From:    nath at southcentre.org
Subject: South Centre: Role of Decentralized Renewable Energy Technologies in Adaptation to Climate                             Change in Developing Countries.
Date: October 16, 2008

South Centre, the Geneva-based intergovernmental organisation and thinktank of the developing countries, has published  the paper:

 http://www.southcentre.org/index.php?opt…

The paper analyses the positive impact of Decentralized Renewable Energy Technologies on enhancing climate change adaptation capacity in developing countries facing climate change-related increasing hazards. The paper concludes with some recommendations for implementing decentralized renewable energy technologies for climate adaptation in developing countries.

It notes:
One of the reasons of developing countrie���� vulnerability consists in energy poverty. The energy poor are not surprisingly more exposed and sensitive to external stresses because of higher incidence of extreme poverty, malnutrition, diseases, mortality, education deficit and gender inequality. Access to energy represents an important input to human development. Therefore, the improvement of adaptation capacity in developing countries is premised, among other things, on the enhancement of access to energy resources and services ��� in particular renewable energy.

On the other hand, the reinforcement of adaptation to climate change needs a strong effort to shift toward a low-carbon energy pathway ��� both in terms of the energy infrastructure and the energy production and consumption patterns ��� that nevertheless would continue to support continued sustainable development in developing countries while lessening the level of their GHG emission increases. In this context, DRETs may represent an important way for developing countries to support adaptation and enhance development, representing a more ecological development pathway with emphasis on the introduction and use of clean and resource-efficient technologies, social and environmental sustainability and improved social equity.

You may register yourself at http://www.southcentre.org/index.php?opt… to stay updated on new South Centre publications, and join www.INSouth.org to meet other intellectuals working on climate change and other issues of interest to the South.

Best regards,
Vikas Nath

—-
Head- Media and Communications
South Centre

17-19 chemin du Champ d’Anier
1209 Petit Saconnex, Geneva
Switzerland

Email:  nath at southcentre.org
Phone: +41 22 791 8050 (office)

Website: http://www.SouthCentre.org

from: Harry L. Langer     -      Tel: 212-517-5942      -     E-mail:  harrylanger at hllanger.com
SOVEREIGN FUNDS AS VEHICLE TO FINANCE THE GLOBAL ECONOMY.

Harry suggests that Consideration be given to the creation of an international system wherein sovereign funds (and/or those of affiliates) spent outside their native countries are restricted to only lending to public and private business enterprises subject to an international regulation, control, and oversight regime and subordinate to those of the nations where the loans are made. This would:

(1) Provide additional liquidity and capital to the international financial system, maintain markets, and reduce the risk of regional and/or worldwide recession;

(2) Overcome the valid concerns ( economic, financial, security, political, etc.) and fear of sovereign funds buying up a country’s manufacturing, and service companies, agricultural enterprises, natural resources, banks, financial institutions, and technology and knowhow (industrial, military, scientific, nuclear, etc.) and engaging in economic aggression.

(3) Reduce the risk of protectionism and strife.

***

To protect and preserve the capital of sovereign fund banks, their off shore loans could be secured by the credit of the borrower and/or the nation, state, or municipal government where the borrowing enterprise is located, possibly as part of economic/job development financing programs. {so this is the required insurance for the lender.}

This approach would satisfy the concerns and requirements of all parties, supply the capitol the global economy needs to function equitably and efficiently, and encourage greater sovereign fund domestic investment to improve the educational, infrastructure, and living standards at home.
This could be accomplished through:

(1) U.N. regulations prohibiting any member nation from allowing sovereign funds (or their affiliates), either directly or indirectly, to acquire any kind of asset in their country – only lend;

(2) individual countries collectively enacting standardized legislation to prohibit sovereign funds (or their affiliates) from acquiring or purchasing stock, bonds, or equity, either directly or indirectly, in the manufacturing, mining, agriculture, or service enterprises, technology, research, intellectual and real property, patents or copyrights in their country and set lending guidelines;

