Adele: la gran estrella del 2011

Adele se convirtió en la artista más vendedora de discos durante el 2011. Además obtuvo importantes reconocimientos por parte de la crítica especializada. Sin embargo, una afección de la garganta y sus adicciones al cigarrillo y el alcohol han puesto en riesgo su carrera. Lea más en Adele o el triunfo del talento.

Guns N' Roses estará en el Salón de la Fama del Rock and Roll

Desde su salto a la fama en 1987, Guns N' Roses ha sido una de las bandas de rock más polémicas y que ha presentado más altibajos a lo largo de su trayectoria. Se conoció que esta banda se incorporará en abril al selecto grupo del Salón de la Fama del Rock and Roll junto a los Red Hot Chilli Peppers y los Beastie Boys, entre otros.

De esta forma, Guns N' Roses se constituye en la única banda en ser incluida en el Salón de la Fama con tan sólo un intento o nominación. Conozca los detalles de la banda y de este prestigioso reconocimiento aquí

Laura Pausini presenta un disco "Inédito"

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

Pocos artistas logran mantener una carrera de casi 20 años en la cúspide del éxito. Laura Pausini entra en esta categoría.

Se acaba de lanzar en el mercado venezolano el nuevo disco de la superestrella italiana que ha vendido a lo largo de su trayectoria 50 millones de discos y se ha hecho acreedora de 4 prestigiosos premios Grammy. El nuevo material discográfico se llama Inédito y cuenta con 14 canciones que exploran el pop, las baladas y el rock.

El álbum posee dos importantes colaboraciones. El cantautor Ivano Fossati escribió el tema Hace Tiempo, una canción destacada que le permite a la intérprete explorar desde las notas más graves a las más agudas.

La segunda colaboración corre a cargo de la estrella rock Gianna Nannini, recordada por su participación en el tema Notti Magiche, canción oficial de la copa de fútbol Italia 90. Gianna realiza un dueto con Laura precisamente en la canción que le da el nombre al disco.

Inédito es el álbum número 11 en la carrera de Laura Pausini y, por cábala, la intérprete decidió lanzarlo al mercado justamente en el mes 11 del anio 2011.

Grabado entre Bologna, Londres, Los Ángeles y San Francisco, el disco fue producido por Laura Pausini, en compañía de sus colaboradores habituales Paolo Carta, Daniel Vuletic y Celso Valli, a los que se suman Simone Bertolotti, Corrado Rustici y Nick Ingman, famoso director de orquestas que ha colaborado con las bandas sonoras de películas como El discurso del Rey. Shakespeare Enamorado y Billy Elliot.

Los músicos que participaron en las grabaciones ya habían trabajado en producciones de artistas de la talla de Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Sting, Elton John, Madonna, Paul McCartney y Whitney Houston.

El primer sencillo promocional se llama Bienvenido. El tema es una invitación a apreciar las cosas esenciales, simples y verdaderas de la vida. El video clip ya logró casi seis millones de visitas en YouTube y fue grabado en Ámsterdam, ciudad donde se recreó una atmósfera hippie similar a los tiempos del festival de Woodstock.

El segundo sencillo del álbum se titula Jamás Abandoné y es una balada en la que la cantante explica su relación personal con la música, de la cual estuvo alejada por dos anios.

El director Gaetano Morbioli creó situaciones casi imposibles de ver en la vida real: modelos en trajes de gala que corren en una pista usando zapatos deportivos, un hombre con traje de vestir que camina por una plaza con una tabla de surf, una nadadora en la terraza de una casa.

El video, que ya ha logrado casi 1 millón de visitas en YouTube, busca reflejar que todos nacimos para desempeñar un rol, a pesar de que queramos escapar de él.

Los fanáticos venezolanos de esta artista podrán verla nuevamente en el país, pues Laura Pausini se presentará el próximo 2 de febrero en la terraza del CCCT como parte de su Inédito World Tour, una gira que que contará con la asesoría de los organizadores de U2, Michael Jackson, Cirque du Soleil y los Rolling Stones.

Vea los vídeos a continuación:
 

Infamous: un Truman Capote real

De la mano del director Douglas McGrath llega Infamous, un filme grabado en 2006 que muestra el difícil proceso de creación del libro A Sangre Fría, obra maestra del escritor estadounidense Truman Capote y uno de los libros fundadores del Nuevo Periodismo o el género de la novela de no ficción.

La película se encuentra actualmente en la cartelera venezolana. Lea la crítica a esta película aquí

Bono y sus labores humanitarias

He iniciado una nueva etapa de colaboraciones con la gente de Suite101. Mi primer reportaje trata sobre el cantante Bono, líder de la famosa banda irlandesa U2, que ha vendido 150 millones de discos y se ha hecho acreedora de 22 premios Grammy. Pueden leer el reportaje completo aquí

"Reducing Inequality Should Be a Political Priority"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews HERALDO MUÑOZ, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean

Photo Credit: José Domingo Guariglia/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 5, 2011 (IPS) - According to the Human Development Report 2011 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this week, Latin America remains the region with the highest income inequality, even as the situation has improved in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.

Nevertheless, in a global context of persistent financial and economic crises, Latin America has made important advances in equality of access to education and health services, and many countries are nearing full enrolment at the primary and secondary education levels.

"People are unsatisfied that Latin America is growing economically but the distribution is unequal. People feel that the country is growing but that prosperity is not entering in their homes," UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Heraldo Muñoz told IPS.

UNDP's annual report this year focuses on sustainability and equity in global development, and the next challenges for the 187 countries it covers, including 33 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Chile and Argentina are the only Latin American nations in the list of countries with a "very high" Human Development Index in 2011, ranking 44th and 45th, respectively, while the countries with a "high" Human Development Index include Uruguay, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia and Belize.

IPS Correspondent José Domingo Guariglia spoke with Muñoz regarding the main challenges and opportunities for Latin America and the Caribbean in a context of global recession, poverty and increasing violence.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Do you think it is possible to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Latin America by 2015, especially the eradication of poverty, and gender equality?

A: I think that many Latin American countries will achieve the MDGs, while others are far from the goal. What is very clear is that Latin American countries have made many efforts in reducing poverty. We have programmes of conditioned cash transfers like Bolsa Família in Brazil or Oportunidades in Mexico or Chile Solidario in Chile, and poverty has been reduced.

In addition, there has been growth in the region. Latin America is passing through one of its best moments in recent history.

As UNDP, we are making efforts to collaborate with governments to do an MDG acceleration framework, which is a strategy to try to bring the efforts of attending the MDGs from a national level to a local level.

