Nigeria polio campaign gains momentum
Dozens of governors across Nigeria have signed up to support the Nigeria Immunization Challenge started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to combat polio. The immunization initiative is part of the foundation’s efforts to support Nigeria’s fight against top priority public health concerns, such as HIV/AIDS prevention and providing safe drinking water.

Indian student helps others resist child marriage
Anjali Burman, a 21-year-old resident of the remote Indian village of Malda, has taken up the fight against child marriage, forming a small community group that works to prevent the forced marriages of girls under the age of 18. The youngster faced the prospect of marriage at the age of 15 and now helps others by raising awareness and bringing efforts to stop cases to officials.

New Zealand rejects concerns on child marriage
Current laws in New Zealand are sufficient to discourage child marriage, the country’s government has told UNICEF, despite reports of the forced marriage of a 17-year-old Pakistani girl, and appeals for help by girls as young as 13 and 14. Justice Minister Judith Collins said the government would continue to educate ethnic communities about existing law.

Shot at Life chief talks vaccination progress
Vaccines can help prevent many of the 1.7 million deaths of children every year from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, Peg Willingham, executive director of the United Nations Foundation program Shot at Life, says in this interview. Willingham recently traveled to Honduras where an ambitious vaccination program targeting 99% of the country’s children is helping slash child-mortality rates.

Cote d’Ivoire pulls plug on free health care experiment
Cote d’Ivoire has scaled back its public health program to cover only women and young children as theft and mismanagement contribute to rapidly rising costs. “As long as women and children continue to receive care we are satisfied, because they are among the most vulnerable,” said Louis Vigneault-Dubois, head of communications for UNICEF in the country.

Calvin: Family-planning access is a key priority
Increasing access to family-planning services for women around the world remains an integral element to improving women’s health and achieving Millennium Development Goals related to maternal mortality, writes Kathy Calvin, CEO of the United Nations Foundation. 

Breast cancer awareness is still lagging
Despite the efforts of global health community to draw attention to and raise awareness of chronic noncommunicable disease, breast cancer remains widely misunderstood and under-diagnosed in developing countries. Health care professionals diagnose more than 1 million cases annually, and the disease claims about a half-million lives each year. 

 Yemen faces malnutrition emergency
The number of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition across Yemen has reached 750,000, doubling in some regions over the past decade. Maria Calivis, UNICEF’s director for Middle East and North Africa, said the figure crosses the “emergency threshold” for urgent action, especially in the country’s remote areas.

The Internet has exploded over the past couple of days with news that Susan G. Komen, the largest breast cancer organization in the US, would halt funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of reproductive health services in the US.  A virtual uprising on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms by Komen and Planned Parenthood supporters and opponents and high-profile media coverage has inspired a national debate.  As of this morning, Komen has reversed its decision.  Since 2005, Komen has funded Planned Parenthood’s breast health and education programs, which include screenings and referrals for mammograms and other diagnostic testing, with just under $700,000 in grants disbursed to 19 (of 83) affiliates last year.  At the heart of the controversy: the American abortion debate.

Planned Parenthood and its defenders, as well as some from Komen itself, have alleged that the organization gave in to pressure from anti-choice groups that oppose Planned Parenthood’s contraception and abortion programs.  Komen, the “marketing juggernaut that brought the world the ubiquitous pink ribbon campaign,” has maintained that its funding halt was the result of internal changes to grant-making criteria.  Komen founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker, appeared in a video, posted to the organization’s website and YouTube, charged critics with “mischaracter[ing]” the changes, which were made to increase impact and efficiency.  An investigative piece from The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg cited anonymous sources within Komen who said that the new funding guidelines were merely an excuse to stop all grants to Planned Parenthood, which finds itself continually under fire from socially conservative, often religious, groups and politicians.  The revised Komen grant rules stipulated that any grantee under investigation by a local, state, or federal authority would no longer be eligible to receive funding.  Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, has been leading an investigation to learn whether Planned Parenthood had used US government funding for abortions, which would violate federal regulations.  Goldberg also discusses the role of Komen’s new senior vice president for public policy, Karen Handel, in pushing to end funding to Planned Parenthood.  Handel ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 and is on the record as anti-choice and against Planned Parenthood’s mission.  As Goldberg points out, Planned Parenthood and Komen both say that previous funding has been used for breast cancer programs, not abortions or other reproductive health services.

