(Sandrine Joseph)

The Presidents and leaders of the 17 City European Professional Women’s Network (EuropeanPWN) elected a new Board on Jan 22, 2010. The two day General Meeting was hosted in Barcelona, part of the federation since 2008. In addition to formal elections, the leaders exchanged ideas and insights on EuropeanPWN’s evolving vision, strategy and priorities for 2010 and beyond in response to significant growth in the number of networks, activities and strategic partners across Europe.

The assembly elected Marijo Bos and Rieke Smakman as Presidents along with Susanne Forsman-Hey, as Treasurer of the Federation and Sandrine Joseph as, Secretary General. Marijo, Rieke and Susanne served as Presidents of Madrid, Amsterdam and Nice respectively. Furthermore, Monica Pesce will continue in a Federation leadership role as a VP now focusing on Women on Boards, Karine Heckmann as VP New Networks and Ana Baranda and Malika Mir sharing the VP Technology role. Strategic Partnerships will be led by Marijo Bos and Marketing, Public Relations and other appointed leaders will be announced shortly.

More information

(Flavia Cherry,  Chair Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action)

It is good to see that some efforts are being made to reach women in desperate need, but those of us on the ground are yet to see this happen in many of the areas where there is desperate need for food and relief. AID agencies MUST find a more humane way to reach out to the women and children who are most vulnerable and desperate. I know that the need is great, there is no excuse for what is the reality on the ground here in Haiti as Caribbean citizens offered help and mmany have even been denied entry. It is obvious that the aid agencies, (well intentioned as they may be) are unable to handle the scale of the problem here in Haiti. So why are they not being inclusive and involving more Haitian and Caribbean institutions in the relief and recovery efforts? Something is very wrong about the picture here in Haiti because while international agencies are dropping the ball in an attempt to monopolize aid efforts, Haitians are dying. Apart from lines for women, there is an urgent need for volunteers to go into the camps to reach women, children, disabled and elderly people who are unable to move.

It is a disgrace for so much money to be circling around to all kinds of aid groups and every single day I see so many people hungry, desperate. This situation is simply not acceptable. There are women in camps who have not had anything to eat for days. There are many available Hatians who are willing to assist as volunteers to get the aid to those who need it and CARICOM was willing to send help, but something seems to be really wrong. Why are Caribbean Goernments not allowed to play a more pivotal role, especially as there are many CARICOM citizens and regional security officers who speak creole and would be able to communicate better with the people of Haiti.

What I see on the ground is lots of big fancy air conditioned vehicles moving up and down with foreigners, creating more dust and pollution on the roads. Thousands of millitary officers everywhere, heavily armed like they are in some kind of battle zone. The girl guides and boy scouts of Haiti are also out in their uniforms, but unlike the army of troops, they are up and about, assisting in many ways. I saw of group of the boy scouts and girl guides directing traffic today, Sunday!

From the very beginning, I have been asking why aid agencies did not arrange separate lines for women, children and disabled people. It is obvious that if you leave people hungry for 5 to 8 days without food, they will be desperate and when food finally arrives, it will be survival of the fittest. The international agencies allowed confusion to reign supreme for more than two weeks while sensational and racist media people were merrily portraying images of hungry people fighting for food. At least now that they have suddenly realized the need for separate lines, I hope that this happens at every single distribution point, because as I am writing this email, that certainly is NOT the case.

I would like to share two separate events which I witnessed yesterday.

The first one is what I call a miracle birth. A young lay who had both legs amputated delivered a healthy baby on the ground, under a bed sheet. Not only were both legs amputated, but she had bandages all over her hips. Because of her condition, this expectant mother should never have been left out there on the streets at that advanced stage of her pregnancy because the chances of having a normal delivery in her physical coniditon were very slim. At the time of the delivery, people were everywhere, men, women, children, all huddled together under those sheets, for shelter from the sun. If there were complications, both mother and baby could very easily have passed, as no one in the camp had any transport or means of getting the mother to a medical facility. Other mothers were there with their newborns. This poor mother had nothing, no milk, no clothing for the baby, nothing! A doctor eventually came, but the mother was left there, with her baby, so we brought milk and supplies, including a sleeping bag. I know these are not normal times, but it is exactly for this reason, international aid agencies should be more inclusive and engage all those who are willing and capable of providing support.

The second incident happend in the heart of Port Au Prince yesterday where the largest number of people are living under the most inhumane conditions. I was taking pictures, when suddenly everyone started to run towards the Palace gates. I stood on top of a vehicle and realized that it was President Preval who had ventured onto the lawn and people starting shouting out to him, saying that they were hungry. President Preval came to the fence and hundreds of people kept running towards the fence. Many of them were shouting ¨Lavalas, Aristide, Lavalas, Aristide¨. Several others were asking President Preval why he had not addressed his people and told them what was happening. One woman put it this way: (I have not had anything to eat for four days and no one is hearing anything from the President, we have no idea what our Government is doing). I am using brackets because I cannot find quotation marks on this french keyboard.

President Preval spoke to those who were closest to the fence, but the large number of people who were pushing and shoving to get a glimpse of him, obviously heard nothing. At least I got a picture of the whole scene, including President Preval behind the fence with hundreds of people right next to him on the other side. Something about that scene convinced me even more, that there is really no need for such a heavy millitary presence in Haiti. What Haiti needs is an army of medical, civilian and specialist voluneers who will work with the people of Haiti to rebuild their nation – not a heavily armed millitary of more than 50,000 standing guard over them.

Regards,

Flavia

PS: I must express appreciation for the many volunteers from various countries who are giving very genuine assistance to the people of Haiti, but my comments remain relevant because of the reality on the ground

It is heartbreaking to see how disabled people are living on the sidewalks, with no shelter. Women and children are hungry in camps – no bathing, sanitary facilities. Girls are the biggest victims – being sexually abused and raped in the so-called camps, covered by bed sheets and no privacy. Some calling for Aristide! It is a human disaster.

Februari 2nd

Message from Flavia Cherry,
Sent: Tuesday, February 02, 2010 4:06 PM
Haiti – From the front lines

Hi friends:

We have organized an international solidarity camp through which all our supplies are being sent to the DR and then to Haiti, directly to the women and the women´s organizations. I would love very much if Andaiye could join us on our team visit, which is currently being planned. For now, our strategy is to reach out as best as we can with supplies being sent from our members everywhere, including the diaspora. It is not nearly enough, but at least we are not helpless when we come accross some dire situations. Our strategy is also to hold aid/international agencies accountable, even if we have to shame them in the process. My efforts are not in vain because I now have an interview with a major canadian television station, so we are getting the news out there.

It is very rough here in Haiti, so I plan to go home for a few days and then return for another week. I am hoping that when our team visits, they will not have to sleep in tents and sleeping bags or wrapped up in sheets, like I am doing now. So I am organizing better accommodation with the help of some of the women´s organizations as well as our members in Haiti. There are some hotels operating but with such a huge millitary presence, they are absorbing almost every decent living space – not to mention the food etc, to keep them there. When I get back to St. Lucia, I am hoping to organize for some Caribbean media people to join our team when it goes to Haiti. So if any of you have any ideas on how to do that, please advise.

What is most urgently needed is feminine hygiene supplies, including napkins for women who have just given birth, pampers for newborns, baby wipes, rubbing alcohol, bras and panties, including clothes for women who have lost everything. Older men are also desperates in need, so we need underwares for them also. I never thought of some basic things like combs, but some of our youth members have lost everything and are living under tents. One comb was being passed around from person to person. So we need to include stuff like combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste etc. Also it is cold here at nights, so we need little booties for the baby´s feet as well as hats and wraps to keep them warm, pampers and baby wipes. Of course, there is a desperate need for food, so as much as we can get would be welcome, but what I have listed is most urgent. Oh, there are no bathing facilities, no privacy in most of the camps, so we urgently need some feminine wipes. It is heartbreaking to see young girls looking for a place to clean themselves and having to settle for right there in the open – men, boys, everyone in full view.

Please send all supples addressed as follows:

URGENT HUMANITARIAN RELIEF FOR HAITI

Ms. Sergia Galvan and Mayra Tavarez
Colectiva Mujeres Y Salud/CAFRA
Calle Socomo Sanchez, No 64
Gazcue, Santo Domingo, DR

Tel: 1-809-315-0571 or 809-682-3128

I know many people have collected stuff but they have not found a way to get them here in Haiti, so ask them to send it to us and we will get them in, to the people who need it most.

Regards,

Flavia

SOS: Urgent Call For Relief to get to Haiti

The Civil Society Forum of the ACP States is totally disturbed about the slowness with which needed aid is getting to the Haitian people. We are well aware that tremendous financial aid is presently being committed to the cause, with the EU contributing approximately three million Euros to the relief efforts.

There is clearly a problem with coordination, and frankly, the United States of America have taken control of the airport and borders, thus having under its management all ports of entry into Haiti. This has been apparently accepted by CARICOM, but Jamaica has been designated and confirmed the hub of all relief efforts heading to Haiti, as such, it is our firm belief that the ACP Civil Society prepares itself to offer meaningful and organized aid for the Haitian people.

There is another crisis on hand : in a couple of days many Haitians will flood the borders of Jamaica and other Caribbean countries in boats. The Caribbean countries, already facing serious economic crises, will shelter the refugees.

It is imperative that we are funded to carry out a strategic and proactive response programme that will see to the sustained development of the State in crisis. ACP Civil Society Forum is therefore proposing:

1. Since there seems to be a problem with logistics, we need to partner with agencies such as the Salvation Army and the Red Cross to transport resources that have already been collected across the Caribbean region, so that shipment can be arranged and delivered in an orderly and timely manner.
2. ACP Civil Society must ensure that there is a team dispatched to Haiti, to assist with recovery, but most importantly, rebuilding. We are not interested in being put up in hotels etc, the main interest is to get there and help, this is pivotal.
3. We have identified a Salvation Army owned property in Port-au-Prince that could house volunteers; as such we need help with securing tents for volunteers.
4. Of greater importance is the sustainable rebuilding and development exercise. The ACP Civil Society Forum therefore needs to meet and implement an extensive youth and community development exercise that would incorporate issues relating to the affective.

We are therefore appealing for donations which will be spent on the most immediate need which is Transportation to get the relief there and medical and sanitary supplies. Apart from getting relief in, there is the problem of getting people with severe injuries out of Haiti where they could get special medical attention.

Barbados is setting up a portable medical facility in Haiti which will be fully outfitted with operating theatres, and medical personnel. This facility will need to be constantly supplied with large amounts of medical and sanitary supplies.

Here is a list coming out of Haiti of those needs which we are told are urgently needed for at least 100,000 people:

1. Ace bandages, gauze pads, bandage & tape
2. Water purification tablets & Rehydration salts
3. antibiotic and antifungal (Mycology) creams
4. anti-allergy medication (i.e. Benadryl)
5. anti-parasite medication
6. Tylenol; children’s tylenol
7. cold and cough medicine
8. diarrhea medication
9. eye drops
10. insect repellent
11. hydrogen peroxide
12. skin disinfectant spray

Account information is as follows:
Account: BANGO (Barbados Association of NGOs)
RBC Royal Bank of Canada, Hastings, Christ Church, Barbados, Caribbean:
Swift Code: ROYCBBBB
Transit No: 09545
Acc#: 31018001

Further information will be forwarded as we get more information to make it easier for you to donate to Haiti.

January 17, 2010

Lawman Lynch
Chairman
ACP Civil Society Forum
Jamaica
lawmanlynch@yahoo.com

Roosevelt O King
Secretary General
Barbados Association of Non Governmental Organisations
rok@caribsurf.com

Flavia Cherry
Chair of CAFRA (Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action)
St. Lucia
cafraslu@hotmail.com

Reports indicate that there has been extensive damage to Port-au-Prince and causalities may be in excess of 100,000 and hence an urgent need for search and rescue support. It is estimated that approximately three (3) million people have been affected.

CDEMA has initiated a level three (3) response based on preliminary reports on the extent of devastation in Haiti. This level of activation is initiated in cases where disasters overwhelm the capacity of the affected state(s) to respond. It is the highest level of activation by CDEMA and triggers the Regional Response Mechanism.

PROGNOSIS:
There remains a continuing threat from aftershocks resulting in collapse of damaged structures and the possibility of landslides.

THE SITUATION:
Current preliminary information indicates that there has been wide spread damage in Port Au Prince. Hospitals, government agencies and international organizations buildings are among the buildings that have been damaged or destroyed.

Communication:
CDEMA has established contact with the Department of Civil Protection in Haiti who are regrouping and mobilising resources. HAM Radio communication with Haiti has been achieved with some success though limited and is being monitored.

Utilities:
Utilities including water, electricity and telephone services have been disrupted and communication remains a challenge.

Health:
Hospitals and health facilities have been severely affected. The main hospital in Port-au-Prince has collapsed and two (2) hospitals have been destroyed. PAHO has indicated that immediate health priorities include: search and rescue of survivors trapped underneath rubble; treatment of people with major trauma injuries; preventing the infection of wounds; provision of clean water; sanitation; and ensuring breast-feeding is continued.

Accessibility:
The airport is open to day time flights only. Both sea ports have been damaged. There have been reports of extensive damage to roads

Regional Response Actions:

1. Departing from Barbados today is a regional high powered delegation including the CARICOM Secretary General Edwin Carrington; Chairman of CARICOM, Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister of Dominica; Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable David Thompson; Mr. Jeremy Collymore, Executive Director, CDEMA; Mr. Grantley Watson, the Regional Security Coordinator, RSS, and the Vice President Operations Caribbean Development Bank, Mr. P. Desmond Brunton departed Barbados this evening to meet with Hon. Bruce Golding in Jamaica on Thursday January 14. The delegation will travel to Haiti tomorrow Friday January 15, 2010 to gather data to further inform the nature and scope of the region’s assistance.

2. The Regional Security System and Search and Rescue teams remain on standby.

3. A technical team comprising representatives from the CARICOM Secretariat, CDEMA, UWI, IMPACS (the CARICOM Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) and the Regional Security System (RSS) will be deployed to Haiti on Friday January 15, 2010 to support the political team and carry out the initial assessment. The team will seek :
- To express solidarity with the Government and people of Haiti at this time of need.
- To assure the Government and people of Haiti of the region’s commitment to support the Haiti response efforts in a tangible and effective manner.
- To establish an initial picture of the Government of Haiti’s priority response and recovery needs.
- To conduct an initial assessment of the earthquake impact and identify priority needs.
- To initially define how the CARICOM region’s response can be best articulated for a tangible and effective response from the region.
-To identify logistical arrangements such as transportation, accommodation and other arrangements for receiving incoming humanitarian supplies and personnel, being deployed from the region.
-To determine the way forward for CARICOM support especially in the area of law enforcement and maintenance of public order.

4. CDEMA is working with international and regional carriers to coordinate the securing of pledges and aid distribution to Haiti.

5. CDEMA has also defined operational scenarios to inform the scope and framework of the CARICOM interventions.

6. CDEMA continues to receive pledges from donors and partners.

7. Suriname has pledges to provide military and police personnel for Haiti. They are currently filling a four (4) feet container with drinking water, blankets and rice to provide assistance in the initial stages.

8.The CDEMA Coordinating Unit also met with the British High Commission in Barbados to discuss the situation in Haiti and to examine issues surrounding the response efforts. The Department for International Development deployed a five (5) member technical team which is expected to arrive in Haiti today. The team includes four (4) technical experts from the United Kingdom and Mr. Roger Bellers previously deployed on Tuesday. DFID and CDEMA have agreed to liaise on the ground in Haiti for a coordinated response.

9. Today the CDEMA Coordinating Unit discussed the response efforts for Haiti with the Australian High Commission. The Government of Australia has pledged AUS$10 million for the Haitian Response AUS$1 million of which will be chandelled through CDEMA. CDEMA has already initiated arrangements to access these funds.

10.The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) will deploy Mr. Phillip Cross, the Caribbean Representative of the ITU who will deliver satellite phones to various organizations to assist in addressing some of the communication challenges being experienced.Action by Partners and CDEMA Non Participating States:

The International Federation of Red Cross has launched an appeal for US $10 million in cash, kind, or services to support the Haitian National Red Cross Society to assist 20, 000 families (100,000 beneficiaries) for nine months.

CONTACT DETAILS: The CDEMA CU 24-hour contact number is (246) 425 0386

Ps: Joyce van Genderen-Naar Thanks for sharing the info!

Join TV Host, Victoria Gaither, as she talks with staff writer from the Miami Times, Sandra Jean Charite, about what you can do to help the haitian people during this devastating time. Reports are hundreds of thousands of people have died in the earthquake.

Tuesday’s earthquake knocked down powerlines and knocked down buildings. Join us and hear how you can help through the american red cross. We’ll also take your calls. We look forward to your support.

See details: www.blogtalkradio.com/victoria-gaither/2010/01/16/haiti-how-you-can-help-with-relief-efforts

Date: Saturday 16-01-2010
Time: 4 PM

“CARIBBEAN PEOPLE, SEIZE THE TIME!” Now that the fraudulence of the international oligarchy and its inhuman system of subordinating people and nations to the narrow interests of financiers and elites has become manifestly clear, the time has come for the Caribbean people to assert themselves and to boldly step forward and take firm control of the future agenda of our Caribbean region!

We, the ‘Regional Executive Committee’ of the Fifth Assembly of Caribbean Peoples are therefore issuing a CALL to the Caribbean’s social movements of farmers, workers, women, artistes, students, intellectuals and youth, and to the people centred political parties, trade unions, non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, credit unions and community based institutions of our region to SEIZE THE MOMENT and come together in a mighty PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY dedicated to the singular purpose of clarifying and agreeing upon an immediate, concrete and practical programme of action for solving the many critical existential and developmental problems of the Caribbean people.

Against the background of four previous Assemblies of Caribbean Peoples -Trinidad (1994; Dominican Republic (2001); Haiti (2003); Cuba (2008) – in which considerable intellectual work was done in analysing the predicament and development challenges of the Caribbean, we now take great pride and pleasure in sending out an INVITATION to all authentic Caribbean organisations and to the patriotic sons and daughters of our region to attend and participate in the historic FIFTH ASSEMBLY OF CARIBBEAN PEOPLES, which will be held in the Island of BARBADOS between the 3rd and the 8th of August 2010.

The Fifth Assembly Of Caribbean Peoples will constitute a coming together of activists and popular organisations from across the Spanish, English, French and Dutch speaking regions of the Caribbean focussed on designing Caribbean solutions to such challenges as:
-the international financial, economic and debt crisis that is threatening to devastate the Caribbean;
-the prevailing balkanisation, fragmentation and colonial domination in the Caribbean;
-our persistent failure to harness the resources of the Caribbean for our own collective industrialisation and development;
-the many severe environmental challenges that threaten the long term survival of the Caribbean and its people;
-our lack of food security and the manifestly unsustainable food import burden that the region is bearing;
-the terrible scourges of crime, illegal drugs and racial disharmony that bedevil several Caribbean countries;
-the many cultural and political factors that continue to retard the development of our identity as a Caribbean people belonging to a unique Caribbean Civilization.

The historic FIFTH ASSEMBLY OF CARIBBEAN PEOPLES will consciously and deliberately endeavour to include in our convocation specialists who have carried out relevant research into the targeted subject areas, as well as regional policy-makers who, now more than ever, need to sit down and reason with popular and grass-roots activists. There will also be caucuses of what are perhaps the three most important segments of the population of the Caribbean – our women-folk, our youth and our farmers. Indeed, we, the Regional Executive Committee, have determined that the unique ideas and perspectives of these three critical, but often marginalized, segments of our population, must be accorded a place of pre-eminence in the several deeply considered solutions that will emerge from our Fifth Assembly.

Fifth Assembly Of Caribbean Peoples, Barbados, August 3-8, 2010

Call To The Assembly

Thematic Agenda

For Immediate Release:
Contact: Carolyn Malachi Monday, January, 11, 2010
CMalachi@SmartChicksInc.org

MEDIA ADVISORY

BLOOMBARS AND SMART CHICKS, INC. TEAM-UP FOR A DAY OF SERVICE ON MLK DAY

Artists Take The Lead: Winter Clothing Drive, Letter Writing Campaign, And Music Video Shoot

WASHINGTON, DC – When the nation celebrates the birthday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, on January 18th, musicians, poets, actors, photographers, and artists of all stripes will lead a community call to action as a part of the “Live. Give. Bloom.” day of service at BloomBars, a Washington DC-based non-profit organization that works to inspire and unite communities through the arts while nurturing artists committed to serving the community.