In general, Latin America will fall rather behind in the attainment of some goals like maternal mortality, gender empowerment and equality.

Q: Latin America has experienced a long democratic period, characterised by a sense of frustration due to inequalities, corruption, crime and violence. Do you think a new institutional framework is needed?

A: For sure. One of the keys to strengthen democracy is working on strengthening institutions. Latin America is passing through a good moment in electoral democracy. This year there will be six presidential elections: Haiti, Peru, Argentina, the first round in Guatemala, and the pending elections in Nicaragua and Guyana by the end of the year.

However, there is a question on the quality of our democracies. There is frustration, there is apathy, institutions are weak and that is the key: working on strengthening the separation of the branches, strengthening the judiciary, collaborating with parliaments, organising the work of the executives.

People are unsatisfied that Latin America is growing economically but the distribution is unequal. People feel that the country is growing but that prosperity is not entering into their homes.

Latin America continues to be the most unequal region in the world. Out of the 15 most unequal countries in the world, 10 are from Latin America and that's absolutely unacceptable. The first step would be to recognise that reducing inequality should be a political priority.

We have reduced inequality in the last decade thanks to the expansion of programmes in education and health, but we still have a long way to go.

Q: Can Latin American countries grow with high rates of criminality like the ones that exist in Honduras, Mexico or Venezuela right now?

A: Crime can be a threat. We live in the most violent region in the world. Latin America and the Caribbean represent nine percent of the world population but we concentrate 27 percent of world homicides.

There is a very important impact of crime in development. Central American countries spent last year four billion dollars in security- related investments, money that could have gone to education, health and social purposes.

This is a situation of epidemic proportions in Latin America. It should be placed as a priority and the key is how to address it. The strategy includes control and repression but also prevention, how to tackle the situation of youth, reform of the penal code, in the penitentiary system, justice, police, international cooperation.

Q: Do you think multilateral organisations in Latin America like Mercosur, Unasur or ALBA can contribute to South-South cooperation?

A: Latin American cooperation has been changing. Unasur is an expression of the combination of Mercosur and the Andean Community. It wants to be like the European Union to tackle military affairs, political coordination and cultural integration. It is quite an ambitious project and it can be the basis for South-South cooperation and to provide assistance for least developed countries.

As UNDP, we are trying to cooperate with countries of the region to give assistance to others. We are working to take the experience of democratic transitions to countries that have experienced the Arab Spring, particularly Egypt and Tunisia.

Q: How is the current financial crisis impacting developing nations?

A: The region has resisted the crisis better than Europe and the United States. Latin American countries have strong banking regulations because of the experience of the crisis of the 1980s. In addition to that, several countries have implemented policies that allow them to spend more during crisis and save in the moments of boom.

These are times for caution in the region. If the situation in Europe becomes more and more delicate and the United States does not get out of the moment of stagnation, it will be very difficult for Latin American countries to not feel the pinch of the crisis.

Q: Next year will be the International Year of Cooperatives. How do you evaluate the presence of cooperatives in Latin America?

A: Cooperatives have the people at the centre of development. In addition to that, cooperatives and small-medium enterprises have created jobs. They are always a significant part of the solution.

 
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Cooperatives: "Meeting Human Need, Not Just Human Greed"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews PAULINE GREEN, president of the International Cooperative Alliance, on the International Year of Cooperatives

Photo Credit: Rousbeh Legatis/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 3, 2011 (IPS) - Different countries may celebrate Oct. 31 in a variety of ways, but this year, the 193 member states of the United Nations (U.N.) launched the International Year of Cooperatives 2012 to raise awareness about the impact of cooperatives on the development of communities where they operate.

"Cooperative enterprises build a better world" is the theme for the first International Year of Cooperatives (IYC). The cooperative sector has 800 million members in more than 100 countries throughout the world.

Global discussions about the impact of cooperatives will take place at a local level among the U.N.'s 193 member states, members of media, sponsors and international organisations.

One of those organisations is the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), founded in 1895 as an independent non-governmental group that unites and represents cooperatives around the world. Its members are 260 cooperatives operating in 96 countries.

ICA focuses on the promotion and protection of the cooperative identity in order to guarantee that cooperatives will be able to compete in the market as legitimate forms of enterprise. At the same time, it pushes for changes in legislation and policy to foster cooperatives' growth.

ICA President Pauline Green has worked with the cooperative movement for the past 35 years. She was chief executive and general secretary of Co-operatives UK from 2000 to October 2009 and co-president of Cooperatives Europe and ICA vice-president for Europe until she was elected ICA president in November 2009.

IPS correspondent José Domingo Guariglia interviewed Green about her expectations for the IYC and on the importance of cooperatives.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: The 2012 International Year theme is "Cooperative enterprises build a better world". Do you agree with that statement?

A: Cooperatives teach good democratic practices, help to build solidarity and cohesion in local communities, develop leadership potential among local people and support training and education.

Cooperatives are about meeting human needs, not just human greed, and they do this by creating member-owned businesses that allow local people to support the development of their own community. By returning profits from the business to their members, they keep the wealth within local communities and allow it to grow further.

It is about allowing people to pull themselves out of poverty through their own endeavours and with dignity. In this way cooperatives have diminish conflict, created more cohesive societies, enhanced skills and supported the evolution of well-informed, empowered citizens.

That is how cooperatives build a better world.

Q: Who is financing the IYC?

A: So far the ICA is funding its activities for the IYC directly from its own resources and from its member contributions, and we have an appeal out for that purpose. Occasionally we ask for sponsorship for specific events or publications.

The more we can raise, the more we can do to lift the visibility and profile of our model of business across the world, lobby governments and global bodies to improve cooperative access to the market, and show to the world that we have a model of business that is not business as usual.

Q: Why did the ICA get involved in the organisation of the IYC?

A: The ICA has been working for this outcome for a considerable time – probably five years in a serious way. Much is owed to the government of Mongolia who finally took the resolution to the floor of the General Assembly of the U.N. seeking a mandate for the IYC.

In the final analysis, the resolution at the U.N. was supported by nearly double the number of governments than usually sign the resolutions on an International Year – so it was very gratifying and a clear sign that in many countries, governments regard the cooperative input to their national economy to be important in their nations.

Q: Do cooperatives have a role in the achievement of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals?

A: Cooperatives are active in a whole range of sectors of the economy, from agriculture to insurance, from retailing to health, from banking to renewable energy, from housing to education.

From a commercial perspective, they support the lives and livelihoods of both their members and their employed staff who, incidentally, are often members as well.

