VOICES RISING

YEAR III - VOL 3. NΊ139

May 12, 2005

CONTENT
1.- ICAE ACADEMY OF LIFELONG LEARNING ADVOCACY (IALLA)
2.-
TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR WTO MINISTERIAL IN HONG KONG

3.- HEADLINE: Kenyan Women Take Risks with Backstreet Abortions
4.- WSF
5.- II LATIN AMERICAN DIGITAL CITIES AWARD



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1.- ICAE ACADEMY OF LIFELONG LEARNING ADVOCACY (IALLA)
From July 26 to August 11, 2005.
Buskerud Folk Highschool,  Norway
Applications close on June 10, 2005

The International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) is pleased to announce the launch of the second edition of the ICAE Academy of Lifelong Learning Advocacy (IALLA) that shall be held again in Norway, from July 26 to August 11, 2005.

ICAE, is a global network, created in 1973, composed of non-governmental organizations, regional, national and sectoral networks in more than 75 countries, recognized by UNESCO as international NGO, with consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Present in all world regions, the Council is closely linked to adult education experiences at local, regional and global levels. ICAE is also an active member of the International Council of the World Social Forum committed to build proposals for another possible world, on a sustainable basis.

As a training proposal, IALLA has the following objectives: to build the skills of new emerging leaders, educators, and social movement activists, in supporting adult learning for change, and to consolidate ICAE as a global network committed to that end. And to generate a broader vision on adult education and lifelong learning within the framework of human rights and active citizenship, developing linkages with the most important globalization issues that are currently affecting the world.

The first module, will be mainly focused on the concept of civil society and main actors, state, and rights; globalization and resistance; civil society engagement with UN process; new movements of the civil society such as womens movement, peace movements, and environmental movements; World Social Forum and Perspectives of the global movement; the action of civil society as an educational process.

The second module, will focus on the global governance complex and its actors; UN summits and conferences, participation of civil society in the UN environment; the role of regional and global networks in the present context; the state of the matter regarding the follow up of EFA Global Monitoring Report and the Millennium Development Goals process; the right to education and lifelong learning; the right to quality public services for all women and me; the Global advocacy landscape over the last 10 years: contextualization of the MDG process; the UN Reform process.

The third module will work mainly on the implications of shifting terrains and emerging issues arising from global geopolitics to advocacy on adult education: globalization & war/linking the local with the global, the intersection of religion, politics & struggles for economic justice, gender, race & class identity issues; collective construction of a new thinking on advocacy for adult education; strategic advocacy planning; looking at three-level objectives of advocacy and of different actors; assessing our organizations capacity for advocacy at national, regional and international spheres; techniques in identifying an advocacy issue and in formulating a policy solution to advocate on; steps in formulating an advocacy agenda at global sphere and national sphere.

The Methodology
       The format will allow the harmonization of pedagogical progression and the learning process
       Alternation of complementary methodological proposals such as lectures, courses, workshops.
       Conceptual inputs of theoretical analysis will be combined with practical experiences, specially those of the participants and the host country: learning from diversity
       Special attention will be given to group dynamics, and work with the participants; group dynamics is part of the learning process.
       Students will have possibility of living together with several senior education leaders and thinkers, with an appropriate regional balance

Resource Persons

Paul B
elanger Content Coordinator. He is President of the International Council for Adult Education, Former Director of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), Professor at Universite du Quebec, Montreal, and Director of the Research Center on Lifelong Learning (CIRDEP).

Sergio Haddad Convenor of the first module. He is Secretary General of Aηao Educativa, Director of International Affairs of the Brazilian Association of NGOs and Member of the International Secretariat of the International Council of the World Social Forum.

Celita Eccher Convenor of the second module. She is the Secretary -General of ICAE, Regional Coordinator of DAWN for Latin America, and Former General Coordinator of REPEM

Josefa Francisco Convenor of the third module. She is the
Regional Coordinator of DAWN/South East Asia (Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era).

Below, you will find the call for applications and the application form. For further information or assistance you can contact: Marcela Hernandez at secretariat@icae.org.uy

We hope you can join us in this Academy and help us disseminate the information among interested people throughout all regions.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Course overview

Date: July 26  August 11, 2005

Venue:  
Buskerud Folk High School, Buskerud, Norway.