The effort is being led by Carolyn Malachi, Artist-in-Bloom Resident Fellow, and founder of Smart Chicks, Inc., a national non-profit arts organization with a mission to advance visibility and leadership for women in the arts.

What: Artists rally for day of service to bring winter clothes to needy families and a wheel chair ramp to BloomBars. The efforts of artists and community members will be documented in a music video shoot for ‘Orion’, the first single from her CD, Revenge of the Smart Chicks III: Eclectic Company, coming in July. The video will chronicle the activities taking place during “Live. Give. Bloom.” All are invited to bring warm clothes to donate and a pen or a laptop for a letter writing campaign to bring a wheel chair ramp to BloomBars.

When: Monday, January 18th, 2010. 12:00pm to 4:00pm.

Where: BloomBars, 3222 11th Street, N,W. Washington, D.C. (Columbia Heights Metro)

Carolyn Malachi (A Brief Bio)
Hailing from Washington, DC, Carolyn Malachi, great-granddaughter of jazz pianist John Malachi, has created a modern infectious gumbo of jazz, hip-hop, and spoken word music. Revenge of the Smart Chicks III: Eclectic Company (July 2010) is third in a series of stirring, genre-bending CDs, the first of which spawned the Revenge of the Smart Chicks movement and non-profit called Smart Chicks Inc. The organization is dedicated to developing visibility and leadership opportunities for women in the arts. Click HERE to view Carolyn’s press kit.

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar
 
On 10 and 11 December 2009 the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum was held at the ACP House in Brussels. Representatives from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Civil Society came together to discuss how to move forward after many years of silence and inactivity. In 1997 the Forum was established by ACP Civil Society organizations from the ACP regions  in Entebbe, Uganda with the aim to provide a platform for civil society actors in the ACP countries, where they could articulate views and concerns, share information and facilitate dialogue with official ACP-EU institutions in order to support and strengthen the participation of ACP Civil Society in the ACP-EU development cooperation. The follow up was an impressive and unique Conference on the Participation of Civil Society in the implementation of the Cotonou Agreement, organised in July 2001 by the Belgian EU Presidency and the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. For almost a week, from July 2nd – 7th   2001, more than 150 representatives of ACP civil society came together in Brussels to discuss their role in the ACP-EC cooperation and the ACP-EC-Agreement, signed by the EC and the ACP countries a year before in Cotonou on 23 June 2000.
 
This first ACP Civil Society Forum adopted a Plan of Action.
However, between 2001 and 2006 there was no follow up and no implementation. Only in 2006 the 2nd  ACP Civil Society Forum was organised. During a 4-day meeting in April 2006 at the ACP Secretariat in Brussels a Declaration and Plan of Action was adopted, and never implemented during the years to follow. 
 
The participants of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum, a two day meeting in Brussels, organised in December 2009, three years later after the second one, concluded that the remaining 10 years should not be wasted, being aware that the Cotonou Agreement will expire in 2020. They decided to create a network for the exchange and sharing of information and dialogue through internet and any other appropriate media, connecting Civil Society organizations and their focal points in 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. They agreed upon a coordinator for each of the six ACP regions: four in Africa, one in the Caribbean and one in the Pacific. According to the ACP rotation system the Caribbean chaired the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum and appointed Mr. Lawman Lynch (Jamaica). In 2006 the Chair of the 2nd ACP Civil Society Forum came from Africa (Cote d’Ivoire) and the next Chair will be from the Pacific.  
 

ACP Secretary-General, Sir John Kaputin, at the opening of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Meeting in Brussels, urged the participants to make the most of this all-ACP platform of stock-taking, policy dialogue and planning. He said that a high priority for Civil Society at the national, regional and all-ACP levels, is the aspiration to be involved in the consultation in the Programming, Implementation of National and Regional Indicative Programmes and all-ACP Programmes, consultation in the Mid-Term Review process of the Country Strategy Papers  and the National and Regional Indicative Programmes;  consultation in the review of the Cotonou Agreement (which is taking place now); the negotiation  and Follow- Up of the Economic Partnership Agreements and the impact of the current Financial Crisis.

He encouraged the participants to exchange views evaluating the types of consultations that target the existing wide range of Non-State Actor Organisations, and to discuss and agree amongst themselves on the most appropriate working mechanisms for future cooperation at the national, regional and all-ACP levels.

As said before the participants of the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum agreed upon a virtual network as the most appropriate working mechanisms for future cooperation at the national, regional and all-ACP levels.
Through internet discussions they will deal with the questions raised by the ACP Secretary General Sir John Kaputin, such as: How satisfied are we with our Governments approach to active policy dialogue with the wide range of Civil Society actors? Has significant progress been made, since our last all-ACP discourse, to greater include Civil Society in the consultation processes on Capacity Building needs? Have Civil Society Capacity Building requirement been addressed to facilitate greater involvement in the policy dialogue on issues highlighted in the thematic areas discussed at the last meeting? Are Civil Society stakeholders present at the negotiating table on Economic Partnership Agreements?

Mrs. Dominique DELICOUR of the EuropeAid cooperation office (AIDCO) of the European Commission made a presentation on the participation of ACP Civil Society in the 9th and 10th European Development Fund (EDF). She gave an overview of the ACP programmes adopted, approved and the budget foreseen (191,6 million Euro for the 10th EDF). She said that there is a strong appeal and push for better and more involvement and engagement of Civil Society and that it is important for Civil Society to seize this momentum and to participate in the regional seminar, planned by AIDCO.F1 in Mali, Africa, in 2010 in the framework of structured dialogue. She also informed the participants about the EC study on Civil Society participation and urged them to read this. The study is available on the site: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/index_en.htm

All ACP participants stressed the complexity and bureaucratic procedures of the EC procedures, the problems they experience in dealing with the European Commission, the National and Regional Authorizing Officers. They asked why the EC sees capacity building as the solution of all ACP problems. They even suggested that the EC in its turn needs capacity building too in order to deal with the ACP countries and their population. They made an urgent appeal upon the EC to involve ACP experts, ACP Universities and ACP research institutions for the design, implementation and monitoring of studies, research and capacity building programmes in the ACP countries. The practice followed by the EC to send EU consultants to the ACP countries has not resulted in capacity building nor exchange and transfer of knowledge, in contrary the many reports they wrote are not used and are a waste of time and money.

The second presentation was made by Dr. Stephanie Diakité, International Expert, on the Evidence Based Knowledge Sharing (EBKS) as a tool for Civil Society to influence ACP-EU policy. Once again the ACP participants of the Forum noted that there is enough expertise and experience in ACP countries and that nothing new was placed on the table.  

Brussels, December 14, 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar,  Lawyer/journalist
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

World Diversity Leadership Summit Europe March 11-12, 2010
Hosted by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance and the Vienna Chamber of Commerce and Industry

JOSEF PRÖLL, born 1968 in Stockerau/Lower Austria, graduated from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna. In 1993 Josef Pröll started his career as official at the Chamber of Agriculture of the Federal Province of Lower Austria. In 1998 he moved to the Austrian Farmers’ Federation as advisor on economic policy and assistant to Agnes Schierhuber, Member of the European Parliament. One year later Josef Pröll became Director of the Vienna Farmers’ Federation. In 2000 Federal Minister of Agriculture and Environment. Josef Pröll later became the Head of Cabinet of the then Minister of Economic and Labour. From 2001 to 2003 he held the position of Director of the Austrian Farmers’ Federation. Josef Pröll served as Federal Minister of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management from 2003 to 2008, until he assumed the position of Vice Chancellor and Federal Minister of Finance of the Republic of Austria on 2 December 2008. Mr Pröll is Chairman of the Austrian People’s Party since 2008.

We are proud to announce that the opening minister and CEO reception of the WDLS-EU (March 11th) 2010 will be hosted by Minister Pröll in the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance
(Hintere Zollamtsstraße 2b, A-1030 Vienna/Austria.)

Veronica’s 20 year IT career came to an end when her inner writer and entrepreneur inexplicably besieged her to give it all up. In her dreams, she is an international best-seller, penning her masterpieces from the shores of Africa. But in the meantime, she now spends her days writing, managing her websites and polishing up her rusty programming skills. In 2007, she traced her African ancestry to Sierra Leone and launched www.myafricandiaspora.com – a news and information website aimed at reconnecting the African diaspora. Born in Brooklyn, NY, she now calls Las Vegas, NV home. Visit Veronica at www.veronicawrites.com.

After Veronica and her partner traced their African ancestry and began researching West African culture, they ran across the Ghanian Adinkra symbols, which was the first product launched under their Kindred Gear line: www.zazzle.com/kindredgear – Afrocentric tshirts

Veronica’s short story “My Soul to free” was inspired by a trip to the Bunce Island slave castle in Sierra Leone. It was published by Expanded Horizons: http://expandedhorizons.net/magazine/?page_id=820

Two recent conferences held on the African continent reaffirmed the determination of women to achieve genuine equality and political empowerment. The Eighth Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing+15) took place in Banjul, Gambia, in West Africa, Nov. 16-20. It featured reports on progress made towards achieving the goals adopted during the U.N. Fourth World Conference on Women, which was held in Beijing in 1995.

The Pan-African Women Conference 2009 was held in Sandton, South Africa, October 21-23. This yearly gathering is sponsored by Pan-African Women Projects and a network of women’s groups and organizations from around the continent.

Every year, women from the 54 African nations as well as the Diaspora participate in the PAWC. The theme of this year’s conference was “African Women Marching against Poverty.”

A statement by the event’s organizers declares, “African women have decided to fight poverty both in homes and in the continent as from the previous conferences, it was clearly understood and unanimously agreed that the primary cause of all the problems facing the African woman and Africa in general is this ugly cankerworm called POVERTY.” (panafricanwomenconference.org)

The statement points out: “Poverty has caused coups and wars in the nations of Africa. It has given birth to numerous ills including deaths, crime, prostitution and human trafficking, forced and early marriages, illiteracy, child labour and slavery, recruitment of child soldiers, etc.”

The conference was attended by more than 3,000 women from various regions. Hajia Turai Yar’Adua, first lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and chairperson of the Association of Wives of Heads of States/Presidents of Africa, delivered the opening address.

The keynote address was delivered by Graca Machel-Mandela, spouse of former South African President Nelson Mandela and a major figure in conflict mediation and child welfare on the continent. Eighteen presentations were delivered at the PAWC, including ministers representing women’s affairs and social development from various African states.

One of the PAWC’s highlights was the formal launching of the blueprint for a Pan-African Women’s Bank that would provide credit for development projects benefiting women and girls on the continent. In addition, the architectural design for the Pan-African Women Projects’ headquarters was unveiled by the president of the Republic of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Women meet in Banjul

The Eighth Africa Regional Conference on Women (Beijing+15) met to assess progress in the ongoing struggle for gender equality and empowerment on the continent. Prior to the conference, experts met November 13-14 to discuss and prepare recommendations for the ministerial gathering that was held Nov. 16-19.

On Nov. 21, ministers of Women and Gender Affairs convened to consider numerous African Union documents related to women and gender issues, including the Women’s Trust Fund feasibility study, the African Union Commission Gender Action Plan and the Roadmap for the African Women’s Decade, slated for 2010-2020. The meeting also provided reports on the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa.

In the opening ceremony of the ministerial meeting, the director of Women, Gender and Development Directorate, Litha Musyimi-Ogana, reiterated the political commitment of the AU to gender equality and empowerment for women.

So far 27 AU member states have ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights of Women and 30 have addressed the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa. Musyimi-Ogana, speaking on behalf of AU Commission chairperson, Jean Ping, reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to develop an African Women Trust Fund, stating that “this move will pave the way for the realization of the objectives presented in the Road Map for the African Women’s Decade and in the Decade Action Plan.” (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Julia Dolly Joiner, political affairs commissioner of the AU Commission, placed the conference within the context of the global economic crisis, saying, “We gather at a time when the financial, economic and environmental crises that the world faces together represent no other than a human rights crisis and increasingly pose a challenge to the 12-point women’s empowerment and gender equality agenda that we had set for ourselves in Beijing in 1995.” (Foroyaa Online, Nov. 24)

Joiner emphasized: “This reality is more apparent for Africa than any other part of the globe. The consequence for us is clear—we must respond to the voices of the marginalized who call on us to act in a situation where their human rights took a backseat to a globalization that swept the world into a frenzy of growth and environmental degradation. At this time of crisis, we are all called upon to be bold in thought and action, as we strive to move towards a system that is inclusive, sustainable and respectful of universal rights.”

In a major address, Monique Rakotomalala, director of the African Centre for Gender and Social Development of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, indicated that after the Beijing+15 conference several major objectives had been identified for action. One major area was maternal health and mortality, noting that women should not die anymore while giving birth.

Rakotomalala emphasized: “In the context of high food prices due to the impact of global warming, the meeting must act to ensure food security as a right for women. Action applies also to employment as it paves the way to empowerment.” She ended her address by pledging UNECA’s commitment to work with the AU in implementing the outcomes of the conference and to develop young women leaders. (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Dr. Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, vice-president of the host nation, the Republic of Gambia, said in her conference address that participants must “review progress, analyze current challenges and plan the way forward for ensuring the advancement and empowerment of women and girls, the poor and the most marginalized members of our society.” (AU press release, Nov. 21)

Njie-Saidy stated that the African Women’s Decade 2010-2020 will provide “impetus for African women as it will provide them with the opportunity to consolidate gains made in the quest to attain gender equality and to close existing gaps that serve as barriers to the attainment of these laudable goals.” She said that the AU Fund for Women “will provide the much needed resources that women need to concretize their dreams and ambitions. Africa is on the move and the trend is irreversible.”

The resolutions from the Banjul conference will be presented to the upcoming U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, to be held in New York in March.

Two panels were convened at the Banjul conference by Women in Law and Development in Africa. One panel entitled “Women’s rights implementation in Africa: what has been achieved so far” was held on Nov. 17.

A Nov. 18 panel focused on “Women’s access to land: issues, challenges and expectations of West Africa rural women.” The panel examined issues involving women farmers and their access to land in West Africa and the need to advocate for national and local authorities to develop policies geared toward women’s sustainable access to land.

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Articles copyright 1995-2009 Workers World.

Work and Wages: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_357846.html
Health and Life: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_360620.html
Discrimination and Repercussions: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/philip-n-cohen/what-ails-black-women-par_b_373574.html

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Cadre supérieur, Sandrine Joseph, 37 ans, se nourrit de défis, de convictions et de son engagement au sein de différents réseaux européens.

Il est difficile de résumer le parcours de Sandrine Joseph tant il est riche et varié ! Une chose est sûre : elle s’est toujours donné les moyens de sa réussite et de ses ambitions.

Dès 20 ans, elle commence à travailler pour financer ses études (Maîtrise de finances et DEA de stratégie industrielle à la Sorbonne) et fait ses premières armes au sein de la fonction publique : ministère des finances et l’ENA. Mais plutôt que de tenter d’intégrer un grand corps de l’Etat, Sandrine Joseph préfère se tourner vers un cabinet de conseil en stratégie spécialisé dans Internet, un secteur alors naissant.

Repérée et embauchée par France Télécom – Orange en 1998, elle occupe successivement des postes à dominante marketing, finance et technique. « Ce qui me guide et me motive, c’est l’innovation, l’accompagnement du changement et le relationnel. Je recherche les défis et apprécie d’avoir une vision stratégique des choses ». En 2007, elle devient marketing manager au sein de l’incubateur d’Orange (Orange Labs) où elle travaille sur des projets innovants, utilisant à la fois ses compétences en finances et marketing

Read on at the original source and if you can’t read French plug the URL into Google translate!
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Read on at the original source and if you can’t read French plug the URL into Google translate!
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Learn more about Aliesh on her website.

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar

The Second International Decade of Decolonization is ending soon in 2010. The main conclusion is that two decades were not enough to resolve all decolonization issues, in contrary the process of self-determination leading to decolonization has become increasingly complex. Third and even more International Decades will be needed before all Non-Self-Governing Territories have attained self-determination. The international mandate for decolonisation is a function of the UN Charter and UN resolutions on decolonisation are supported by all of the nations of the world, with regard to the international obligation to develop self-government and to take due account of the political aspirations of the people of their territories (article 73 of the United Nations Charter). But the implementation is politically sensitive and information has been scarce. Decolonization issues stay unnoticed.

The stocktaking took place during the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization, organized on 12, 13 and 14 May in St. Kitts and Nevis (Caribbean) by the UN Special Committee of 24 on Decolonization (Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples). Recommendations were made to establish a mechanism for dialogue between local authorities in the Territories, administering Powers and the international community to facilitate the decolonization process. There has to be more interaction and cooperation between the Special Committee and the administering Powers, by creating frameworks for dialogue between the Territories, the administering Powers and the Special Committee. The international community needs to work together and to remain engaged, guided by the political options available to the Non-Self-Governing Territories: free association with other independent States, full integration with political rights, or independence. It is important to focus more on the specific needs of each Territory in terms of their political and economic needs and assistance by the United Nations system. Education and public outreach are crucial for decolonization, to enable the people concerned to make informed decisions regarding their future political status, to promote maturity and movement towards “appropriation of the own destiny”: “You cannot insist on your rights, unless you understand them.” Decisions on self-determination must be based on full information and education.

In a message to the Seminar UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had urged the administering Powers, Non-Self-Governing Territories and the United Nations to continue working together to accelerate the process of eradicating colonialism. He said that progress in this area will require close cooperation between all three actors. He noted that the right to self-determination must be taken into proper account in exploring how to accelerate the decolonization process for the remaining 16 UN listed non self-governing territories, namely the 10 Overseas Countries and Territories of the UK (Anquilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean Sea; Falklands Islands (Malvinas) and St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean; Pitcairn Islands in the Pacific; Gibraltar in Europe); New Caledonia, Overseas Country and Territory of France in the Pacific; 3 territories of the USA: Virgin Island in the Caribbean, American Samoa and Guam in the Pacific; Tokelau, a self-governing dependency of New Zealand in the Pacific; Western Sahara, occupied by Morocco, in Africa.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was counting on the administering Powers in particular to discharge their obligations in a manner that promotes the well-being of the inhabitants of the territories within their responsibility. The interests of the peoples of the Territories have to be at the heart of all efforts. The UN system will continue to assist the Non-Self-Governing Territories, in areas such as economic and social development, environmental sustainability, healthcare and good governance.

Emerging challenges for the Non-Self-Governing Territories on their path towards decolonisation are the impact of climate change, the global economic and financial crisis, the role of regional cooperation, education and public awareness, the role of women, the empowerment of vulnerable people and the capacity for full self-government towards self-determination. Key elements in responding to the challenges of today are political maturity, economic sustainability, enhanced administrative capacity and strengthened regional cooperation.
Regional cooperation and regional arrangements offered important opportunities for many Non-Self-Governing Territories and contributed to the development of a strong regional identity and strengthened concrete functional cooperation in various areas of mutual interest. Important were the role of the United Nations regional commissions, such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and bodies like the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), as well as various United Nations specialized agencies. In response to climate change, which had exposed the vulnerability of many Non-Self-Governing Territories, regional cooperation could play a crucial role in the field of disaster preparedness. The global economic crisis had further highlighted the importance of economic sustainability and diversification of the economic base in the Non-Self-Governing Territories through community-based development, the development of small and medium enterprises, promotion of micro-financing and employment-generating activities, and the empowerment of vulnerable groups.

In his closing statement on behalf of the host country, Delano Frank Bart, Permanent Representative of Saint Kitts and Nevis to the United Nations, characterized the seminar as “the penultimate event” in the course of the Decade. He said that with regard to the energy, food and financial crises, the Territories had been hit as hard as most countries, if not more, but that their concerns were often marginalized. “Our role is to ensure that all needs are met, especially the needs of those of us who are not governing themselves.” Highlighting the impact of climate change, he said that, of the 16 Territories under the Special Committee’s mandate, the majority were islands. Therefore, the concerns of small island developing States within the United Nations system were also the concerns of those Territories. They were among the most vulnerable and needed to be aware of the commitment of the international community to stand by them and “weather the storm together”. Recalling that his country had recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary of independence, he said Saint Kitts and Nevis remembered the concerns of the pre-independence period. One needed the goodwill of all parties to resolve such issues, and the participants should, therefore, take away with them a determination to ensure that the day would come in the not-too-distant future, when the Special Committee’s work would bear fruit, and that the solutions found would be in the best interests of all concerned.