(3) the U.N. requiring all of its members to comply with all international patent and copyright laws; and/or

(4) the establishment (or empowerment) of an international oversight and regulatory banking commission, like the IMF, World Bank, World Trade Organization, European Trade Commission, or OECD to: (a) govern sovereign fund foreign lending, (b) set uniform regulations and standards for international bank and hedge fund reserve, transparency, disclosure, credit rating, and due diligence, etc. and (c) prohibit any interference or influence by sovereign funds (or their affiliates), either directly or indirectly, in the governments or politics of any country other than their own.
Private banks, financial institutions or consultants could assist sovereign funds in arranging and servicing said foreign loans on a fee basis.

From:    soros at other-net.info
Subject: ‘Capitalism Has Degenerated into a Casino’
Date: October 13, 2008

‘Capitalism Has Degenerated into a Casino’ says NOBEL LAUREATE MUHAMMAD YUNUS.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Muhammad Yunus says that greed has destroyed the world’s financial system.                      SPIEGEL ONLINE spoke with him about the profit motive, social consciousness and what should be done to end the financial crisis.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Mr. Yunus, for years you have been preaching a more socially conscious way of doing business and have denounced the narrow focus on maximizing profit as harmful. Now, the entire financial system is wobbling …
Yunus: The current turn of events makes me sad. It is certainly not something I am happy about. The collapse has hurt so many people and has suddenly made the entire world unstable. We should now be concentrating on making sure that such a financial crisis does not happen again.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What should be done?
Yunus: There are huge holes in the current financial system that need to be plugged. The market is clearly not able to solve these problems itself, and now people are having to run to the governments to ask for emergency assistance. That is not a good sign because it shows that trust in the markets has evaporated. At the moment, there is unfortunately no other option than for government takeovers and government support. That is currently the method being used to combat the crisis — a method kicked off with the $700 billion bailout package passed in the US. In Germany, the government has likewise jumped into the fray.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Where exactly do you see the problem with such a strategy?
Yunus: The point is that we have to return as soon as possible to market mechanisms that can ameliorate the crisis and solve problems. Solutions should come out of the market and not from governments.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: But you just said yourself that the market is not capable of doing so.
Yunus: That is exactly what we need to work on. For a long time, the main priorities have been the maximization of profits and rapid growth — but that focus has led to the current situation. Each day, we have to look to see if there is potentially harmful growth somewhere. If we find there is, then we need to react immediately. If something grows unnaturally quickly, then we have to stop it. Why don’t companies all pay into a fund that buys up securities that have become too risky? I can even imagine a business model for such a program.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: On the one hand, you say that the market has to solve the problem itself, on the other hand, though, you criticize overly quick growth. That sounds like you think that profit-oriented capitalism has failed.
Yunus: Not at all. Capitalism, with all its market mechanisms, has to survive — there is no question. What I excoriate is that today there is only one incentive for doing business, and that is the maximization of profits. But the incentive of doing social good must be included. There need to be many more companies whose primary aim is not that of earning the highest profits possible, but that of providing the greatest benefit possible for human kind.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: And you think that those two incentives are mutually exclusive? The bank you founded, Grameen Bank — which led to your receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 — both helps people and earns healthy profits.
Yunus: It is a company which is focused on the social good and which makes a profit, but it is not focused on maximizing its profits. I am not interested in turning all profit-oriented companies into socially conscious operations. They are two different categories of companies — there will always be businesses whose primary goal is that of earning as much money as possible. That is okay. But earning as much money as possible can only be a means to an end, not an end in itself. One has to invest money in something meaningful — and I would make a case for it being something that improves the quality of life for all people.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: What, though, does an increase in the number of socially minded companies have to do with the financial crisis?
Yunus: Were there more socially minded companies, people would have more opportunities to shape their own lives. The markets would be more balanced than they are today.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: You are talking about saving the world with altruism …
Yunus: There are many philanthropists in this world, people who help people by providing them with homes, education, etc. But that is a one-way street. The money is spent and never comes back. Were one to invest that money in a socially minded company, it would stay in the economy and would be much more effective because it would be used according to the criteria of the market and would thus develop a certain amount of market leverage.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Who do you think is guilty for the current financial meltdown?
Yunus: The market itself with its lack of adequate regulation. Today’s capitalism has degenerated into a casino. The financial markets are propelled by greed. Speculation has reached catastrophic proportions. These are all things that have to end.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: The current financial crisis began as a credit crisis — homeowners in the US could no longer pay down their mortgages. At Grameen Bank, which provides microloans, the repayment rate is close to 100 percent. Do you think your bank could be a model for the entire finance world?
Yunus: The fundamental difference is that our business is very connected to the real economy. When we provide a loan of $200, that money will go to buy a cow somewhere. If we lend $100, someone will maybe buy some chickens. In other words, the money goes to something with concrete value. Finance and the real economy have to be connected. In the US, the financial system has completely split off from the real economy. Castles were built in the sky, and suddenly people realized that these castles don’t exist at all. That was the point at which the financial system collapsed.