Cost: USD 2,000  (board, lodging, tuition costs) + airfare cost

Note: A limited number of scholarships (either full or partial) are available for applicants from developing countries. Airfares shall be covered by each participant.


Organized by
:  International Council for Adult Education (ICAE)

Accredited by:   International Council for Adult Education (ICAE)
Supported by:
- Buskerud Folk High School  Norway
- The Norwegian Association for Adult Education (VOFO) - Norway
- Municipality of Norway  Norway
- NIACE  - United Kingdom
- NORAD  - Norway
- SIDA - Sweden

Objective:

The aim of this three-week intensive session is to give emerging leaders in adult learning and social movement activists the opportunity to empower themselves and acquire the skills to advocate for and support adult learning for active citizenship.
Our objective is to help them generate a broader vision of adult education and lifelong learning within the framework of human rights, developing linkages with the most important globalization issues that are currently affecting the world.

Requirements
The program is open to applicants who meet the following requirements:

-       advocacy experience

-       activism in the adult learning and social movements field
-       graduates or equivalent education or advanced students
-       priority shall be given to young leaders
-       ability to communicate (oral and writing skills) effectively and fluently in English. (No translation will be available)
-       availability to attend the whole course (from July 26 to August 11)

Application process
Applicants should submit the following documents:
- Application form  and curriculum vitae (not more than 4 pages)  should be sent as follows:
   One hard copy by post: Acevedo Dνaz 1600 apto. 1002, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay          

   and one electronic copy to: secretariat@icae.org.uy  

- Letters of recommendation from two referees should be sent directly from the referees to the Selection Committee:
By email: secretariat@icae.org.uy   (in letterhead sheet and with scanned signature) 
or by Fax: (598-2) 401 00 06

The deadline for the receipt of application form, curriculum vitae and referee letters of recommendation, is June 10, 2005

Applicants will be notified about the selection by the end of June. A formal letter may be sent, upon request, for the institution where you are applying for a scholarship.

Please note: Application forms, curriculum vitae or letters of recommendation which are hand-written, incomplete, submitted after deadline, or which are not in English language, will not be accepted.

APPLICATION FORM

A) Personal Details

1) Full name  (please underline surname)
2)  Date of Birth______      _______      _______   Month            Date                 Year                         
3) Sex    Male          Female     
4) Nationality
5) Mailing/Postal address
6) Telephone number / fax number
7) E-mail

B) Language skills

English                 Listening                           [   ]   excellent               [   ]   good         [   ]   poor                  Speaking                          [   ]   excellent               [   ]   good         [   ]   poor                  Writing / reading           [   ]   excellent               [   ]   good         [   ]   poor
Mother tongue: _____________________
Other languages: ___________________________


C) Educational Background


Institution     City / country  Years attended  Degree obtained Subject




D) Work Experience

Describe present and previous jobs, stating dates, employer / organization, type of employer / organization and post description.


Name of employer  Type of employer      Position held   Post description        Dates

E) National (and/or regional) activist involvement during the last five years

State the organizations / groups you have worked with, the  issues / campaigns you have worked on  and describe the results (in not more than one page).



F) Local, regional, or global advocacy experience

Give details of any advocacy experience you have had at local, regional and  global level, stating when, where, the issues addressed, and describe the results (in not more than one page).



G) Personal statement

Explain the reason why you consider you should be selected and the contributions you think you could make  after the event, that is to say, how you plan to use the knowledge and skills acquired through IALLA  (in not more than one page).


H) Course expectations

Say what you would like to get out of this course, and what you think you can contribute/bring to it (in not more than one page).





I) Funding for Attendance

(Please place an X in the appropriate space)

____ I can personally afford the total costs of the course.

____ I can partially afford the cost of the course. I can pay an amount of  USD ______

____  I have already applied for a scholarship.
(Please specify in which organization)
_______________________________________

____   I have been granted a scholarship
(Pleases specify by which organization)
_______________________________________

____  I cannot afford the costs of the course.


J)  Applicants declaration


I hereby certify that the statements made by me in this form are true and correct to the best of my knowledge, and in case I am accepted I agree:

i)      not to bring any member of my family.

ii)     to follow the course of study and abide by the rules of institution or establishments with which I undertake to study or train.

iii)    to submit any progress report or evaluation questionnaire which may be prescribed.
iv)     to hold a health insurance  or contract one before travelling, in order to cover any possible expenses due to unforeseen health incidentals (at my expense)
v)      to return to my home country at the end of my course of study or training.