While announcing Komen’s restitution of funding to Planned Parenthood, the organization apologized to the American public, stating that it would “ensure that politics has no place in our grant process.”  Only grantees under criminal investigation would be deemed ineligible.  The executive director of a Komen branch in New Jersey attributed the reversal to the public uproar and to actions within the organization itself: “We sent official letters to the headquarters,” she said. “Komen is a grassroots organization. The displeasure and the outrage was heard and the decision was reversed. I’m thrilled.”  Planned Parenthood, which has an annual operating budget of $1.1 billion, ended up benefitting from the national attention: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged a $250,000 matching grant, a Texas couple donated another $250,000, and 6,000 individual donors gave $400,000 in the first 24 hours after the initial Komen decision.

How, you might ask, could an almost universally-celebrated organization (almost, with emphasis) that focuses on breast cancer end up at the center of a debate about abortion?  The American political debate about a woman’s right to choose, of course, is so bitter and so divisive that it spills over to almost anything to do with women’s health.  In the past, HIV/AIDS programs and reproductive health services worldwide that were funded by US government programs were hobbled by the global gag rule.  It is an unfortunate (and ridiculous) truth that women’s health is inherently politicized.  It is also true that with or without legal protections for reproductive choice, some women will still seek out abortions, whether legal and safe or illegal and dangerous, which Foreign Policy Blogger for Children, Cassandra Clifford, discussed last week.  To quote Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, abortion should be safe, legal, and rare.  In fact, Secretary Clinton just says it all:

The Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street protesters and the recent virtual protests against SOPA and PIPA and Komen’s decision have a vector in common: the power of the Web.  In the past, grassroots activism has been a long and slow road–such as that for HIV/AIDS awareness, ARV access, and increased investment in prevention and treatment programs.  Social media platforms have transformed into global megaphones, where people around the world can connect with each other, pass along news even before it breaks on mainstream media sources, and demand change.  This week’s events have illustrated the potential of the Internet as a grassroots platform to call for more awareness about and funding for global health.  As I’ve written too many times in the past, precarious funding situations and underfunding are the major barriers to improved health worldwide.  With the strength of online grassroots activism, global health advocates have an ideal tool to promote their messages and to secure funding.  They must hone these tactics to initiate viral awareness and fundraising campaigns across social media and other web-based platforms.  After all, it doesn’t count if it’s not on Facebook.

Header photo by WeNews, CC BY 2.0.

Well, the Global Fund has had a big week.  It’s been ten years since the creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and the recent news about the fund has not been great: internal divisions, questions about improper funding allocations, missing money, and financial shortfalls.  On the other hand, the Global Fund has been key, along with PEPFAR, to incredible gains against HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria in the last decade.  In November of last year, the Global Fund stated that it was canceling its latest round of funding and would not disburse funds for new programs and projects until 2014.  The global health community was understandably alarmed, especially in the climate of the global economic recession.  As of last week, however, the fortunes of the Global Fund may be turning around.

First, the Global Fund announced that Executive Director Michel Kazatchkine would step down in March.  He cited the recent executive-level re-organization for his decision.  A General Manager, Gabriel Jaramillo, has been appointed to manage day-to-day operations for the fund.  Following reports of financial mismanagement and alleged fraud last year, some donor countries canceled or suspended funding.

The re-organization and other internal changes have restored confidence, and coupled with the fund’s impact over the last ten years, it remains key to rolling back the deleterious effects of malaria, TB, and HIV.  In an opinion piece for Reuters, Natasha Billmoria of the Friends of the Global Fight Against Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria argued that more must be done to bolster the Global Fund’s coffers, writing: “We’re in a tough global economy, to be sure, but we’re also primed to beat back AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.”  She cited the success of the Global Fund, which has put 3.3 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, provided PMTCT services to more than one million pregnant women living with HIV, detected and treated 8.6 million cases of tuberculosis, and distributed 230 million bed nets to prevent malaria.  The fund itself estimates that it has saved 7.7 million lives in ten years.  The International HIV/AIDS Alliance released a report last week discussing the potential impact of the Global Fund’s cancellation of its funding round in November, studying the effects this lack of funding would have in five countries.  The report called for donors to provide an estimated $2 billion to fill the funding gap.

“The internal checks and balances have worked in every case…but if you’re going to do business in Africa, you’re going to have some losses.” -Bill Gates

Ask and ye shall receive, it seems.  At the World Economic Forum, Bill Gates announced that his foundation had pledged a $750 million “promissory note” to the Global Fund.  Mr. Gates said that the economic recession was “no excuse for cutting aid to the world’s poorest.”  This announcement marks a bit of a shift for the Gates Foundation, which in the past has disbursed $650 million to the Global Fund for vaccines and innovations, rather than ARV distribution and day-to-day operations.  In his annual letter on behalf of the foundation, Mr. Gates supported the Global Fund’s efforts and pointed out that despite some reports, the fund had had less than five percent of its funding misused and had instituted further internal reforms that will decrease those problems.  Mr. Gates also argued that some financial mismanagement was a cost of working in the developing world.  He was quoted by AP as saying: “The internal checks and balances have worked in every case [at the Global Fund]…but if you’re going to do business in Africa, you’re going to have some losses.”