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Is it now time for governments to intervene in the market economy and strengthen regulation?
Yunus: There has to be regulation, but governments should not be allowed to steer the market. On the other hand, it has become clear that Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” which supposedly solves all the market’s problems doesn’t exist. This “invisible hand” has completely disappeared in the last few days. What we are experiencing is a dramatic failure of the markets.

Interview conducted by Hasnain Kazim. Translated from the German by Charles Hawley.

 The Previous posting was September 30, 2008. Now, after the weekend that saw Washington “Get To Its Senses”thanks to an infusion of ideas from G7 Finance Ministers, Central Bank Officials, and other European leaders, who came to the WB/IMF yearly enclave in Washington, and actually told the Americans that things have to be run for the sake of the people, rather then for the sake of the stock-holders and managers. It is only when the people’s interests are cared for, that the health of the banks will return - finally the US was ready to move on the re-capitalization of the banks.  Call it what you want - but this is a guarantee that the National interest is now at stake - not just the jobs of the managers - so, at these depressed prices, the Spaniards, who did not lose from the Americanization of the global useless paper market because their regulations did not allow such deals, and who already expanded two weeks earlier into the UK, are now buying into the US. Simple enough - they say that the US is seen as a higher growth market than Western Europe, despite the possibility of a US recession. Obviously, that is only so if you do not try short cuts, and earn rather your gains from work, not gimmicks. The US needs this money inflow and the Bush Adminstration is guaranteeing these investments.

So, Santander Bank is now buying up Sovereign Bancorp Inc, and their competitors from BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, got already two Texas Banks  and now get Compass Bancshares Inc, of Birmingham Alabama with 400 branches from Florida to Arizona.

The Big Question: Why are Spanish banks in such “rude” health when ours (that is the UK) are ailing?
By Elizabeth Nash, The Independent,
Tuesday,  September 30, 2008.

Why are we asking this now?

Spain’s biggest banking group, Santander, yesterday galloped to the rescue of Bradford and Bingley, the latest British bank to hit the skids, saving it from bankruptcy and probably further economic meltdown.

Why is a Spanish bank so keen to expand into Britain?

It’s part of Santander’s grand plan to become the world’s top bank. It is already the leading bank in the Eurozone, No1 in Latin America, and seventh in the world by market share. Once it’s consolidated its presence in the British market, it plans to conquer the US. Growth is its watchword. “The aim is to be second to none,” the bank says in its characteristically immodest way.

Hasn’t Santander already established quite a presence in Britain?

Yes, it chummed up with the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1988 and got a seat on the board, which gave Santander a window on the world that was invaluable when it developed ambitions of international expansion.

Four years ago it acquired Abbey National, and it is still digesting Alliance & Leicester which it bought for a song in July. You have to remember that the Banco Santander began as a local family-run operation in the northern Spanish city whose name it bears. There’s not much it doesn’t know about how small regional banks work.

So who is the guiding hand behind this grand invasion?