Signed..        Date .

CHECKLIST

To apply for this course, make sure to send the following documentation:

-       Application form

-       Curriculum vitae (not more than 4 pages)
-       2 referee letters of recommendation
Deadline: 
June 10, 2005

PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME  MAIN CONTENTS

Content Coordinator: Paul Belanger

Module I
Convenor: Sergio Haddad

The proposal of this module is to discuss the concept of civil society; the fight for and recognition of individual and collective rights; economic, social. cultural and environmental rights  SCER; the forms of articulation of civil society on the international stage; the history of action, both at the UN conferences and at the World Social Forum and its educational meaning. 

1.      Civil Society

-       discussion on the concept of civil society

-       origin of the concept of citizenship and active citizenship

-       main players, collective action, social movements and networks  civil society in movement

2.      State, Civil Society and Rights

-       the struggle of civil society to constitute and implement Human Rights in the light of Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights.

-       rights to equality and rights to difference

-       education as a human right

3.      Globalization and Global Citizenship

-       action on the international stage  forms, limitations and differences with regard to the national stage

-       the UN world conferences

-       civil society action

4.      World Social Forum and Perspectives of the Movement

-       impacts of the WSF

-       perspectives of the internationalization of the process

-       the action of civil society as an educational process

-       Participation strategies for WSF 2007 in Africa

Module II

Convenor: Celita Eccher

The Global Governance Complex.

-       Actors of the Global Governance Complex

-       UN: Summits and Conferences

-       Participation of civil society in the UN environment. From local to global and from global to local. Examples of participation.

-       The state of the matter regarding the follow up of EFA and Millennium process:

the Millennium Development Goals 2000-2015, EFA Global Monitoring Report 2006, CONFINTEA 2009 and  theabsent place of the rights to learn of adults in the MDG.

-       Eradication of Poverty or sustainable development?

-       The UN Reform process, state of the discussion  proposals

Education and citizenship
The agenda of multilateral organisations on lifelong learning and their impact: WB, WTO, OECD, EC, UNESCO
The right to education and lifelong learning. The right to quality public services for all women and men.
GEO analysis on education for inclusion, intersectionality, and equity

The global and Regional Theatre for Action

-       The role of regional and global networks in the present context.

-       The Global advocacy landscape over the last 10 years. Contextualization of the MDG process

-       Round -Table: Where is the money for education and lifelong learning?

Module III : Creative Participation and Strategies for Advocacy
Convenor: Gigi Francisco

Implication of shifting terrains & emerging issues arising from global geopolitics, to our advocacy on adult education
The objective is to engage the participants in a dynamic discussion on the major challenges and opportunities in the environment that may have an influence for the advocacy of adult educators at regional and global level.

- Globalization & War/Linking the Local with the Global: What these mean for adult education

- On Intersection of Religion, Politics & Struggles for Economic Justice: What these mean for adult education

- On Gender, Race & Class Identity Issues: What these mean for adult education.

Engaging in Institutional Spaces & Sites of Resistances: Possibilities & constraints for adult education

- Workshop discussion: How are we addressing these challenges in our adult education work?, Are we able to integrate our efforts or do our efforts run parallel to one another (i.e. modules focused on specific concerns)?, What capacities do we need to develop as adult educators so that we can effectively integrate these new challenges into our work?

Activities:

Film showings

        Marketization of Governance, by DAWN

        Feminist Dialogues

        Inter-Movement Dialogues

        The Walling of Palestine

        What is the WTO?

Collective construction of a new thinking on advocacy for popular education

The session objective is to facilitate participants further reflection on context,

complexity and the world, and to engage them into a visioning of a new thinking for

popular advocacy & action. It requires activities that will sharpen participants

understanding of the meaning of transformation in relation to:

- Cultural Diversity (Vision of Life from Culture) International Understanding - (Toward global citizenship?)

- Local (distinctive)-global (shared) norms (New legal paradigm?)

- Local-global actions (New Politics)

- Workshop discussion: What new information do we need?, What new knowledge do
we need?, What new understanding have we obtained / should we obtain?, What new values & ethics should we be cultivating?

