PHOTOS: Gaza recovery begins

Palestinian girls, whose house was destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive, look out of a tent in Jabalya in the northern Gaza Strip January 29, 2009. Along the 45 km (30-mile) strip of Mediterranean coastline, half-finished construction sites stand silent, and, amid the ruins left by this month's violence, families are building makeshift wood-and-plastic shelters to escape the cold. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem ( GAZA) More photos from Reuters

Source: AlertNet

Pakistani Taliban free 29 police and soldiers

Source: Reuters (Recasts with Taliban free captured police, soldiers) By Junaid Khan MINGORA, Pakistan, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban released on Wednesday 29 paramilitary soldiers and policemen they had ... Full Story

A day of Reckoning comes to the big screen

The Reckoning, a documentary film by Skylight Pictures about the first cases of the International Criminal Court, will be presented at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. Festival organizers selected about 200 films for exhibition from more than 9000 submissions.

Launched in 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the first international tribunal of its kind, a permanent criminal court set up to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide. The Reckoning, a feature-length documentary filmed in High Definition on 4 continents, follows charismatic, relentless Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team as he issues arrest warrants for leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, puts 4 Congolese warlords on trial in The Hague, charges the President of Sudan with genocide and war crimes in Darfur, challenges the UN Security Council to have him arrested, and shakes up the Colombian justice system. How is this tiny upstart court in The Hague going to bring justice and enforce the Prosecutor’s mandate to end genocide in the Wild West of these conflict zones? As the Prosecutor tells us, he has to take this tiny court, created by dreamers, and turn it into a functional reality. He has a global mandate to prosecute perpetrators around the world for the worst crimes imaginable, whether they are warlords or military brass or heads of state, even as they continue to wreak havoc.  But he has no police force – he needs to shame and pressure the international community to follow through, to muster political will.  It has turned out to be a monumental David and Goliath challenge. Will it succeed?  This is a court for humanity, and it’s fighting for its life against the forces of impunity.

Ten NGOs Helping People Around The World

2 Million Minutes - compelling education reality

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking.  From that very moment the child has approximately -

…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult.

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off — will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.

A Winner in the Fight for International Justice

The MacArthur Foundation will honor Justice Richard J. Goldstone, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, with the MacArthur Award for International Justice. The Award provides Goldstone with $100,000 for his own work and invites him to suggest an additional $500,000 in support for non-profit organizations working on international justice issues. The Award will be conferred upon Justice Goldstone in The Hague on May 21, 2009.

“Justice Goldstone has played an instrumental role in building the emerging international system of justice,” said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton in remarks at a conference on international justice at American University. “He gave the tribunals moral authority and legal credibility. It is, in large part, a testament to the quality of his work that the international community accepted the Rome Statute and established the International Criminal Court with confidence. His unquestioned competence and integrity won the faith of the world.”

As Chief Prosecutor of the Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, Goldstone helped shepherd these courts, the first of their kind since Nazi war criminals were tried at Nuremberg following World War II. He stressed the importance of reaching top political and military perpetrators and, in 1995, filed charges of genocide and crimes against humanity against Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic for their roles in the “ethnic cleansing” of Bosnian Muslims.

Goldstone also chaired the Commission of Inquiry Regarding Public Violence and Intimidation in the aftermath of apartheid in his native South Africa. His service on the Commission proved invaluable to the democratic transition in that country, where he also served as an inaugural member of the Constitutional Court.

“It is an honor to receive the MacArthur Award for International Justice, as the Foundation has been a leader in supporting efforts to advance human rights and international justice,” said Justice Goldstone. “Since the early 1990s, we have witnessed the emergence of a system of international justice that is growing stronger with each new case tried in a regional court or UN tribunal and with each investigation opened by the International Criminal Court. It has given me tremendous pride and satisfaction to have played a role in ensuring that the perpetrators of mass atrocities have more reason today than ever to fear being brought to justice.”

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was the first recipient of the Award in 2008 in recognition of his contribution to building the International Criminal Court and encouraging the development of the concept of the Responsibility to Protect.