Santander is run by the charismatic Emilio Botin, 73, the latest patriarch of this great Spanish banking dynasty, an astute predator steeped in the business to his fingertips. At the pinnacle of the most powerful business operation in Spain, he is arguably the country’s most influential man. When Botin endorsed Spain’s incoming socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in 2004, a jittery stock market calmed down instantly.

How has Santander got this far?

The bank has a record of homing in on distressed banks, even lumbering shareholders with apparently hopeless liabilities, as when it scooped up Spain’s Banesto bank in 1995, when it was a multimillion pound black hole ruined by a reckless fraudster. Botin put his daughter Ana Patricia – who will probably succeed when the old man eventually retires – in charge of the operation and she turned it round within five years.

Santander then swallowed Banco Central Hispano in 1995, which enabled it enter the turbulent Latin American market, to the alarm of more cautious operators. Within 10 years Santander consolidated itself as the top bank in the region, and turned its attention to Europe.

How has Santander avoided being savaged by the banking crisis?

Not only has Santander weathered the storm, it has spectacularly benefited from it, announcing 9bn euros profit this year, a staggering 19.3 per cent improvement on last year.

Two reasons, really: first the Spanish banking system is very strictly regulated, largely as a result of a devastating crisis that shook the country’s banking industry in the 1970s, and sent many regional and family banks to the wall. The Bank of Spain imposes iron controls in assuming high-risk assets, and insists that ordinary customers be protected from their vagaries. Second, Santander concentrates on retail banking – the unsexy stuff of high-street branches, current accounts and savings deposits – rather than investment banking, or anything fancier. The bank reckons its business is therefore largely immune from market swings.

Santander never got embroiled in dodgy loans or toxic mortgages, which it regarded as too complicated and unacceptably risky. While the world financial system juddered under the fallout of subprime loans, Sanatander declared its exposure to high-risk mortgages as “zero”. Botin loftily told his shareholders, “We don’t have those strange things.”

So how do Spaniards get their mortgages?

Mortgages in Spain are mostly handled by savings banks, which aren’t quoted on the stock exchange. Some of these became over-generous in dishing out loans during the recent long property boom, and since the bubble burst many face liquidity problems.

Spain’s banking supremos are in general an austere, cautious lot, with none of the buccaneering recklessness of many international counterparts. They are rich, of course, but frugal and philanthropic. If the Botins appear in public, it’s probably to endow a university or science park. You will never see them in the pages of Hola!

So how did Santander come out on top?

As well as knowing the market inside out, Santander’s top brass, ie Mr Botin, the indusputed boss, has an astute sense of market timing. Last year the bank conducted the real estate operation of the century by selling off all its 1,200 properties at the peak of the property boom, including wedding cake palaces in the heart of Spain’s major cities. Pulled off just before the market crashed, the deal netted Santander 4bn euros – which neatly funded last year’s purchase, jointly with its affiliate the Royal Bank of Scotland, of the Dutch bank ABN Amro. It cannily held on to all its branches, however – the bits that make money – and even remains tenant of the properties it sold, with an option to buy back in the future.

How will Santander’s increased presence affect Britain’s high-street banks?

We can expect to see more of Santander’s scarlet flame logo as the old names Abbey, Alliance& Leicester and Bradford&Bingley gradually fade away. In acquiring B&B – as in all its acquisitions – the Spanish bank has been careful to peel away and sell off the liabilities it doesn’t want, to home in on the elements of its core business: branches, and bank deposits.

So having lots of branches is the key to banking success?

That’s the Santander way. It may seem like boring stuff to braver bankers, but Santander believes we need more branches – in Spain there’s a bank on every street corner – and that these are the source of steady money, what Mr Botin calls “high-quality, recurrent earnings”. However, Santander is ruthless in stripping out what he doesn’t need, so bank employees may fear for their jobs.

Will Santander be satisfied, or will it want more of the British market?

History suggests Santander will be eager for another good bargain, especially in the current landscape of smouldering wreckage. The predatory Mr Botin, his coffers plumped with cash, must already be on the alert for further acquisitions, if not immediately. But this is the best moment for him. As he put it recently: “In times of crisis, being better than the others is a big advantage.”