The recommendations of the St. Kitts Seminar have become the most recent chapter of the ever growing legislative authority on the self-determination of the territories. Some of the recommendations were included in the decolonisation resolutions adopted by the UN Fourth Committee in November 2009, and are expected to be approved by the General Assembly in December 2009. Implementation is an entirely separate matter, according to International Advisor on Democratic Governance Dr. Carlyle Corbin

GUAM’s self-determination bill
How important information and education are to the people of the Non-self Governing Territories and how essential to the expression of their political aspirations and self-determination, was shown on November 5, 2009, when the delegate of Guam Hon. Madeleine Z. Bordallo, in the Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife Legislative hearing on H.R. 3940, introduced a self-determination bill to support a public education program for the people of Guam regarding various political status options to express their desired political status. Guam is a territory of the USA in the Pacific, that has been under the United States Flag as an unincorporated territory for over 111 years. Guam, like her sister territory Puerto Rico, was ceded to the United States from Spain upon the signing of the Treaty of Paris settling the Spanish-American War in 1898. Guam is listed by the United Nations as a non-self-governing territory. Despites all efforts towards defining a new political relationship between Guam and the United States, the political aspirations of the people of Guam for such status were never realized. A referendum affording the people of Guam an opportunity to express their views on status was authorized by local law but remains unscheduled.

In November the US Congressional Committee approved the self-determination bill and assistance to the territories. Dr. Corbin explained that there are two separate pieces of legislation – one bill for American Samoa, Guam and the US Virgin Islands, and a second different bill for Puerto Rico, which is essentially a referendum bill which had been adopted by the same Committee earlier this year. The Puerto Rico measure does not address public education since they already have a very sophisticated process in place via their political parties. Both bills have been adopted by the substantive committee in one House of the US Congress so far. It still has to be adopted by the full House of Representatives, then by the US Senate and signed by the President. He anticipated that this would happen without too much difficulty since there is no new financial resources associated with either measure.

Dr. Corbin also made clear that the issue is not only between independence or not, but rather to chose one of the three political status option which provides for a full measure of self-government, namely independence, free association and integration. These are so recognised by the UN. Some member states which administer territories, such as the UK, have told its territories that offers neither integration nor free association to them, and the choice is either independence or remaining in a dependency status. This is unlike the Dutch Antilles which had achieved sufficient autonomy to be regarded as fully self-governing. This might change as the dismantling of the five islands will now yield a new less autonomous model for the two islands which have chosen in referendum to become separate countries within the Dutch Kingdom.

Brussels, November 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

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BANANAS: will the european union confirm that the fight against poverty is no longer a priority in its “global europe” strategy?

COMMUNIQUE

At a time when European leaders are gathering to welcome the dawn of a new era with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, this change may well prove to be more extensive than anticipated. The coming days could spell the end of the era when Europe considered the fight against poverty a priority.

In the ongoing discussions on the Banana Dossier, the ACP States have made numerous concessions in an effort towards finding a definitive and balanced solution.

In fact, analysis of the European banana market has shown that the customs tariff of €176/t that has been applied to banana imports from Central and South American countries (MFN countries) since January 2006, has sharply increased their presence on the EU market. There is no risk whatsoever, not now nor in the future, given the limited production capacity of the ACP countries that the European market will be “flooded” with ACP bananas. Just one MFN country, like Ecuador for example, could, single-handedly, if it so desired, supply the entire 27-country EU market which, let us not forget, is the only possible trade opening for ACP products.

As a result, it is difficult, at first glance, to understand what is at stake for the European Union when, to the detriment of its commitments to the ACP banana-producing countries, it has proposed that the MFN countries engage in even more extensive liberalization at a faster rate, and suddenly announced an imminent agreement with them.

The ACP countries have repeatedly demonstrated that they fully understand the current trade policy trend which is liberalization. They are therefore in no doubt whatsoever that the trade preferences they currently enjoy will continue to be eroded until they most likely disappear. However, in highlighting the development programme included in the WTO Doha Round negotiations they have merely called for WTO Members to honour their commitments, stressing the need that for any agreement to be balanced, it must necessarily include a transition period with a moratorium, so as to enable the ACP banana-producing countries to adapt to the new market conditions.

In the same context, they recalled the undertaking of the same WTO Member States whereby those among them who granted longstanding preferences must provide financial and additional capacity-building assistance to help remedy supply-side constraints and promote diversification of existing production in the territories of the preference-recipient Members.

In their most recent submission, a pale reflection of their initial demands, the ACP States:

(a) an initial reduction, as “full and final settlement”, from €176/t to €148/t during 2010;

(b) call for the level of 148/t to be maintained, in the event that no agreement is reached on the agriculture modalities of the Doha Round;

(c) accept, in the event of an agreement on the agriculture modalities of the Doha round, a gradual reduction of the customs tariff over ten (10) years, including a 3-year moratorium following application of the first tariff reduction from €176/t to €148/t;

(d) call for financial aid in the sum of 250 million euros, the minimum amount required to meet the needs of ACP banana-supplying countries for the 2010-2013 period; and

(e) an undertaking on the part of the EC to participate in a joint review mechanism designed to assess the situation of the ACP banana suppliers after 2013, and to provide additional resources, as necessary.

In a letter addressed to the heads of several European institutions, including the President of the European Commission, President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament, Mrs. Eunice Kazembe, incumbent President of the ACP Council of Ministers and Minister of Industry and Trade of Malawi, recalled the fears aroused by the disappearance of the reference to the ACP countries from the Lisbon Treaty. This marks a departure from the texts currently in force, whereas the ACP Group remains the largest grouping of the poorest countries in the developing world, with a longstanding historical relationship with the European Union.

The President of the ACP Council has clearly indicated that Europe has a unique opportunity to allay these fears or to confirm them, depending on the response that the European Commission will give to the ACP demands. This would demonstrate if Europe is definitively adopting an aggressive trade strategy based on its “Global Europe” policy at the expense of a frontline role in the fight against poverty.

For press details contact: iroga@acp.int

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The history of the disappearance of the reference to the ACP countries from the Lisbon Treaty

Below: An article by Joyce van Genderen-Naar

DRAFT EU-CONSTITUTION LEAVES OUT ACP-EC-COOPERATION
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Lawyer
Brussels, 16th March 2004.

In the Draft Constitution for Europe, which shall replace the present EC/EU-Treaties, the article on the ACP-EC-Agreement (art. 179. par.3 EC-Treaty) has been left out.
Art. 179 par. 3 EC-treaty decides:
‘ The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention. ‘
Art. 179 par. 3 is a part of the current provisions on Development Cooperation in the EC-Treaty (Title XX) and a part of art. 179 :
Article 179
1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty, the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall adopt the measures necessary to further the objectives referred to in Article 177. Such measures may take the form of multiannual programmes.
2. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
3. The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention.

There is no such article in the Draft Constitution. Title V of the Draft deals with the External Policy of the Union; Chapter IV deals with the cooperation with Third Countries and humanitarian aid. Section 1 concerns Development Cooperation and Article III – 219 par. 1 – 3 will replace the current Article 179 EC-Treaty.
Article III – 219 par 2 inserts the current Article 181 EC-Treaty, ends in par. 3 with what is now Article 179 par. 2: ‘The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.’ and leaves out the current Article 179 par. 3 concerning the ACP-EC-cooperation.

Draft EU-Constitution Article III – 219
1. European laws or framework laws shall establish the measures necessary for the implementation of development cooperation policy, which may relate to multiannual cooperation programmes with developing countries or programmes with a thematic approach.

2. The Union may conclude with third countries and competent international organisations any agreement helping to achieve the objectives referred to in Article III – 93. Such agreements shall be negotiated and conluded in accordance with Article III-227.
The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

3. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.

Article179 par. 3 EC-Treaty (’the provisions of article 179 shall not affect cooperation with the ACP-countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention’) referes to the special relationship between the EC/EU and the ACP-countries, which is the oldest and largest form of cooperation between Europe and countries from the South (ACP) and stood model for later cooperation with other countries. Historical bounds between Europe and the ACP-countries give Europe a special responsability for these countries, which should not be forgotten and should be a part of the next Constitution for Europe. This responsability stays and is even more urgent, because after 37 years of cooperation 40 of the 79 ACP-countries still belong to the poorest countries in the world. Out of the 48 poorest countries in the world 40 are ACP-countries!! By the Cotonou Agreement signed the 23d of June 2000 the ACP-EC-cooperation has been extended until 2020 with the objectives of poverty eradication, sustainable development and the integration in the world economy of the ACP-countries.

What is the reason for the delete of the current article 179 par.3 EC-Treaty? The following reasons were given by a representative of the European Commission:
Today article 179 par. 3 EC provides for a special form of cooperation with the ACP-countries, which makes it possible to finance the European Development Fund outside the framework of the EU-budget. The EDF is composed by national contributions of the EC-member states. In a first version of the Draft the Presidium of the Convention took over current Article 179 par. 3, but emphasized that the Convention should examine whether this provision should be deleted, because a specific policy or different financing is no longer needed. The final report of the Working Group VII of the Convention, dealing with the external policy of the Union, stated: “there is large support for making EDF part of the general EU-budget, that is why for the EDF the same procedures will be applied as for other areas where financial support wil be given”. The final report made also clear that this should mean an improvement of the efficiency and more focus on poverty eradication of the EU-development programmes in general, and in no way should it lead to the reduction of the support of the ACP-countries.

A majority of the Convention has supported this approach and Article 179 par. 3 EC was left out of the Draft European Constitution.

Other arguments were: the integration of Cotonou in the normal communautarian framework makes it possible to adjust the support in a better way to the real needs, performance and receive capacity of the ACP-countries, while the process of multiannual programmes will stay in tact. It also helps the European Parliament to fully fulfill its budget tasks conform the general line of the Convention. Further details should be provided for in the institutional agreement concerning the financial perspectives post-2006.

My advice to the ACP is to make an official request to the European Commission and Members of the Convention (representatives of the European Parliament and Member States) to insert a provision concerning the ACP-EC-Cooperation in the Draft/New Constitution in view of the special relationship between the EU and the ACP, historical bounds, responsabilities and mutual interest, as agreed by EC and ACP in Article 55 of the Cotonou Agreement: The objectives of development finance cooperation shall be, through the provision of adequate financial resources and appropriate technical assistance, to support and promote the efforts of the ACP States to achieve the objectives set out in this Agreement on the basis of mutual interest and in a spirit of interdependence”.

In principle it is possible that the IGC still decide to insert article 179 par. 3 EC in the future European Constitution. As long as the Constitution is not formal accepted it is legally possible. In contrast with the future Convention in the current IGC only the Governments of the Member States have the power to decide. So they have to be approached in order to save article 179 par. 3 EC. However with regard to the political point of view it will not be easy to insert article 179 par. 3 EC in the New Constitution, because almost every delegation in the IGC has stated that they wish to maintain the draft text of the Constitution with as less as possible adjustments, especially for non-institutional issues. Nor in the IGC at political level nor in the group of legal experts of the IGC the proposition has been made to integrate the ACP-EC-cooperation in the European Constitution. EU-Commisisoner Nielson said during an intervention of the Working Group VII on the External EU-Policy that the cooperation modalities between the EC and the ACP-countries should be revised.

The Convention probably did not consult the ACP. Consultation between the EC and the ACP-states should take place according to Article 12 of the ACP-EC-Agreement in view of the Coherence of Community policies and their impact on the inplementation of the Agreement. Article 12 decides that where the Community intends, in the exercise of its powers, to take a measure which might affect the interests of the ACP states, as fas ar this Agreement’s objectives are concerned, it shall inform in good time the said States of its intentions. Towards this end, the Commission shall communicate simultaneously to the Secretariat of the ACP states its proposal for such measures. Where necessary, a request for information may also take place on the initiative of the ACP states. At their request, consultations shall be held promptly so that account may be taken of their concerns as to the impact of those measures before any final decision is made.

EC-TREATY
TITLE XX
DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

Article 177

1. Community policy in the sphere of development cooperation, which shall be complementary to the policies pursued by the Member States, shall foster:
-
The sustainable economic and social development of the developing countries, and more particularly the most disadvantaged among them,

-
The smooth and gradual integration of the developing countries into the world economy,

-
The campaign against poverty in the developing countries.
2. Community policy in this area shall contribute to the general objective of developing and consolidating democracy and the rule of law, and to that of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms.
3. The Community and the Member States shall comply with the commitments and take account of the objectives they have approved in the context of the United Nations and other competent international organisations.

Article 178

The Community shall take account of the objectives referred to in Article 177 in the policies that it implements which are likely to affect developing countries.

Article 179

1. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Treaty, the Council, acting in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 251, shall adopt the measures necessary to further the objectives referred to in Article 177. Such measures may take the form of multiannual programmes.
2. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.
3. The provisions of this Article shall not affect cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in the framework of the ACP-EC Convention.

Article 181

Within their respective spheres of competence, the Community and the Member States shall cooperate with third countries and with the competent international organisations. The arrangements for Community cooperation may be the subject of agreements between the Community and the third parties concerned, which shall be negotiated and concluded in accordance with Article 300.
The previous paragraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

DRAFT EU-CONSTITUTION
Chapter IV: Cooperation with Third Countries and Humanitarian Aid.
Section 1: Development Cooperation.

Article III – 219
1. European laws or framework laws shall establish the measures necessary for the implementation of development cooperation policy, which may relate to multiannual cooperation programmes with developing countries or programmes with a thematic approach.

2. The Union may conclude with third countries and competent international organisations any agreement helping to achieve the objectives referred to in Article III – 93. Such agreements shall be negotiated and conluded in accordance with Article 111 – 227.
The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to Member States’ competence to negotiate in international bodies and to conclude international agreements.

3. The European Investment Bank shall contribute, under the terms laid down in its Statute, to the implementation of the measures referred to in paragraph 1.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Lawyer Brussels Bar
Email: vangenderen@unicall.be

Here is the audio from the workshop Media futures – the equality challenge in focus moderated by Aidan White.

The panelists were:

Dorothy Byrnem Head of News and Current Affairs, Channel 4 Television (Inspirational message), UK, Ms. Lena Calvert, National Union of Journalists, Diversity Officer, UK (Presentation of best practices of promoting equality), Ralf Nehmzow, Axel Spring, Redakteur/Leser-Botschafter, Germany (How diversity is approached in press companies), Allan Jones, European Broadcasting Union presented the Diversity Toolkit, Robin Elias, Managing Editor, ITV News, UK (Diversity pledge), Fifi Schwarz, Newspapers in Education, The Netherlands (New forms of engagement with civil society and minority groups), Rosario Ali Taikon, E Romani Glinda, Sweden (Support for developing new media initiatives and business models with a focus on equality issues), and Milica Pesic, Coordinator of the European Survey on Media and Diversity (Innovative practices in European Media).

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 1

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 2

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 3

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 4

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 4

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 5

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 6

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 7

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 8

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 10

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 11

Being a Black Woman in Europe

3rd EU Equality Summit Media Workshop part 12

Being a Black Woman in Europe

The third Equality Summit will be held in Stockholm on 16–17 November.

This is an annual event for ministers, chairs of national equality bodies, chairs of NGOs at EU level, EU social partners and representatives of international organisations.

The purpose is to share knowledge and experience so as to develop stronger and more effective ways of working against all forms of discrimination, and to promote equal rights and opportunities for all in the EU. Get full details, get the program and external resources form the summit website.

If there is a problem viewing the live blog here you can click here instead.

I have uploaded videos of Ted Childs of Ted Childs, LLC (global strategic diversity advisor) who was a key note speaker on Diversity & Inclusion: A Global Perspective. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 3:

I have added an EU video on the puzzle that is Europe’s diversity. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 2:

I have added video of Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of Europe’s keynote address. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

UPDATE 1:

I have added videos of Minister Nyamko Sabuni’s from Sweden’s, opening address. Please scroll down below the live covereage box. For optimal enjoyment use headphones when viewing.

The third Equality Summit will be held in Stockholm on 16–17 November. This is an annual event for ministers, chairs of national equality bodies, chairs of NGOs at EU level, EU social partners and representatives of international organisations. The purpose is to share knowledge and experience so as to develop stronger and more effective ways of working against all forms of discrimination, and to promote equal rights and opportunities for all in the EU.

Get full details, get the program and external resources form the summit website.

If there is a problem viewing the live blog here you can click here instead.

Get more information at MOCADA: http://www.mocada.org/

Renegotiate EPA: a very optimistic approach

To be clear, EPA is not called Economic Partnership Agreement for nothing. It is a not a Development Aid package but rather a trade agreement, one of many, such as its predecessor the Cotonou Agreement signed in 2000. EPA seeks to realign the business/trade relationships which were granted to ACP countries under a preferential agreement, reached at time of the signing of the entry of the UK to the European Union in 1972. In time, there has been a gradual change of these preferential trade relations between the Caribbean, African and Pacific regions and the EU. This is evident, amongst others, from the downturn in the regions’ sugar and banana industries.

The concerns voiced by the academics is typical of a “reactive approach” taken by peoples of our region. The academics claimed that representatives have made the deal of EPA with their eyes wide shut. The truth is, it is not for the representatives to make deals. They are channels of information. It is for the elected Caribbean leaders to make sensible decisions on our behalf. At this point, leaders are aware, or at least should have been aware, of the consequences of the UK’s membership of the EU. There was time enough, more than 30 years, in which our leaders should have created a strategic plan in which Jamaica, after almost 46 years of independence, would have been able to step up to the challenges of playing ball on an unlevel international field.

I do not wish to call the lobbying efforts by the academics, in order to “renegotiate the trade deal”, a useless attempt. But I do think that this would cause our representatives in Brussels to become beggars without a cause. Our region has no cohesive plan of getting us out of a peripheral position of merely surviving as “Third World countries”. The effort put in by the Caribbean representatives is ineffective at changing the underlying economical intentions of the EU. EPA has been discussed in all the regions of ACP. The African (French and English-speaking) and Pacific regions are nowhere near signing any documents relating to EPA.

It has been hinted that, under EPA, it will be easier for professionals from the Caribbean region entering the European Union. To me, this is saying that our governments ought to be aware of the next great brain drain from the region. What is our contingency plan? Most of our teachers, doctors, and much-needed personnel have already migrated to the UK, US and Canada. The EU needs workers and is seeking a way of finding people to shore up its economy so as to keep its stronghold on the international stage. Therefore, is this really a negotiation victory we get from EPA?

It is my greatest wish to see our people wake up from the colonial slumber and take a “proactive approach” in the building of our country and regions. One concrete plan would be to see the representatives bodies, such as CRNM, become fully staffed. Brussels, like Washington, is the centre of world politics, and it is highly unprofessional to see the few good civil servants being ostracised when they do what they can when attending meetings on our behalf.

In our region we need a proactive civil society which simulates discussions on international issues affecting our daily lives. Also, we should take a more proactive, pre-emptive approach in countering the moves of the EU or any other country for that matter. Let the truth be known, decisions in Brussels are the outcome of long, internal EU debates and discussions involving local and national stakeholders right from the formative stages. To think that we could renegotiate EPA at this stage is very optimistic. We are simply not prepared.

Elaine Campbell is a legal researcher in The Netherlands.
emcampbell11@hotmail.com

Nominees must be a woman of color ages 12 and up living in the US or abroad. Nominees must be living their lives on purpose – as a business owner and/or making significant contributions in the communities.

Please email the following information about your nominee to editor@alivemagonline.com.

Name
Email Address
URL
200 words or less explaining why this woman should be a 2010 ALIVE Woman of the Year

Also, please include your contact information in the event our review committee has further questions.

The announcement will be made in March 2010 at the One Life To Live From Dreams to Reality National Tour when its hosted in Broward County, Florida.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar

The landscape of international development cooperation is coloured by many actors and organisations. Among them are doctors, engineers, architects, lawyers, economists, sociologist, and journalists, crossing borders and frontiers all over the world. They established international non-governmental organisations on the basis of their profession to work in countries which are at war or in conflict situations. Their work brings along risks, dangers and although characterised by impartiality, neutrality and independence, it is sometimes controversial and criticised as partial and interfering in state affairs. One of the reasons could be the lack of information and understanding about their objectives and their working-method as well as the cooperation and communication with national governments and local experts.

