What's New, March 1999

Date of Update

Description

March 27, 1999

1. The US has a bad human rights record. Amnesty International has put the US on a list of persistent human rights violators. This document is to be presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights who have an annual session... Go There!
2. The Kosovo Crisis has been accompanied by hugely distorted and narrow-viewed reporting from mainstream media. The fact that NATO strikes have broken international law, that the bombing is perhaps actually making the situation worse, rather than improving it seems to go largely unmentioned. This is a tragedy in itself as thousands of Kosovars and Serb civilians face serious danger from NATO bombs and the resulting increase in Serb crackdowns on ethnic Albanians... Go There!
3. Is NATO trying to compete with the UN? As events in Kosovo show, NATO is bypassing the United Nations, which is more inclusive and represents more people than NATO. Even NATOs own charter says that it will comply to the UN Charter... Go There!
4. Another Pinochet ruling now suggests that he is not immune from from prosecution on charges of gross human rights violation. Go There!
5. How Free is the Free Market?. A lot of protectionism and unaccountability results in the public paying the costs (like pollution, crime, poverty etc) while many corporations make profits, keeping the economy strong... Go There!
6. Banana wars spill over? It seems similar factors around the banana trade war is going to affect beef too... Go There!
7. Latin America has the highest disparity rate in the world between the rich and the poor. There are a number of reasons for this, but innovative ideas are coming to the fore, which may help to alleviate the poverty... Go There!
8. European supermarkets decide to remove GE food from their own brands. Genetically Engineered ingredients in food is a hot topic of debate in Europe, but unfortunately is not as prominent in the US... Go There!

March 20, 1999

1. Mainstream media representation of the Kosovo Crisis has been very one-sided... Go There!
2. The Clinton apology for US involvement in supporting right-wing Guatemalan governments and some of their regimes was welcomed. However, some human rights groups hope that this can lead to a US Truth Commission to uncover a wide variety of abuses, and support of such abuses, in other nations... Go There!
3. As NATO approaches its 50^th anniversary many questions about its continuing role should come to the fore, seeing as its original purpose was a response to the Cold War. The way NATO has been forcing a "peace" process in Kosovo can be questionable... Go There!
4. Some large corporations have been major violators of human rights. To ensure profits, the price that some workers have to pay is very high... Go There!
5. The Chief Economist of the World Bank and the most senior finance minister in Britain have made revealing admissions about poverty. The World Bank economist admitted that the initiative to help Heavily Indebted Poor Countries is misguided and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer has recognised that debt is a cause of major problems around the world and must be cut back... Go There!
6. A new section has been added showing the importance and links between gender issues and some population-related problems. By realising that women play a crucial role in the development of society, many underlying population-related issues and resulting problems can be tackled more effectively. Go There!
7. A link to a general source for more information has been added. This one is from the Institute for Economic Democracy, which uncovers and helps interpret many events in history and how the fundamental power and political forces have helped to shape the world today... Go There!

March 14, 1999

1. Turkish abuses against Kurds have largely been ignored. Because they are a NATO ally, countries like USA and UK have ignored, or even contributed to various abuses... Go There!
2. Mainstream media in the US can be very biased at times. Due to the position and influence of the United States in the international community, this is an important issue. Go There!
3. Many human rights related treaties have not been ratified by the United States. And where they have, there have been many reservations... Go There!
4. Womens Rights have not improved as much as perhaps would be expected. While some governments have claimed to do more, some have not changed their policies, as Human Rights Watch reports... Go There!
5. A link to more information about Racism has been added. This addition is a link to a OneWorld Think Tank section called Ethnicity and Conflict... Go There!
6. American tax payers pay about $7 Billion dollars per year to subsidise arms sales. The myth that it creates jobs at home is used to ensure the sales are made and yet, many US weapons, fighter planes etc are manufactured abroad... Go There!
7. In the past decade, about two million children have been killed in armed conflict. Child combatants are an often over-looked aspect of military conflicts... Go There!
8. A link to more information about Foreign Policy issues has been added. This one is to a series of Defence Monitor reports by the Center for Defence Information... Go There!
9. A new UNDP project which obtains corporate sponsorship draws much criticism. It is feared that these corporations (which have been known to cause human right and environment problems) are just in it to help repair their bad images... Go There!
10. An excellent source of information about Poverty has been added. This one is from the Institute for Economic Democracy, which uncovers and helps interpret many events in history and how the fundamental forces at work (like greed, power, security) have helped to shape the world today... Go There!
11. Genetically Engineered Food concern is also an issue in Australia. A panel urged the government for more public debate, labeling these foods and to take precautionary measures... Go There!

March 7, 1999

1. An additional source of information about the education of girls has been added. The link is to an organisation called the Girls Global Education Fund which has a very informative web site with some powerful images... Go There!
2. A global treaty to ban landmines becomes international law. However, the US still refuse to sign... (Additional links to more information are also provided from the excellent Center for Defence Information)... Go There!
3. Military propaganda is irresponsible. People are made to believe that more needs to be spent on defence and to increase the military budget, while other issues can take a back seat... Go There!
4. An additional source of information on children and conflicts has been added. This one is a powerful report from UNICEF called the Impact of Armed Conflict on Children... Go There!
5. Did you know that Gen. Eisenhower intended to keep the USA involved for national defence purposes, through NATO, in Europe for only 10 years? (i.e. until 1960) A publication, available on-line, from the Center for Defence Information provides more insight into problems with current NATO expansion thinking... Go There!
6. A new trade war is emerging between the US and EU about Bananas. The preferential trade agreement that the EU has had with Caribbean countries about trading bananas has been an issue for a while and the US have now imposed sanctions saying that this is unfair, while if Caribbean countries lose this guaranteed access to the EU markets, they could see a collapse in their economies... There are other implications about the unilateral US decision to impose sanctions, undermining the WTO... Go There!
7. An additional source of information about child labour has been added. This one is from Corporate Watch... Go There!
8. An additional source of information about current trade policies has been added. This one is a set of links from an organisation called Foreign Policy In Focus... Go There!
9. The disruption of the Biosafety Protocol shows how influential countries can affect global talks. USA was not part of the underlying Biodiverity Convention that brought this meeting in the first place, yet managed to prevent anything concrete resulting... Go There!

Check Out What Was New In:

• February 1999
• January 1999
• December 1998
• November 1998
• October 1998
• September 1998
• August 1998
• July 1998