Cooperatives can help in achieving the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. In fact, I would argue that over our 170-year history we have done more than any other single organisation to take people out of poverty.

Q: What else should the U.N. do to promote the work of the cooperative sector?

A: The different organs of the U.N. have supported the growth of various sectors of the cooperative economy – in agriculture, credit unions and microfinance, for instance. And the ILO (International Labour Organisation) has, of course, worked hard over the years to support good cooperative legislation across the world that subscribes to the worldwide values and principles of the movement.

As to what more the U.N. could do, we are about to launch the U.N.'s latest great gift to cooperatives worldwide and that is the International Year of Cooperatives.

It might look extremely ungracious to be asking for more. However, at a moment when so many people are suffering as a direct result of the collapse of the investor-led financial sector of the economy, and the resultant recession, it is vital that the cooperative movement is reinforced and strengthened to do its job for those people whose lives could and should be better.

That is something for which cooperators around the world will work very hard.

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Latinos Call for Immigration Reform, Not Record Deportations

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

Photo Credit: José Domingo Guariglia

NEW YORK, Nov 1, 2011 (IPS) - In his campaign, President Barack Obama promised to make comprehensive immigration reform a top priority – a pledge mainly directed at Latino voters.

But in his nearly three years in office, his attention has been on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, healthcare reform and the financial crisis, disappointing Latino voters and jeopardising an important source of support for his bid for re-election in 2012.

But the Obama administration has not merely left aside the question of reform.

One of the key demands of Latino rights activists is an end to a controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) programme known as Secure Communities.

Although the aim of the programme is to deport undocumented immigrants who have criminal records, it has led to massive sweeps of immigrants without criminal records.

The Secure Communities web site says the programme "uses an already-existing federal information-sharing partnership between ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that helps to identify criminal aliens without imposing new or additional requirements on state and local law enforcement…Under Secure Communities, the FBI automatically sends the fingerprints to ICE to check against its immigration databases.

"If these checks reveal that an individual is unlawfully present in the United States or otherwise removable due to a criminal conviction, ICE takes enforcement action – prioritising the removal of individuals who present the most significant threats to public safety as determined by the severity of their crime, their criminal history, and other factors – as well as those who have repeatedly violated immigration laws," the web site adds.

But "the programme has been a total failure," Roberto Lovato, cofounder of Presente.org, an online Latino advocacy organisation, told IPS. The result, he said, is that "the immigrant community avoids going to the police to report crimes that are being committed or that they have witnessed."

Secure Communities, which is to be extended nationwide by 2013, has also been rejected by authorities in California, Illinois, Massachusetts and New York. Nevertheless, it has been activated by the federal government in some districts in those states.

Besides the deportations, activists are concerned about reported violations of the human rights of the detained immigrants.

"Lost in Detention", a Frontline documentary aired on the PBS public broadcasting station on Oct. 18, examines the situation in the country's network of detention facilities for immigrants.

According to the programme, the country's immigration laws – and Secure Communities in particular – have broken up families. The documentary also shows immigrants being held in subhuman conditions and reports sexual and psychological abuse of detainees, as well as racism.

Deportation – in numbers

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there are some 11 million unauthorised immigrants living in the United States.

Of that total, 6.6 million, or 62 percent, are from Mexico. The next leading source countries are in Central America: El Salvador (620,000), Guatemala (520,000) and Honduras (330,000); and South America: Ecuador (110,000) and Brazil (100,000).

One million immigrants have been deported since Obama took office in January 2009.

Of the nearly 400,000 people deported in fiscal year 2011 – a record high – 55 percent had felony or misdemeanour convictions, according to ICE Director John Morton.

The various programmes – Secure Communities, Criminal Alien and 287(g) – that give state and local authorities the power to enforce federal immigration laws, and the lack of reforms to regularise the status of long time immigrants, have generated confusion in the scope and aims of the country's immigration laws.

In an unprecedented encroachment on a policy area constitutionally reserved for the federal government, several states have passed their own immigration laws, such as Arizona's SB 1070, enacted in April 2010 and partially blocked by the federal courts, and Alabama's HB 56.

The Alabama law, passed by the state legislature in June 2011, is described as one of the country's harshest anti-immigrant bills. It requires that police demand identity documents of anyone who they have "reasonable suspicion" to believe is in the country unlawfully, and requires public schools to determine the immigration status of primary and secondary school students, while authorising school officials to report children or parents who may be in the country illegally.

It also establishes penalties, even jail time, for people who hire, rent to or even assist undocumented immigrants, by giving a ride to a neighbour, for instance.

The NY Immigration Coalition's director of immigration advocacy, Jacqueline Esposito, said Secure Communities and similar programmes "have created an environment where anti-immigrant laws like those in Arizona and Alabama have flourished at the local level."

Lucía Gómez, executive director of La Fuente, an umbrella community organisation for civic participation projects in New York, says these laws confuse civil immigration violations with criminal offences. "An immigration infraction does not mean someone is a criminal, like someone who has killed a person," she told IPS.

In many cases, immigrants are immediately deported, without being allowed to contact their families or talk to a lawyer, after they are transferred to detention centres far from their homes, she added.

The view from Washington

The Obama administration announced in August that it was suspending deportations while it reviewed 300,000 pending cases. Under the new policy, immigration authorities will cancel the deportations of long time residents who do not pose a risk to society and do not have a criminal record.

But Esposito said "the new policy has not yet been implemented, which raises serious concerns."

Felicia Escobar, White House senior policy adviser on immigration, recently told local Latino leaders gathered at Baruch College in New York that the president wants immigration reform, but is obligated to enforce current laws until an agreement is reached.

"We all think that the laws should be changed and the system is broken," said Escobar.

But Obama has repeatedly stated that he will not act on his own to implement a reform bill that has failed to gain congressional approval.

Esposito said Congress is divided by "partisan politics" and has failed to adequately address the question of immigration.

Lovato believes the recent suspension of deportations was merely an attempt to win Latino votes, "a way to channel the hopes, wishes and passion of Latino voters towards Obama. But now they need to win the votes of more conservative independent whites," he said.

Gómez said the president is trying a two-pronged approach to hang on to the support of the two-thirds of Latinos who voted for him in 2008.

"The problem is the president's negotiating strategy: he's trying to show that he can be tough, but that he also respects the community. It has been a dangerous dance because the Republican Party has not yielded an inch, and we have been victims of that strategy," he said.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105664

Cooperatives: a "Compelling Model of Economic Enterprise"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews FELICE LLAMAS, focal point on cooperatives for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Members of the Bhorle Community Seed Bank, a cooperative in Nepal.