View on Nyanzale Refugees Camp (North Kivu, DRC).© Cédric Gerbehaye/Agence VU (www.etat-critique.org)
Well known are the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation created in 1971 by doctors and journalists in France. MSF provides aid/medical care in nearly 60 countries to people in crisis regardless of race, religion, or political affiliation, on the basis of need and independent access to victims of conflict as required under international humanitarian law. Medical teams conduct evaluations on the ground to determine the medical needs and care for people who suffer from violence, neglect, or catastrophe, due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care or natural disasters. MSF says that the key to act independently in response to a crisis is its independent funding. Eighty-nine percent of MSF’s overall funding comes from private sources, not governments. Website: www.msf.org

Engineers Without Borders (EWB) are formed by several non-governmental organisations in several countries, focused on engineering and construction in international development work and strongly linked to academia and students. Engineers without Borders/Ingénieurs sans frontières (ISF)-France was founded in the 1980s, followed by ISF-Spain and ISF-Italy in the 1990s and EWB-Canada, one of the largest of the EWB organisations, in the late 1990s and many other EWB/ISF groups around the world. Website: www.ewb-international.org

Architects Without Borders is a non-governmental not-for-profit volunteer humanitarian relief organisation, providing technical assistance and support for recovery and reconstruction programs in countries that suffer from economic crisis, human conflict and natural disaster, such as the Tsunami in Asia. Website: www.awb.iohome.net

Avocats Sans Frontières (ASF) was founded in 1992 in Belgium, sending lawyers without borders, lawyers for lawyers, abroad to take part in sensitive trials and to assist or represent human rights lawyers and human rights activists persecuted for exercising their profession. Lawyers without borders defended the accused and represented the victims in Rwandan courts and between 1995 and 1998 lawyers were trained in Arusha, Tanzania, for appearance before the International Court (ICC) in Rwanda. Website: www.asf.be/index.php?module=home&lang=en

International Lawyers and Economists against Poverty (ILEAP)/Juristes et Economistes Internationaux contre la Pauvrete (JEICP), is an independent non-profit organisation, launched in Nairobi in May 2002 and established as a non-profit organisation in Canada. The work of ILEAP is focused on increasing the capacity and participation of development countries in international negotiations. African and Caribbean experts are trained by ILEAP for the negotiations of the economic partnership agreements (EPA) with the European Community. Capacity building is provided by trade professionals from several countries. Website:www.ileap-jeicp.org/

Association Studies Without Borders/Études sans frontières is a more recent nonprofit association, founded in Paris in March 2003 by young French citizens with the support of international personalities, such as Vaclav Havel, former president of Czechoslovakia, who considers education as a guarantee for peace promotion, solidarity and sustainable development. Through Studies Without Borders young people, who are not able to study in their own country due to crisis, can continue and resume their studies in Europe and North America, and go back to their country when the situation permits. A total of 190 students from Chechnya, Congo, Rwanda and Western Sahara benefited from the programs of Studies Without Borders. Website:www.etudessansfrontieres.org

Reporters without Borders/Reporters sans frontières (RSF), is a Paris-based international non-governmental organisation, founded in 1985, to advocate freedom of the press, the right to freedom of opinion and expression and the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas regardless of frontiers, in accordance with Article 19 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. RWB compiles and publishes an annual ranking of countries based upon the organisation’s assessment of their press freedom records. The impartiality of Reporters Without Borders is not universally accepted. Criticisms concern RWB’s funding (a significant amount of funding, 19% of total, comes from certain western governments and organisations), its anti-Castro and anti-Chavez reporting, its methodology in ranking press freedom and the lack of direct understanding of existing laws in ranked countries. Website: www.rsf.org

Sociologists Without Borders was founded in Spain in 2001, as a non-governmental organisation, and has established chapters in Madrid, Catalonia, Valencia, USA, Brazil, and Italy, and others are in formation. Sociologists Without Borders became visible as first professional group that made a critical statement against the United States government unilateral intervention in Iraq. In 2004 and 2005, young sociologists joined the Kibera project, an international effort in support of the welfare and development of a poor slum quarter of Nairobi. Sociologists Without Borders work together with journalists to collect and analyse relevant information for the public. Website: www.sociologistswithoutborders.org

Social Network Boasts Over 600 Members Around the World.

Rotterdam, NL/Stockholm, SWE November 3, 2009 – Women of the African Diaspora website (http://www.WomenOfTheAfricanDiaspora.com) and social network (http://www.BlackWomenUnite.ning.com) is having a birthday complete with gifts for its readers and members.  The website and social network, which celebrates Black women, has visitors and members from across the globe.

“Women of the African Diaspora website and social network continue to grow,” says Sandra Rafaela, Women of the African Diaspora’s co-founder and co-editor. “We are constantly working very hard to improve our website to provide information, inspiration and more for Black women around the world.” Women of the African Diaspora website leverages the global reach of the Internet, social media and widgets to share relevant news, event notices and showcase a wide range of talented Black women including authors, artists, musicians, entrepreneurs, and others. And with Black women living on virtually every continent, it certainly has a large and influential market.

“Women of the African Diaspora’s website content strives to be very compelling and shine a positive spotlight on Black women that main stream media far too often ignores,” says Adrianne George, Women of the African Diaspora‘s co-founder and co-editor.  “The number of visitors to the site continues to increase each month, and social networks like Facebook give us a platform to network we didn’t have when starting out. We continue to be the perfect choice for advertisers who want to reach the important market of Black women consumers.”

The year has again been marked with highlights for the Women of the African Diaspora co-editors, with Ms. George’s Black Women in Europe blog (http://blog.blackwomenineurope.com) being a finalist for a 2009 Black Weblog Award for Best International blog as well as being a featured blog on Ebonyjet.com.  “We’ve come so far in just two years,” explains George. “Our social network has over 600 members in North America, Europe, Africa and beyond“. Rafaela explains, “We really enjoy meeting accomplished and positive Black women while providing them with a unique platform for exposure. We’re ready to take on year three.”

Let Adrianne and Sandra know what the Women of the African Diaspora and Social network mean to you to get prizes from their sponsors:https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform formkey=dGhSaFZQOFNRYjUwSERtUDBqTEFLckE6MA

Visit our sponsors! Anniversary gifts are provided by Sheabutter Cottage, Greatness By Design™, Sisay International, Author M.H.A. Menondji, Northwest Scents Natural Black Hair Care, Creating Tomorrow, Simplicity Mastered™, and Donna Elmore’s Send Out Cards. Businesses with products or services for Black women can participate in the anniversary celebrations by purchasing an advertising package for the website and social network at a 20% savings. More information is available at http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com.

Contact:
Sandra Rafaela sandra@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
Adrianne George adrianne@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com

Under the High patronage of the First Lady of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ms Olive Lembe Kabila.

Continental Women will welcome women from African descent and women from the Diasporas. Theme: The integration of Black Women Resources in the process of economic development and worldwide cooperation.

This historical meeting will provide the opportunity to women of Excellency in all sector of activity, to mentor and inspire young women to fulfil their potential and make impact in nations; to find out about new projects and how to get involved with African and Diasporan.

General presentation

Established in 2003, by Patricia Tseli Faraut, a Cameroonian lady settled in France for 17 years, Africa Femmes Performantes, an African organization is responsible for promoting black women entrepreneurship worldwide by valuing and developing their talents. Africa Femmes Performantes’ responsibility is to associate the voices of African-American women to the construction of specifics bounds between America, Africa and European Diasporas.

“The International Congress of black Women is the First International Congress intended to promote and develop black women entrepreneurship worldwide. Our mission is to collect black talented women who participate actively in the emergence of a new Africa. What constitutes progress? Where are we headed? At a time of major world changes, what forms of progress do black women most need and want? What are our hopes for our future?

How to build a real community of black business women worldwide? This network collects hundreds women from Africa, Caribbean islands, America, Europe, and Asia who lead concrete projects and opportunities in areas such as food-processing industries, Health and Healthiness, Environment, fashion…

This global meeting is an invitation to each of us to discover, celebrate and commit to a more positive Africa through its achievements and potential. Each of us can and must be an actor of this first historical meeting.

ON THE AGENDA!

The Congress will be the moment to challenge conventional thinking, at both a collective and individual level to build specifics bounds between Africa and the Diasporas.

“Africa Femmes Performances’ responsibility to associate the voices of African-American women to the construction of specifics bounds between America, Africa and the Diasporas.

Contribute to modify the negative perception of Africa by Africans, African Americans and neo-diasporan, by emphasizing on the positive achievements in various sectors. To create a global campaign for Africa and the diasporas aimed at mobilizing individuals, sportswomen, artists, institutions, corporations and government in favor of black community.

Get the full dretails on the International Congress of Black Women.

The Black Women in Europe™ Blog is proud to announce that we are a media partner of the World Diversity Leadership Summit Europe taking place in Vienna Friday, March 12, 2010

The World Diversity Leadership Summit-WDLS brings together global diversity CEOs, policy and decision makers, corporate practitioners, academics, media, etc. to share their experiences, research findings, strategies and best practices on global diversity and inclusion.

Founded in 2004 in Prague, Czech Republic, the WDLS has grown to be one of the top annual global diversity conferences in the USA (www.wdlsummit.com). Past speakers have included global CEO’s, authors, educators, journalists, global maestro, lawyers, consultants, government leaders, diversity executives, business executives, and non-profit leaders.

The WDLS–EU summit is designed to provide powerful information and trends on business, research, education, media etc., which relate directly to market trends, global competition, sales and marketing. This conference also provides a forum for face-to-face networking between diversity thought leaders, potential strategic partners, prospects and customers.

The WDLS-EU is taking place from Thursday11th – Friday 12th March 2010 in Vienna, Austria.

WDLS-EU Panels

O Recruiting and Managing Diverse Talent by 2020
O Leveraging diversity in a demographically changing environment
O The hidden power of global supplier and marketplace diversity
O Comparative advantages of changing affinity groups
O Leveraging of European and Global Diversity and Inclusion by 2020
O The power of social networks in corporate recruitment and Retention by 2020

WDLS-EU 2010

WDLS-EU is focusing on regional and global strategies aiming at integrating diversity and inclusion to combat poverty and social exclusion in the “EU year of the eradication of poverty and social exclusion 2010″. Managing an ever aging population and a growing number of ethnic minorities is no doubt one of fhe greatest challenges of the European Union, its institutions and business in the 21. century. What strategies and tools are CEOs, management and the European Union envisaging at regional and global level to ensure equal opportunities through recruiting, managing and retaining diverse talents by 2020?

Sponsorship Opportunities

WDLS- EU provides conference sponsorship opportunities as well as conference event sponsorships. Within the conference, companies can sponsor specific events such as cocktail parties, luncheons, and other social activities – and utilize their own marketing strategies to make them a success and to maximize the sponsor’s recognition. The WDLS –EU conference provides powerful business research, education, and information, which relate directly to market trends, global competition, sales and marketing. This conference also provides a forum for face-to-face networking between leaders, potential strategic partners, prospects and customers. For information on sponsorship and other marketing opportunities, please contact:
Beatrice Achaleke, WDLS Conference Manager, +43 1 9660 425 or diversitysummit@wdls.eu

Call for Speakers

Speakers are still being accepted for review. WDLS-EU-international-call-for-speakers.doc.
Please send your request, along with your press kit, to:
AFRA, Event Office for WDLS-EU,
Pelzgasse 7/1-2, A-1150 Wien

Registration

Registration fee includes participation in the conference sessions, split up sessions, conference materials, meals and both opening and closing receptions. Please make your payments by credit cards! Electronic receipts for registration fee are sent before the conference. For registration fee paid at the conference, receipts will be available at the conference registration desk.

WDLSE registration link

By Joyce van Genderen-Naar
 
On 23, 24 and 25 September 2009 a Thematic Workshop on Gender, Peace, Security and Development ‘, What Can the EU do?, was organised by EuropeAid cooperation office (AIDCO) in cooperation with DG Development and DG External relations in Brussels.

The training was attended by participants from the EU, Kenya, Angola, Botswana, DR of Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan, Colombia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Kosovo and Ukraine.
 
The main issues discussed were: understanding the impact of conflict on gender roles and relations,  understanding the different ways men and women experience and influence conflict dynamics and peace building, the EU Legal framework and Comprehensive Approach, the United Nations Security Council Resolutions (UNSCR) 1325 and 1820 on Women, Peace and Security , EU policies and instruments on women, peace, security and development, EU guidelines on violence against women and girls and combating all forms of discrimination against them, gender dimensions of conflict, Gender and DDR (Demilitarisation, Demobilisation and Reintegration with Liberia as good example), Security Sector Reform (SSR), Justice Sector,  Crisis Management and Gender Based Violence.
 
Violence against women, gender-based violence, is a global problem. At least 1 out of  every 3 women in the world has been beaten, raped, abused etc.  
 
The participants shared and acquired relevant knowledge and skills on gender policies and practices with the aim to incorporate in their work what they learned, linking theory to practice. They discussed the obstacles they encounter working with gender issues. The name and notion of ‘gender’ is an obstacle itself, not understood or wrongly interpreted by many men and women. Gender has to do with equality and equal representation of men and women at all kinds of level in politics, economics, in work and life. Because women are underrepresented at all levels, most attention in gender is given to women, especially to defend women’s rights when they are at stake, in war and conflict situations. The UN Security Resolutions are so important because for the first time in history it is legally recognized that violence against women in war (rape, torture and killing) is a war crime, to be prosecuted in court. That was not possible before. 
 
One of the important recommendations of the Workshop in Brussels was to involve more men  in Gender issues to bring about changes, because “Men listen more to men”. 
 
Gender is a cross cutting issues, that means that in every project and programme of the EC the equal representation has to be addressed. In practice, sanctions stay out, when not addressed.
         
What Gender means in practice was explained during the Workshop by the following true story: Gender perspective on building a bridge.
“A group of men were to be sent to Sri Lanka in order to build a bridge. During one of the Swedish Rescue Service Agency’s pre-operations briefings, gender equality was on the agenda. However, the operation officer did not think that was necessary: “Our task is to build a bridge, we do not need to worry about gender issues”, he said.
The instructor then started to ask questions: “Who is going to use this bridge? “Well, the locals,” the officer answered. “You mean men, women and children?”, the instructor asked. “Well, yes.”
“OK, how do they travel?” “By car mostly”, the officer answered.
“The women too?,” the instructor asked
“No they’ll probably walk,” the officer answered.
“Then maybe you want to consider building a pedestrian zone on the bridge?” the instructor asked. The operation officer could only agree.
“Now, gentlemen, we have just used a gender perspective on building a bridge,” the instructor added.

Liberia: Pray the Devil Back to HellMost impressing was the presentation of Dr. Ruth Caesar from Liberia, who spoke about the role of the Liberian women during and after the war in Liberia, showed by the Film ‘Pray the Devil Back to Hell’ 2008. From 1989 to 1996 one of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars took place in Liberia, claiming the lives of more than 200,000 Liberians and displacing a million others into refugee camps in neighboring countries. Christian and Muslim women in Liberia united to end the war and to bring peace in their country, fed up with 15 years of war and bloodshed. They engaged themselves in the peace negotiations, which resulted in democratic elections and the democratic election of the first female President of Liberia and of Africa: Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. They also engaged in rebuilding of the country through the Demilitarisation, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programme in Liberia and the applying of the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325 and 1820 in a comprehensive way.

Dr. Ruth Caesar is the Deputy Executive Director of this programme in Liberia. She was one of the courageous Liberian women who united to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country. Thousands of women, ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters,  Christians and Muslims, came together every day during many years to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and courage, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Determined to bring dignity and peace back to their country they stood up to Charles Taylor and the warlords. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

Their story is a true story of sacrifice, unity and transcendence, so impressing, touching and inspiring, that it has been filmed with the help of these courageous women. The film/documentary, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, has won an award and it is an honour for the strength and perseverance of the women of Liberia. Inspiring, uplifting, and most of all motivating, it is a compelling testimony of how grassroots activism can alter the history of nations (Fork Films email: info@praythedevilbacktohell.com; website www.PrayTheDevilBackToHell.com )

In order to maintain stability through the post-conflict period, Liberia’s security sector reform efforts have led to the disarmament of more than 100,000 ex-combatants, reconstruction of the Armed Forces of Liberia, and a UN-led effort to overhaul the Liberian National Police. The mandate of UNMIL was extended to September 2009, and a gradual drawdown for several years starting 2008. During this period the Government of Liberia and its development partners will focus on creating jobs, attracting investment, and providing education and other essential services to Liberia’s communities. The Government of Liberia won substantial donor support for its new Poverty Reduction Strategy at the June 2008 Liberia Poverty Reduction Forum in Berlin, Germany. At the Workshop in Brussels Dr. Ruth Caesar made clear that genderbased violence has increased in Liberia the last 10 years. So the work goes on to educate men and women.
 
The Special Court for Sierra Leone was established on January 16, 2002, under an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone. It was established to try “those who bear the greatest responsibility” for war crimes, crimes against humanity, other serious violations of international humanitarian law and Sierra Leonean law committed in the territory of Sierra Leone since November 30, 1996. The Special Court for Sierra Leone is trying Charles Taylor. The trial is taking place on the premises of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Charles Taylor is charged with 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Sierra Leone from November 30, 1996, to January 18, 2002. The Prosecutor alleges that Mr. Taylor is responsible for crimes which include murdering and mutilating civilians, including cutting off their limbs; using women and girls as sex slaves; and abducting children adults and forcing them to perform forced labor or become fighters during the conflict in Sierra Leone.

Brussels, October 2009
Joyce van Genderen-Naar
vangenderen@unicall.be

What does control mean for women?
Who controls you?
What controls you?
When does control happen?
Can you handle any form of control?
Where does control fit in the lives of female professionals?
What keeps you from controlling your own life?
Why control or be controlled?

A conference on control in the lives of women and how women are programmed to deal with control.
This conference aims to help women to focus on different aspects of control in their lives. A team of speakers will provide viewpoints on Women and Control. Each participant will have the opportunity to draw upon the expertise of the speakers through their presentations, question and answer sessions and personal contact.

Keynote speaker on Friday March 5, 2010 - 19.30 – 22.30
Continuing on Saturday March 6, 2010 - 09.00 – 17.00
After Conference Event Sunday March 7, 2010 – 16.00 – 18.00 in Bright World Park, Curaçao

There will as always be informal opportunities to connect with the diversity of experiences of the presenters and participants.

Conference advisor: Norma Angel MM
More info: www.aboutwomenconference.com

MyAfricanDiaspora.com is looking for fiction that is unique, stories with characters they’ll remember, plots that leave them thinking. The contest is open to anyone, any race, any country, any continent. The only caveat? The main character must be of African descent.

Rules
The contest runs from October 1 – December 31, 2009, winner announced February 1, 2010
Entries must be 1500 words or less;
The entry fee is $10 (via paypal or money order payable to DreamDeep LLC.)
Address:
DreamDeep LLC
9360 W. Flamingo Rd.
#110-117
Las Vegas, NV 89147;
Main character must be of African descent;
Story must be previously unpublished.

Submit entries to info @ myafricandiaspora.com, with the words “Short Story Contest: (input genre and name of your short story)” in the subject line. Ex. Short Story Contest: Mystery My Story. Copy & Paste into the body of the email. No attachments.

Be sure to include your contact information and word count with submissions.

There will be one overall winner and one winner from each of the following genres: Literary, Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Mystery, Romance (we prefer stories without gratuitous sex or violence)

Prizes
First Place: $500 Genre Winners: $25 Borders Gift Card

Each winner will have their story and a feature article published on myafricandiaspora.com.

The winners and top three entries in each genre will have their short stories published in a short story collection (with royalties) at the end of the year.

For 5 years Sisay Internationals have been active in the natural haircare business. Hair treatments with herbs, oils and clays for healthy strong growing hair. In March of this year Sisay Internationals introduces the concept of “Hairwellness” a concept in which everything that could be damaging for the hair is seen as a taboe.

`I have experienced how treating your hair with natural products and products on natural basis can benefit the health of your hair” says Janine van Throo, founder and owner of Sisay International natural. In the Sisay Wellness Boutique opened earlier this year, woman of color have finally found a place where they can get unique hair treatments with pure, natural herbs, clays and oils.

The clientel of Sisay International is constantly expanding, according to Janine, this is because the wellness boutique offers services that  a lot of people have been looking and waiting for. A place where they can be treated with natural products and a place where people have knowledge of natural / black hair that has not been chemically altered. In the Range of the herbs Sisay carries the recently added ayurvedic herbs and oils such as Amla, Shikakai, Hibiscus, rose and Neem. Ayurveda oils and herbs are being used for centuries now for treating and preventing hair issues such as hairloss, alopeicia, gray hair. But these herbs are also absolutely suitable for one who wants to get healthy strong growing hair.

According to Janine people are getting aware of the damage chemicals can do, so they search for natural alternatives. With these treatments Janine knows for sure she offers something unique that people truly need. She also hopes that this is something more hairdressers would want to offer to their clients. Although we are specialists on treating natural black hair, we do treat other types of hair since the herbs are suitable for all hairtypes, says Janine.