Strategic advocacy planning: looking at three-level objectives of advocacy & of different actors
Workshop discussion: national, regional, international

This session introduces the participants to the need for identifying concrete advocacy objectives in three areas and for mapping the various actors/players/stakeholders that groups need to take account of in the context of advocacy at the national, regional and international spheres.

Advocacy Objectives:

What is our key policy objective?

What is our key process objective?

What is our key civil society objective?

Actors/Stakeholders

Who is our constituency in our advocacy?

Who are possible targets of our advocacy?

Who are possible allies?

Who are possible opponents?

Identity strategies that can be used?

Assessing your organizations capacity for advocacy

The session focuses on assessing our organizations capacity for advocacy (national, regional and international spheres).

It will cover the areas of:

-       Organizational VMO

-       Internal Assessment

-       External Assessment

- Workshop discussion: Why does my organization engage/plan to engage in advocacy?, are these reasons for engaging in advocacy consistent with the VMO of my organization?, What does my organization expect to change or attain by engaging in advocacy?

INTERNAL ASSESSMENT (S-W in organisation, human resources & material resources)

EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT (T-O in relation to: state actors, civil society actors, market actors/factors, and culture.

Steps in formulating an advocacy agenda  at global sphere and national sphere

The session allows participants to use various techniques in identifying an advocacy

issue and in formulating a policy solution that they could advocate on.

Activities:

- Problem Tree

- Checklist for choosing an advocacy issue

- Checklist of basic questions to ask in formulating a policy solution

- Content-Structure-Culture Grid

Re-visiting the learning map / Creative group presentations

Open discussion with ICAE officers / Facilitator

The session is meant to give way to an interactive discussion on agenda setting within ICAE between the participants who have gone through the workshop and the ICAE officers.

Session Closing and Evaluation


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2.-
TOWARDS A STRATEGY FOR WTO MINISTERIAL IN HONG KONG
ASIA MEETING IN COLOMBO JUNE 6TH-7TH 2005

 ivb@vsnl.com


Dear Friends,

We would like to invite you to an
Asia strategy meeting of peoples movements, mass organizations, networks, NGOs and activists to build a collective strategy to counter the ongoing negotiations in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and the 6th WTO Ministerial Meeting. The meeting will be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on June 6-7, 2005.

As many of you know, the WTO will hold its 6th Ministerial Meeting in
Hong Kong from December 13th-18th 2005. This Ministerial Meeting will be a crucial one since the trade majors in the WTO hope to conclude the Doha Round of negotiations (also called the Doha Development Agenda) during this meeting.

The proposed dates of the strategy meeting are intended to take advantage of the fact that an
Asia consultation meeting on the World Social Forum (WSF) is already scheduled for June 4-5 in Colombo.  Having the two meetings back-to-back in the same location will save travel time and resources for many of us. However, the strategy meeting on the WTO is a separate one and not linked in any substantive manner to the WSF meeting.

ORGANISING TOWARDS THE HONG KONG MINISTERIAL

The first international meeting in
Asia in 2005 on the WTO was held in Hong Kong from February 26-27..  Convened by the Hong Kong Peoples Alliance on WTO (HKPA), the meeting was attended by 250 participants from 110 organizations, movements, activists and NGOs from 23 countries around the world, with most participants coming from Asia. The HKPA is a network of grass-root organizations, which include trade unions, community labour groups, organisations that represent workers, migrant workers, students, women, the church, human rights activists and researchers, and regional organisations based in Hong Kong.  In the February meeting, Working Groups were established to draw a wide representation of movements, organisations and networks into the planning process towards the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting.

At the same time, peoples movements, networks and organizations in different countries in
Asia have also started to hold meetings to develop collaborative strategies and action plans to put pressure on the WTO negotiations to ensure that the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting does not echo the hegemonic interests of the developed countries led by the US and the EU.  In March, farmers groups from all over India mobilized in New Delhi to protest the G 20 and G 33 meetings. It is important that we build on and strengthen all these processes that have already been initiated, and it is this spirit that we now call for a regional strategy meeting in Colombo.

THE COLOMBO MEETING

The strategy meeting is being organised to accelerate the momentum generated in various national and regional meetings, and to provide a space for movements and groups from across Asia to come together, plan local, national and regional actions on WTO negotiations, and strengthen alliances in order to build a cohesive, region-wide strategy to impact on the Hong Kong Ministerial Meeting.

