Natasha Tibinyane
WINDHOEK, Jan 3 2006 (IPS) – A piece of legislation nearly 30 years old that outlaws male-to-male sodomy may, at first glance, appear more a target for gay rights activists than AIDS campaigners. Seen in the context of Namibia s prisons however, the 1977 Criminal Procedures Act raises questions that relate to both health and rights.
As a result of the act, condoms are not being distributed in Namibian jails: to do so would amount to condoning sex between men in contravention of the law, says government, even if it had the benefit of reducing HIV transmission. By giving them (prisoners) a condom you are telling them to go ahead and do it, Ignatius Mainga, a spokesman for the Ministry of Safety and Security s prison services, told IPS.
While he did not…
Simon Schneller
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 10 2006 (IPS) – After a three-week marathon session, a United Nations committee has expressed confidence in finalising a new international treaty to protect the disabled by the end of the year.
I think we can now conclude that our work on the articles is extremely well advanced, and that we are ready to enter the final stages of our work, Ambassador Don MacKay of New Zealand, the chair of the Ad Hoc Committee overseeing the convention, told the closing session last week.
The draft is the basis for the first-ever treaty outlining the rights of the disabled. It now contains more than 40 articles, which were discussed and analysed by some 400 delegates and disability advocates who attended the seventh session of the Ad Hoc Committee.<…
Lisa Söderlindh
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 15 2006 (IPS) – Just collecting the cooking fuel essential for survival, millions of refugee and so-called internally displaced women are daily forced to put their lives at risk, says a new report by the New York-based Women s Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
Uprooted from their homes by armed conflict, persecution and humanitarian disasters, almost 35 million people in the world live as internally displaced persons (IDPs) within the borders of their own countries, or as refugees across international borders. But for women and girls living in IDP and refugee settings, life is particularly grim and surrounding threats are notoriously dangerous, according to the report.
Every day, millions of displaced women and girls must…
Orlando Matos
HAVANA, Apr 17 2006 (IPS) – A television series which reflects on and portrays sexual behaviours and touches on the question of AIDS has provoked unusual public controversy in Cuba.
Amanda, an uninformed, sexually precocious teenager under the strict control of her parents, becomes infected with HIV, the AIDS virus. The central character in one of the series episodes, her story drew a negative reaction from quite a number of viewers of the prime time show.
Josefa Rodríguez was more indignant about the programme showing youngsters who are virtually children sleeping together, than over its references to AIDS itself. It seems to offer an invitation to teenage sex, the 47-year-old Havana telephone company technician told IPS.
Rodríguez was not con…
Gustavo Capdevila
GENEVA, May 19 2006 (IPS) – The most controversial debates at the 59th World Health Assembly will involve the question of intellectual property rights and health, and Taiwan s request to participate as an observer.
During its May 22-27 session, the Assembly the decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO) will also discuss questions like the eradication of poliomyelitis, the destruction of the smallpox virus stocks, the spread of avian flu, and the international migration of health personnel.
Denis Aitken, adviser to WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook, acknowledged the difficulty presented by the debate on intellectual property rights and health, an issue that has been the focus in recent months of a report commissioned by the WHO itse…
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2006 (IPS) – The National Rifle Association (NRA), the most powerful pro-gun lobby in the United States, is leading a campaign to literally flood the Sri Lanka Mission to the United Nations with letters and postcards protesting an upcoming conference on small arms.
Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka, president-designate of the two-week long conference beginning Monday, told IPS that the NRA campaign is totally misguided because the meeting is not aimed at banning small arms or controlling weapons that are legally manufactured, purchased or traded in conformity with national laws .
At last count, his Mission had received over 100,000 letters, post cards and email messages most of them arriving at the staggering rate of about 4…
Helda Martínez
BOGOTA, Aug 7 2006 (IPS) – The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Colombia and the United States that could be signed in October or November this year will maintain the tariff exemptions already enjoyed by Colombia s flourishing flower industry. But there are no plans for higher wages and better working conditions for the industry s 100,000 workers.
The floriculture sector has grown over four decades to the point where exports were worth over 870 million dollars in 2005.
In just 35 years, Colombia has become the second largest exporter of fresh cut flowers in the world, after the Netherlands, says the web site of the Colombian Association of Flower Exporters (ASOCOLFLORES), a private entity created in 1973 which now has 200 members.
Colombia is…
Moyiga Nduru
JOHANNESBURG, Sep 8 2006 (IPS) – For the region in the world worst-affected by AIDS it is, to say the least, an unwelcome development: an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) in South Africa s south-eastern KwaZulu-Natal province, caused by a strain of the disease that resists almost all forms of treatment.
To date, 52 of the 53 patients known to have been infected died within about 25 days of the disease first being suspected, said a statement by delegates at a meeting currently underway in the South African financial centre of Johannesburg to discuss how TB resistance can best be dealt with. The two-day gathering, which ends Friday, has brought together TB experts from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and elsewhere.
This extremely high mortality is in part…
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เป็นที่ฮือฮาในวงการเกมปลูกผักอีกครั้ง เมื่อคุณ Eric Barone ผู้พัฒนาเพียงคนเดียวของเกม Stardew Valley ได้ทำการโพสต์ผ่านช่องทาง Twitter ของตัวเองที่ใช้ชื่อว่า ConcernedApe โดยมีการโพสต์สั้น ๆ เพียงแค่คำว่า “iridium scythe” ซึ่งหมายถึงเครื่องมือทำการเกษตรประเภทเคียวตัดหญ้าที่อยู่ในระดับ Ir…