Photo Credit: Sudeshna Sarkar/IPS

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 29, 2011 (IPS) - With 800 million members in over 100 countries, the cooperative sector is a globally important group of collective organisations. On Oct. 31, the United Nations (U.N.) will begin a year of recognising their importance by launching the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) in New York.

A cooperative, according to the U.N., is "an autonomous voluntary association of people who unite to meet common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations, through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise".

Cooperatives can play a significant role in helping to achieve the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, experts say.

"International Year of Cooperatives 2012: Cooperative enterprises build a better world", planned by the U.N. and the Committee for the Promotion and Advancement of Cooperatives (COPAC), aims to raise global awareness about the work of cooperatives, strengthen their influence in society and promote discussion about the topic among the organisation's 193 member states.

The themed year also includes conferences, seminars, workshops, publications and film screenings, financed by participating organisations.

Member states' participation is essential, as one of the year's goals is to encourage governments to establish policies and laws that will boost the formation and growth of cooperatives. Some member states have set up national committees that coordinate events at a local level and also bring together parties involved at other levels, including cooperatives, media, development agencies and NGOs.

IPS Correspondent José Domingo Guariglia interviewed Felice Llamas, focal point on cooperatives for the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, about the role of cooperatives in socioeconomic development.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Why is it important to have an International Year of Cooperatives?

A: The U.N. designates international years to draw attention to major issues and to encourage action on matters or concerns that have global importance.

In this case, the IYC will highlight the contributions of cooperatives to socioeconomic development. In declaring the IYC, the U.N. seeks to help raise awareness of these contributions. The IYC also seeks to promote the growth of cooperatives as an important business model that can be leveraged for development.

Q: What are the characteristics or principles that define a cooperative?

A: Cooperatives are member-owned economic enterprises and self-help organisations which play an important role in improving the socioeconomic conditions of their members and their local communities.

Self-help, social responsibility and equality, democratic and participatory approach and concern for community – these are some of the values and principles that underlie cooperatives. Through their adherence to principles aligned with the common good, they contribute to social integration and cohesion and the well being of society at large.

Q: The theme for the International Year of Cooperatives is "Cooperative enterprises build a better world". How can cooperatives create a better world?

A: Cooperatives create, improve and protect the income and employment of their members and contribute to poverty reduction. Cooperatives support and promote small and medium enterprises in many sectors.

As people-centred businesses, cooperatives help promote social cohesion and inclusion. With their participatory and democratically based approach, cooperatives help empower women, youth, people with disabilities, older persons and indigenous peoples, thus promoting an inclusive society. These are all factors that help create a better world.

Finally, the world today faces unstable financial systems and increased food insecurity, growing inequality and rapid climate change and environment degradation. Cooperatives offer a compelling model of economic enterprise that is relevant for today's challenges.

Q: Cooperatives usually work at a very restricted and local level. Do you think cooperatives have a role in the achievement of the U.N. 's Millennium Development Goals?

A: Cooperatives have a role in helping the global community achieve the Millennium Development Goals. We know cooperatives that help in poverty reduction and in employment generation. Cooperatives employ more than 100 million people worldwide. The largest 300 cooperatives in the world alone have an aggregate turnover of 1.1 trillion dollars.

In many parts of the world, worker cooperatives, dairy and agricultural cooperatives improve the livelihoods of members. Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in the production and distribution of food supply, which helps food security.

In addition, cooperatives strengthen local and regional economies. Because cooperatives are owned by members, a significant portion of their income stays local, supporting other local businesses and generating tax revenues for the community.

It is also noteworthy that many cooperatives allocate a certain portion of their revenues to community projects like schools and health facilities. While the MDGs are global objectives, cooperatives operating locally are strongly contributing to meet those objectives.

Q: Has the U.N. given proper support to cooperatives worldwide?

A: The U.N. has been promoting cooperatives for many years and recognises the contributions of cooperatives to the U.N. development agenda. At the Social Summit in Copenhagen in 1995, the role of cooperatives in a people-centred approach to socio-economic development was underscored.

The U.N. Guidelines of 2001 and the International Labour Organisation Recommendation No. 193 of 2002 on the promotion of cooperatives have served to guide cooperative formation. These mechanisms encourage governments to provide an enabling environment and level playing field for cooperatives to compete alongside other types of businesses.

In 2012, the U.N.'s IYC will give visibility to cooperatives and highlight their contributions to society. The U.N. seeks to generate more support for facilitating and improving the international and regional collaboration of cooperatives.

Furthermore, we hope the IYC will promote an effective dialogue among governments, the cooperative movement, academia and other stakeholders that will identify strategies and priorities towards a plan of action beyond 2012.

http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105650

Redesigning Urban Landscapes with People at the Centre

José Domingo Guariglia interviews NATÁLIA GARCIA, creator of the project Cidades para Pessoas

Credit: Courtesy of Natália Garcia

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 13, 2011 (IPS) - In May 2011, Brazilian journalist Natália Garcia decided to spend one year travelling to different cities around the world to better understand how to make urban landscapes more liveable for inhabitants.

She called her project Cidades para Pessoas (Cities for the People), and the 12 cities in her itinerary were chosen by Danish architect Jan Gehl, responsible for the new urban structure of Copenhagen, also known as "the city of the bicycles".

Garcia has already visited Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London, Paris and Lyon, and through May 2012 she will be travelling to Barcelona, Sydney, Melbourne, San Francisco, New York, Portland and Mexico City.

According to the World Bank, 51 percent of the world's population lived in cities in 2010. In some regions, this percentage was above 70 percent, such as in Latin America and the Caribbean (79 percent) and Europe (74 percent). But along with growing urbanisation come problems like increased traffic and crime.

In an interview with IPS from Lyon, France, Garcia explained that the solution to improve quality of life in the cities consists of "putting people at the centre of public administration".

Funding the project was itself a collaborative initiative, consisting of a website, a blog and a Youtube channel. Garcia worked with the site Catarse, a "crowdfunding" initiative where people can present projects and call on others who may want to finance them.

IPS correspondent José Domingo Guariglia interviewed Garcia on her views regarding urbanism and how to develop Latin American cities in the context of crime, violence and lack of planning.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Why did you create the project Cidades para Pessoas?

A: My interest in urban planning started with my personal life. I am from Sao Paulo, and when I was 18 years old I started to drive around the city. At 24, tired of spending four hours a day in the car, I bought a bike to get around the city. My relationship with Sao Paulo changed completely.