Sisay International – Almere
Janine van Throo
Sisay wellness Boutique
Reguliersdwarsstraat 49-2
1017 BK Amsterdam- Netherlands
Tel:+31 6 29384659
info@sisay.eu
www.sisay.eu

More about Chimamanda Adichie: Click Here

On January the 12th 2004 the business club Black Business Women in the Netherlands (ZZVN), was established to give the entrepreneurship of black women a new impulse. The establishment had a reliable preparation, because of the continually increasing demand of entrepreneur to a congenial platform The ZZVN is already active for more than 9 years in the Netherlands, as a part of the European Federation Black Business Owners (EFBWBO). The election of the Dutch Black Business Woman is one of its highlights. As from 1997 a Dutch Black Business Woman has been appointed. With a network database of more than 5,000 members, both the ZZVN and EFBWBO try to meet up with the European developments, with the objective to organise the black business women, to realise knowledge exchange and economical growth in the Netherlands.

Their next awards dinner is on 10 October 2009.

Black History Month has been celebrated across the UK every October for over 30 years, each year growing from strength to strength. Black History Month is a time when we highlight and celebrate the achievements of the black community and uncover hidden history about our communities.

The BHM site will provide you with a comprehensive guide to all the activities which are taking place throughout Black History Month and keep you updated throughout the year with information relating to Black History, Education, Arts and Culture.
You can visit them through this link: http://www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk/
Highlights of Black History Month 2009 for London, England:

•Black History: Green History Series, British Museum, 17 Oct (free)
Short films, documentaries and talks on climate change, poverty and sustainability in Africa and the Caribbean, plus sustainability awareness in the UK
•Family Day: Black History Month, Sutton House, 25 Oct (free)
Black music, art, food and dance for all the family
•Black History Month Trail, Sutton House, 1 Oct-31 Nov
Follow the trail to learn about the lives of influential black Londoners
•Black History Month – Struggles for Black Community, Rich Mix, 24 Oct
Colin Prescod, Chair of the Institute of Race Relations, presents two seminal documentaries on contemporary Black history plus a Q&A session
•In Conversation with… Diane Abbott, Museum of London, 21 Oct (free)
MP Diane Abbott, the first black woman elected to Parliament, shares her defining memories of London
•The Price of Sweetness, Museum of London, 24 & 27 Oct (free)
Interactive workshop of poetry, rap and sugar bowl-making with rap artist BREIS
•Black History Month – Family Workshops, Imperial War Museum London, 26-30 Oct (free)
Hands-on, drop-in session where you can learn about African, Asian and Caribbean servicemen and women in the Second World War
•Writing Africa: Marking 10 Years of the Caine Prize, British Library, 10 Oct
Celebrate 10 years of Africa’s highest literary award with Booker Prize Winner Ben Okri Brian Chikwava, Chika Unigwe and Binyavanga Wainaina.
•”Here’s One”: Roland Hayes, British Library, 27 Oct
Remembering Roland Hayes: son of former slaves and the first African-American man to gain fame as a classical singer throughout the world, with Michael Harper
•Football Workshop, Westminster Academy, 7 Oct
Talk to professional players and try out your skills, with Paul Canoville, Chelsea Football Club’s first black player, and London Tigers
•Historical Boat Trips, departing from Tate Pier, 13 & 20 Oct
Learn about life in London during slavery on a guided Thames boat tour
•Mary Seacole Play, Beethoven Community Centre, 14 Oct
Cleo Sylvestre performs a play about the life of Mary Seacole, followed by a chance to meet Mary in full costume and ask questions

Get more information from the Visit London website: http://www.visitlondon.com/events/detail/4733701

Contact ZZVN for more information on this year’s October Gala.

African Odysseys Screenings: Playing Away + Introduction by Horace Ové (TBC)

When: Sat 10 October 2009, 14:00
Where: BFI Southbank, SE1, NFT 1
Adm: Matinee tickets £5 (free for seniors)

Inspiring films from the hip-hop youth of Dakar to the cinematic infuence of Spike Lee.

UK 1986. Dir Horace Ové. With Norman Beaton, Robert Urquhart. 100min

In this funny and poignant drama, a West Indian cricket team from Brixton plays an away match against a local team in a suffolk village.

Tickets 020 7928 3232 / www.bfi.org.uk

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An open debate on the Black Arts: “There is a thin line between love and the BLACK ARTS”

When: Thursday 15th October 2009, 7 – 9PM
Where: Original Gallery, Hornsey Library, Crouch End, London N8 9JA
Adm: Free

Artists and creative people from the community are invited to an event presenting solutions to the issues that are facing young and up-and-coming artists who choose a career in the fine arts.

The evening will include a presentation of selective artwork.

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Black British Perspectives: Music

Date: Tuesday 20 October
Time: 2-4pm
Venue: The Venue, Leeds College of Music, 3 Quarry Hill, Leeds, LS2 7PD
Tel:0113 222 3400

http://www.lcm.ac.uk/info/maps.htm

Music and arts critic Kevin Le Gendre asks guests, singer Sheila Chandra and music manager, Kwame Kwaten (formely of D’Influence), how hard have black and other multi-ethnic British artists had to struggle to be recognised over the years, in order to break through in the mainstream on their own terms? Are there still enough Black powerbrokers in the music industry and media to ensure that original Black voices are given a platform to do what they feel is progressive without pandering to expectations from ‘inside’ and outside their own community?

Rsvp by 16 Oct
kadijageorge(at)gmail.com
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Word Power: International Black Literature Festival & Book Fair – Voices of the Diaspora

When: 24th – 25th October 2009
Time: 3-6pm
Where: Ocean, 270 Mare Street, Hackney London E8
Adm: Free

Dozens of Authors, hundreds of readers, thousands of Books. All under one roof.

Featuring leading writers, historians, poets, publishers, distributors, book sellers dealing with African Caribbean literature from all over the world.

Bonnie Greer, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing (author of The Isis Papers), Dr Haki R. Madhubuti (Founder and editor of Third World Press), Nia Reynolds, Paul Ifayomi Grant, Wayne B. Chandler, Dr Marimba Ani, Anthony T. Browder, Sister Nzingha Assata, Jacob Ross, Dr Robinson Millwood, Onyeka, Paul Simons, Nathaniel Agbahowe, Debii Mckoy, Charles Emeka, Anton Marks, Dan Obachike, Dr William ‘Lez’ Henry plus many more.

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Lecture: Dr Frances Cress Welsing

When: 31st October 2009
Time: 6.30 – 10pm
Where: Centreprise, 136 Kingsland High Street, London E8, 2NS
Adm: Tickets £12 adv – £15 on the door

A lecture by Dr Frances Cress Welsing, author of The Isis Papers, the Keys to the Colors

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Not to be outdone by London, Liverpool offers a full schedule of Black History Month events. Here are just two:

Destination freedom

Based upon the true story of William and Ellen Craft, this performance follows their personal journey from enslavement to freedom.

Suitable for all visitors

Dates
Next date : 2pm and 3pm – Sunday 11 October 2009

International Slavery Museum
International Slavery Museum visitor information

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Great African women
The second in a series of three informal Sunday School lectures by Dr Mark Ledwidge, dealing with different aspects of Black heritage, politics and culture.

You do not need to attend all three sessions but places are limited and open to 16s and over. Please email Sam Turner to book a place.

Suitable for adults / seniors

Dates
Next date : 1-3.30pm – Sunday 11 October 2009

International Slavery Museum
Lecture theatre, 4th floor
International Slavery Museum visitor information

View the full schedule for events in Liverpool: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatsonnet/eventseries.aspx?sid=7

Call for sponsors
Adrianne George and Sandra Rafaela, founders of the Women of the African Diaspora website and social network are requesting businesses and individuals who provide products or services of interest to black women to sponsor our 2nd anniversary.
http://www.womenoftheafricandiaspora.com
http://blackwomenunite.ning.com

Benefits to sponsors
During the period 3 September 2008 to 3 October 2009 the WAD website had over 6,000 unique visitors from the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, Spain, Italy, South Africa, Ireland, Nigeria, India, Australia, Switzerland, Austria, the Philippines, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, China, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Portugal, Greece, Ghana, Brazil, Slovenia, Denmark, Japan, Poland, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, Kenya, Finland, Russia, Romania, Jamaica, Ivory Coast, Suriname, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Sudan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Israel, U.S. Virgin Islands, Malaysia, Lebanon, Senegal, Egypt, Bermuda, Barbados, Uganda, Hungary, New Zealand, Luxembourg, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Mexico, Benin, Guadeloupe, Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, Iran, Bahamas, Colombia, Morocco, the Czech Republic, Bahrain, Vietnam, Oman, French Guiana, Rwanda, Kuwait, Chile, Singapore, Cameroon, Saint Lucia, Ukraine, Mozambique, Venezuela, Argentina, Malta, Peru, Qatar, the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Togo, Antigua and Barbuda, Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Croatia, Tunisia, Ecuador, Martinique, Algeria, Malawi, Guyana, Tanzania, Myanmar [Burma], Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Latvia, Nepal, Georgia, Bangladesh, Mayotte, Angola, Jordan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, São Tomé and Príncipe, Zambia, Aruba, Jersey, Cyprus, Cape Verde, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Réunion, Iceland, Uruguay, Gambia, Dominican Republic, Niger, Slovakia and Liberia.

Your business will be advertised in the press release announcing our anniversary, on the WAD website and social network and listed on our partners’ page http://womenoftheafricandiaspora.com/partners/ with your logo linking to your website. As a WAD partner you are encouraged to periodically share information with us to be included on our website.

Deadline and contact information
Please contact us by 2 November 2009 to secure your sponsorship. Email Adrianne with any questions and your offer on adrianne@womenoftheafricandiaspora.com. Include your logo and website address.

The exposition was opened on Friday October 2, 2009 at the Kas di Kultura (Culture House) in Curaçao by Reyna Joe who spoke about the family influence that shaped Gala Lewis Martinus into the artist that she is. Gala is number 6 in a family of 11 children and her parents stimulated her to continue on her artistic path.

This exposition of dolls made from newspapers is the result of Gala Lewis Martinus’ effort to show what can be done with trash. ‘From Newspaper to Elegance’ is her third art exposition. Her first exposition was in 2005 and named ‘Family Connection’. This was an exposition where she and her siblings presented the result of their artistic skills.

In 2008 she and her brother, painter Rudsel held an exposition at the Curaçao Museum with different pieces of themselves and of their students. This third exposition shows a collection of elegant dolls made completely from old newspapers and (to hold them up) seed sticks of the Royal Poinciana.

Gala Lewis Martinus also paints, is specialized in ceramic pieces and prefers to work with recycled materials.
Contact Gala Lewis Martinus at: galamartinus@hotmail.com

Beatrice Acheleke, founder and leader of the Black European Women’s Council was honored at the 2009 World Diversity Leadership Summit this month in Washington, DC. Ms. Acheleke is a mother, executive director of AFRA, a non-profit, non governmental self-organisation and NGO of Black Women with headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and an inspiration to Black women everywhere.

Previous honorees include Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic and leader of the Czech Velvet Revolution against Communist Rule.

The World Diversity Leadership Summit conference is the world’s leading gathering of senior corporate executives, leading experts and policymakers focused on global and local diversity best practices. Conference partners included some of the largest and most respected companies and media outlets n the world.

The Black Women in Europe Blog and Social Network, and Women of the African Diaspora website and social network is proud to know Beatrice and have her as a member of our community! We salute you and congratulate you!

Wanted:
Follow up letters to the book Go, Tell Michelle, African American Women Write to the New First Lady. New submissions are requested from Black women living in Africa, Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin American, the Middle East, and South America addressed to Mrs. Michelle Obama.
We are especially interested in your reactions to this historic event in African American history; the public response to Michelle in your community; your perception of how Michelle has changed the image of Black Women around the world; public reaction when she visited your part of the world; your hopes and dreams for the First Lady; treatment of Michelle by the American and foreign press and your fears, cautions and hopes.

Why: Published in the upcoming book Go, Tell Michelle: African American Women in the Global Diaspora.

What: Submissions can be poems, letters, and other prose and should be between 350 -800 words.

When: Your deadline for submission is October 1, 2009. Submit to: uqi@buffalo.edu (Uncrowned Queens Institute). Send questions to pbertram@gmail.com and bnevergo@buffalo.edu

Visit: Go, Tell Michelle Sisterhood Network at GTMsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com on http://gtmsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com/

The Kings and Queens from Ghana visited the Surinam community in Amsterdam The Netherlands. Surinam is a former colony of the Netherlands. Since 1975 Surinam is independent.

Roots of former Surinam slaves can be found in Ghana.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who voted for the Black Women in Europe™ Blog in the 2009 Black Weblog Award contest! Tusen tack!

The Black Women in Europe™ blog is extremely honored to have won both the judges and popular vote in 2007, and to be a finalist in 2008 and again this year.

Congratulations to the winners in the International category in which we competed:

Ebony Intuition won the Popular Vote and black and (A)broad won the Judges Vote.

Tour the Black Blogsphere by checking out all of this year’s winners.

Host: Solidarité Africaine de France
Moderator: Sandrine Joseph
Price: 12€
Date: Sunday, September 6, 2009
Time: 12:00pm – 6:30pm
Location: Belushi’s Paris
Street: 159 Rue de crimée Metro CRIMÉ ligne 7
City/Town: Paris, France
Email: soafric@hotmail.fr
Website: http://www.s-af.org/

Au nom de l’association Solidarité Africaine de France , nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à une rencontre excepptionnelle, dont le thème sera: Identité noire dans la République Française ( la place des noirs dans le paysage républicain).

La rencontre se déroulera le dimanche 06 Septembre de 12h à 18h selon le programme ci-après 12h à 13h présentation des participants, de 13h à 14h déjeuner, et de 14 h à 18 débat au restaurant le Belushi’s Paris 159 rue de crimée( en face du canal ).

J’attire particulièrement votre attention sur le fait que notre intervenant, l’historien,écrivain,éditeur Dieudonné GNAMMANKOU, est un des plus grands professeurs d’histoire(enseignant d’histoire Africaine à la Sorbonne), il est aussi l’auteur de nombreux livres et articles.

Vous avez des idées des propositions d’actions favorisant la diversité et des envies de partager pour agir alors, chaque participant aura la parole entre 5 et-10 minutes pour exposer son idée.

Un modérateur sera présent pour assurer le cadre du débat et reformuler les propositions.

Un repas d’un prix de 12€ à la charge de chaque participant est à payer sur place au restaurant. Toute participation confirmée engage auprès du restaurant le paiement du repas.

Pour de plus amples informations vous pouvez joindre Arsène Olivier NIOMBELA au 06 09 24 81 63 ( responsable de la communication SAF) or Guy Samuel Nyoumsi au 06 98 97 43 61 ( Président de SAF).

Listen to “Harriet”.

“Harriet” is a choreopoem by Zhana which explores themes around the sexual exploitation of African American women during enslavement.

“Harriet” tells the true story of Harriet Jacobs, author of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and portrays an imaginary meeting between her and Harriet Tubman. Harriet Jacobs hid in a tiny attic for seven years to escape the attentions of her white slavemaster.

Once free, she realized that freedom had always been her birthright, not something she should have to buy.

A black woman backed by the anti-immigrant Northern League has been elected mayor of the small Italian town of Viggiu close to the Swiss border. Sandy Cane, elected in local elections held across Italy at the weekend, won by a slim margin of only 38 votes.

The 48-year-old mayor will govern the town and surrounding district of Valceresio, on the border of Varesotto and the Swiss canton of Ticino.

The daughter of an American soldier and a woman from Viggiu who emigrated to northern France, Cane was born in Springfield in the US state of Massachusetts.

She told Adnkronos that the Northern League had “welcomed her warmly” and that she “was in love with Viggiu”.

Read more at adnkronos.com.

“I want to think about the elderly and the young,” she said. She regarded as a “joke” suggestions by the Northern League secretary in Milan, Matteo Salvini, that the city should segregate train passengers by race.

Read more at The Independent.

View more photos.

African American women living in Europe are invited to submit a letter to United States First Lady Michelle Obama for an upcoming book entitled Go, Tell Michelle, African American Women in Europe Write to the New First Lady. This is a follow up to the book Go, Tell Michelle, African American Women Write to the New First Lady (GTMsisterhoodnetwork.blogspot.com).

For more information and to participate contact Peggy Brooks-Bertrain on pbertram(at)gmail.com.

On August 1, 2009 about 15 ladies from the Black Women in Europe™ and Women of the African Diaspora social networks and readers of Evia Moore’s Ezine, at the bequest of Lorraine Spencer, gathered at the home of Katrice N. Jones on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Sisters were in town from Philadelphia, New York and Stockholm as well as the Washington, DC metropolitan area and were treated to a regional delicacy, crab cakes, fruit, veggies, chicken, sweet and savory patisseries and smoothies.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

In between the jovial and robust conversations, among women in a variety of professions, about world travel, autism, and living in Asia, Europe and the United States we were treated to massage therapy by Barbara Hakal of Hakalistics Healing Hands.

And no one left empty handed but instead with swag bags filled with treats including the career book for women, Ambition is not a dirty word, soothing help for high heel wearers appropriately called “Soulmates”, a Pingo calling card and more.

“This is the second time Lorraine has pulled us together as a group. The first time I met some of the sisters from the Black Women in Europe social network was in January 2007. I was in from Sweden visiting my parents in Washington, DC and called Lorraine”, Adrianne George explains. “I put the word out in the network and Lorraine, Didi and Katrice met me at the Washington Marriott. We had a good time. But when Lorraine pulled the network together this past January for ‘A Room Full of Sistahs’ it was magical. So many members were in from Europe for Obama’s inauguration”, says George. “Our August event felt just as good”.

Resources:
Autism: http://www.AutismAnthem.com
Black Expat: http://www.BlackExpat.com
Black Female Interracial Marriage: http://www.BlackFemaleInterRacialMarriage.com
Black Women in Europe™ Social Network: http://BlackWomenInEurope.ning.com
Hakalistics Healing Hands: http://www.hakalistics.org
Women of the African Diaspora Social Network: http://WomenOfTheAfricanDiaspora.com

Sponsors:
Books: http://www.AmbitionIsNotADirtyWord.com
Booklets: http://www.LAForFreeAlmost.com
Book marks: http://www.DivaToolBox.com
Phone Card: http://www.pingo.com
Gift Certificate: http://ImpactLifeCoaching.info
Soulmates: http://www.Soulemates.com

06. – 09.08.2009 in Helmarshausen

Beim ISD-Bundestreffen

trifft sich jedes Jahr die Schwarze Gemeinschaft in Deutschland.

Im November 1985 riefen zum ersten Mal Schwarze Frauen und Männer bundesweit zu einem Treffen in Wiesbaden auf, um aus der damals erlebten Isolation in einer weißen Gesellschaft herauszutreten. Viele folgten diesem Aufruf. Das war der Anstoß für eine bundesweite (damals vorerst noch die alte Bundesrepublik Deutschland) Bewegung Schwarzer Menschen in Deutschland. Ein Novum im Deutschland nach dem Nationalsozialismus. Vieles hat sich seit diesen Anfängen geändert. Aus einer überschaubaren Anzahl von Kontakten wurde eine vielschichtige Vernetzung. Schwarze Menschen bearbeiten Themen miteinander, schaffen Diskussionsforen, schaffen Wissen, gestalten ihren privaten wie öffentlichen Raum.

Es wird Workshops, Vorträge, Gespräche, Austausch, Infostände, Kinderprogramm und viel Raum zum Selbstgestalten geben. Abends gibt´s Kultur pur, z.B. Filme, Performance/ Lesung, DJ- und Live-Musik. Und natürlich könnt ihr bei Ragga, Soul, Soukouss, Hip Hop und allem was sonst noch Spaß macht, abtanzen. Themen auf den Bundestreffen sind Schwarze Geschichte, Schwarze Menschen in Bildung und Beruf, Schwarze Netzwerke, Schwarze Identitäten in Deutschland, Stärkung der Kinder und Jugend, Selbstbehauptung im Alltag, und vieles mehr …

Get more information about the ISD-Bundestreffen.

More than 10, 000 Nigerian girls held captive as sex slaves in Morocco and Libya are to be repatriated, the House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora has revealed in a statement.

The girls reportedly from Edo State, the southern part of the country, aged between 13 and 17, had been held captive by sex slave traders, the statement said.

According to the Committee statement, it is currently working with relevant authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations to ensure the safe return of the young girls.

Read the full article on Afrol.com.

