The case concerns 500 tonnes of chemical waste brought to Ivory Coast by multi-national oil company Trafigura and dumped around Abidjan by a local contractor in 2006.
Trafigura http://www.trafigura.com/#H48nvu63qZ98 agreed last year to pay people who said they had been made ill by the waste.
The company and the claimants' lawyers agreed that a link between the dumped waste and deaths had not been proved.
via BBC News – Fear over Ivory Coast ruling on Trafigura waste pay-out.
But the problems facing Uganda – and Katine – are almost certain to be exacerbated rather than solved by oil. Last month, the campaigning group PLATFORM published three of the production sharing agreements PSAs the government has spent years keeping a closely guarded secret. The deals point towards a resource extraction programme designed for profit, not development, and contain a series of provisions that undermine any hope of changing course
via Uganda oil contracts give little cause for optimism | Katine | guardian.co.uk.
“Senegal is ready to offer them parcels of land – even an entire region. It all depends on how many Haitians come,” Mr Bemba Ndiaye said.
“If it's just a few individuals, then we will likely offer them housing or small pieces of land. If they come en masse we are ready to give them a region.”
via BBC News – Senegal offers land to Haitians.
“A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.” A quote from President Bill Clinton on Obama while courting Senator Kennedy for endorsement of his wife Hilary Clinton for Presidency!!!
Wow! Wow Wow!
via Book: ‘08 campaign marked by internal discord – Politics- msnbc.com.
Page 37
Labour relations
60. (1) Every person has the right to fair labour practices.
(2) Every worker has the right to—
(a) fair remuneration;
(b) reasonable working conditions;
(c) form, join or participate in the activities and programmes of a
trade union; and
(d) go on strike.
What is to go on strike?
Definitions of strike on the Web:
deliver a sharp blow, as with the hand, fist, or weapon; “The teacher struck the child”; “the opponent refused to strike”; “The boxer struck the attacker dead”
affect: have an emotional or cognitive impact upon; “This child impressed me as unusually mature”; “This behavior struck me as odd”
hit: hit against; come into sudden contact with; “The car hit a tree”; “He struck the table with his elbow”
make a strategic, offensive, assault against an enemy, opponent, or a target; “The Germans struck Poland on Sept. 1, 1939″; “We must strike the enemy’s oil fields”; “in the fifth inning, the Giants struck, sending three runners home to win the game 5 to 2″
indicate (a certain time) by striking; “The clock struck midnight”; “Just when I entered, the clock struck”
hit: affect or afflict suddenly, usually adversely; “We were hit by really bad weather”; “He was stricken with cancer when he was still a teenager”; “The earthquake struck at midnight”
stop work in order to press demands; “The auto workers are striking for higher wages”; “The employees walked out when their demand for better benefits was not met”
fall: touch or seem as if touching visually or audibly; “Light fell on her face”; “The sun shone on the fields”; “The light struck the golden necklace”; “A strange sound struck my ears”
come to: attain; “The horse finally struck a pace”
produce by manipulating keys or strings of musical instruments, also metaphorically; “The pianist strikes a middle C”; “strike `z’ on the keyboard”; “her comments struck a sour note”
cause to form (an electric arc) between electrodes of an arc lamp; “strike an arc”
fall upon: find unexpectedly; “the archeologists chanced upon an old tomb”; “she struck a goldmine”; “The hikers finally struck the main path to the lake”
produce by ignition or a blow; “strike fire from the flintstone”; “strike a match”
remove by erasing or crossing out or as if by drawing a line; “Please strike this remark from the record”; “scratch that remark”
hit: cause to experience suddenly; “Panic struck me”; “An interesting idea hit her”; “A thought came to me”; “The thought struck terror in our minds”; “They were struck with fear”
Maybe the constitution should define what strike is!!!!
Riots erupted on Thursday, when a gang of white youths fired air rifle pellets at a group of Africans, injuring a Togolese man and a Nigerian, in a region where thousands of immigrants are employed picking fruit and vegetables by farms and orchards.
Hundreds of African workers went on the rampage, burning cars and smashing shop windows, sparking further attacks by local men. Dozens of people were injured in the clashes, some of the worst racial violence in Italy for decades.
via Pope condemns ‘exploitation’ of immigrants – Telegraph.
Local people clapped and cheered yesterday as hundreds of Africans were moved by police out of a small town in Calabria following clashes in which immigrant farmworkers were shot at, severely beaten and run over.
