Women slowly gaining.

[the_future_modernes]

UGANDA: Wanted: New Messengers on Women's Rights

ENTEBBE, Uganda, Oct 12 (IPS) - Activists have spent decades trying to get new laws passed to secure the rights of Ugandan women in the private sphere. As a fresh set of gender-related laws comes before parliament, activists are this time seeking to enlist male legislators as partners in advocating their passage.

Parliament is presently considering legislation on marriage and divorce, domestic violence and female genital mutilation. The Uganda Women Parliamentarians Association (UWOPA) recently held a two-day workshop aimed at bringing as many of the country's 230 male legislators as possible on board.

The focus of the discussion at the seminar, held in Entebbe, on the shores of Lake Victoria just east of the capital Kampala, was the draft Marriage and Divorce Bill, which in its draft form guarantees partners fair access to matrimonial wealth during and after a marriage. It would also recognise the crime of marital rape, acknowledging a partner's right to choose when to have sex.

The seminar, began on a resistant note with male parliamentarians challenging clauses of the Bill.


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The resistance of the morning session turned into a vibrant and accepting afternoon. Making a case for male involvement in promoting gender equality in Uganda, Member of Parliament Dr Chris Baryomunsi took his colleagues through the challenges that women face due to their gender.

Baryomunsi, a renowned women's rights activist argued that the low status of women in society, discrimination against women and poor health and nutrition status affect women’s rights.

He emphasized the importance of male involvement at household level in securing expanded rights for women, improved family health, better communication between partners and joint and informed decision making within households. Click through for the specific provisions of the Bill

Changing the economy

[the_future_modernes]

Q&A: Small Sugar Farmers Not so Sweet on End of Sugar Protocol :Nasseem Ackbarally interviews SALIL ROY, sugar farmer and leader of the Planters’ Reforms Association in Mauritius

PORT LOUIS, Oct 14 (IPS) - The Sugar Protocol enabling developing world sugar farmers to produce for the European market over the past 34 years ended on Sep 30. Among these, the small island state of Mauritius built two major industries -- tourism and textile and clothing – on the back of its sugar sales.

This agreement had secured for Mauritius a duty-free quota of 500,000 tons of sugar for export to Europe at a guaranteed price that was three times higher than the prevailing world price. Mauritius became the main sugar supplier to the European market among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Mauritians would have loved things to continue like this for years. But the 36 percent cut in the price that the European Union (EU) paid for sugar over the past four years and the reduction of the quota by up to six million tons woke them up to the EU’s changing trade policy.

With the help of the EU, Mauritius took on the challenge of reforming its sugar sector. Sugar factories have thus been centralised to six units only; and small and medium scale farmers have been regrouped to benefit from economies of scale.

Moreover, electricity is being produced for the national grid with bagasse, a cane residue, along with ethanol and refined white sugar, thus optimising revenue from sugar cane. The industry has been transformed from a sugar to a cane industry.

Salil Roy told Nasseem Ackbarally how small and medium scale farmers are surviving the changes.
More

A victory

[the_future_modernes]

TRADE: NGOs Welcome EU Vow Not to Push Africa into EPAs

GENEVA, Oct 9 (IPS) - Non-governmental organisations have expressed their satisfaction at the European Commission’s declaration that it would not put "undue pressure" on African and other countries to conclude the controversial trade deals called economic partnership agreements (EPAs).

"The Commission continues to seek tailor-made solutions for all countries within a regional EPA in order to secure their duty-free, quota-free access to the EU and provide an improved framework for their economic development. It considers that it is up to the ACP (African, Caribbean and Pacific) partners themselves to decide which type of trade-related rules they want to negotiate at this stage and to what extent."

This statement by the European Commission (EC), released on Oct 1, sounds like a victory for the Stop EPA Campaign which has been running for years now.

On Sep 27, the seventh anniversary of the EPA talks, more than 80 organisations from 30 countries called for a fundamental change in the course of the ongoing EPA negotiations between the European Union and the ACP countries. MORE

Immigration, much like abortion, is not stopped by laws, no matter how draconian. Another approach?

[the_future_modernes]

SWITZERLAND: Undocumented Migrants Run Their Own School

ZURICH, Oct 13 (IPS) - Switzerland is a tough place for asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants. In Zurich, they have been running a remarkable campaign for the past year, challenging the canton's asylum policy. Now, they have opened their own school.

"Please show me your homework!" Bah Saidou tells his students. Some hand in their papers, others haven't done anything, and a few are new in the class. The classroom is packed full. The lesson of the day focuses on grammar.

This isn't a regular school though, Saidou isn't a usual teacher, and the students aren't quite common either. The class takes place in a squatted, autonomous school, and Saidou is a so-called "sans-papiers" - an undocumented migrant. The more than 60 students in the class are asylum- seekers, immigrants with temporary admission, and people whose stay is illegal under Swiss law.

It is estimated that Switzerland is home to 100,000 to 200,000 sans-papiers. Among them, three main groups can be distinguished: the first group consists of those who entered the country on work permits, didn't get them renewed but decided to stay. Those who came to Switzerland looking for clandestine employment make up the second category.

As a consequence of Switzerland's harsh asylum policy, a third group is steadily growing. It contains migrants whose asylum request was rejected or not even looked into, and refugees who've lost their temporary admission when they were asked to leave because their countries of origin where considered "safe to return". MORE

About Time.

[the_future_modernes]

Latin America: The Empire retreats

In the span of a few days two events occurred that reveal that in small Latin American countries that were previously subordinate to Washington, the ex-superpower no longer controls their decades-old allies. The recent episodes in Paraguay and Honduras reveal that the empire's withdrawal from its own backyard is accelerating in the present systemic crisis.

The government of Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo decided to suspend the U.S. Southern Command's (SouthCom) New Horizons program in his country. The program called for the deployment of 400 U.S. soldiers for "humanitarian" work. The foreign military presence in Paraguay has long been rejected not only by campesino and social movements, but also by neighboring Brazil. The Brazilian government objected to the operations held near the Itaipu Dam, which is responsible for 20% of the energy consumed by the eighth industrial power on the planet.

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