Githu Muigai, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, wrapped up a 10-day visit to Germany by praising the country for the progress it has made in recent year in combating racism.

Yet, in a statement issued in Berlin, he said that more needed to be done, especially in ensuring that migrants are better integrated into German society.

“In view of the new challenges facing Germany in the 21st century, there is a need to shift from a more circumscribed view of racism as associated to right-wing extremism to a broader understanding of the problem that takes into account the difficult challenges of integration and the recognition that racism occurs regularly in everyday life,” he said.

Mr. Muigai said that he was therefore encouraged by the open acknowledgement by authorities that Germany is a country of migrants and that migrants make a positive contribution to society.

He also warned that despite the high awareness in Germany of the threat posed by right-wing extremism, groups based on this ideology have demonstrated enduring resilience and thus need constant vigilance.

But Mr. Muigai welcomed the establishment of a federal anti-discrimination agency and the adoption of equal treatment laws, and called for the anti-discrimination framework to be more made more active.

He also called for more resources to be devoted to the agency so that it can be more independent and robust.

“The legal and institutional frameworks play a key role in the fight against racism, not only by providing victims with the possibility of seeking remedies, but also by demonstrating to society that racism and discrimination are unlawful and will bring swift consequences.

The Special Rapporteur, who serves in an unpaid and personal capacity and reports to the Human Rights Council, also welcomed local anti-racism initiatives he saw in action in cities such as Stuttgart, Nuremberg and Leipzig, and he called for them to be replicated across the country.

UN News Centre

Article by Joyce van Genderen-Naar

ACP-EU Courier, N.11 – May June 2009 www.acp-eucourier.info

HOW DUTCH ARE THEY?

The Dutch Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) consist of six islands, located in the Caribbean Sea, also known as the Dutch Caribbean. These six islands are: Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius.

Five of these islands are the Netherlands Antilles, divided into the Leeward Islands (northern) group (Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten) and the Windward Islands (southern) group (Bonaire and Curaçao). The island of Sint Maarten / Saint Martin is the smallest landmass in the world shared by two independent states, the French territory of Saint Martin in the north and the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten in the south. Aruba was part of the Netherlands Antilles until 1986 when it gained its Status Aparte. 

The six islands belong to the Netherlands since 1634, when the Dutch captured them from Spain. Curaçao became a slave trading post and the center of the Caribbean slave trade until the abolition of slavery in 1863. The Dutch West-Indian Trading Company transported the captive Africans from the West-African Coast to Curaçao. Here they remained in camps for some years and were sold to the continent or put to work in the fields or as house slaves. When oil was discovered off the shores of Venezuela in the early 20th century a refinery was built in Curaçao to process the Venezuelan oil. Curaçao and Aruba prospered and an offshore financial sector was created in Curaçao for Dutch business interests. The islands stayed Dutch colonies until 1954, when they received a certain kind of autonomy and together with Suriname became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Only in internal affairs full autonomy was granted. The Dutch Government remained responsible for defense and foreign affairs of their overseas Caribbean countries.

Tourism, petroleum refining, and offshore finance are the main pillars of the economy of the Netherlands Antilles. Natural resources are beaches and offshore diving sites.

The islands enjoy a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure compared with other countries in the region. The nominal GDP is $3.3 billion and the GDP per capita $17,800. Tourism/services count for 84% of GDP. The real growth rate is 1.2%. Industry is 15% of GDP (petroleum refining in Curaçao, petroleum transshipment facilities in Curaçao and Bonaire, light manufacturing in Curaçao). Agriculture is 1% of GDP with aloes, sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, and tropical fruit as products.

Trade: Exports $3.4 billion, concerning petroleum products. Major markets are U.S. 24%, Venezuela 15%, Guatemala 10%, and Singapore 6%.

Imports $3.5 billion, concerning machinery and electrical equipment, crude oil (for refining and re-export), chemicals, foodstuffs; major suppliers are Venezuela 59.8%, U.S. 12.55%.

Most of the oil that the Netherlands Antilles import for its refineries comes from Venezuela. Almost all consumer and capital goods are imported. The USA, Italy and Mexico are the major suppliers. The Netherlands provide financial aid.

The population of the islands speaks Papiamentu, an official language with Spanish, Portuguese and Creole roots. It is the language used at schools, at home, on TV, in the newspapers, in the Courts, for music, poetry, literature etc. 

 
The dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles

The Netherlands Antilles and the Dutch government agreed upon the dismantling of the Netherlands Antilles in January 2010. Curaçao and St. Maarten will receive more autonomous status within the Dutch Kingdom, comparable to the status aparte that Aruba has since 1986. The other three Dutch OCT-islands, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will become a “gemeente” of the Netherlands that is a small Dutch municipality with a Dutch mayor. Which raises the question why in the 21^st Century islands want to become more dependent instead of less dependent. An explanation is that they are too small, the population of Bonaire being 11,537, Saba 1,491, St. Eustatius 2,699. Until now the central government of the Netherlands Antilles in Curaçao has taken the decisions for these small islands.

While Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba will become a Dutch Gemeente, Curaçao and St. Maarten will become autonomous countries of the Dutch Kingdom. This was agreed with Holland but only under very severe financial conditions. The central government of the Dutch Kingdom in The Hague, the Netherlands, wants to keep financial control and financial supervision of Curaçao. The population of Curaçao gave its opinion on the final agreement to get an independent status in the Dutch Kingdom during the Referendum that took place on 15 May 2009: 52% voted YES and 48% voted NO.   

‘Dushi Kòrsou’: Land of the Sweet (‘Dushi’) Land of the Heart (‘corazon; coraçao’)
Curaçao is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles. 140.000 people, 40 nationalities, are living together on a surface area of 44 km2, a multi-cultural population with their roots in many countries. Due to the island’s slightly heart-shaped bays, Curaçao received the Spanish name corazon (heart) or Portuguese coraçao. Another explanation is that it is derived from the Spanish or Portuguese word for healing: curación or cura, because of the curative effects of the many tropical fruits. In Papiamentu Curaçao is Kòrsou and well known as ‘Dushi Kòrsou’, which means ‘Sweet Curaçao’.

Curaçao has a geographical favorable position in the Caribbean, just above Latin America (Venezuela), with its many natural harbors, excellent geo-political location, good connections by air and by sea and modern infrastructure. A quite unique spectacle is the huge cruise and cargo ships that daily enter the large natural harbor of Willemstad in the town centre. Curaçao is officially outside the hurricane belt and suffer fewer damages as other Caribbean islands in the hurricane seasons

Tourism and financial services are an important source of income for Curaçao. Average 5 cruise ships each week come to Curaçao, with tourists from the USA and the Caribbean. Tourism from the Netherlands is very high and KLM re-introduced its Boeing 747 to meet the increasing demand from the Netherlands, Germany and Scandinavia. The economy of Curaçao performs well. Main contributors to the recent economic expansion are: tourism (stay-over tourism grew by 28 percent in 2007 and 30 percent in 2008, cruise tourism triggered a wave of construction of new hotels and expansion of existing ones), the logistics industry including the airport and harbor, the oil industry (increases in refining, storage and transshipment in 2007; in 2008 economic activities in the oil refinery slowed down), financial services sector (expansion in 2007, a deceleration in 2008 due to the international financial turbulence; international financial services develop well due to Curaçaos’ favorable fiscal environment, and the presence of large number of international banks, trust companies, accounting and law firms, international audit firms, international corporate and tax advisors); re-exports by the e-zone companies (decline in 2006 and 2007, reflecting Venezuela’s currency trading restrictions, recovery in 2008). E-commerce contributed to the economic development, using Information and Communication technology (ICT) as a major source of production. Special regulations and laws enable Curaçao to offer special grants to attract investors in e-commerce and to facilitate e-commerce development, local banks offering e-services and financial offshore companies hosting international e-companies.
 
Regional cooperation and integration

Curaçao has always been an island of trade and an open economy, with commerce and business relations with Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, the United States of America and Asia. There is a strong bond with Venezuela, which is by plane only 35 minutes away. Tourists and business people from Venezuela are daily visiting Curaçao. In November, December 2008 and January 2009 Curaçao experienced a ‘golden period’ with all the dollars spent and all the goods bought by visitors from Venezuela. The so-called credit card tourism from Venezuela is a flourishing business in Curaçao, where they buy a lot and withdraw cash money that will be exchanged in the profitable illegal money market in the Venezuelan streets. Well known are also the small boats with fruits and vegetables that sail daily from Venezuela to Curaçao’s floating market in Punda, the other part of Willemstad.

There is also cooperation with the United States of America, especially in the field to combat narco-trafficking.

A longstanding historic cooperation/relationship exists with Suriname, ACP-Caribbean on the North coast of South-America that was part of the Dutch Kingdom as well until 1975. Since 1930 people from Suriname come to work and to live in Curaçao. Each week there are 4 direct flights from Curaçao to Suriname vice versa. In Curaçao rice, fish and other products are imported from Suriname. Famous was the rice-OCT route: rice from Suriname went from Curaçao to the EU-market duty free. In March 2009 members of parliament from Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles met in St. Maarten and decided to extend the trade and other relations between their countries.

The commercial contact between Curaçao and Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago has become significant during the last 5 years. Trinidad established two major companies, RBTT Bank and Guardian Insurance, in the Netherlands Antilles. Barbados has some investments on the islands and a Memorandum of Understanding between Curaçao and Barbados will be signed soon, covering cooperation in the area of Investment Promotion and Export, Regional Integration, Curaçao’s membership of Caricom, Economic Development Harmonization, Alternative Energy (Solar energy, Wind energy), Innovation in Agriculture, Fair Competition Policy and Consumer Protection, Tourism.

The Netherlands Antilles are an associate member of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS). Curaçao is also planning to become a member or associated member of CARICOM (Caribbean Common Market) and is studying what opportunities the Cariforum-EC-EPA could offer Curaçao. A Cariforum-EC-EPA seminar will be organized in Curaçao to deal with these issues. In May 2008 the Chamber of Commerce of Curaçao organized an EPA Fact Finding Trade Mission to Trinidad and Barbados with the participation of public and private sector stakeholders in order to identify Cariforum-EC-EPA business opportunities.

Author: Joyce van Genderen-Naar, Journalist/Lawyer, Brussels, May 2009.

We created a custom perfume to turn us into super vixens.

BLACK EUROPEAN SUMMIT

Transatlantic Dialogue on Political Inclusion
Brussels Declaration
Preamble

We, as members of the public, private, and voluntary sectors from Europe and the United States of America convening in Brussels, Belgium from the 15 to 16 of April for the Black European Summit: Transatlantic Dialogue on Political Inclusion, draw attention to the need for coordinated strategies to address racism
and discrimination;

We recognize the democratic, multi-ethnic and multi-racial nature of our countries’ diverse societies;

We reaffirm the principles of equal rights and self-determination of peoples and recalling that all individuals are born equal in dignity and rights;

We remain concerned that the political and legal systems in some of our societies do not reflect the racial and ethnic diversity within our societies, which then contributes to the continuation of racism and discrimination;

We recognize that the full access of racial and ethnic minorities to participate in the political sphere and relevant areas of decision making at the levels of national, regional, and locally elected government appropriate to each nation is critical to combating racism and inequality and ensuring our democratic societies;

We therefore note the need for concrete strategies to: increase the representation and influence of racial and ethnic minority policymakers; jointly seek solutions to racial and ethnic minorities increased participation in decision-making in the development and implementation of policy initiatives to address discrimination and inequality; and support opportunities to exchange and share perspectives in these areas through the continuance of a transatlantic dialogue to realize these goals.

We today resolve that we will endeavor to enact initiatives to eradicate racial and ethnic discrimination through:

Continuing a transatlantic dialogue that: includes cultural exchanges between American and European racial and ethnic minority groups, including youth; focuses on the development of opportunities for racial and ethnic minority political leadership and participation in the policymaking process; and fosters the exchange of information on best practices to implement and enforce antidiscrimination measures and achieve racial equality;

Joining forces over the coming months to develop common goals and objectives in each of our decision-making bodies to recognize Europe’s Black and racial and ethnic minority populations for their historical and present-day contributions and acknowledge past injustices;

Promoting racial and ethnic minority participation at all levels of national, regional, and local government through the education of civil and political rights, including the legislative process and advocacy of legislative issues relevant to racial and ethnic minority communities, development of targeted professional development and hiring strategies, increased youth and community outreach, and self-organization and other empowerment initiatives;

Reaffirming our continued cooperation and commitment to work with our governments, international institutions, civil society, private sector, and other partners to improve institutions so that they are fully participatory and reflect the democratic principles of equality, justice, and celebration of the strengths of ourcountries’ diversity.

234 Ford House Office Building
3rd and D St. NW
Washington DC 20515
Tel: 202-225-190|Fax: 202-226-4199

Socialist Group in the
European Parliament
Rue Wiertz 60
B-1047 Bruxelles
T +32 2 284 2111
F +32 2 230 6664
www.socialistgroup.eu

Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson
United Nations Office at Geneva
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: 22-9289874|Fax: 22-9289050

For Immediate Release || June 19, 2009
Contact: Neil Simon
Phone: (202) 225-1901
Cell: (202) 340-7450
Neil.Simon@mail.house.gov
www.csce.gov

As Europe Veers Right, Minority Parliamentarians Counter

WASHINGTON– With far-right and anti-immigrant parties making worrying advances in recent elections across Europe, minority lawmakers and leaders called today for the political process to be more inclusive of minorities.

Following April’s “Black European Summit: Transatlantic Dialogue on Political Inclusion” in Brussels, Belgium, minority political and intellectual leaders today adopted a declaration calling for increased efforts to include racial and ethnic minorities in the political process. (Please find attached a copy of the Brussels Declaration).

“I was very pleased to have the opportunity to work on these initiatives with my European colleagues,” said U.S. Congressman and Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL). “Whether speaking about voting and civil rights, increasing minority elected officials and diversity in policy staff, or responding to
discriminatory policies, we have common issues.

While I have been able to share the many successes we have had in the United States in terms of minority political participation, most recently evidenced by President Obama, one need only look at the lack of diversity in the U.S. Senate and staff in Congressional offices and many government agencies to know that we can be doing more. It is one reason I fully support this transatlantic declaration.”

“Despite the global significance of President Obama’s historic election, the reality is that our elected leadership does not reflect the diversity of origins of people in our nations” said Summit co-organizer Harlem Desir, Member of the European Parliament (MEP). “This has contributed to a lack of inclusion of minorities in the planning and implementation of the very policies that impact us. Despite some successes, the overall
results of recent elections are simply further evidence that we must do more to ensure the representation of the diversity of our society.”

“In Britain we had never elected fascists in a national election until now. Whilst in the past there have been far-right MEPs from other countries, such as France, this election saw new groups gaining seats across Europe, and thus a worrying threshold has been crossed,” said Summit co-organizer and President of the European Parliament All Party Group on Anti-Racism and Diversity, Claude Moraes MEP. “We will have to
tackle the pernicious growth of far-right racist parties head-on, at both the grass-roots and parliamentary levels, and an integral part of this lies in encouraging the full inclusion of minorities in the political process.”

U.S. Helsinki Commissioner Congressman G.K. Butterfield (D-NC), a former Judge known for his work supporting voting rights, who participated in the Summit, added, “it is clear by the outcome of the European elections that too few people are taking part in the political process at a potentially great risk to democracy. As I have learned from my work in the U.S., it is critical to remedy this situation rather than preserve a status quo
that repeatedly elects lawmakers who do not represent the diverse interests of the population.”

“These concerns for minority representation are exactly why we adopted the Brussels Declaration,” said Summit co-organizer Joe Frans, Vice President of the United Nations Working Group on Experts of People of African Descent. “The declaration calls for the full and equal participation of non-White citizens of Europe with African, migrant, and other backgrounds in our countries’ democracies. With more racist, xenophobic, and anti-Muslim parties making political gains, immigration and antidiscrimination policies are going to be further scrutinized, which will impact how persons of different races, ethnicities, and religions, are viewed and treated. Implementation of the Brussels declaration in this current climate is of the utmost importance.”

###
The first “Black European Summit: Transatlantic Dialogue on Political Inclusion” was held in Brussels, Belgium at the European Parliament on April 15th and 16th. The historic 2-day Summit brought together political and intellectual minority leaders from the United States and Europe to exchange information on the roles of racial and ethnic minority policymakers in developing and supporting policies and initiatives to address
racism, discrimination, and inequality. Participants included Parliamentarians, Congressional representatives, local and nationally elected officials, academics, representatives from European and international institutions, civil society, the private sector, and media.

Co-organizers included: Claude Moraes, Member of the European Parliament and President of the European Parliament All Party Group on Anti-Racism and Diversity and Glyn Ford, Member of the European Parliament.

It’s that time of year again and I need your support.

Please vote for Black Women In Europe™ blog to win a 2009 Black Weblog Award!

Follow this URL:
http://vote.blackweblogawards.com/vote/MgX3Y18QNu5t8p48

Thank you!

 

Zaterdag 12 september 2009 organiseert Music And Fashion Battle (MAFB) een fashion show in samenwerking met Museum De Paviljoens tijdens de Cultuurnacht Almere 2009. Een groots outdoor cultuurfestival waarvoor wij drie modeontwerpers zoeken uit de regio Almere en omstreken.

Ken jij iemand of ben jij dé high – fashion – haute couture designer die we zoeken? Maak dan voor 28 juni een profiel aan op www.depaviljoens.nl en geef je met je profiel op als deelnemer van de MAF Fashion Battle Almere via de kalender. Wij stomen je klaar voor een super fashion show!

Voorwaarden deelname:
- Je maakt een profiel aan op www.depaviljoens.nl (registreer rechts boven);
- Jouw catwalkshow duurt 6 tot 8 minuten;
- Jouw collectie bestaat uit zes tot acht stukken;
- Jouw modellen komen uit de regio Almere en omstreken;
- Jouw modellen zijn in augustus beschikbaar voor catwalktraining;
- Je bent in augustus beschikbaar voor radio- en tv-interviews;
- Je bent op 12 september 2009 beschikbaar van 10.00 uur ’s ochtends tot 24.00 uur ‘s nachts;
- Je levert jouw biografie aan via je profiel (200 tot 300 woorden);
- Je levert foto’s van je collectie aan via je profiel (twee tot drie foto’s);
- Je levert een foto van jezelf aan via je profiel (één foto);
- Je neemt op 12 september 2009 één dresser, één visagist en één hairstylist mee.

Binnenkort meer informatie, maar hou je agenda alvast vrij!
Met vriendelijke groet,

Museum De Paviljoens Music And Fashion Battle
Eva van Diggelen Richard Soesanna en Marian Duff
Curator kunst in publieke ruimte en Land Art Celebrate music and fashion
evd@depaviljoens.nl
richard@mafb.nl
00 31 (0)36-5450400
00 31 (0)6-27240379
www.depaviljoens.nl 
www.mafb.nl

(Joyce van Genderen-Naar)

If ACP experts and companies want to compete with the EU and to have access to the EU Market, they have to know more about the rules and procedures. Frequently asked questions are: how can ACP experts and companies have access to the EU market and compete with EU and other foreign experts and companies; how can ACP SMEs participate in EU consortiums; what is the best way to have access to EU tenders; is there a lack of confidence in the ability of our own enterprises and in our own capacity; why do not ACP countries involve their own people and experts more and increase their own capacities in stead of complaining that ACP has no capacity and asking the EU for capacity building and EU consultants to do research and studies in ACP countries? Reports that can only be written with the help of the information of ACP locals who are being used as information and response persons, reports that often are not implemented.

This article discusses EU Public Procurement Procedures with regard to the ACP-EC Cooperation. It shows the importance of Public Procurement for the EU and its Member states and indicates the preferences for ACP-tenders and tenderers provided in the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement and the relevant provisions of the European Development Fund. It sets out in detail the Legislative framework of the EU Public Procurement, eligibility criteria, contract award criteria and principles,procedures, rules, transparency; Transparency Rates of EU Member States; Obstacles for EU Member States and firms; and other factors conditioning ACP access to EU Public Procurement markets.

Click here for ‘EU Public Procurement and the ACP’

The 34th ACP-EU Council of Ministers took place on Thursday 28 and Friday 29 May 2009 in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels. Ministers from 79 African, Carribean and Pacific states met the members of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission and discussed trade issues, EPAs, the bananas issue, climate change, the economic and financial crisis and official opened the negotiations for the revision of the Cotonou Agreement in 2010.