Although $750 million is not a trifling sum, it is not the $2 billion or more needed to finance grants at the Global Fund.  With his announcement, Mr. Gates has demonstrated his confidence in the Global Fund, which might inspire bilateral donors to honor their pledges and/or restore interrupted funding.  Recent internal changes at the Global Fund may also prompt donors to donate.  We are certainly witnessing a turning point in the fight against some major diseases, such as HIVand malaria, and it is a shame that these partial successes have arrived in tandem with a global recession that shows few signs of turning around soon.  With a strong, well-financed Global Fund, we may, with hope, see  an HIV-free generation and the further curbing of malaria and TB.  Mr. Gates’ support of the Global Fund should give it the much-needed shot in the arm that will help us achieve these goals.

Header photo available here, via USACE Europe District, CC BY 2.0.

I. A. Rehman, Director HRCP:

National Dialogue on Challenges to Democracy and Role of Civil Society in Pakistan

Joint Declaration: Any attempts to dislodge parliament will be resisted

LAHORE, January 23, 2012: Civil society representative  and concerned  citizens (Intellectuals, legal activists, journalists, women, students trade union activists, religious minorities and academia) of Pakistan from all over the country shared their deep concerns over the current political situation and crises, while talking at a national consultation held in Human rights Commission of Pakistan’s office in Dorab  Patel  Auditorium, Lahore today. The meeting was organized by the South Asia Partnership-Pakistan, to  discuss and analyze the current political situation and challenges to democracy, democratic institutions and system. The panelists were Mr. I.A. Rehman, Secretary General, HRCP, Ms Hina Jillani, advocate, Ms. Khawar Mumtaz, Director Shirkat Gah, Mr. Mohammad Tahseen, Executive Director South Asia Partnership-Pakistan, Prof. Sarfraz Khan, KPK, Mr. Jami Chandio, Sindh, Mr. Kaisar Bengali, Former Advisor to Chief Minister Sindh.

Resolution passed unanimously:

We, the representatives of the Civil Society including non-governmental organizations, labour organizations, academia, women’s rights bodies, and media persons from all over the country (including FATA and Gilgit Baltistan) express deep concern over the current political situation in the country where a crisis is being manufactured on irrelevant grounds ostensibly to subvert the Parliament and to destabilize the democratic dispensation. We unanimously resolve to resist all such attempts through mobilizing citizens of Pakistan.

We AFFIRM our conviction that the principle of parliament being the supreme authority in the land is inviolable and it must not be compromised under any circumstances. At the same time we emphasize that the right of accountability of democratic institutions vests with the people of Pakistan, who shall assert this right in the most effective democratic manner whenever the need so arises.

We REAFFIRM our adherence to the principles of independence of judiciary from the executive but also from individual and institutional biases. We also note with concern that judicial processes are being deliberately used for undermining the role of the parliament as the arbiter of national security and sovereignty. This trend must be strongly discouraged and the courts should not fee compelled to over stretch their domain at the cost of judicial credibility. We EMPASIZE that various institutions of the state must function within their defined constitutional parameters and complement each other rather than work at cross-purposes, to the determent of public interest.

We assert that Sovereignty belongs to the people who have agreed to exercise it through their representatives in a federal, parliamentary, and a democratic system. Any attempt at arbitrarily altering this arrangement is tantamount to an attack on the sovereignty of the people.

We DEMAND from elected parliament and its other institutions to attend to people’s basic needs and give priority to people’s political, social and economic rights as guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan.

We APPEAL to the people of Pakistan to stand united and firm in support of democracy and to resist all attempts aimed at its subversion. The people of Pakistan have made great many sacrifices for the cause of democracy and they should not let any vested interests trample their right to have a democratic and an elected representative system run the country.

We agree to form a national platform for the protection and promotion of democracy and the rights of the people of Pakistan. We PLEDGE to mobilize civil society organizations for this purpose. We will continue to engage with people and all other like-minded political forces in the country, who believe in sovereignty of people and elected parliament. We will hold provincial conventions by mid-February and mobilized for simultaneous public actions for achieving these objectives. We agree to hold a week of action for saving democracy throughout the country and will mobilize citizens to articulate their resolve for democracy and rights of the people.