Commitment to African Higher Education - $350M by 2010

Presidents of the seven U.S. foundations comprising the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa today announced their unanimous decision to continue both their collaborative and individual grantmaking
aimed at strengthening higher education in Africa beyond their original ten-year commitment.

The Partnership was created to strengthen Africa’s institutions of higher education so that they can better contribute to poverty reduction, economic growth and social development in their respective countries.  Outcomes from partners’ investments range from more and cheaper Internet bandwidth for universities and the establishment of research and training networks in the sciences and social sciences to the launch of a new Internet gateway for the collection and dissemination of research.

The presidents noted with great pride that by 2010, $350 million in Partnership grants will have assisted universities and other African institutions and programs dedicated to improving higher education access, excellence, research and diversity for men and women at select universities in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Speaking on behalf of the seven foundation partners, Vartan Gregorian, the current rotating chair of the Partnership said, “By strengthening a core group of universities through collective and individual investments, the foundation partners have helped to nurture a rising generation of women and men who will contribute to the further development of democracy and civil society on the African continent.  To enable
universities to continue to address Africa’s many complex challenges, however, demands that we affirm our long-term commitment to build upon this progress.”

Launched in May 2000 by Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation, the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa represents both a belief in the importance and viability of higher education in Africa and a mechanism to provide meaningful assistance to its renaissance.

Between the Partnership’s establishment in 2000 and September 2005, the founding partners contributed more than $150 million to build core capacity and support special initiatives to further the development of higher education in six African countries: Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda.

The Partnership was re-launched for a second five-year period on September 16, 2005. The re-launch represented several milestones. Two additional foundations joined the Partnership: the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Together, the six foundations pledged a minimum of $200 million over the next five years. A major initiative to supply cheaper and more reliable Internet access to Partnership grantees through a bandwidth consortium was announced at the re-launch. At the same time, Kenya was added to the list of Partnership countries. In 2006 Egypt and Madagascar became Partnership countries.

In April 2007, the Partnership welcomed its newest member, the Kresge Foundation.

2008 Clinton Global Citizen Award Winners announced

Former President Clinton recognized four remarkable individuals for their leadership and impact in improving the lives of millions around the globe at the second annual Clinton Global Citizen Awards. The Clinton Global Citizen Awards ceremony concluded day two of the Clinton Global Initiative’s fourth Annual Meeting, which convenes world leaders from government, the private sector, and NGOs to create lasting, positive change across the world.

“The Global Citizen Awards are about honoring and inspiring service to humanity” President Clinton said. “Our award recipients were chosen from a pool of remarkable candidates. Their innovation, dedication and determination have changed lives, and their actions serve as models of what each of us can do to make a difference in the world.”

Award winners were nominated by a collection of global leaders and selected for their visionary leadership and sustainable, scalable work in solving pressing global challenges. Honorees were chosen from civil society, the private sector, the philanthropic community and public service.

The 2008 Clinton Global Award Winners are:

Jennifer and Peter Buffett
Co-chairs, NoVo Foundation

The Buffetts have led an inspirational campaign to improve the status of women and girls across the globe. Their innovative approach to philanthropy has leveraged the capacity of existing organizations to affect real, positive change. Among various targeted investments, the NoVo Foundation has pledged US$30 million over five years to help rebuild the education systems and address violence against women and girls in post-conflict West Africa. Their fresh approach to fostering sustainable change has catalyzed action in the donor community world wide.

Xiaoyi (Sheri) Liao
Founder and President, Global Village of Beijing

Sheri Liao has become one of China’s best-known environmental activists for her pioneering work over the last decade, including the establishment of an environmental program on Chinese public television, cooperating with the Xuan Wu municipal government to found the first Green Community in China and, most recently, was an environmental adviser to the Beijing Organising Committee for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

Julio Frenk
Senior Fellow, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
President, Carso Health Institute

Julio Frenk has changed the way practitioners and policy makers across the world think about health. As result of Frenk’s work as minister of health of Mexico, Mexican health insurance is expanding access to quality care for almost 50 million Mexicans. Frenk will assume the position as the new dean of the Harvard School of Public Heath in 2009. His ongoing work continues to deliver a greater focus on evidence-based decision making with life-saving results.