In 2008, I started doing some informal research about city issues, like urban planning and mobility. I started writing about those things, I participated in some journalistic projects that made me learn a lot, and I knew about the work of the Danish planner Jan Gehl. He was one of the first in the world to create the concept of "cities for the people".

I got in contact with him when I decided that I wanted to travel all over the world for one year, visiting 12 cities and living for one month in each of them, searching for ideas that have improved those cities for their people. The travel started on May 5, in Copenhagen, and I have already gone through Amsterdam, London, Paris, Strasburg, Freiburg and Lyon.

Q: Do you think the quality of life in Latin American cities can be improved even with their high rates of violence and criminality?

A: I am sure, but Latin American cities have some peculiar characteristics. They developed, to a great extent, after World War II, when cars were produced on a large scale through the world and were considered a status symbol.

We have cities made for cars, public transport services of poor quality, and disorganised growth, all of which lead to very poor neighbourhoods with people living without basic infrastructure.

I think violence and crime are a consequence of bad planning. Violence and crime happen when there are not equal opportunities for everyone.

In my opinion, the first step to alter this situation is putting the people at the centre of public administration. The main goal of the government is to make cities better places to live.

Bogota, in Colombia, is a proof that this change can be possible in a short period of time: in 15 years the city got a quality public transport system that reaches almost every neighbourhood, bike lines, revitalised squares, parks and open areas.

A city where people don't interact and live together is a city of enemies.

Q: In the list of cities there is only one from Latin America: Mexico City. Why?

A: In European cities I tried to understand the classic concepts of urban planning. European concepts can be important tools for Latin American cities. On the other hand, the informality and the focus on cars make the problems of Latin American cities more complex.

But some of the solutions studied in Europe are perfectly applicable, like urban agriculture as a tool to regulate the growth of the cities with "green belts", decentralisation to improve the work of local authorities, democratic participation in political decisions and civic engagement movements in cities.

I think the concepts learned in the project can be applied in Brazilian and Latin American cities if they are adapted to our reality.

Q: Some of the problems in big Brazilian cities are traffic and pollution. Do you think it is possible to promote the use of bicycles like in Copenhagen?

A: I think it is perfectly possible, but we have to realise that Brazilian cities have a different scale. Sao Paulo, for example, has more inhabitants than Denmark. So the key to promoting the use of bicycles in Sao Paulo relies on integrating bicycles with public transportation. We need bicycle parking near train stations, metro stations and buses.

Q: Cidades para Pessoas is also a blog and a Youtube channel where you reveal what you have done in these cities. What are you going to do with all this material once you complete the year of travel?

A: I have many plans. Presenting this to the Brazilian authorities is one of them. Putting together reports about how these ideas could be applied in Sao Paulo is another one. There are also some civic engagement strategies that I would like to promote among citizens.

Q: You have visited so far Copenhagen, Amsterdam, London and Paris. Which one has surprised you the most and why?

A: I think Copenhagen, because they clean their canals so that people can swim in them. This particular approach with the water is so far from the reality of Brazilian cities.

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Expanding Technologies Fail to Bridge Broadband Divide

JOSÉ DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

UNITED NATIONS , Sep 29, 2011 (IPS) - Despite an overall increase in global internet usage and in the prevalence of information and communication technologies (ICTs), the gap between developing and developed countries remains vast when it comes to accessing broadband connections.

Known as the broadband divide, this gap underscores the many obstacles in the process to provide developing countries with access to information, even while on a global scale ICT development continues to improve.

"Measuring the Information Society 2011", this year's version of an annual report released by the U.N. agency International Telecommunication Union (ITU), compared accessibility, capabilities and cost of ICTs in developed and developing countries between 2008 and 2010.

Broadband access is indispensable to implementing e-government projects and meeting the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Gary Fowlie, head of the ITU liaison office, told IPS.

The MDGs are a set of eight goals to be accomplished by 2015 and include universal access to education, gender equality and female empowerment, improved child and maternal health, and reducing poverty and HIV/AIDS.

"Broadband will permit a greater use of the spectrum that allows e-health services, e-education, e- governance services. It makes it possible to deliver health care by distance," Fowlie said. However, in many low-income countries, broadband remains unaffordable.

Increasing access to broadband will help countries meet the MDGs by making technology more affordable and widespread, Hamadoun Touré, ITU secretary-general, explained.

Greater global connectivity

The report's conclusions relied on the ICT Development Index (IDI), which gauges developments in uses and capabilities of ICTs in 152 countries, and the ICT Price Basket (IPB), which measures changes in prices of ICTs in 165 countries.

South Korea led countries in ICT development, with European countries taking eight out of the top 10 spots. For Fowlie, the explanation was simple. "South Korea has been a leader in broadband technology and many European countries have national broadband plans and mature regulatory systems. They have homogenous population in small lands," he told IPS.

He emphasized the importance of government regulation to ensuring that connectivity reached even remote areas, noting that allowing the private sector to control connectivity might create divisions between urban and rural areas or different genders and ages.

"The government can put some criteria in the delivery of the services… It is about good governance and regulatory oversight by the government," he added.

Developing countries were the ones that grew more in terms of access to and implementation of technologies. In fact, Africa had the highest mobile growth rate, but it was also the region with the lowest scores in the development index. The cost of technologies and the lack of interest on the part of authorities were the main causes of these disparities.

"The cost remains an issue and that's why it is important to have national broadband plans," said Fowlie, who recommended a strategy combining public access to technologies, an effective system of operating licenses and promoting investment by the private sector.

The report stated that income levels and ICT development are related, but experiences on the ground have shown that governmental action and promoting technologies can accelerate ICT development.

Such a phenomenon occurred in Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, countries whose ICT development levels were higher than expected given their income levels.

The ICT price basket, which combines the average cost of fixed telephone lines, the cost of having a mobile phone and the price of broadband internet services, showed that the average price of ICT services has decreased by 18 percent globally between 2008 and 2010, and by even more in broadband internet services (52 percent).

The prevalence of mobile phones has increased in many developing countries where poor infrastructure limits the expansion of fixed telephone lines. In developed countries, mobile prevalence is higher than 100 percent.

The "mobile miracle" has provided the most disadvantaged people in the world with access to ICTs, Touré has said, noting that efforts to expand broadband internet accessibility should seek to emulate this success.

ICT in politics

Two previous world summits on the information society have taken place – one in Geneva in 2003 and another in Tunis in 2005.

After the last summit, which focused on internet governance, participating countries noted with satisfaction the "increasing use of ICT by governments to serve citizens and encourage countries that have not yet done so to develop national programmes and strategies for e-government".