(ends)

Image via CrunchBase

To: English Wikipedia Readers and Community
From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director
Date: January 16, 2011

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide,beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States —the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECTIP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate— that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

This will be the first time the English Wikipedia has ever staged a public protest of this nature, and it’s a decision that wasn’t lightly made. Here’s how it’s been described by the three Wikipedia administrators who formally facilitated the community’s discussion. From the public statement, signed by User:NuclearWarfare, User:Risker and User:Billinghurst:

It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web.

Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA. This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation. The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills. Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a “blackout” of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.

On careful review of this discussion, the closing administrators note the broad-based support for action from Wikipedians around the world, not just from within the United States. The primary objection to a global blackout came from those who preferred that the blackout be limited to readers from the United States, with the rest of the world seeing a simple banner notice instead. We also noted that roughly 55% of those supporting a blackout preferred that it be a global one, with many pointing to concerns about similar legislation in other nations.

In making this decision, Wikipedians will be criticized for seeming to abandon neutrality to take a political position. That’s a real, legitimate issue. We want people to trust Wikipedia, not worry that it is trying to propagandize them.

But although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. As Wikimedia Foundation board member Kat Walsh wrote on one of our mailing lists recently,

We depend on a legal infrastructure that makes it possible for us to operate. And we depend on a legal infrastructure that also allows other sites to host user-contributed material, both information and expression. For the most part, Wikimedia projects are organizing and summarizing and collecting the world’s knowledge. We’re putting it in context, and showing people how to make to sense of it.

But that knowledge has to be published somewhere for anyone to find and use it. Where it can be censored without due process, it hurts the speaker, the public, and Wikimedia. Where you can only speak if you have sufficient resources to fight legal challenges, or, if your views are pre-approved by someone who does, the same narrow set of ideas already popular will continue to be all anyone has meaningful access to.

The decision to shut down the English Wikipedia wasn’t made by me — it was made by editors, through a consensus decision-making process. But I support it.

Like Kat and the rest of the Wikimedia Foundation Board, I have increasingly begun to think of Wikipedia’s public voice, and the goodwill people have for Wikipedia, as a resource that wants to be used for the benefit of the public. Readers trust Wikipedia because they know that despite its faults, Wikipedia’s heart is in the right place. It’s not aiming to monetize their eyeballs or make them believe some particular thing, or sell them a product. Wikipedia has no hidden agenda: it just wants to be helpful.

That’s less true of other sites. Most are commercialy motivated: their purpose is to make money. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a desire to make the world a better place –many do!– but it does mean that their positions and actions need to be understood in the context of conflicting interests.

My hope is that when Wikipedia shuts down on January 18, people will understand that we’re doing it for our readers. We support everyone’s right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression. We think everyone should have access to educational material on a wide range of subjects, even if they can’t pay for it. We believe in a free and open Internet where information can be shared without impediment. We believe that new proposed laws like SOPA –and PIPA, and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States– don’t advance the interests of the general public. You can read a very good list of reasons to oppose SOPA and PIPA here, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Why is this a global action, rather than US-only? And why now, if some American legislators appear to be in tactical retreat on SOPA?

The reality is that we don’t think SOPA is going away, and PIPA is still quite active. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation seeking to regulate the internet in other ways while hurting our online freedoms. Our concern extends beyond SOPA and PIPA: they are just part of the problem. We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.

On January 18, we hope you’ll agree with us, and will do what you can to make your own voice heard.

Sue Gardner,
Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation

(Posted in solidarity from Wikipedia website)

Related articles

• Wikipedia’s community calls for anti-SOPA blackout January 18 (wikimedia.org)
• Wikipedia goes nuclear against SOPA: founder confirms site blackout (venturebeat.com)
• Wikipedia to join with Reddit in anti-SOPA blackout (vator.tv)
• Not Taking Any Chances, Wikipedia Kicks SOPA While Its Down (readwriteweb.com)

US Drops A Charge Against Kashmiri-American Activist

“Let not anyone think that today’s events will slow or otherwise impede the KAC’s work.”

Source: Kashmiri American Council

WASHINGTON, DC—The Kashmiri American Council’s Board of Directors today confirmed their understanding of Executive Director Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai’s plea agreement with the United States Government over charges stemming from his July 19, 2011 arrest.