So will the B&B takeover benefit British consumers?

Yes

*Santander has saved B&B from ruin, and account holders can feel their savings and deposits are safe.

*Santander’s low risk policy suggests it will be a steadying influence on Britain’s future banking scene.

*Without Santander’s action, the alternative could have been a wider meltdown too awful to contemplate.

No

*Santander’s move reinforces the concentration of Britain’s banks in the hands of a powerful few.

*Santander has a mixed reputation for its service, and it is strong enough to brush off complaints.

*Savings are better handled by local building societies than by banks answerable only to shareholders.

 e.nash at independent.co.uk

===========

Some of our pointers - A Socialist Prime Minister in Spain; A retreat from Iraq; A US Presidential candidate - John McCain who seemingly thought Spain was an enemy of the US for not following Washington’s edicts like many other lemmings.

Mr. Botin will not laugh, he will not even chuckle - he will just go about his solid business and will not eat chuff. His daughter will take over after him - a solid Spanish woman - He backed Zapatero rather then a Sarah Palin.

Further, we know Bank Santander in New York - among its many philanthropies right here - it is also the host for many solid meetings of the New York based “Foreign Policy Association.”  The Bank Manager in the US comes to listen and mingle with the crowd.

 The following is in some sense a continuation of the US-India nuclear deal, and we ask if it is not the prelude to a US-Iran deal? This, because of what seems, according to the Japanese, an approach that takes the other side on its word - good for nuclear industry interests, but totally devote answers to the enrichment/proliferation issues - as these are left outside the scope of the agreement. Above would thus seem ideal for the Iranians, who could thus send feelers now to ask for similar agreements. Can these agreements avoid the dreaded Asian nuclear arms race? Is this a legacy the Bush Administration wants  to be remembered for?

****

North Korea cuts deal to exit blacklist: Enrichment now not factor; Japan to snub food aid.
Kyodo News, Friday, Oct. 10, 2008.

The United States has told Japan it will remove North Korea from its list of terrorism-sponsoring nations by the end of the month because Washington has reached a certain degree of understanding with Pyongyang about verifying the North’s nuclear programs, Tokyo sources said Thursday.

Japan has demanded that the U.S. keep North Korea on the list until the hermit state makes progress on reinvestigating the fate of the Japanese nationals it abducted in the 1970s and ’80s.

According to the sources, the top nuclear negotiators from the U.S. and North Korea have broadly agreed on verification of the plutonium program declared by North Korea while setting aside scrutiny of its uranium enrichment program and nuclear proliferation activities as conditions for removing Pyongyang from the list.

The deal was struck during a meeting Oct. 1 in Pyongyang between Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, and Kim Kye Gwan, his North Korean counterpart.

The U.S. also told Japan it plans to continue providing food aid to North Korea, a humanitarian assistance program it started in June, and asked Japan to consider joining the program, the sources said, adding Japan plans to reject the U.S. request for food assistance because it hasn’t seen any progress on the abduction issue.

The U.S. plans have already been reported to Prime Minister Taro Aso, the sources said.

It is also believed that Sung Kim, the U.S. special envoy for the six-party talks on denuclearizing North Korea, presented the plans during a meeting Wednesday in Tokyo with Akitaka Saiki, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, the sources said.

The Japanese government will accept the U.S. plan to take North Korea off the terror-sponsor list on condition that Pyongyang carry out the deal with Washington.

—————–
Kyodo News, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

North Korea sanctions extended again: Ban on imports, port calls to last six more months due to inaction on nuclear, abduction issues.

Japan on Friday extended its ban on port calls by North Korean-registered vessels and all imports of goods from the country for another six months, citing the lack of progress in denuclearization and its failure to come clean on its past abductions of Japanese nationals.

In addition to these two sanctions, which were to expire next Monday, Japan also continues to maintain other measures, including barring entry to all North Korean nationals, except for those who are residents of Japan, and prohibiting the export of luxury goods to North Korea.