The very principles to which these countries pledged their commitment at the summit are the same ones that have been tested with the latest revolutions and uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.

Countries reaffirmed their "commitment to the freedom to seek, receive, impart and use information, in particular, for the creation, accumulation and dissemination of knowledge" and committed to "protect and respect the provisions for privacy and freedom of expression".

Yet governments like Tunisia and Egypt tried to block internet access during the protests in their respective countries, violating Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states everyone has the right "to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers".

These events have proved that despite disparities, trying to control or reduce the impact of ICTs in the world is no longer easy, Fowlie believed.

"The ICTs gave a way to share frustrations, and citizens could use that information to improve. Trying to control access to ICT is not so easy anymore. People are going to find a way."

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Groups Demand Ouster of Rights Violators from U.N. Bodies

JOSE DOMINGO GUARIGLIA

Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution

Photo Credit: Adam Nadler

United Nations, Sep 26, 2011 (IPS) - An international coalition of NGOs is pushing for countries that regularly violate human rights to be barred from U.N. agencies including the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHCR) and U.N. Women.

"We call on the United Nations to continue on the path of reform by suspending China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia from the UN Human Rights Council," stated an international coalition of NGOs in its "Declaration of Dissidents for Universal Human Rights."

The declaration served as the outcome document of the Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution, held in New York Sep. 21 and 22, as a side event of the U.N. General Assembly.

In addition to the suspension of the four countries from UNHCR, NGOs also called for Iran to be eliminated from the Commission on the Status of Women and Saudi Arabia to be expelled from the executive board of U.N. Women.

In the past, human rights defenders have succeeded in excluding Libya, Iran and Syria from UNHCR, even as some believe that the international community has failed to act unanimously against human rights violators.

"Tragically, the governments who are the members of the Council… failed in their mandate to protect human rights worldwide. There has never been a resolution (against China). China is a member of the Security Council. It is upside down," Hillel Neuer, executive director of U.N. Watch, told IPS.

In other instances, Libya was elected chair of the Human Rights Commission in 2003 and Gaddafi's regime was a member of the Human Rights Council before its suspension in February 2011.

David Keyes, executive director of Advancing Human Rights, another NGO that sponsored the summit, said that the United Nations "has lost much of its effectiveness and its impact has been diminished by allowing some of the worst human rights violators in the world to set the agenda".

Meanwhile, doubts remain about the motivations of many NGOs that participated in the event.

U.N. Watch, the primary organiser of the summit, is affiliated with the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and has been very active in combating perceived anti-Israel positions in the U.N.

It has also been a strong critic of UNHCR. According to James Paul, executive director of Global Policy Forum, the view they promote is strong in Washington and is aligned with Israel policy.

"This is a highly politicized view of how human rights have to be pursued in the world. We should be suspicious of what the motivations of this conference were, who was organizing it and for what purpose," Paul told IPS.

"It is a completely unbalanced way of understanding how human rights have to be defended in the world and what the U.N. is all about and why is it important for the U.N. to be a universal institution," he added.

Paul believed that the effectiveness of the Human Rights Council would not improve with the elimination of certain members. At the same time, he pointed out the absence of some important human rights organizations at the event.

"Where is Amnesty? Where is Human Rights Watch? Where is the International Federation? The absence of those organizations at this event tells us something. I think this was a movement to discredit the Human Rights Council and the U.N. more generally in a time when the Palestinians are coming up with their proposals," he said.

Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have been very critical of Israeli actions, particularly in the West Bank.

Also part of the debate was the issue of U.N. reform, especially in the Security Council, whose five permanent members have veto power: China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

For Hillel Neuer, reforming the Security Council would not guarantee change in human rights policy, and eliminating veto power would be unrealistic and useless.

"In the real world, you want to have the major powers at the table and that is what the Security Council wanted to reflect. I don't think it will be easy to remove the veto power," Neuer said.

Paul, who is in favour of reforming the Security Council and eliminating both the veto and permanent seats, says the best way to organise a reformed Council is on a regional basis.

Chinese dissident and founder of Initiatives for China, Yang Jianli, believed that the voting power of a member state and the possibility of vetoing resolutions "should be linked to and based on the degree of democracy in the country".

"China has led the world for over 60 years in jailing dissidents, independent scholars and journalists, fringing on freedoms of press, religion and association, but the world leaders seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it," Yang told IPS.

Yang was arrested in 2002, sentenced to five years of prison for allegedly spying and subjected to torture multiple times.

The U.N. has the mechanisms, through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights treaties, "to apply pressures on various governments, especially the members of the UN Human Rights Council", Yang said.

According to Neuer, NGOs like U.N. Watch play an important role in addressing the demands of the victims of human rights violations and must push for the enforcement of rules and policies against them.

"They [NGOs] have to be the voice of the principles, of truth. We have to plant the seed of what is just and what is right and let the world events take their course. China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Russia should be removed. It is the right thing to do," he said.

But for Paul, this polarization between good and bad countries is not the right answer to the problem of the protection of human rights, especially in times when there are international interventions in Libya and possibly in Syria, that according to him, respond to "western economic aspirations".

"We regret human rights abuses, but the idea that we have to expel certain countries and decide between good guys and bad guys brings us back to a kind of cold war conception of what is going on," he concluded.

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"Things Are Bound to Change in China"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews advocate for the Uyghur people, REBIYA KADEER

Photo Credit: Courtesy of the Uyghur American Association

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 19, 2011 (IPS) - Before 1999, she was best known as the richest woman in China. Her business empire included a trading firm, real estate investments and a department store, putting her among the top 10 wealthiest individuals in the Asian nation.

Today, Rebiya Kadeer is a political exile in Washington who works full-time defending the cause of the Uyghur people, one of the 55 national minorities in China.

The dramatic change in her life came in 1999 when she was imprisoned by the government and sentenced to eight years in jail for allegedly revealing "state secrets" to the United States. She was released in 2005 after a campaign organised by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, and following the intervention of the George W. Bush administration in the U.S.

Since then, she has been working with the Uyghur American Association.

"I realised that I had to challenge the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghur people after the massacre of Uyghurs in February 1997. At that time, I realised that Chinese leaders were not interested in improving the lives and in respecting the human rights of the Uyghur people," she told IPS.

Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, Kadeer has been accused several times by the Chinese government of instigating riots organised by opposition groups, and in particular the Uyghurs, Muslims located in the Xinjiang Autonomous Region, one of the most important because of its rich natural resources.

Uyghurs have expressed concern about the immigration of Han Chinese people in their territory and efforts to destroy their language and their whole culture.