Initially charged with being an unregistered agent of a foreign government and having violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the Board welcomed the Government’s decision to voluntarily withdraw the FARA allegation.  While the Board remained disturbed over the balance of the charges, it expressed its full support for the process and system through which the agreement was made.  The Board confirmed its long held position, buttressed by the U.S. Government’s withdrawal of the FARA allegation, that the KAC has always been, and remains, an organization created by Kashmiris, for Kashmiris, designed and dedicated to supporting Kashmiri’s right to self determination as enshrined in multiple United Nations resolutions.

Speaking on behalf of the Board, Mr. Sareer A. Fazili, Esq. echoed the Board’s sentiments confirming the independence demonstrated by the KAC on numerous occasions while attempting to propagate the cause of a Kashmir being allowed to determine its own fate.  Referring to numerous press releases, conference declarations, journal and newspaper articles, live presentations and other writings provided by the KAC, Mr. Fazili confirmed the uniquely pro-Kashmir agenda propagated by the organization.  Identifying pieces detrimental to the national interests of India and Pakistan, the Board solidified the organization’s position as being without peer in espousing the cause of an independent Kashmir.

The Board reminded the world community in general, and the people of Kashmir in particular, that so long as the Kashmir problem remained unresolved, that it would continue to plead the cause of Kashmiris and Kashmir.  Said Mr. Fazili, “let not anyone think that today’s events will slow or otherwise impede the KAC’s work.  It would be folly for anyone to presume the end of the organization’s efforts.  Rather, the Board reaffirms its commitment to pursue all avenues to encourage resolution of the Kashmir issue taking into account primarily the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.”

INDIAN OCCUPATION

The Board took the opportunity to remind the world community of the continued occupation of Kashmir by well over 750,000 military and paramilitary forces.  While understanding the complexity of the problem, the Board repeated its call for a withdrawal of all black laws from Kashmir, the release of all political prisoners, return of forces to their barracks from the streets of Kashmir’s towns and cities, and complete cessation of all human rights violations against the people of Kashmir.  The Board further called upon the international community to demand an independent investigation into the unfortunate and shameful recent discovery of mass graves in many Kashmiri jurisdictions, and an unbiased prosecution of those found to be responsible for their existence.  The Board further called upon the governments of India and Pakistan, and the acknowledged leadership of the people of Kashmir in the form of the All Parties Hurriyet Conference [aphc], to engage in an unconditional dialogue aimed at resolving the Kashmir dispute, taking into primary account the wishes and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.  Without their equal inclusion and participation, no solution will be acceptable to the Kashmiri people or implementable on the ground.

Source: Pak Nationalists

Family planning efforts in Pakistan
Efforts to promote family planning in Pakistan are struggling against the reality that many women are simply not in a position to make such decisions. Pakistan has the regions highest fertility rate with an average of four children per woman. 

Korean “comfort women” in landmark protest against Japan
Korean women seized by Japanese military during World War II, then forced into sexual slavery, staged their 1,000th successive weekly protest outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday. “I want President Lee [Myung Bak] to urge Japan to apologize for the past sins and make compensation. The Japanese ambassador should make a formal apology as quickly as possible before we all die,” said Kim Bok-dong, 88, one of five former “comfort women” in attendance, and one of only 63 still alive today from among the more than 200,000 girls taken to military brothels.

UN asks donors for $7.7 billion to meet humanitarian emergencies in 2012
The United Nations projects it will need $7.7 billion from international donors in 2012 to cope with humanitarian emergencies affecting some 51 million people in 16 countries, chiefly Somalia, Sudan and Kenya. The appeal, made today by Valerie Amos, the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, is less than the $8.9 billion the world body sought for 2011.

Bensouda to take on gender violence at ICC
Holding perpetrators of gender-based crimes accountable for their actions will receive increased focus moving forward, newly elected International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says. Bensouda, who is the first woman to hold the ICC’s top prosecution position, believes the court’s efforts can help end the impunity that surrounds sexual assault and gender-based crime in many parts of the world.

Global malaria death toll falling
The number of people dying from malaria has dropped significantly over the past decade thanks to concentrated prevention and treatment efforts, according to the World Health Organization’s World Malaria Report. “It is remarkable progress. When I began working in the malaria field in Africa, we were fighting a losing battle. Now all that has changed, and the risk of dying from malaria has fallen by a third in a decade,” said Dr. Richard Cibulskis, the report’s chief author. Still, WHO warns that insufficient funding may limit progress. Funding hit $2 billion in 2011, the highest level ever but still short of the $5 – $6 billion needed annually to achieve WHO’s target of zero malaria deaths by 2015.