More than 300 immigrants were loaded on to buses in the riot-torn town of Rosarno, destined for immigrant holding centres. Meanwhile, an immigrant was shot from a moving car with a pellet rifle, bringing to five the number who have been shot.
The Global Climate Coalition, a group of representatives of the oil, auto and coal industries, spent years telling the public that the link between human activity and climate change was too uncertain to justify U.S. participation in the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 treaty aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. They have been accused of doctoring information prepared by their scientific experts before releasing it to the public.
Al Gore former US VP accused the coalition of committing fraud and telling lies to people who trusted them, in order for the industry to make money. This he highlighted before the House Energy and Commerce Committee where he equated the cause of global warming legislation with the civil right legislation of the 1960s and the Marshall Plan of the 1940s.
John Kerry pointed out on the need to be wary of some of the industry studies and analyses that will come out in the months as Congress debates whether to impose a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions.
Industry Group Excised Own Experts’ Climate Findings From Report – washingtonpost.com.
Do women have any power in African society? Under what circumstances? These questions are asked because I am an African woman who in my personal experience, is aware that the studies that posit the automatic powerlessness of women as a group vis a vis all men do not explain my own experience. They also may indicate the existence of a very real human situation, but do not give any idea of the richness and vibrancy of life as it exists, and as I know it. To demonstrate what I mean, let me quickly make the following observations
The global economic, food and climate change crises have hit African women the hardest, according to a report from a delegation of African and United Nations female officials attending a conference on gender equality.
“When we look at the GDPs of all African countries, they are between five and seven per cent [in the recent past… but this present crisis is going to erode all those gains that have been made,” Isatou Njie Saidy, Vice-President of Gambia, told journalists at UN Headquarters in New York.
Africa is said to be one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of climate change although it contributes minimally to the problem. The difficult social and economic situation of most Africans, especially women and children, worsens the situation, in Ghana for instance, women constitute about 51% of the population and about 30% of them are heads of households. . “They constitute 52% of the agricultural labour force, contribute 46% to the total GDP and produce 70% of subsistent crops. They play major roles in production and distribution” according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture.
A wide variety of literature is available on the importance of agriculture to economic development in Africa and on the critical role that rural women play within this sector. Increasing attention is also being given to the role of smallholder subsistence agriculture in ensuring the food security of the continent, as 73% of the rural population consists of smallholder farmers (IFAD, 1993:6). In Sub-Saharan Africa, agriculture accounts for approximately 21% of the continent’s GDP and women contribute 60-80% of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale (FAO).
Climate Change and its impact on women
At the household level, the ability to adapt to changes in the climate depends on control over land, money, credit and tools; low dependency ratios; good health and personal mobility; household entitlements and food security; secure housing in safe locations; and freedom from violence. As such, women are often less able to adapt to climate change than men since they represent the majority of low-income earners, they generally have less education than men and are thus less likely to be reached by extension agents and they are often denied rights to property and land, which makes it difficult for them to access credit and agricultural extension services. Click on this link to get the full report (IDS 2008).
Role of Women in Agriculture
Benin
70% of the female population live in rural areas, where they carry out 60-80% of the agricultural work and furnish up to 44% of the work necessary for household subsistence.
Burkina Faso
Women constitute 48% of the labourers in the agricultural sector.
Congo
Women account for 73% of those economically active in agriculture and produce more than 80% of the food crops.
Mauritania
Despite data gaps, it is estimated that women cover 45% of the needs in rural areas.
Morocco
Approximately 57% of the female population participates in agricultural activities, with greater involvement in animal (68%) as opposed to vegetable production (46%). Studies have indicated that the proportion of agricultural work carried out by men, women and children is 42%, 45% and 14% respectively.
Namibia
Data from the 1991 census reveals that women account for 59% of those engaged in skilled and subsistence agriculture work, a and that women continue to shoulder the primary responsibility for food production and preparation.
Sudan
In the traditional sector, women constitute 80% of the farmers. Women farmers represent approximately 49% of the farmers in the irrigated sector and 57% in the traditional sector. 30% of the food in the country is produced by women.
Tanzania
98% of the rural women defined as economically active are engaged in agriculture and produce a substantial share of the food crops for both household consumption and for export
Zimbabwe
Women constitute 61% of the farmers in the Communal areas and comprise at least 70% of the labour force in these areas.
African women bear brunt of global crises, warn delegates at UN conference.