To publicise the situation of the Uyghur people, Kadeer will participate at the Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution Sep. 21-22 next to U.N. headquarters in New York.

The conference will produce draft resolutions on genocide, torture, discrimination, and the systematic violation of civil, religious and political freedoms.

IPS correspondent José Domingo Guariglia interviewed Kadeer to talk about her expectations for the summit, the situation in China, and how the United Nations can intervene to guarantee the respect of human rights.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Why did you decide to participate in the Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution?

A: The reason is because the Uyghur people, including me, suffered persecution and discrimination under the six-decade rule of the Chinese Communist Party. I am highly sympathetic to all oppressed peoples around the world who have been persecuted and discriminated by authoritarian countries like China. I want to stand with them and support their peaceful struggles for freedom and human rights.

Not only the governments but also the long-suffering peoples will pay attention to this very important summit. I am sure the authoritarian countries will pay even more attention.

Q: The event is being organised by a coalition of NGOs and you were released from prison in 2005 because of the active campaign for your liberation put up by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. What's the role of non-governmental organisations in the defence of human rights?

A: NGOs play an extremely important role in shaping human rights debates and policies of many Western governments and in pressuring authoritarian states to respect the fundamental human rights of oppressed peoples. My release is an example of the excellent work of human rights organisations. I cannot but thank all the human rights organisations for pressuring China to release me and other political prisoners.

Q: Do you think reform of the U.N. Security Council and the elimination of the veto power could boost the protection of human rights in countries like China, Pakistan, Syria or Libya?

A: Yes. A reform at the U.N. Security Council is needed because it has become a weak international body in the protection of human rights in countries like China.

Q: One of the petitions of the organisers of the summit is to ban nations like China, Iran and Saudi Arabia from U.N. bodies that regulate basic freedoms. Do you think it will be possible?

A: I believe all dictatorial and repressive states should be banned from all bodies which regulate basic freedoms at the U.N. Their presence at such bodies is incompatible to the way they rule their own countries. The U.N. will only lose its credibility by allowing such authoritarian regimes to be on the boards of such bodies.

Q: The panel sessions will also include the topic of the "Arab Spring" and the events that took place in Tunisia and Egypt. Are the conditions favourable in China for something similar to occur?

A: I believe the conditions are soon going to be favourable in China in light of the heavy-handed repression of the Chinese authorities against Chinese democrats, Uyghurs and Tibetans and all those who are not happy with China's communist rule. Things are bound to change in China whether the Chinese Communist Party is willing to do it or not. It is just a matter of time.

The Chinese Communist Party cannot stop the legitimate demands of the Uyghur, Tibetan and the Chinese people for freedom, human rights and democracy.

Q: Why does the Chinese government refer to Uyghur people as terrorists?

 

A: Because Uyghurs believe in Islam. It is a convenient cover for the Chinese authorities to deceive the international community on the nature of Uyghur's struggle and justify its brutal repression against the peaceful Uyghur people.

The Chinese government has to stop its brutal treatment of Uyghurs, Tibetans and Chinese and allow them to live with human dignity and without fear.

I'd like to ask the Chinese government to initiate a genuine dialogue to peacefully resolve the political status of East Turkestan (Xinjiang). But I am not sure if the current Chinese leadership has the political will to initiate such dialogue. Their heavy-handed approach to resolve the Uyghur problem has failed.

Labelling Uyghur dissent as terrorism and launching attacks on peaceful Uyghurs will never create the conditions for peace and stability or the harmonious society championed by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

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"We Have to Find a Way to Communicate"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews journalist and women's rights advocate MARIANE PEARL

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Mariane Pearl

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 10, 2011 (IPS) - "The anger that rushes through me goes well beyond the hellish night I've just lived through. In a flash, I feel a terrible bond not only with the victims of September 11th but also with the kids brainwashed to become instruments of death in the name of an invented Islam," Mariane Pearl wrote in her 2003 book "A Mighty Heart".

The previous year, Pearl was five months pregnant when her husband, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, was kidnapped and brutally killed in Karachi, Pakistan, for allegedly being a CIA spy.

Later, the French journalist would write that the Islamic fundamentalist group that committed the murder chose her husband just for being Jewish and a U.S. national, in an emblematic case of terrorism and discrimination based on race and religion.

In an interview with IPS nine years after the incident, Pearl discussed her participation at the upcoming Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution, a civil society initiative to take the lead in defending human rights, rather than waiting for action from governments and international bodies.

"Many of us are wary of politicians and organised bodies. It is much more difficult to be cynical about individuals who, with their own lives, have elevated our humanism," Pearl told IPS.

The Sep. 21-22 Global Summit is taking place in New York at the same time as the 66th Session of the U.N. General Assembly and the tenth anniversary of the Durban Conference on Racism, Discrimination and Xenophobia.

The summit is expected to produce draft resolutions for governments to adopt on genocide, torture, discrimination and basic freedoms.

Pearl plans to focus on women's rights and empowerment. In her second book, released in 2007, "In Search of Hope", she presented the stories of extraordinary women from all over the world.

IPS Correspondent José Domingo Guariglia interviewed Pearl about her expectations for the summit, how civil society can fight human rights violations, the legacy of Daniel Pearl, and the Sep. 11 terrorist attacks.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: Why did you decide to participate in the Global Summit Against Discrimination and Persecution?

A: Global efforts and commitments to address issues undermining us all as human beings are worth the effort. I think that we are heading to a world where international cooperation, dialogue and understanding are vital for our very survival.

Q: The summit will be held parallel to the 66th session of the U.N. General Assembly. Do you think the governments will pay enough attention to it?

A: No, the appropriate attention would mean that the summit is held within the U.N. addressing the General Assembly. It is difficult for politicians to pay enough attention to those issues as they struggle to appropriately value other vital problems such as education. On the other hand, a world leader that does not truly understand the importance of defending human rights might not deserve people's trust.

Q: At the panel, you will be joined by Yang Jianli, John Dau and Rebiya Kadeer, among others. What do you think all of you have in common?

A: I wouldn't be able to tell you what we have in common as when I read about what all of them have done, I felt incredibly humbled. To me these individuals are like lighthouses.

Our societies often feel like lost ships swayed by countless currents and lured by many illusions, such as greed. These people all have been through a lot of sufferings and through those sufferings they have learned.

We should capitalise on their knowledge and aspire to understand what they know, so we can defeat the root causes of discrimination and wars.

Q: The event is being organised by a coalition of NGOs. What's the role of non-governmental organisations, civil society and the U.N. in the defence of human rights?