USAID chief makes case for investment in global health
The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development recounted the story of a woman at the world’s largest refugee complex in Dadaab, Kenya, as an example of why investment of U.S. taxpayer dollars is needed in global health. “There was a woman who had traveled for 80 kilometers, carrying her remaining belongings to a place of shelter, and along the way had been attacked and robbed. She reached a point where she had to make an unimaginable decision. She could no longer carry both of her children. She had to choose because she couldn’t physically carry both of her children into that camp. I have three kids. I just couldn’t forget that story,” Rajiv Shah said Thursday at a dinner hosted by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism.

Photojournalist exposes secret world of child brides
In an interview, photojournalist Stephanie Sinclair — who shot the feature “Too Young To Wed” for National Geographic magazine — discusses nearly a decade of work investigating child marriage throughout the world. Despite international agreements that outlaw the practice in many countries, millions of young girls, some as young as five, are forced into marriage annually.

UN Population Fund Executive Director on HIV/AIDS, Maternal Health, and Leadership
In a far-ranging interview, Babatunde Osotimehin, executive director of the UN Population Fund, discusses approaches to sexual, reproductive and maternal health, as well as hot-button issues such as population growth. “The unmet need for voluntary family planning remains appallingly high, considering that 215 million women in developing countries still lacking access,” he said. “The gap between this unmet need and the amount of money available for family planning must be bridged, starting with those in most need — the rural and urban poor, and also young people, upon whom our future rests.”

Five girls who resisted child marriage hailed as ‘icons’ by President
 Economic progress is not the only indicator of a country’s development, a nation requires its people to show courage against social pressures and overcome social evils, said President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday after meeting five teenagers from West Bengal who fought social and family pressure and resisted child marriage.
The girls, with little education and almost no support, turned down marriage proposals and faced the anger of their families and the community. They earned praise from the President, who described them as “icons” and asked them to share their stories and encourage girls to say no to under-age marriages.

Please note, the names on the signatories list will be updated as more endorsements are coming in.

PRESS RELEASE

Civil society terms “memogate” scandal an attempt to thwart democracy; Says threatening the representative system tantamount to attack on sovereignty of people.

December 17, 2011

We, the representatives of the Civil Society including non-governmental organisations, labour organisations, academia, women’s rights bodies, and media persons express deep concern over the current political situation in the country where a crisis is being manufactured on frivolous grounds, and is being referred as the so-called “memogate”. This has the potential of subverting democratically elected Parliament and the Constitution.

It is time all conspirators against democracy and the sovereignty of the people be called to account. Sovereignty belongs to the people who have agreed to exercise it through their representatives in a federal, parliamentary, and a democratic system. Any attempt at arbitrarily altering this arrangement is tantamount to an attack on the sovereignty of the people. Various institutions of the state are supposed to function within their defined constitutional parameters and complement each other but they seem to be working at cross-purposes, to the determent of public interest.

We emphasise that the role of political parties and political leaders is to represent their constituents’ interests and arrive at negotiated agreements to differences in agreed political forums.

The role of state’s security organizations is to serve the people through stipulated constitutional arrangements, under the command of the executive, and not to define what is or is not in the national interest.

The role of the judiciary is to protect the rights of the citizens from arbitrary abuse of executive power, and not to itself become a source of arbitrary executive power.

The role of the mass media is to help citizens hold powerful interests groups within and outside the state to promote their legitimate interests and hold violators of rights accountable, and not to itself act as an unaccountable interest group.

In our opinion, parliament is the appropriate forum to discuss and investigate this issue and come up with findings.

We believe that any attack on the sovereignty of the people will be unjust. It will necessarily lead to conflict and must be resisted.

We appeal to the people of Pakistan to stand united and firm in support of democracy and to resist all attempts aimed at its subversion. The people of Pakistan have made great many sacrifices for the cause of democracy and they should not let any vested interests trample their right to have a democratic and an elected representative system run the country.

Undersigned (in alphabetical order by first name)