Neville Isdell
Chairman of the Board, the Coca-Cola Company

Neville Isdell is one of the most articulate advocates for social action in the business community. Under his leadership, Coco-Cola has built partnerships that support more than 120 community water projects in over 50 countries and his advocacy of the private sector’s leadership role in combating HIV/AIDS in Africa, has further verified the capacity of the business sector to strengthen and improve the communities it serves.

Part of the fourth Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, this special ceremony was hosted by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo.

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Youssou Ndour and his band Le Super Etoile de Dakar performed at the ceremony, as well as singer/songwriter James Taylor. Clinton Global Citizen Award statues were designed and sculpted by Mozambican artist Gonçalo Mabunda.

To date, Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) members have made nearly 1,000 commitments valued at upwards of $30 billion to improve the lives of more than 200 million people in over 150 countries. CGI University (CGI U) and MyCommitment.org have also inspired action on a large scale.

The CGI community is helping to:

• Avoid or reduce more than 40 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions
• Supply more than 4 million people with access to clean-energy services in the developing world
• Fund more than 270 microfinance institutions, permitting access to finance for close to 3 million microentrepreneurs
• Provide more than 8 million children with access to schooling
• Increase access to health services or improve quality of care for over 11 million people
• Target 34 million people for the treatment of neglected tropical diseases
• Provide interventions addressing malnutrition or under-nutrition for over 42 million children

Further information about the Clinton Global Initiative is available at www.clintonglobalinitiative.org.

Google offers $10M for ideas that can ‘change the world’

If you could suggest a unique idea that would help as many people as possible, what would it be?

Google has unveiled a bold $10M effort to implement ideas that can “change the world.”  Project 10^100 (that’s “ten to the hundredth”) marks the 10th anniversary of the company and is meant to “celebrate the spirit of Google users and the web.”  All ideas need to be submitted by October 20, 2008.

“We’re launching  a call for ideas that could help as many people as possible, and a program to bring the best of those ideas to life,” says Andy Berndt, Managing Director, Google Creative Lab. “CNN will be covering this project, including profiles of ideas and the people who submit them from around the world.  For a deeper look, follow along at Impact Your World.”

Google noted that the ideas can be big or small, technology-driven or not. But they do have to have a potential positive impact on the world.  As part of the announcement Google provided some examples of projects that fall in line with the spirit of Project 10^100.

What are some examples of ideas we think are cool? A team of just two people are implementing a solution to help the millions of people who laboriously carry on their heads 5-gallon buckets of water for long distances by designing and distributing The Hippo Water Roller (www.hipporoller.org), a relatively inexpensive 24-gallon container that can be easily wheeled on the ground. First Mile Solutions (www.firstmilesolutions.com) is implementing simple but effective ideas for connecting isolated communities in developing countries to the Internet. One plan has communities tacking on Wi-Fi devices to public buses so they can detect and send stored emails and messages as the buses travel through unconnected areas. Google is excited to fund projects that similarly have a big impact.

Google provided the following categories for which it will be considering ideas:

• Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures?
• Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families?
• Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy?
• Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem?
• Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives?
• Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education?
• Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live?
• Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don’t fit into any category at all.

Job program to employ 50,000 Aboriginies in Australia

Australia’s prime minister Kevin Rudd has pledged to raise funds for an ambitious plan to get 50,000 Aborigines into employment.

The project is the brainchild of Australia’s richest man Andrew Forrest and aims to generate 50,000 full-time permanent jobs for the Aboriginal community.

The training required to help people into work would be provided by the government, funding is set to come from major businesses, the prime minister said.

Speaking to abc.net, Mr Forrest commented: “You have a group of Aboriginal people who are currently out of work. They want one thing like you and I do and that is to get into well-paid meaningful jobs.”

He also added that though the target is ambitiously high, if achieved the programme would alter the direction of Australian employment and “social history”.

Recent figures from the Queensland treasury indicate that the unemployment rate among Aboriginals has fallen from 20.1 per cent in 2001 to 13.2 per cent this year.

Related Articles:

Andrew Forrest announces plan - theage.com

Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson backs plan - Livenews.com.au

Andrew Forrest personal piece -  The International Herald Tribune

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