A: In general, I believe that civil society will become more and more important in defending human rights. Many of us are wary of politicians and organised bodies. It is much more difficult to be cynical about individuals who, with their own lives, have elevated our humanism.

Personally, I find the NGO landscape quite confusing. Some do remarkable work, some don't, but it is important that they retain people's trust.

To me the U.N. is an utterly imperfect body but it is the world's answer to war and genocide. It is our instrument for global dialogue and that dialogue needs to exist. Part of that dialogue, probably the most important part, is about listening. We have to find a way to communicate.

Q: You focused on the stories of courageous women in your last book "In Search of Hope". Why did you choose to explore gender issues?

A: I approached women stories as a journalist and I was blown away by what I saw everywhere in the world regardless of context, race or religion. Most of the valuable transformations requiring a tremendous amount of resilience, courage and compassion are undertaken and carried through by women.

I just think that women are an incredible asset for peace and development if they are given a chance.

Q: How do you think the international community can address the hate that has spread in countries like Pakistan and has taken the lives of many, including your husband?

A: I think that if we care to look closely, we can find many individuals whose lives and messages defy even the most ruthless or hateful propaganda. It takes so much more strength and courage to resist violence than to give in to those instincts.

There are many people who are ready to sacrifice their lives to the hatred they feel so we can only hope that there will be many more who are willing to give it all to spread hope like others spread fear.

I think Danny (Daniel Pearl) has accomplished a lot for someone who had a rather short life. He has inspired countless individuals worldwide. His example shows that you are as good as the values that guide your life.

Q: Ten years have passed since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. What has changed?

A: So much has changed. The Arab world is undergoing its own revolution which, as painful as it is, can also be the best we can hope for. The dialogue between civilisations will always be a struggle.

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"Former Genocidaires Still Wandering Free"

José Domingo Guariglia interviews ODETTE KAYIRERE , Executive Secretary of AVEGA Agahozo

Photo credit: Courtesy of Slice Communications/AVEGA Agahozo

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 1, 2011 (IPS) - The year 1994 was marked by blood. Between April and June, more than 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days, in a terrible genocide that followed the assassination of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana and the explosion of racial tensions between the country's two major ethnic groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis.

Odette Kayirere was one of the thousands of women who lost their husbands during the genocide. She helped to create AVEGA Agahozo, a non-profit organisation launched in 1995 with 50 members to help Rwandan genocide survivors to rebuild their lives. "AVEGA" is an acronym for the French name "Association des Veuves du Genocide" (Genocide Widows Association) while "Agahozo" means "consolation".

Today, AVEGA Agahozo has reached more than 20,000 people and 71,000 dependents and orphans with five different centres across Rwanda. But even as they have tried to help survivors by promoting welfare, education and medical services, for Kayirere, now executive secretary of the organisation, there is still a long road ahead in the quest for justice and reparations.

"African countries should come together and conjugate more efforts to see how they can address this issue. Many criminals are still wandering (free) in many countries and some countries seem to be unconcerned. They ignore that these people constitute a threat for Africans and the entire world in general," Kayirere told IPS from Kigali, Rwanda.

In June, 16 years after its creation, AVEGA Agahozo won the prestigious 500,000-dollar Gruber Prize for Women's Rights 2011. According to the foundation's president, Patricia Gruber, they have "improved life for all of Rwanda and set an example for the rest of the world". The award ceremony will take place in New York on Sep. 26.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What does it mean for AVEGA Agahozo to have won the Gruber Prize for Women's Rights?

A: Words failed to express what we felt after winning this prize. We are very proud and it was unexpected. We did not compete or do any application to win. According to external eyes, AVEGA's work has been effective and constructive. In addition, it is very interesting to see genocide victims taking the initiative to help their fellow genocide survivors.

There is no shadow of doubt: our service in favour of widows and their orphans in Rwanda is not in vain. This money will be invested in income-generating activities for our members to fight poverty.

We are still struggling to help widows regain hope for life and ameliorate their living conditions and knowledge through education, sensitisation and provision of social, economic and health support. Moreover, trauma remains a persistent problem.

Q: How has the organisation changed Rwandan widows' and children's lives?

A: AVEGA has put in place different departments. Those are advocacy, justice and information, which is in charge of providing legal assistance to beneficiaries who are in need.

The psycho-medical department provides help to beneficiaries who have physical and psychological disabilities. Three health centres were built and are open to our beneficiaries and the public. Many of them have trauma-related problems.

Others are the capacity-building department and the social-economic department, which help our beneficiaries to do income-generating activities. We have made many changes in the lives of widows and orphans.

Q: In Rwanda, women were systematically raped by HIV- infected men and this led to a whole generation of HIV-positive widows. How are you treating these cases?

A: It is the widows and orphans who witnessed the atrocities and, in many cases, suffered extreme violence themselves. Sexual violence was often used to humiliate and degrade women during the 100 days of the violent scourge, with estimates of the number of women raped ranging between 250,000 and 500,000. Traumatised and shamed, many of these women are seeking help now only because they are ill.

For these women, AVEGA is a refuge, providing medical services, psychological counselling, education and training, housing and legal services.

AVEGA offers medical help to those suffering from AIDS and has coordinated voluntary testing for HIV for more than 10,000 of its members. It also delivers antiretroviral treatment and wrap-around care and treatment, including nutrition support, to more than 1,500 HIV positive women.

Q: Are you satisfied with the African actions to arrest and extradite Rwandan genocide fugitives?

A: Taking into account that genocide is an international crime, African countries should come together and conjugate more efforts to see how they can address this issue. Many criminals are still wandering in many countries and some countries seem to be unconcerned. They ignore that these people constitute a threat for Africans and the entire world in general. Therefore they should take initiative together to actively participate in arresting genocide fugitives and judge them.

Q: Do you think the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has been effective?

A: In the beginning, the ICTR was very slow. Few trials were judged but in the last few years, there was an improvement. They also participated in identifying those who committed genocide.

We appreciated the decision of judging genocide crimes within the country because the money spent on the expenditures pertaining to trial procedures is too much; instead it would be spent to assist genocide survivors who are still undergoing genocide consequences.

Q: Do you think the new special body set up by the U.N. Security Council for the Rwandan genocide that will start on Jul. 1, 2012 could help to speed up the investigation?

A: This is a good idea as this new organ will have a specific task to achieve within a specific period of time. This organ will be composed by judges assigned to accomplish their responsibilities. Our wish is that those who committed genocide crimes would be preferably judged in Rwanda than elsewhere.

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