Approved by the Cabinet on Friday morning, it is the fourth six-month extension since the sanctions were imposed on Oct. 14, 2006, following North Korea’s nuclear test and earlier ballistic missile tests over the Sea of Japan the same year.

“After considering comprehensively the current circumstances concerning North Korea, including the six-party talks, U.N. Security Council resolutions and the moves of the international community, and given that the abduction issue has yet to be resolved, we decided to extend these measures,” Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone told a news conference.

Nakasone said the extension was made because North Korea has yet to agree to the specifics of a verification regime under the six-party denuclearization framework, yet to begin the agreed-on reinvestigations of its abductions and is moving toward reactivating a nuclear facility after suspending the disablement process.

But he added that Japan has no immediate plans to further expand the sanctions’ scope.

North Korea had agreed to launch a committee by autumn to reinvestigate the abductions and Japan had promised to lift its sanctions on chartered flights and entry of North Korean nationals in return once the probes began.

However, following the abrupt Sept. 1 resignation announcement by then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, North Korea told Japan the panel will not be set up until Pyongyang confirms the policy of the new Japanese administration.

Since the launch of Prime Minister Taro Aso’s new government last month, Japan has continued to urge North Korean authorities on multiple occasions through diplomatic channels in Beijing to move ahead swiftly with the reinvestigations, a Foreign Ministry official said.

Aso, who was foreign minister in 2006 when Japan began the sanctions, pledged last week to relatives of the missing abductees that he will make an all-out effort to resolve the abduction issue and noted it is “a fight against time.”

Japan imposed unilateral sanctions after North Korea fired ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan in July 2006, banning the entry of the North Korean cargo-passenger ferry Mangyongbong-92 into Japanese ports and barring North Korean officials, ship crews and chartered flights from entering Japan.

It also took measures in September that year to practically freeze remittances to the North in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the missile launches.

After North Korea conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, Japan expanded the scope of the sanctions to include banning entry for all North Korea-registered ships.

==========
Kyodo News, Monday, Oct. 13, 2008

Aso downplays removal of N. Korea from U.S. blacklist.

The U.S. move to strike North Korea from its list of state sponsors of terrorism won’t prevent finding a resolution to Pyongyang’s abductions of Japanese nationals, Prime Minister Taro Aso said Sunday.

“We will be able to hold sufficient discussions on the abductions in the process of negotiations to come. It does not mean a loss of leverage,” Aso told reporters in Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.

He showed some acceptance of the U.S. move, saying, “I understand that they took the step considering it would be better to do something about (the nuclear issue) than not doing anything.” The decision is “one way” to move the nuclear disablement forward, he added.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, also the minister in charge of the abduction issue, said: “Japan has no reluctance to cooperate in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. At the same time, we have a strong feeling that the abduction issue should not be left out. We will take up the issue without fail in the six-party talks.”

Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone issued a statement saying Japan will continue to work closely with the U.S. and others to seek progress in resolving the abduction issue.

“Japan will do its utmost, in close cooperation with the United States and other countries concerned, to push forward Japan-North Korea relations, including the abduction issue, alongside the nuclear issue,” the statement said.

Nakasone noted in the statement that President George W. Bush expressed to Aso in a phone call prior to the announcement his understanding of the strong concerns among the Japanese public and his sympathy with the families of the missing abductees.

Nakasone also expressed hope of cooperating with other members of the six-party talks to adopt an agreement on the specifics of a protocol for verifying North Korea’s nuclear programs and facilities based on a deal reached between Washington and Pyongyang.

“Japan believes that in order to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, which is the goal of the six-party talks, it is extremely important to build a concrete framework for effective verification,” Nakasone said.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said in Washington on Saturday that the U.S. decision was “extremely regrettable.”

“I believe abductions amount to terrorist acts,” Nakagawa said. He was in Washington to take part in Group of Seven meetings on the global financial crisis.