1. Abdulrahman Rafiq, Founder & Operations Coordinator http://SARelief.com
2. Abrar Qazi, Awami President Awami Jamhori Party
3. Adam Malik, Human Rights Activist
4. Adnan Rehmat, Executive Director Intermedia
5. Aisha Gazdar, documentary filmmaker
6. Ali Asghar Khan, Aman Ittehad Pakistan
7. Ali Raza, Shirkat Gah
8. Amir Aziz Syed, businessman
9. Anis Haroon, Women Action Forum
10. Arif Hasan, Architect, Urban Planner,
11. Arshad Mehmood, Executive Director Society for the Protection of the Rights of the Child
12. Arshid Mirza, Baidarie Sialkot
13. Asad Mufty columnist daily Jang.
14. Asad Rahman, Sungi Foundation
15. Asad Sayeed, Director, Collective for Social Science Research, Karachi
16. Ayesha Tammy Haq, Journalist
17. Aziz Abbasi, President Watan Dost mazdoor feder
18. B. M Kutty, Secretary, Pakistan Peace Coalition
19. Babar Ayaz, journalist
20. Beena Sarwar, Independent Journalist
21. Bushra Khaliq,
22. Danial Noorani, social worker
23. Dr Haroon Ahmed, President Pakistan Mental Health Association
24. Dr. Abid Qayoum Suleri, Executive Director Sustainable Development Policy Institute
25. Dr. Aly Ercelan, Senior Development Economist
26. Dr. Arif Azad, Development Consultant and Campaigner
27. Dr. Badar Siddiqui, Ex-President, Pakistan Medical Association,
28. Dr. Jaffar Ahmed, Irtiqa Institute of Social Science,
29. Dr. Kaisar Bengali, Senior Economist
30. Dr. Manzoor Ahmed AwanDirector Program OperationsSungi Development Foundation
31. Dr. Mohammad Taqi, Columnist/Physician
32. Dr. Pervez Tahir, Economist
33. Dr. Taimur Rahman, Laal
34. Faiza Haswary, Lecturer, Hameed Law College, Karachi
35. Farooq Tariq, Spokesperson, Labor Party Pakistan
36. Fatima Zafar, National Focal Point, Youth Peer Education Network Multan
37. Fauzia Viqar, Shirkat Gah
38. Ghulam Fatima, Executive Member BLLF,
39. Haider Nizamani, Human Rights Activist
40. Haris Gazdar, Independent Economist
41. Harris Khalique, Development Consultant,
42. Hassam Qadir Shah, Lawyer
43. Hoori Noorani, Publisher
44. Human Fouladi, Aman Ittehad Balochistan
45. Ibrahim Malick, Technologist, Social Entrepreneur
46. Idrees Kamal, Idrees Kamal Coordinator Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network
47. Iqbal Alavi and Friends of Irtiqa and National Council of Academics
48. Iqbal Tareen
49. Irfan Ali, Aman Ittehad, Balochistan
50. Irfan Mufti, South Asia Partnership -Pakistan
51. Ishaq Mangrio, Independent Journalist,
52. Jaffar Memon, We Journalists,
53. Jami Chandio, Executive Director, Centre for Peace and Civil Society,
54. Jugnu Mohsin, The Friday Times
55. Kamran Noorani, Businessman
56. Kamran Shafi, Columnist
57. Karamat Ali, Executive Director, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research,
58. Kausar S. Khan, Women Action Forum
59. Khawar Mumtaz, Shirkat Gah,
60. Lala Hassan, Co-convener Asian Muslims Lawyers Human Rights Network for South
61. Lateef Mughal, General Secretary, Peoples Workers Union KESC
62. Mansoor Ahmed, SAP-Pakistan
63. Maqbool Dal, President, Village Community Development Organization Mirpur Khas
64. Marvi Sirmed, Columnist Daily Times
65. Masood Punjabi, trade union activist Sweden
66. Mehnaz Rehman, Regional Director Aurat Foundation,
67. Mirza Abdul Shakoor, Executive Director, Community Development Concern, Sialkot
68. Mirza Yusuf Agha
69. Mohammad Ali Shah, Chairperson Pakistan Fisher folk Forum (PFF)
70. Mohammad Tahseen, Executive Director, South Asia Partnership Pakistan,
71. Mohammad Waseem, IRC Lahore
72. Mohsin Sayeed, journalist
73. Mola Bux Leghari, Executive Director, SPEACH Development org, Dadu, Sindh
74. Mumtaz Mughal, Aman Ittehad Punjab
75. Naeem Mirza, Aurat Foundation
76. Naeema Malik, South Asia Partnership -Pakistan
77. Najam Sethi, anchor, Geo TV
78. Najma Sadeque, Women Action Forum
79. Naseer Memon, Chief Executive, Strengthening Participatory Organization, SPO,
80. Nasir Iqbal, Lahore Social Forum
81. Nasir Mumtaz, Kashf Foundation
82. Nasreen Azhar, Women Action Forum
83. Nausheen Ahmad, Advocate
84. Naziha Syed Ali, journalist
85. Nazim F Haji, industrialist, Former Chief Citizens Police Liaison Committee,
86. Nazir Ghazi, Godh Lahore
87. Nazish Brohi, Women Action Forum
88. Nighat Saeed Khan, ASR Resource Centre and Women Action Forum
89. Noman Quadri, student, Karachi
90. Omar Ali, Columnist and Moderator Asia Space
91. Peter Jacob, National Commission for Peace and Justice
92. Prof. Arfana Mallah, President Sindh University Teachers Association,
93. Prof. Dr. Ijaz Khan, Chairman, Department of International Relations, University of Peshawar
94. Punhal Saryo, President Sindh Hari Porhiat Council,
95. Qamar Hayat, Executive Director Sahara Development Foundation,
96. Rabia Khan, Women Rights Activist, Karachi
97. Raja Abbas, ANCE Lahore
98. Rana Bilal, Youth Parliament Pakistan
99. Rana Riaz Saeed, Development Activist and Lobbyist
100. Rashida Dohad, Omar Asghar Khan Foundation
101. Raza Rumi, writer/columnist
102. Raziq Fahim, Director College of Youth Activism and Development
103. Rehana Shaikh, Institute of Social Policy
104. Rubina Jamil, NTUF
105. Sabahat Ashraf, “iFaqeer” Communicator, Citizen
106. Sabiha Shaheen, Bargad Foundation Gujranwala
107. Saeed Ahmed Rid, Commonwealth Scholar, Peace Studies, University of Bradford, UK & Lecturer, National Institute of Pakistan Studies (NIPS), Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.
108. Saeeda Diep, Institute for Peace and Secular Studies
109. Salima Hashmi, Artist and Academician
110. Samina Khan, Executive Director Sungi Development Foundation
111. Samina Khan, Sungi Foundation
112. Sayed Masud-ul Hassan
113. Shahzad Ahmad, Country Coordinator, Bytes for All, Pakistan
114. Shaikh Tanveer Ahmed, Chief Executive HANDS Pakistan
115. Sheema Kermani, Tahreek –e- Niswan,
116. Sheen Farrukh, Inter Press Communications,
117. Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi, Chair & Founder Pakistan Youth Alliance, Central Executive Committee, Khudi Pakistan
118. Tasneem Ahmed Siddiqui, Chairman, Saiban, Former Chief Secretary Sindh,
119. Ume Laila, Home Net Pakistan
120. Uzma Noorani, Council Member HRCP
121. Waseem Akram, SAP-Pakistan
122. Zahid Islam, Director, SANGAT-Lahore
123. Zia Banday
124. Zia Rehaman, AWAZ CDS Multan
125. Zubaida Noor, Noor Education Trust, Peshawar
126. Zubair Faisal Abbasi, Development Consultant
127. Zubair Malik, STEP, Khushab
128. Zulfiqar Halepoto, Sindh Democratic Forum,
129. Zulfiqar Shah, Institute for Social Movements Pakistan