Colombo was selected as a location for this meeting since Sri Lanka is a site of vibrant struggles against neo-liberal policies and corporate led globalisation. In the recent past, peoples movements and organizations have come together and organised against the WTO as well as against the policies of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, that have led to deepening economic, social and environmental crises in the country.  In the post-Tsunami rehabilitation phase, backed by the IFIs and bilateral donors, the Sri Lankan Government has more or less handed over control of the rebuilding process to vested corporate interests.  This is being resisted strongly by the peoples movement alliances in Sri Lanka, and we hope that this meeting will contribute in a small but significant way to strengthening their struggles.

URGENCY OF STOPPING THE WTO CORPORATE AGENDA

There is a lot at stake for everyone with the current WTO negotiations and
upcoming Ministerial Meeting in
Hong Kong. If the major trading powers succeed in concluding the WTO Doha Development Agenda with firm commitments on market access, domestic supports and regulations, and subsidies in the areas of
agriculture, industry and services, the process of global trade liberalisation will be speeded up and the ambit of the WTO will be further expanded into spheres of
domestic/national policy and public procurement of goods and services. Even
the TRIPS agreement, over which there have been significant disagreements, is now threatening to proceed at the benefit of Big Pharma and transnational corporations.

The urgency also lies in the fact that while the Ministerial Meeting is important in itself, trends over the past year show that many of the commitments that will be sealed in Hong Kong will likely be negotiated and finalised elsewhere, and that the Hong Kong Ministerial might well be an event to put a final stamp on negotiations conducted in other fora such as mini-ministerial meetings, the OECD and G-8 meetings, the ongoing negotiations in Geneva among the different negotiating committees, and the General Council Meetings in Geneva.

The General Council Meeting in
Geneva in July 2004 resulted in a reversal of victories that peoples movements won in Cancun in September 2003, when negotiations collapsed in the Ministerial Meeting.  The Framework for Negotiations or the July Framework as it is now called is a definite step backwards for the interests of workers, farmers, fishers, and the general public in developing countries.
 
Although strong developing country groupings such as the G- 20, G-33 and G-90 have attempted to articulate positions that favour their respective developmental interests, these groupings are vulnerable to arm-twisting tactics by developed countries. Also, negotiations in all these fora are conducted in relative secrecy and outside of public scrutiny  with little or no input from the constituencies who would be most impacted by them. 

In addition, there has been a surge of bilateral and plurilateral trade agreements between the US, EU and specific developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, which push trade and investment liberalization commitments even beyond what are currently being negotiated in the WTO.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

In the final analysis the WTO continues to be an instrument to advance the financial and economic interests of rich countries and their corporations. Many movements and organizations across the world have committed to work together to put pressure on the Ministerial Meeting in
Hong Kong and organize actions during the various mini-ministerials, General Council meetings, and in national arenas. These actions, however, will only be effective if linked with many more movements, organizations, unions and activists around Asia. We request you to seriously consider participating in this strategy meeting, especially given the rapid pace at which negotiations are proceeding on the various WTO agreements. Information about the venue of the meeting and a draft programme will be circulated in the coming weeks.

Please let us know of your interest to attend this meeting by writing to MONLAR at
monlar_meeting@yahoo.com  at your earliest
Contact details:
Movement for
National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR)
No: 1151/58A,
4th LaneKotte Road, Rajagiriya, Sri Lanka.
Tel:Fax: (+94) 11 4407663 Tel: (+94) 11 2865534
Web:
www.geocities.com/monlarslk


We look forward to seeing you in
Colombo on June 6-7.

In solidarity,

Alliance for the Protection of National Resources and Human Rights., Srilanka;
National Fisheries Solidarity, Srilanka; The Hong Kong Peoples Alliance on WTO;
La Via Campesina, South Asia; The National Working Group on Patents, India;
ActionAid International-Asia; Focus on the Global South, India; Plantation Sector Social Forum, Srilanka; Womens Action for Social Justice, Srilanka.

