Selected headlines from Pambazuka News 172
SMS FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS
* CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Namibia has become the fourth country to ratify the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa, joining the Comoros, Libya and Rwanda. Watch out for more details on Namibia’s ratification in next week’s Pambazuka News. Fifteen ratifications are needed before the protocol enters into force. You can help speed up the ratification process by signing a petition.
* Use your mobile phone to sign the petition in support of the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Send a message to: +27832933934, with the word ‘petition’ and your name in the message. You will only be charged the cost set by your network provider for sending an international SMS. More information http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/smssocial.php or sign online at http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/
* Sign up for FREE SMS ALERTS about the campaign for the ratification of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. Visit http://www.pambazuka.org/petition/alerts.php
HOW TO SUPPORT THE SMS PETITION
* Send text messages to your colleagues and friends alerting them to the petition and informing them how to sign by SMS. You can also use email and word of mouth to help spread the word.
* Distribute leaflets about this initiative. If you work in a human rights or social justice organisation in Africa, volunteer to distribute leaflets for us about the petition to your networks and contacts. Send your details to [email protected] and we will post you pamphlets to distribute.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS ISSUE
* Conflicts and Emergencies: Sudan – Call for multinational response
* Human Rights: Accountability and human rights NGO’s; An Analysis of the Zimbabwean non-governmental organisations bill
* Refugees and Forced Migration: Darfur’s displaced remain traumatised
* Women and Gender: DRC: The ICC – An opportunity for women
* Elections and Governance: Nigeria: International pressure mounts on federal government
* Development: A profile of Southern Africa
* Corruption: Equatorial Guinea: Corruption means the poor stay poor
* Health: Chasing the MDG’s
* Books and Arts: It is no more a cry: Namibian poetry in exile
>>>>> Africa, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project: Bribery on a massive scale
This year marks what many activists have dubbed the unhappy birthday of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is 60 years since the creation of these institutions in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, and in that time period both have come to have a profound and controversial influence on the world.
Pambazuka News is profiling a series of articles that aim to examine the role of these institutions in the context of Africa. This week we carry the third article in this series which looks at the involvement of multinational corporations in corruption during the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.
This article charts the dogged battle the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho has fought against multinational corporations in the World Bank-funded project. The trials have set a precedent when it comes to corruption in mega development projects and focused attention on how the World Bank deals with corruption in the projects it funds.
Pambazuka News encourages activists, academics or anyone interested in the role of these institutions in Africa to respond to the articles or to submit articles for inclusion in the newsletter. Contributions can be sent to [email protected]