Nakagawa, who headed a nonpartisan parliamentarians’ group to seek a resolution to the abductions, met with Bush prior to the delisting announcement. He said he referred to Shigeru and Sakie Yokota, the parents of abductee Megumi Yokota, who North Korea says is dead.

Sakie Yokota, 72, met Bush in 2006 at the White House in seeking U.S. help on the abduction issue.

“I talked with the Yokotas over the phone a while ago and they were very shocked” by the U.S. decision, Nakagawa told reporters.

SOUTH AFRICA – Musical Stars to Stage Concert Against Human Trafficking - South African musical stars will be taking to the stage in Newtown, Johannesburg to play their part in raising awareness of human trafficking on Saturday 11 October 2008.

The Human Trafficking Awareness Concert will be a free open-air event rounding up a series of activities as part of the country’s annual Human Trafficking Awareness Week, which kicked off on 5 October.       Thrilling performances are expected from artists such as MXO, Peggy, Sliq Angel, Wax and Ras, while top DJs such as Naked and Hudson will spin the decks for the audience.

The week-long event this year has seen the participation of civil society, religious bodies, government departments and international organizations engaging in several activities such as workshops, media campaigns and exhibitions to raise awareness of the crime nationwide.

METRO FM, South Africa’s largest urban radio station, has been instrumental in the Week, partnering with IOM to produce and air Public Service Announcements (PSAs) that encourage people to find out more about human trafficking and report suspected cases on IOM’s toll-free helpline: 0800 555 999.

“Children and women are the most vulnerable to this heinous crime” says Metro FM Station Manager, Matona Sakupwanya. “METRO FM has partnered with the IOM in order to demystify human trafficking and enable our listeners to understand the problem, decrease their vulnerability, and prevent it from spreading.”

“Human trafficking is a problem that cannot be looked at in isolation. This week demonstrates what can be achieved when government, civil society, international organizations and the commercial sector work together towards the achievement of a common goal,” explains Malebo Kotu-Rammopo, of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), one of the key contributors to the Week.

“By continuing to raise awareness of human trafficking through events such as these, we hope that other sectors of the South African community will come forward to lend their support. The more involvement there is in countering human trafficking, the more we are likely to succeed,” says IOM’s Regional Representative for Southern Africa, Hans-Petter Boe.

In June 2007, South Africa’s Human Trafficking Awareness Week was named a “BEST GLOBAL PRACTICE TO COMBAT TRAFFICKING” by the US Department of State in its annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report.

For more information: Contact Nde Ndifonka at IOM Pretoria on  nndifonka at iom.int or +27 71 689 9966 METRO FM:  matona at metrofm.co.za, 011 714 3485 NPA -  tip-pcu at npa.gov.za, 012 8456153

IPS Newsbriefs, Tuesday, 7 October 2008.
Indian Envoy Dismisses SG’s Annual Report as “Irrelevant”

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 6 (IPS) - India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Nirupam Sen, never known to pull his punches, offered a critical appraisal of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s annual report on the work of the organisation. Abandoning diplomatic niceties, he dismissed the report as “inadequate, if not irrelevant.” The report, he pointed out, not only did not provide a vision for the future but also failed to discuss the current financial crisis, which he described as the most profound crisis since the Great Depression.

Addressing the General Assembly, Sen said while the universe had not ended, the world of Wall Street had certainly ended, and the Masters of the Universe had bitten the dust, “the same dust that is now in the mouths of the rest of us”. The free market, like free love, had come to an end, he said.

Sen said the debt crisis, the decline in commodity prices and the problems of liquidity would hurt the developing world the most. Only an international response could overcome the crisis, which was impacting the real economy. The problem with the Secretary-General’s report, he said, was that it ignored those issues and did not spell out how the United Nations could rebuild the global economic and political institutions.

Sen said the Secretary-General’s report was silent on that issue and others. It was also silent on what the United Nations could do to stimulate the stalled Doha Round of trade talks. The investment banking world had achieved the destruction of world liquidity, and had increased financial risks and bankruptcies. The impact on the developing world would be profound.