Here are a few stories that I’ve been thinking about in recent days:

A new report from the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), Africa and the Arab Spring: A New Era of Democratic Expectations, the first volume of the Africa Center’s new Special Report series, uses the Arab Spring as a lens through which to view African politics. I think it is a bit too overdetermined to look at the Arab Spring and to look at ongoing crises in African politics and think that the one will fuel changes in the other. But the report is soundly done and certainly raises a number of important ideas and questions.

Deposed African National Congress Youth League leader Julius Malema believes he is finished in South African political life and plans to become a cattle farmer. Just remember, a phoenix has to fall before he can rise again. Don’t for one minute think that Malema’s turn in public life is complete.

Gbenga Sesan, the executive director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria, has written a public letter to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan. In it he asks some pretty pointed questions, including this one: “If the president can throw his wife a party in Australia and senators earn millions of dollars a year, why does the president keep asking us, the people, to make sacrifices?”

Recent revelations of obesity in South Africa raise the question: “Has Freedom Made Us Fat?” My guess would be that affluence more than freedom is the source of obesity in the richest country on the continent. Yes, tens of millions of South Africans do not share in the country’s wealth, but the country’s middle classes are doing quite well, and there has always been a link between weight and wealth on a continent where the former can actually serve as a status symbol indicating the latter.

According to Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times, “…the African Union force in Somalia has hardened into a war-fighting machine — and it seems to be winning the war.” Progress has clearly been excruciatingly slow but these advances coupled with more aggressive action from Kenyan troops reveals that the region’s leaders are not resigned to Somalia being a failed state forever.

I am late in getting my Year in Review post up for 2011, but for the time being, here is the Mail & Guardian’s slideshow of South Africa’s most memorable moments of the year.