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3.-
HEADLINE: Kenyan Women Take Risks with Backstreet Abortions

Reuters; April 27, 2005
 
BYLINE: Katie Nguyen

NAIROBI (Reuters) - It was futile to keep on wishing that the baby would disappear, so Anne decided to take fate into her own hands and a kitchen knife to her belly.
The teenage schoolgirl was rushed to a Kenyan hospital, her stomach a mess of stab wounds.
Surgeons struggled to patch up her shredded uterus and stem the bleeding, but Anne died on the operating table -- another statistic in
Kenya where up to 2,000 women die every year because of complications arising from botched abortions.
Doctors say Kenya's strict abortion laws have forced thousands of women and girls to the backstreets where charlatans use all manner of sharp instruments -- metal wires, knitting needles, forceps -- to penetrate the womb and kill the foetus.

These deaths are really a tragic story because the knowledge and technology to prevent them is there -- it's senseless," said Eunice Brookman-Amissah, vice-president of reproductive health organization Ipas.
"This only happens to the poor, disenfranchised, faceless, voiceless women," she said.
The picture is amplified across sub-Saharan
Africa where 30,000 women die each year from unsafe abortions, and millions more suffer life-long problems.

"
Africa is only 10 percent of the world's population but it has 44 percent of its unsafe abortion deaths," said Fred Sai, a Ghanaian gynaecologist and consultant on reproductive health.
He attributed the rate of deaths to
Africa's reluctance to change colonial-era abortion laws, and a poor record of healthcare on the continent.
"BABIES IN A BAG"
Shrouded in shame and stigma in most societies, abortion in Kenya was pushed into the spotlight last year when street boys found 15 foetuses wrapped in black bin liners and dumped in a shallow river on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Catholic bishops, who hold moral sway in the predominantly Christian country, held a requiem mass to condemn "the terrible holocaust of abortion".
A police investigation later led to murder charges against a gynaecologist and two nurses.
"Abortion is not acceptable because it is against the law," Justice and Constitutional Affairs assistant minister Robinson Githae told local media recently.
"It is only God who can take away life," he said, ruling out any softening of the law.
Women's rights activists say the "babies-in-bag" case has stifled any debate on whether the Kenyan law, which allows termination only when the mother's life or health is in danger, should be changed.
Currently, a woman found guilty of having an abortion can be imprisoned for seven years, while anyone abetting an abortion could face a 14-year jail term.
But, the threat of jail time has done little to deter thousands of women.
At any one time, more than half the beds in the obstetrics and gynaecology ward of
Nairobi's major state-funded Kenyatta hospital are occupied by women admitted with abortion-related complaints.
A room on the ward containing the sterilised cannula and forceps needed for safe terminations is under lock and key -- in case medical staff are tempted to perform abortions on the side.
"If Kenyatta were to refer all these women to the police, the prisons would not have the space to contain them all," said obstetrics and gynaecology consultant Dr James Kiarie.
"You cannot condemn them to the backstreet forever."

WOMEN'S RIGHTS?
Sometimes two to a bed, the patients lie listlessly in the gloomy, stuffy ward. Most look like the rural poor, scarves wrapped tightly around their heads, patterned cloth swathed across their hips.
Health workers say most women who end up here live below the poverty line -- unable to feed another mouth and unable to afford an illicit abortion in a private clinic.
They flock to the hospital -- bleeding, infected, their organs perforated -- to be cleaned and sewn together again.
Ipas' Brookman-Amissah said it costs up to 100 times more to patch someone up than perform the abortion in first place.
For every death, 20-30 women suffer permanent damage to their uterus, cervix, fallopian tubes, intestines or bladder.
Kiarie talks of one 17-year old patient whose intestines were pulled through her uterus and out the vagina during a backstreet abortion. She survived but will never conceive again.
The doctor wants the law changed.
"We cannot impose our morality on other people," Kiarie said. "What we are basically saying is that let these women die, they deserve it."
According to the United Nations Population Fund, about 530,000 women a year die in pregnancy or childbirth, nearly half of them -- 247,000 -- in sub-Saharan
Africa.


For the full text, go to:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=
2005-04-27T013328Z_01_SCH705571_RTRUKOC_0_KENYA-ABORTION.xml
**********************************************************************
4.- WSF

Bulletin May 12, 2005

Boletim FSM
fsm2003site@uol.com.br


The VI WSF construction process begins Americas venue
Nearly 60 delegates participated in the last Americas Hemispherical Council (HC) meeting, which occurred on April 25th and 26th, in Havana, Cuba. Besides doing a balance of the I Americas Social Forum (which took place in Quito, Equator, between July 25th and 30th 2004), the meeting made good progress regarding definitions and commitments for the preparation of the VI World Social Forum Polycentric, venue Americas and the II Americas Social Forum, which should occur between January 25th and 29th 2006, in Caracas, Venezuela.