On Bananas the ACP Ministers made a declaration in which they stated that the threat to the economies of ACP countries is clearly serious and that they have to act now to prevent its materialising. “We have noted that the EC has indicated that discussions are almost at an end with the MFN suppliers and the US, with whom it intends to sign the final deal by the end of June 2009. The ACP countries insist on the need to ensure that any deal should:
(i) include a peace clause settling alle outstanding disputes at the WTO;
(ii) include a Credit clause, by seeking the endorsement of the entire WTO
membership,
(iii) safeguard the interest of ACP countries
(iv) comply with the EU’s contractual commitments, particularly those contained in the recently signed EC-CARIFORUM Economic Partnership Agreement, which provides for tariff reductions to be made only if “unavoidable” and that in any case they “should be phased in over as long aperiod as possible”.

The ACP Ministers stated that the EC proposal will have disastrous consequences for ACP banana-exporting countries, unless a longer period for the reduction of preferences is given and adequate resources are provided to assist the countries in dealing with the impact of the reductions.

They reiterated that it is pointless to enter into any agreement in anticipation of a Doha settlement and that the EC proposal to the MFN countries is more far reaching than is required.

Joyce van Genderen-Naar
Lawyer/journalist Brussels

A pregnant British woman held on drug-smuggling charges in Laos will go on trial Wednesday, the British Foreign Office said, citing the government of the south-east Asian country.

Samantha Orobator, 20, was jailed last August at the airport in the Lao capital Vientiane and charged with carrying about half a kilogram of heroin. She is more than five months pregnant, and legal aid charity Reprieve — which has worked on her case — is urging that her case be resolved and she be allowed to return to England before she enters the third trimester of pregnancy on June 6.

Britain and Laos signed a prisoner transfer agreement last month, the British Foreign Office said but refused to disclose its details.

Source: CNN

Samantha’s mother pleads for leniency.

Dear friends,

YOUR CHANCE to help stop FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION:

Background: On May 26-27, the German Parliament discussed legislation codifying female genital mutilation (specifically) as a crime in Germany. The new law would facilitate the application of justice within the nation and also permit punishment if FGM is committed outside German borders. The European Union has been urging that all European national laws conform to efforts at EU level to strengthen the hand of justice and protect girls from harm.

The Free Democratic Party and the Green Party drafted a bill that was publicly discussed in the Ministry of Justice where, regrettably, the major coalition parties, SPD and CDU, opposed it.

Please join us in protest. The Inter-African Committee is fighting for the passage of legislation in all concerned African nations. Following their lead, many European nations are doing the same.

Send an email today stating that you support the draft legislation 16/12910 making Female Genital Mutilation a crime in Germany and facilitating its punishment if committed abroad to the
° JUSTICE department caucus (rechtsausschuss@bundestag.de),
° Caucus for WOMEN, YOUTH, SENIORS and FAMILY (familienausschuss@bundestag.de,
° Caucus at the MINISTRY OF HEALTH (geheitsausschuss@bundestag.de) and
° Ministry of HUMAN RIGHTS (menschenrechtsausschuss@bundestag.de).
Please cc VORSTAND@Forward-deutschland.de

THANK YOU!

UPDATE: Yvette Jarvis is working on this issue with the Greek Government

Scholars are invited to submit papers for the 2010 Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities (January 23 – 31). The festival theme is “Reflection on the Life and Legacy of Zora Neale Hurston 50 Years After Her Death.”

The legacy of Zora Neale Hurston is a phenomenon that has undergone a remarkable development and expansion in recent decades, embracing, among others, topics in ethnic identity, social interactions, feminist theory, and cultural continuity. Hurston’s unique insights into folklore, performance, and creative expression have invited new interpretation and inspired emulation, while the corpus of her own work has grown as a result of research and discovery. The committee will welcome papers exploring the dynamic dimensions of the Hurston legacy from theoretical and/or historical perspectives and will be especially attentive to appropriate consideration of past, present, and emerging scholarly content.

In a tradition of excellence, scholars are encouraged to engage the literature and discourse of
their respective fields at the same that they present their findings during the public forum in a form that is accessible to academics in other disciplines and is also intellectually stimulating for an intelligent general audience.

Submission Instructions:
Submit a 150-word abstract along with an 500-word summary of your paper that of your paper that indicates the thesis or central question, which you plan to explore, as well as an idea of the theoretical framework within which your findings will be considered.

Deadline:
Abstract and summary are due June 1, 2009. If your work is accepted for the festival, a copy of the full paper must be submitted by November1, 2009.

Email your submission to:
Deidre Crumbley deidre_crumbley@ncsu.edu
AND
N. Y. Nathiri apec@cfl.rr.com

Then Mail Hard Copy to:
Hurston Papers 2010
Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc. (P.E.C.)
227 East Kennedy Boulevard
Eatonville, Florida 32751

Call for Submissions/Edited Collection

The woman known as Sarah/Saartje Baartman, created into the infamous “Hottentot Venus,” (who was taken from South Africa, exhibited in London and Paris from 1810-1815, and her remains exhibited in Paris until her return and burial in South Africa in 2002), is the subject of contemporary, international discourse on how she is to be understood as an African woman, a South African national icon, a Diasporic/exiled spirit and a manifestation in contemporary modes of representing black women”s bodies in US and European discourse.

I am looking for essays for an edited collection that examines the politics around the Sarah Baartman/”Hottentot Venus” narrative. Relevant papers will theorize contemporary forms of representation and appropriation of African women (especially South African) and African Diasporic women and men. This collection is the first of its kind to offer a space for scholars, cultural journalists and activists to examine the legacy of Baartman’s life (which has been presented in various new biographies by Rachel Holmes, Clifton Crais and Pamela Scully). There is little know about Baartman, which is why the work that Dr. Yvette Abrahams is conducting at the University of the Western Cape, SA called the HERSTORY PROJECT, is seminal in finding an Africanist alternative rendering of a woman, whose life has left a profound impact on the ways in which Black women are displayed/represented the world over. The biographies on Baartman create larger gaps as they reconstitute the “Hottentot Venus” and speculate largely on Baartman, as woman, as African. This collection seeks to gather scholarly writing which grapples with Baartman, the person and the “Hottentot Venus” as figment of Euro-imagination, and the ways in which various groups are privileged to tell her story as authoritative and thus, factual. Specifically, this collections aims to present voices from non-US centered discursive spaces; prioritizing writing from Africa, the Caribbean, South and Central America and the Diaspora in Europe.

Relevant Papers will explore some of the following issues/questions:

What issues around voice/voicelessness/voices can be considered;
What issues around Baartman’s sexuality the “Hottentot” assumed hypersexuality can be considered;
What issues around duality (Baartman vs. Hottentot Venus) can be considered;
Issues of migration/exile;
Issues of agency;
Issues of contemporary representation (in literature/media/public/national spaces);
Issues of contemporary popular/consumerist cultural production;
Issues of location and liminality; rituals and sacredness;
Issues of national appropriation;
Issues of masculine re-appropriation (modern day “Hottietots”) in Western Hip-Hop videos;
KhoiSan cultural remittances on Baartman’s legacy;
Issues of slavery;
Issues of naming;
Questioning the academic space as site of discourse for Baartman’s narrative;
Claiming/insisting on womanist activism based on Baartman’s legacy;
Re-writing/re-writing/re-membering Baartman’s narrative from an African/Diasporic, non-Eurocentric perspective;
Critiquing the contemporary literature (fiction/poetry/biography/visual arts) published on Baartman;
Drawing connections with African media and Baartman’s legacy;
The HERSTORY Project: education and Baartman.

Please submit a complete draft of your essay and a brief CV (200 words) by June 30, 2009, as two separate MS Word documents in an e-mail attachment to: indisunflower@yahoo.com. Essays should follow MLA style guideline and include parenthetical references for citations, endnotes and Works Cited pages. Papers must be written in English but all translations should be quoted in original language and translated as an endnote. Papers should include a provisional title and should be no more than 20 pages in length, single spaced. Do not hesitate to contact the editor, Natasha Gordon-Chipembere by email, if you have questions about the relevance of your potential contribution.

12th International Conference of the Association Of Caribbean Women Writers And Scholars
April 20-24, 2010

Louisiana State University
Lod Cook Conference Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Deadline for Proposals: October 1, 2009

Conference theme:: Caribbean Dislocations / Caribbean Diasporas

Confirmed Guest Speakers:

Keynote: Lorna Goodison
Featured Writers: Mayra Santos-Febres, Lakshmi Persaud, Fabienne Kanor Marie-Célie Agnant, and Ismene Krishnadath
Featured Artist: Deborah Jack

Conference Co-Chairs:
Myriam J. A. Chancy & Angeletta KM. Gourdine, LSU

ACWWS is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 12th conference of the society to be held at the Lod Cook Conference Center of LSU, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The unique position of Louisiana as a historical and cultural point of encounter with the Caribbean gives us the opportunity to consider a re-conceptualization of the “Caribbean” in terms of its Diasporas and connections to the Americas. Our conference theme, Caribbean Dislocations / Caribbean Diasporas, urges explorations and interceptions of “traditional” notions of regions, boundaries, movement, and portable identities, as well as explorations between merging Caribbean, Latino, and African Diasporas. We also encourage investigations of the relationship between the experience of dislocation with the historical processes of Diaspora in interdisciplinary and international contexts. We welcome papers and presentations focusing primarily on the unique contribution that writing by Caribbean women renders of that negotiation.

Panels and presentations based on the work of our celebrated featured authors and artist are especially appreciated. ACWWS is also calling for presentations that highlight creative writing in particular, including workshops that would allow emerging Caribbean authors individual attention in a unique collaborative setting. Please note that though the conference highlights Caribbean women writers, presentations and panels from all disciplines, on all aspects of Caribbean women’s experience, are invited. The conference will make every effort to accommodate presentations in all of the recognized, official languages of the Caribbean, aside from English: French, Kreyol, Spanish, Dutch.

Suggested Paper/ Panel Topics:

Dislocation and diasporas, migration
Boundaries and border crossings
Sexuality and gender in Caribbean women’s writing
Labor, social class, and agency
French Caribbean and/or Haitian writing
Louisiana, Caribbean, and Gulf ties
Creativity and process in writing
Panels on the work of invited keynote and guest speakers
Spanish Caribbean and Latin American connections / disconnections
Anglophone Caribbean writing
Historical crossings and contemporary changes
Globalization and local impacts
Caribbean children’s literature
Travel writing and cultural encounter / clash
Caribbean film
Caribbean religious culture
African Diaspora connections, legacies, and re-appropriations
Women’s material and expressive culture in Caribbean writing
Linguistic border-crossings
Indo-Caribbean culture and literature
Post-colonialism, neo-colonialism, and the Caribbean
Music and song in Caribbean women’s writing
Memory, migration, and new community formation
Dutch Caribbean writing
Multiple identities and poly-vocality in Caribbean women’s writing
Feminist readings of Caribbean men’s writing/or women in the works of Caribbean male writers

All papers must represent new, previously unpublished work. Please include your full name, institutional affiliation, title, phone number and email address with your proposal. Performance artists are also encouraged to submit proposals for music, film and/or theatre presentations.

We strongly encourage panel proposals. A panel proposal should include a detailed abstract for each paper, a designated chair, and a short statement as to why the submissions should be considered as a panel rather than as individual presentations.

For all submissions, please submit: paper/panel title, 200-word abstract of paper(s), a short bio. with affiliation, of presenter(s).

Additionally, a small number of travel subsidies for graduate students and Caribbean participants will be available based on demonstrable need i.e. lack of support from institutional and governmental sources. To apply for a travel subsidy, write a short letter of request that includes proof of need and accompany the letter with the submission of your presentation abstract.

Submissions and inquiries should be emailed to: caribbean@lsu.edu

For Conference details as they become available, please visit http://www.acwws.org

NEW YORK — In what is surely a rare event for a Fortune 500 company, a woman is succeeding another women as chief executive officer.

Xerox Corp announced Thursday Ursula Burns, will replace Anne Mulcahy, as chief executive officer when Ms. Mulcahy retires from the world’s top supplier of digital printers and document management services in July.

Ms. Burns, 50, will join a list of only about 15 women CEOs of a Fortune 500 company and become one of only a handful of African American CEOs.

The two women have worked together through many years of change and upheaval, Ms. Burns joining Xerox in 1980 as an engineering intern and Ms. Mulcahy, a 33-year veteran credited with revitalizing the company after the technology bust in 2001.

Ms. Burns was named president in 2007, and had been groomed as the next CEO by Ms. Mulcahy.

“She has been at my side helping to turn Xerox around,” Ms. Mulcahy told investors on Thursday at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, which was broadcast over the Internet.

No significant strategic changes are expected as a result of the transition, which analyst Shannon Cross of Cross Research characterized as “well-telegraphed.”

“As the two executives have been working as a leadership team since April 2007, we expect this transition to be seamless,” she said. “[Ms.] Burns has already been running corporate strategy, global accounts, IT and human resources.”

Ms. Mulcahy, 56, an economic adviser to Barack Obama during the U.S. presidential transition, will retire as CEO on July 1. She will stay on as the company’s chairman.

Under Ms. Mulcahy’s leadership, the Norwalk, Connecticut, company has rebounded from fiscal troubles, returned to profitability, and improved market share. Earlier this month, it introduced a new “solid ink” system that promises to shrink the cost of color prints to near that of black-and-white.

Still, Xerox has shown signs of weakness due to the economic slowdown, as its customers delay purchasing printers and supplies. In April it cut its 2009 profit outlook nearly in half.

Over the past year the stock has underperformed the S&P 500 index, but it has significanly outpaced the index in the past three months.

At the start of Ms. Mulcahy’s tenure, the company was struggling with slack sales, debt woes and questions about how it handled its books. For a time there was speculation that Xerox, whose roots date back to the early 1900s, was heading for bankruptcy.

Since then Xerox, whose rivals include Canon Inc and Hewlett-Packard, has returned to profitability. It trimmed billions in costs by shedding thousands of jobs, moving major manufacturing overseas and cutting unprofitable assets.

Still, at the shareholder meeting, there was little fanfare for Ms. Mulcahy or the executive switch, as she and the company’s board took flak over cost-cutting moves that affect health care benefits for its retirees.

“Over the past few years … Xerox has spent US$4-billion on buying back stock. It was too bad that they didn’t have retirees in mind when thay made that decision,” said one person who identified himself as a retired Xerox employee.

Ms. Mulcahy said all of its cost-cutting moves, including a recent reduction in staff of 3,000 workers, or about 5% of its work force, were necessary for the health of the company. Xerox ended 2008 with about 57,000 employees, down from about about 92,000 in 2000.

Published in Global Watch, April 2009 Joyce van Genderen-Naar is a lawyer and journalist from Suriname based in Brussels. She writes regularly about ACP-EU issues.

The ACP Working Group on Bananas chaired by the Ambassador of Suriname Mr. Gerhard Hiwat organized an ACP press conference on Monday 6 April 2009 in Brussels to inform the media about the serious implications that recent EU decisions will have for ACP banana producing countries, such as Belize, Cameroon, Cote d?Ivoire, Cape Verde, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Eritrea, Ghana, Grenada, Jamaica, Kenya, Madagascar, Eastern Caribbean States, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadine, Suriname and Tanzania. The press was also addressed by the Ambassador of the Dominican Republic, Dr. Frederico Alberto Cuello Camilo and the representatives of Cameroon, Mr. Anatole Ebanda Alima, and of Côte d’Ivoire, Mr Philippe Mavel.

The Chairman started by saying that the EU is not a real partner and that the EU does not really know what partnership is, because a real partner would help to find solutions for problems resulting from measures they implement. The cooperation between the ACP and the EU/EC is based on a „Partnership Agreement?. The longstanding ACP-EU development partnership is in question, now the ACP is to lose both much of its vital existing tariff preference on bananas and much of the funds

2.originally promised by the EC to make possible the adjustments necessary for the ACP banana producing countries to cope with the consequences. This is the bad news the European Commission delivered to the ACP Ambassadors in these final days of the longstanding banana dispute at the WTO, ongoing since 1995.1 The EU will soon conclude with the Latin American Banana producing countries an agreement that will harm the production and export of bananas of ACP-countries.

The European Commission proposed on March 12, 2009, that the current tariff of 176 Euros/ton to MFN countries would be reduced by 2011 to 136 Euros/Ton, with a possibility of continuing its reduction to 114 Euros/Ton by 2019. This will facilitate further the access of bananas from the Latin American countries (MFN of Most Favored Nations), who today already own 80% of the European and nearly 100% of the North American markets of bananas. ACP banana producing and exporting countries have only a small share of 18% of the EU market and as good as no access to the USA market.

To compensate ACP banana producing countries for the negative effects of these concessions, the European Commission proposed an assistance package of barely 100 million euros for the period 2010-2013. Paradoxically, it is now encouraging ACP States to reprioritize the funds already committed under the respective National Indicative Programmes, Regional Indicative Programmes and other ongoing programmes for the implementation of necessary projects. So the promised funds for the banana reforms are gone.

1 ACP Press Release 06/04/09 www.acp.int

Trade goals prevail on development
For the ACP it is obvious that the EC is choosing trade over development, that for the EC trade goals prevail over development objectives and that profits are more important than poverty eradication and the preservation of decent jobs in rural areas.

3 The ACP says that the EC is yielding to pressure for trade liberalisation regardless of the consequences for the development objectives set out in the Cotonou Agreements with ACP countries and the social and economic impact that such sudden and rapid changes will have on jobs and living standards in rural areas. Bananas for ACP countries are not only about trade, but also about the development of their countries.

In a Press Release dated April 6, 2009, ACP stresses that now the world is suffering from a global financial crisis, ACP countries can not afford to sacrifice their few sources of hard currency to the altar of free trade. According to ACP it might cause a food security crisis, since the ACP countries are all net-importing developing countries. Furthermore, ACP countries have repeatedly pointed out to the EU Commission that such substantial tariff cuts would have dire consequences for ACP export trade, for which the established preference is of vital importance.

ACP stresses that such rapid reductions are neither necessary nor justified. The sharp reductions proposed between 2009 and 2011 cannot be reconciled with any of the EU commitments towards ACP Countries, specifically the recently signed Cariforum-EC Economic Partnership Agreement which provides that tariff reductions should not only be “unavoidable” but “should be phased in over as long a period as possible”. Moreover, there is no justification, in advance or in the absence of a Doha settlement, for imposing the whole programme of reductions to 114 euros, originally proposed in the context of the Doha negotiations.

The DOHA Round Talks collapsed in July 2008. Any agreement between the EU and the Latin American countries should be part of new Doha Talks in the WTO. For the moment the EC should not do more than is needed and that is just binding the tariff. ACP understands that the longstanding preferences will have to be moved, but that has to be done gradually so that ACP production and industries can become more competitive. For ACP it is difficult to see how any adjustment aid could deal in sufficient time with the problems arising from the deep initial cut proposed.

The EU argues that it is urgent to conclude an agreement with the Latin American countries because the EC lost all the complaints that the Latin American countries and the USA since 1995 have filed in the WTO against the EC and its preferential

4 tariff for the ACP countries. The EC wants to put an end to this ongoing battle as soon as possible. What the ACP wants is more time to become more competitive and financial compensation for the loses they will be suffering. The EC told the ACP that they should use the funds of their National and Regional Indicative Programmes to address the negative impact of the EC measures. These funds however are already allocated for other projects and programmes in the ACP countries. So this is not an adequate solution.

Strong versus weak lobby
Besides the ending of the ongoing legal battle in the WTO another argument is given why the EC is not listening to the ACP. It is about lobbying: some EU representatives say that the Latin American countries have a good and strong lobby and that the ACP countries do not lobby enough, which is not helping them. The ACP does not agree with this argument and says that the EC is sufficiently aware of the problems the ACP is facing; the EC has enough information and knows exactly what the ACP is proposing.

There is no need and no money to pay expensive lobbyists like the Latin American countries and their multinationals do. Which raises the question if it is just and normal that the interests of poor countries become less important when their lobby is not strong enough. What a strange argument. Even stranger when a Member of the European Parliament argues that it is about democracy and that the stronger the lobby is the more they will be heard. It seems like the survival of the fittest. What about poverty eradication and sustainable development of poor countries, what about support for their sensitive industries and export markets based on existing agreements such as the ACP-EC Partnership agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)?

