissed last week when it was ruled that they were beyond the jurisdiction of Zambian courts after they jumped bail and fled abroad.