Sep. 25 (GIN) – As the 67th session of the UN’s General Assembly opened this week, African leaders renewed their call for more seats at the table of this important forum.
Zambian President Michael Sata chided the global body: “Since the League of Nations up to today, Africa is more of a spectator than a participant. We have no permanent members in the Security Council and yet we represent 54 members in this House.”
Sep. 25 (GIN) – As the 67th session of the UN’s General Assembly opened this week, African leaders renewed their call for more seats at the table of this important forum.
Zambian President Michael Sata chided the global body: “Since the League of Nations up to today, Africa is more of a spectator than a participant. We have no permanent members in the Security Council and yet we represent 54 members in this House.”
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The League of Nations was the forerunner of the United Nations.
President Sata echoed the position of the Committee of 10, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors advocating for two permanent African seats on the UN Security Council with veto powers and an extra two non-permanent seats to address the historical injustices that Africa suffered and to adhere to the geo-political realities of the modern times.
Currently, the UN Security Council has five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the U.S. — and 10 non-permanent members of which only South Africa, Morocco and Togo are from Africa.
Also meeting is the African Union Commission to discuss conflicts in Sudan/South Sudan, Somalia, the Sahel and the Democratic Republic of Congo. High-level meetings on Africa’s contribution to the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the state of the Nigerian economy will be lead by Liberian Pres. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, and Nigerian Pres. Goodluck Jonathan respectively.
New Yorkers and Africans in the Diaspora are already organizing rallies to convey their demands to the visiting delegates. Among these are the December 12th Movement, the Pan African Solidarity Hague Committee, the African Diaspora for Democracy & Development (A.D.D.D) and various Ivory Coast groups on Sept. 26 from 3 to 6 p.m. at Dag Hammaskjold Plaza, 47th St and 1st Ave and the Justice for Guinea group at 10 a.m. on Sep. 28.
SHIPOWNERS STILL NOT ACCOUNTABLE FOR WASTE DUMPING CRIMES, ADVOCATES CHARGE
Sep 25 (GIN) – UK and Dutch authorities have yet to take legal action against a Dutch company that dumped hundreds of pounds of chemical waste in a populated area of Ivory Coast in 2006 after the same waste was rejected by European ports, a new report claims.
The report - The Toxic Truth - is based on a three year investigation by Amnesty Int’l and Greenpeace Int’l, an environmental watchdog. The Dutch company, Trafigura, has always maintained that the waste was not dangerous.
“The waste was dumped at night in August 2006 in at least 18 different places around Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, close to houses, workplaces, schools and fields of crops,” the report reads. ”Abidjan, a vibrant city of more than 3.5 million people, was engulfed in a terrible smell that witnesses have described as thick, suffocating, akin to a mix of rotten eggs, garlic, gas and petroleum."
One company has been able to take full advantage of legal uncertainties and jurisdictional loopholes, with devastating consequences," said Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace.
A Dutch policeman warned the London office of Trafigura that the ship was carrying chemical waste, the report says.
The policeman - quoted anonymously - said: "I never realized that Trafigura would leave the waste in Africa. I thought that if I would continue making phone calls... the company would not dump the waste at sea but keep the waste onboard instead until the ship would return to Europe.
From the report: “Trafigura has spent over US$300 million using every scheming technique available to a multibillion dollar company to evade justice after the dumping. For that amount it could have paid for the proper disposal of the toxic waste almost five hundred times over.”
“We are calling for the UK government to begin a criminal investigation into Trafigura’s actions, for the victims to receive justice and international action to make sure this never happens again.” The report can be read online at: http://issuu.com/greenpeaceinternational/docs/the-toxic-truth/7
Trafigura has made a series of payments in relation to the case without admitting liability. w/pix of dumping victim
A ‘GLOBAL DAY OF ACTION’ TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Sep. 25 (GIN) – One Billion Rising - a campaign to end gender violence - has launched an organizing drive escalating their call against rape and beatings with the energy and creativity of one billion women acting together on Feb. 14 – Valentine’s Day and the 15th anniversary of the women’s rights group V-Day.
Writing on the website - OneBillionRising.org – organizer Eve Ensler said the site will serve as a hub for the global day of action planned for Feb. 14, 2013. Already on the site is a powerful short film by Ensler and South African filmmaker Tony Stroebel shot in 9 countries (vday.org/shortfilm), and the start of an ongoing video series entitled “I Am Rising….”
Ensler, a writer and global rights activist, was one of the visionaries behind City of Joy, a community for women survivors of gender violence in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. City of Joy provides over 100 Congolese women each year with counseling, vocational training, family health education and economic empowerment. The center had its first graduating class in February 2012.
Some 5,000 organizations including Amnesty International USA, International Rescue Committee Global Green, NOW, Planned Parenthood, Women Thrive Worldwide are supporting the initiative as are St John the Divine Cathedral in New York and Grace Cathedral in San Francisco
“Bringing women together will help break the isolation, shame and taboo that often surrounds sexual violence, as survivors often believe violence is because of their family or culture alone,” said V-Day Kenya director Agnes Pareyio, whose campaign against female genital mutilation led to her global award as UN Personality of the Year.
The website reads in part: “One Billion Women Violated is an Atrocity. One Billion Women Dancing is a Revolution… Join V-Day on 02.14.13”
LIFE OF GREEN BELT ACTIVIST, WANGARI MAATHAI, MARKED IN KENYA
Sep. 25 (GIN) – The life of Kenyan environmentalist, Wangari Muta Maathai, was marked by a quiet service in Nairobi, one year since the activist’s untimely passing.
Maathai began a movement to reforest her country by paying poor women a few cents for each tree they planted. She went on to become the first African woman to win a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for what the Nobel committee called “her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”
Her Green Belt Movement planted more than 30 million trees in Africa and helped nearly 900,000 women, according to the United Nations, earn an income while inspiring similar efforts in other African countries.
She was a thorn in the side of Kenya’s ex-president, Daniel arap Moi, who labeled the Green Belt Movement “subversive” during the 1980s. She was beaten, jailed and suffered divorce because of her outspoken defense of poor women and the forests they depended on.
In July, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests launched the Wangari Maathai award of $20,000 to individuals who preserve, restore and sustainably manage forests and communicate the vital role the natural resource plays.
This year’s winner is Khurshida Begum, a young widow from Bangladesh who organized women to be forest guards and conserve a sanctuary against poaching and illegal logging. The award is to be presented on Sept. 27 in Rome during the Third World Forestry Week. w/pix of W. Maathai
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