35 out of the 77 ACP countries concluded and signed an EPA with the EC in 2007/2008 to safeguard their interests and their duty free access to the EU-market. They wanted to prevent that they had to pay taxes for their products to enter the EU market as from January 1, 2008. That was their main reason to close the EPA with the EC, a full EPA for the 15 CARIFORUM-countries in the Caribbean and interim agreements for 18 African countries and 2 Pacific countries. The ACP-EC banana

5 issue is a first and disappointing test case and puts the whole meaning of the EPA into question. EPAs should not be rushed 42 ACP countries (29 in Africa and 13 in the Pacific) did not sign an agreement with the EC and are still negotiating with the EC. In March 2009 Claude Maerten, Head of unit DG Trade – D2 -„EPA I? and Elisabeth Tison, Head of unit DG Development – D3 – „Central Africa region and Great lakes?, wrote an article about the State of Play of the EPA negotiations with Central Africa and stated2 :

2 EPA negotiations with Central Africa:
The state of play Claude Maerten, Head of unit DG Trade – D2 -‘EPA I’ and Elisabeth Tison, Head of unit DG Development – D3 – ‘Central Africa region and Great lakes’

ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/bilateral/regions/acp/index_en.htm; ec.europa.eu/development/geographical/regionscountries_en.cfm.

“Although progress on the EPAs is necessary, it should not be rushed. There are strategic issues at stake for the ACP and it is important to match the content of the partnerships under negotiation to the specific needs of each region. This takes time, particularly because the regional negotiation format requires substantial co-ordination efforts on the ACP side.

But there are still common objectives, whatever the pace of negotiations, which are to: (i) help meet Cotonou Agreement goals, particularly sustainable development and support for regional integration; (ii) strengthen supply capacity and diversification within economies and hence promote greater integration into the global economy; and (iii) ensure WTO compatibility, particularly in relation to the degree of liberalisation necessary to comply with the definition of “substantially all trade” in GATT article XXIV.

The EU has no wish to exercise pressure at the risk of obtaining agreements that might not meet the specific needs of each region”.

6 Different approach
This seems to be a total different approach from the EC compared to the concluding of the EPA and interim EPAs in December 2007 with the 15 Cariforum Countries, the 18 African and the 2 Pacific countries. The position of the EC is now that the EPAs should not be rushed. So the 42 Countries in Africa and the Pacific can take their time to negotiate a good agreement and to prevent the mistakes of the ACP countries that already signed.

They did not conclude nor signed a EPA in December 2007 because they were not sure about the impact of the EPA for their economies and for coming generations and their future. They wanted to have more time for discussions with all the stakeholders in their countries, more research and data. So the negotiations between the four regions of Africa, the Pacific region and the EC have continued since January 2008. Progress has been made with some regions like Central Africa, draft texts are available, but no EPA has yet been signed. No ACP-EU Heads of States Meetings

The ACP Heads of States have sent a request for a meeting to the European Council to discuss the EPAs and other ACP-EC-partnership issues at the highest level. This is not the first time they are officially requesting such a meeting, but like before their request has been refused with the argument that the dialogue should take place in the institutions the ACP-EC-Partnership Cotonou Agreement provides for, such as the ACP-EC-Council of Ministers. It is not understandable why ACP and EU-Heads of States should not meet each other on regularly basis and discuss what is important for their cooperation and their countries. This is not promoting real ACP-EC-partnership and cooperation nor bridging the gap between North and South, EU and ACP. Brussels

Are you looking for an internationally ‘road-tested’ executive or leadership coach to turbo-boost your on-the-job performance in dealing with an intercultural team or international project?

Do you have a marketing or advertising team that needs a quick and effective ‘time-out’ from daily business to strategize, (re-)focus and (re-)activate for a new/ongoing project or to help them meet the ambitious goals expected of them in this demanding economy? Is this a team working with intercultural players or within an international context?

If so – and you are in the southeastern Pennsylvania/southwestern New Jersey area – you have a unique opportunity!

I have just one more open slot to either personally onboard a new coaching client (face-to-face ‘threshold’ session) or to conduct one additional 1/2 day seminar during my next business stay to the Delaware Valley.

For potential coaching clients: Booking me as your new sounding board and accountability partner means you will reach your goals more efficiently and effectively than you would if you were working on them on your own. In addition, you will have access to someone with almost 30 years of experience in the international business arena.

We will begin our coaching relationship with a complimentary interview by telephone to discuss your precise coaching needs, any questions you have about my background, and confirm that we are on the same wavelength.

We will then conduct an intensive, face-to-face threshold coaching session while I am in your area so you can

-identify the values, drivers and motivators that make up the backdrop upon which your coaching goal will be projects
-enhance your understanding of your coaching context by formulating a clear and concise coaching mission statement
-develop an action plan – including significant milestones – that will lead you to your desired goal

While working together closely for four hours we will also establish the beginnings of a solid interpersonal foundation for our ongoing coaching relationship. After this initial session, our coaching relationship will continue via telephone at the times/dates that best suit your schedule using any/all modern technology that facilitates our coaching process until you reach your desired professional goal.

For potential seminars: Based on the insights and experience gained from 20+ years working in international marketing and advertising, I will design a four-hour individualized seminar/workshop/brainstorming session focused on your specific need, e.g.:

(re-)uniting the group and intensifying their motivation and team spirit pooling and prioritizing ideas and known best practice relevant to their project/goal developing/re-focusing an action plan for successfully achieving their goals

The result: A smoother running team, a wealth of new ideas, a benchmark to prioritizes those ideas and the resources you’ll need for execution, and a plan to put – and keep – the team (back) on track!

Prior to the event, we will have an opportunity to discuss your specific needs via telephone. Based on your input plus a survey of your organization’s target group, I will submit a written preliminary outline of the planned session for your approval. I also provide post-session evaluations and transfer tele-coaching to further increase the ROI of the session.

Or maybe after taking a look at my portfolio, you have another idea about ways in which my experience and insights can help your organization better identify and further leverage the value you add?

Because of my schedule, I will be available one day and one day only – May 21, 2009**!!!

Please understand that this opening is on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.

To contact me before May 15th about scheduling a professional turning point for yourself, for your department/team or for your organization, write to me at:

trina.roach-raschke@creating-tomorrow.com

or call:

+49-2435-98 01 57

When calling, please remember that there is a six-hour time difference between Central Europa and the East Coast of the USA!

http://www.creating-tomorrow.com/

**You are interested in engaging the services of Creating Tomorrow, but this date doesn’t fit into your coaching plans/training calendar? I will be returning to the States in the fall of 2009. Contact me via email with a telephone number where you would like to be reached between 18th – 25th May to discuss your specific coaching/training needs and to learn more about how I can support you/your organization, as well as my upcoming business travel dates to the Delaware Valley area.

Several of my colleague bloggers in the AfroSpear have been covering this tragic story including African American Political Pundit, Aulelia, and Field Negro.

I encourage you to read their posts as combined they provide extensive details and insight. Here are the bare bones:

1. Miss Samantha Orobator, 20, from London was arrested last August at Wattay airport in Laos.
2. Prosecutors claim she had 680 grams (1.3lb or 21 oz) of heroin in her luggage.
3. According to the legal campaign group Reprieve she has not met a lawyer since she was arrested 9 months ago but it is believed that she denies the drugs were hers.
4. The death penalty is mandatory for possession of over 500 grams of heroin in Laos.
5. Miss Orobator became pregnant in prison.
6. There is a clause in Laosion law which prohibits the execution of a pregnant woman.
7. Miss Orobator was allowed to see a British government official on Tuesday but refused the chance to speak to a lawyer.
8. The Laotian government will provide Miss Orobator with legal counsel, and the justice ministry is compiling a list of lawyers from which she will be able to choose.

Dispatches from the Front:

Piracy Task Force Welcomes New Commander

USS BOXER, At Sea, April 5, 2009 — Rear Adm. Michelle Howard assumed command of Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2 during a ceremony held on board USS Boxer (LHD 4) today and relieved Rear Adm. Terence McKnight, ESG 2’s commander since November 2007.

In addition to relieving McKnight as the ESG 2 commander, Howard assumes command of several U.S. 5th Fleet task forces, including Combined Task Force (CTF) 51 and 59, as well as CTF 151, an international maritime coalition created to disrupt, deter and thwart piracy.

“I’m very fortunate to follow behind Admiral McKnight,” said Howard. “He and the staff have done a terrific job in standing up CTF 151. His leadership will be missed on the waterfront.”

As commander of ESG 2, McKnight was responsible for all of the amphibious assets based on the U.S. East Coast and upon deploying to the U.S. 5th Fleet’s area of operations in January 2009, he assumed command of CTF 151.

McKnight said commanding ESG 2 has been an incredible experience and one he will never forget.

“This has definitely been one of the more exciting assignments of my career,” he said. “Not only did I never think I’d be sailing the ocean chasing pirates, I certainly never thought I’d be doing it alongside the navies of so many different countries, especially Russia and China.”

“My time at ESG 2 has been amazing,” McKnight continued. “In addition to all the exercises and contingencies we were involved with before we deployed, I was privileged enough to have hosted a Great White Fleet event in New York City along with my staff and we also played a big part in the grand re-opening of the Intrepid museum during Veterans Day Weekend 2008. Those two events will certainly remain cherished memories when I look back at my career.”

As the first African-American woman to command a U.S. Navy ship, Howard said she understands the magnitude of bridging cultural and international gaps.

“ESG 2 has executed the three missions they’re responsible for without missing a beat,” she said. “My top priority right now is to deter piracy here in the Gulf of Aden. I want to continue the extensive international coordination Admiral McKnight started. That’s the true key to defeating piracy. Piracy is a problem that affects all maritime nations and requires an international solution. I’m looking forward to working with naval professionals from around the world on this vital mission.”

CTF 151 is a multinational task force established to conduct counter-piracy operations under a mission-based mandate throughout the CMF area of responsibility to actively deter, disrupt and suppress piracy in order to protect global maritime security and secure freedom of navigation for the benefit of all nations.

Howard previously served as Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy.

(Report by Lt. John Fage, Expeditionary Strike Group 2 Public Affairs.)

U.S. Navy Bio: Rear Admiral Michelle Howard
Rear Adm. Michelle Howard Assumes Command of Counter-Piracy Task Force CTF 151, ESG 2

An independent cultural trainer, and a former Development and Public Awareness Officer with the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism, she has played a leading role in racial integration in Co Louth, and nationally.

She contested the 2004 Local Elections as an Independent candidate and subsequently held the position of Vice-Chair of the Labour Party in Louth.

Ms Attoh is a member of the Louth African Womens Support Group. She is the Dundalk Branch Co-ordinator of the Integration of African Children (IACI) in Ireland, a multicultural youth club.

Read more about her, learn what her position is, and find out how to vote.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:
Beatrice Achaleke, President elect of the Black European Women’s Council (BEWC)
BEWC Secretariat details:
Telephone ++43 1 9660 425
E-mail office@blackwomencenter.org
Website http://www.bewnet.eu

Black European Women’s Council Elects its Management Board

Vienna, Austria, 14 April 2009

The third Europe-wide meeting of the Black European Women’s Council – BEWC took place in
Soesterberg/Utrecht, The Netherlands, from 9th-11th of April 2009.

This meeting brought together 31 member organisations of the BEWC from 12 EU Member States. The opening session of the meeting focused on a Capacity Building Conference for BEWC Member Organisations coming from Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The conference started with the development of the BEWC Mission Statement.

“BEWC was defined as a vehicle for the recognition and the visibility of Black Women in Europe, through which they can reach their optimum potential.”

During BEWC General Assembly, participants jointly developed a BEWC strategic plan consisting of a BEWC “elevator pitch” (a focused message concise enough to get across in the length of an elevator ride); funding proposals for a BEWC implementation programme; specific commitments of the working groups; a schedule for the adoption of proposals, resolutions and the election of the Management Board.

On the second day of the BEWC General Assembly, participants and delegates elected the Management Board of BEWC, their alternates. 9 EU Member States are represented on the Management Board of the BEWC.

The first Management Board meeting that followed the elections appointed the Executive team as follows:

President: Beatrice Achaleke (Austria), Vice President: Yvette Jarvis (Greece), Treasurer: Hellen Felter (The Netherlands) and the Secretary: Sandrine Joseph (France).

In her first speech as the newly-elected president, Beatrice Achaleke, reminded BEWC members of the distance the organization had come since the first Black European Women’s Congress in Vienna in 2007, organized in the framework of the EU Year of Equal Opportunities for All. In 2008 during the EU Year Intercultural Dialog, the strategic meeting of the BEWC was also hosted in Vienna, focusing on developing goals and establishing a constitution. That same year, the group officially launched the BEWC in Brussels in cooperation with the European Economic and Social Committee.

“Today,” Achaleke said, “we have shown our determination and capacity to stand up for the rights of, the recognition and full inclusion of Black Women in their diversity in European debates. The journey within the European Union framework and/or European Commission institutions is still very long, but I am more than convinced, we are ready for the challenge.”

The General Assembly came to a close with a priority plan of action focusing on institutionalising the BEWC in Brussels and defining areas of work for the next few years.

The priorities include:
• Setting up its headquarters equipped with the needed staff in Brussels;
• Capacity building;
• Female empowerment;
• Youth leadership/empowerment strategies;
• Women’s health issues.

Annual reports and data on the situation of Black Women and Communities in Europe. The BEWC intends to achieve these priorities within existing EU and national legal frameworks and programs combined with effective networking, lobbying and partnership with EU institutions and other European and international networks.

The BEWC General Assembly furthermore passed a Resolution with regards to the ongoing European Women’s Lobby’s 50/50 campaign, urging the campaign to take into consideration the diversity of Europe, with particular reference on visible minorities.

Also inline with the Vienna Declaration of Black European Women, a letter of support was drafted to the main opposition political party Fine Gael in Ireland. The BEWC letter of support is in favour of Ms. Benedicta Attoh’s candidate to the upcoming municipal elections in Ireland.

ABOUT BEWC (www.bewnet.eu)
The Black European Women’s Council, BEWC, is a European-wide Umbrella Organisation of Black European Women. Initiated by AFRA and co-organised by TIYE International, the 1st Black European Women’s Congress took in the Framework of the European Year of Equal Opportunities 2007.

The founding partners are:
AFRA – International Center for Black Women’s Perspectives in Austria
TIYE International, the platform umbrella NGO of National organisations of Black, Migrant and Refugee Women in The Netherlands.

For additional information on the BEWC contact:
Ms. Beatrice Achaleke
BEWC President elect

FILM-AMERICAN VIOLET — OPENS APRIL 17th http://www.americanviolet.com/ LET’S PROMOTE THIS EXCELLENT FILM! View trailer and find out film locations and dates for your city.

Earlier this week in DC, we saw AMERICAN VIOLET–a dramatic and troubling new film produced by Samuel Goldwyn Films. It is an excellent film that opens in many cities on April 17th. This is not a comedy about a Black Woman going to jail–it is a REAL STORY about a REAL BLACK WOMAN–Regina Kelly.

If you are interested in hosting a screening in your City call Goldwyn Films and ask for Winnie or Liza @ 212-367-9435. Tell them you were referred by Regina Kelly and Black Women for Obama for Change. Let us know what happens.

Based on true events during the 2000 election, AMERICAN VIOLET tells the astonishing story of Dee Roberts (critically hailed newcomer Nicole Beharie), a 24 year-old African American single mother of four young girls living in a small Texas town public housing project, who is barely able to make ends meet. (Dee Roberts’s story is a fictionalized version of Regina Kelly’s true story)

While police drag Dee (Regina) from work in handcuffs, dumping her in the squalor of the women’s county prison, the powerful local district attorney (Academy Award® nominee Michael O’Keefe) leads an extensive drug bust, sweeping her housing project with military precision. After 17 hours in jail, Dee learns she has been charged as a drug dealer.

Even though Dee has no prior drug record and no drugs were found on her in the raid, she is offered a hellish choice: plead guilty and go home as a convicted felon or remain in prison, jeopardizing her custody and risking a long prison sentence.Her choice is even more difficult since the father of her girls is living with a woman who is a convicted child molester.

Everyone should see this film. It helps explains why millions of citizens from our community are in prison and why people who plea bargain and lose their rights are ending up on the streets.

Regina Kelly, mother of 4 girls who is the true woman behind this story, is a brave sister and deserving of our support. She survived years of harrassment from the District Attorney for having the audacity to sue him and win. Her websites are www.ReginaKelly.com and www.myspace.com/reginakelly. She is a public speaker–please keep her in mind if you have conferences and need a speaker.

LET’S PROMOTE THIS FILM, REGINA AND THE NEW ACTRESS NICOLE BEHARIE! YES WE CAN AND YES THEY DID!

13 Year Old Nia Conley

Multi-talented Bonnie Greer was born in Chicago where she later studied with David Mamet before moving to New York to study at the Actors Studio with Elia Kazan. She has been living in Britain since the late 1980s. Bonnie regularly contributes articles to the Guardian, Telegraph, Independent and Marie Claire as well as appearing for comment on TV and radio. She has been a judge on many prizes including the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her latest play will be moving to the West End in 2009.

Her latest novel Entropy will be released in May. Here is a description of the novel:

Janet Bookman Baker is trying to come to terms with her father’s death and a weekend long ago when he disappeared without a word. She sits alone at night watching the lights in her neighbour’s garden, imagining his hands on her skin and listening to a voice on the radio. Although she has never met the owner of the voice, in Janet’s mind, Anna becomes her closest friend…

Unaware of Janet’s existence, Anna Taylor is facing a crisis of her own. When someone starts leaving her messages, she becomes convinced the person behind them holds the key to her past as well as her future. A mysterious 19th century photograph seems to link the two women, but as they discover the ties that bind them, they are forced to question all they know, and to ask themselves whether they are prepared to risk everything to be free.

Read Bonnie’s interview with her publisher.

One in eight women will be stricken with breast cancer in her lifetime. The Komen Philadelphia Race for the Cure® on Sunday May 10th raises money to fund education, screening and treatment programs for these women and thousands of others in our own community and supports the national research for a cure.

The Komen Race for the Cure® Series is the largest series of 5K run/ walks in the world. Since its origination in Dallas in 1983, the Komen Race for the Cure® Series has grown from one local race with 800 participants to an international series of 117 races with more than 1.3 million participants.

Support Marilyn’s team here.

Having worked in South Africa for a number of years we are currently looking to recruit a consultant to help further our programme of activities and support our partners in the Eastern Cape.

Please find attached the job description and person specification for this tender. Please circulate this amongst your networks. The deadline for applications is the Wednesday 25th March.

WOMANKIND Worldwide is dedicated to improving women’s lives and promoting women’s rights across the world. Visit our new website at http://www.womankind.org.uk/ to find out all about our work and how you can help.

The criteria is that the person must have studied or be studying media and communications at degree level and be extremely interested in reporting on Politics, Social & Cultural affairs pertaining to the European market.

If you fit the bill please contact Kubi Springer at Sisterhood TV (http://www.sisterhoodtv.com) via info@sisterhoodtv.com.

“Do you want to blog live from the European Greens’ Election Congress in the heart of Brussels, in the European Parliament? Capture insights from behind the scenes? The EGP will invite 3 bloggers to the upcoming Election Congress of the European Greens on 27th and 28th of March.

The EGP will cover the travel and accommodation costs for the 3 selected bloggers and provide access to the entire event and a pass to the press centre. We will offer one to one interviews with top-ranking politicians. There will also be someone who will provide the selected bloggers with the help and assistance they require.

Furthermore, we will post direct links to all blog entries on the EGP website.

Everyone who is interested in the EU and Green politics and who also writes their own blog is welcome to apply. The current popularity of your blog or the nature of your own political views are not determining factors: we will select the most interesting and exciting applicants. So please attach a short letter of motivation and a link to your blog.

Of course, everybody that is not selected will also be welcome to blog about the EGP Congress which will be web streamed.

Mail to: szilvia.csanyi@europeangreens.eu “

Mobile post sent by BlackWomenInEurope using Utterli.  Replies.

The new ‘Natural Wellness Boutique’ in the center of Amsterdam gives customers the opportunity to step away from the hectic day to day life and to surround themselves with some peace and quite. Visit us for a good conversation or for a hair or body treatment. Our specialty is African and curly hair. We serve customers who want to embrace their natural hair but don’t know how to do it. We provide them the methods and products they need to get where they want. We are also specialized in treating people with damaged hair.

If you are frustrated with your hair, whether it’s relaxed or natural you are at the right place in the “Natural Wellness Boutique”. We are famous for our herb and clay treatments such as ghassoul-treatment, detox-your-scalptreatment, henna en tash treatments. All these are used to promote healthy hair growth and happy customers. Treat yourself with our body packs and massages. We can also lengthen your eyelashes and can provide you of different body waxes.

We believe that everything we need, can be found in nature and that nature brings us back in balance. The ingredients we use in our products are carefully selected and won’t hu