It was established during the meeting that there will be a thematic consultation by multiple means (not only through the internet), to deepen the participative and inclusive characteristics of the WSF. All the organizations, networks and social movements involved with the WSF will be able to participate in this consultation. The aim is to identify which themes the WSFs actors consider important to be discussed at the WSF 2006 venue
Americas. This measure follows the example of what was done to prepare the WSF 2005 and the WSFs International Councils decisions, which were made during its last meeting that took place in the end of March 2005, in Utrecht, Holland.

A firs consultation made through a written questionnaire has already been done among the organizations and networks that participated in the IV Hemispheric Meeting to oppose the FTAA, taken place in Havana (from April 27th to May 1st), right after the HC meeting. The idea is to spread the consultation among the social movements mobilizations throughout the world and among the organizations against neo-liberal globalization.
Architecture of the process in the
Americas
The meeting also discussed the architecture of the Hemispheric Council. Since 2002, only the IC members who act in the Americas were part of the HC. Nowadays, the HCs Secretariat is in Equator, the host country of the I Americas Social Forum. It was decided at the meeting that the number of HC members should increase. The idea is to open the process to the continental campaigns and networks that participate actively in the WSF process and also to the ones who organize regional and national social forums. The principle of gender and diversity balance was reinforced in the composition of the HC.

The HCs Secretariat was also redefined and expanded. Its main mission will be to coordinate and facilitate the functioning of the work groups (WGs), which are: methodology and content; expansion and architecture; communication; resources and culture, in order to drive forward the WSF 2006 in
Venezuela. At the moment, the organizations that compose the Secretariat are:

- Caribe Social Forum
- Mesoamerican Social Forum
- Pan-Amazon Social Forum
- Triple Frontier Social Forum
- Hemispheric Meeting against FTAA
- OCLAE
- WSF process in the USA
- WSF Secretariat Brazil
- ASF Secretariat Quito
- WSF-ASF Venezuela Organizing Commission
 
The meetings complete report will soon be available at the WSF website.

HC meeting agenda:
- May 14th and 15th
Caracas: amplified meeting of the Venezuelan Organizing Commission, members from the Secretariat and Hemispheric Council will also be present.
- June,
Barcelona: HC meeting during the I Mediterranean Social Forum (16th to 19th) and WSFs International Council meeting (20th to 22nd).
- August 15th and 16th,
Caracas: HC meeting.

European Social Forums assembly will be in Prague
The next European Social Forum preparation assembly will be in Prague (Czech Republic) from May 20th to 22nd, 2005. Among the topics in the meetings guideline there are the results of the thematic consultation and the creation of a permanent coordination structure for the ESF. Work groups will also meet. Doubts about the meeting can be sent to the e-mail address
epa_prague@centrum.cz.

Thematic consultation
The organizers of the European Social Forum 2006 have launched a thematic consultation about its next editions program, following the methodology adopted at the V WSF. The organizations can participate in the consultation by filling a form, which is available at the website
http://workspace.fse-esf.org. The answers may also be sent to the e-mail address: infoprog@fse-esf.org. The deadline is on May 10th 2005.

The ESF will be in
Athens, Greece, in April 2006. For further information: http://www.fse-esf.org/


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5.- II LATIN AMERICAN DIGITAL CITIES AWARD

ICA

ica@icamericas.net


The Institute for Connectivity of the Americas (ICA), the Hispanic American Association of Research Centers and Telecommunication Companies (AHCIET), Cisco Systems, and Microsoft announce the launching of the II Latin American Digital Cities Award.

The Latin American Awards Programme for Digital Cities was created by
ICA and AHCIET to reward the development of e-government initiatives and to stimulate the modernization of Latin American municipalities.

The five winners will be announced at an Official Ceremony during the VI Iberoamerican Conference of Digital Cities, to be held in
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, at the end of September 2005.

For more information visit:
http://www.icamericas.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=675


 
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The International Gender and Education Office (GEO) of ICAE creates
VOICES RISING
Email: voicesrising@icae.org.uy
Web: www.icae.org.uy
Tel/fax: 00 5982 401 00 06
Address: Acevedo Diaz 1600 / 1002.
11200
Montevideo, Uruguay