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AEFJN: Some news from the Brussels’office PDF Print E-mail
Written by AEFJN   
Saturday, 08 December 2007
In January 2008, we will welcome Sister Anne RUTTER, from the Congregation of St Joseph of Cluny, in the office. Sr Anne belongs to the English Antenna and we thank the members of this antenna for their generosity in letting Sr Anne to work in the International Secretariat.

We will inform you later of the changes that will occur in the office re. the work of each member of the team.

An african call for a moratorium on agrofuels

The aggressive push for agrofuel developments in Africa (known to many as "biofuels") is a massive new threat to our farmers, food, forests, water resources and land rights. The aggressive push for agrofuel developments in Africa (known to many as "biofuels") is a massive new threat to our farmers, food, forests, water resources and land rights. We now invite organisations from across Africa and the rest of the world to sign up to this moratorium call, and to forward this to all your friends and colleagues. If you are working with local farmers groups and CBOs, please help them to sign on too. To sign up, please send your name, organisation and country to:
http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/action/44726

EU firearms directive

The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly on 29 November to strengthen the EU Firearms Directive. In a significant step towards harmonising European gun laws, the parliament agreed that all member states must require gun purchasers to hold a license and register all newly purchased weapons. All countries must create a computerised gun register by 2015. Anybody seeking to purchase a firearm must provide a good reason, and authorities are obliged to determine that the buyer is not a threat either to himself or to public safety. Replica and air guns which can be converted to fire bullets are now included in the law, closing a loophole exploited by criminals. The minimum age for gun possession is now 18 across all member states.
www.iansa.org/

Another ratification of tne Nairobi protocol

Good news from Africa this week: Sudan became the ninth member to ratify the Nairobi Protocol on small arms. The Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania are the only signatories to the Protocol that have not yet ratified it. In West Africa, the Senegalese parliament has asked the President to ratify the ECOWAS Convention. After the President has signed, the document must be deposited at the ECOWAS headquarters in Abuja for ratification to be complete. Niger is the only country that has completed ratification of the Convention; Mali and Sierra Leone have yet to deposit their Presidents' signatures with ECOWAS.

Spanish new arms trade law

The Spanish Congress has passed a new arms trade law which will prohibit arms transfers to countries in conflict or where serious violations of human rights are occurring. It will require greater transparency, end user certificates and a ban on re-exports. The law applies to all conventional weapons including guns and ammunition labeled as 'sporting or hunting'. Spain is the largest supplier of ammunition to sub-Saharan Africa, and these weapons have escaped regulation in the past by being labeled 'sporting or hunting'. The approval in Congress comes after years of campaigning by four IANSA member groups, Fundació per la Pau, Amnesty Spain, Greenpeace and Intermón Oxfam. The law must now be approved in the Senate.
http://www.fundacioperlapau.org/interior_actualitat.php?ID=181
http://www.intermonoxfam.org/page.asp?id=2687&idioma=1

16 days of activism against gender violence

The first week of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence has been busy and inspiring. IANSA Women's Network members have held events in 13 countries and lent support to WILPF, UNIFEM and EU campaigns. Highlights include: in DR Congo a Day Against Rape with the participation of First Lady Madame Olive Lembe Kabila; in Peru a photo exhibition on sexual violence and armed conflict; in Azerbaijan a roundtable including parliamentarians, NGOs and journalists, and in Burundi DAGROPASS has produced a special bulletin on the 16 Days.
http://www.iansa.org/women/dagropass-info-19-2007.doc
Further details and photos are available at http://www.iansa.org/women/en-16-days-2007.htm

Uganda: sexual abuse survivors in north denied justice - amnesty

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75620

Amnesty International has accused Uganda's justice system of "tacitly condoning and protecting suspected perpetrators” of rape and other sexual abuses against women and girls in the north of the country. "The horrific violence committed during the many years of conflict in northern Uganda continues to aggravate discrimination against women and girls in the area today," Godfrey Odongo, a Kampala-based researcher for the human rights organisation said on 30 November during the launch of its latest report, Uganda: Justice System Fails Victims of Sexual Abuse.

EU told to change tack in Africa or lose to china

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L30449413.htm

The European Union must abandon paternalism in Africa and strongly invest in the commodity-rich continent or risk being overtaken by China’s "easy money", the bloc's development chief warned on Friday. "Forget it; Africa is not Europe's private hunting reserve. Europe is not alone in Africa, it will never be alone there anymore," Louis Michel said a week ahead of the Lisbon EU-Africa summit, the first in seven years, on Dec. 8-9.
Last Updated ( Friday, 07 December 2007 )