Back in March, when I visited Tunisia and Egypt, I met some remarkable women, who told me that for the first time, they really felt Tunisian or Egyptian, and that they were so proud of what women and men had achieved together. It was a phenomenal time to be in Cairo and Tunis. On International Women's Day, I marched down to Tahrir Square, in Cairo, with about a hundred female activists, and felt so proud to be joining them.
Source: Human Right Watch
Mercury, the silvery liquid metal, known to many from old thermometers, is one of the most toxic substances on earth.
Governments from around the world met in Nairobi, Kenya recently to negotiate an international treaty on mercury, under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). Mercury, the silvery liquid metal, known to many from old thermometers, is one of the most toxic substances on earth.
Yet the one million children around the world engaged in artisanal gold mining work with it every day. Inhaling even small doses of its vapor is dangerous. There is no known safe level of exposure.
The content of the mercury treaty, which will be finalized and adopted by 2013, will be of crucial importance for these children. Governments made some limited progress, but the wording isn’t nearly strong enough.
Low-tech artisanal mining is common in many parts of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The childen mix mercury with their bare hands into the crushed ore to create an amalgam, and then burn the amalgam, causing the mercury to vaporize and leaving behind the gold. Under international law, such work is defined as the worst form of child labor, and hence prohibited.
When I recently visited Mali, in west Africa, a boy no older than 6 told me that he handles mercury: “You mix it in a cup and put it on the fire. I do this at the mining site.”
Then he added: “I would like to leave this work.”
Several other children described to me how they worked with mercury. None of them knew about the health risks. “I started gold mining at a small age,” a 15-year-old girl told me. “I pan for gold, I also work with mercury....I also burn it. I have never heard that this is unhealthy. I work with mercury every day.”
Mercury is particularly harmful for children, as their systems are still developing, and its damage is irreversible. It attacks the central nervous system and several organs, and in higher doses, it can kill. Child laborers working with mercury are at grave risk of mercury poisoning, scientific studies have shown.
Smaller children and even unborn babies are also at risk of getting poisoned from mercury used in gold mining. Artisanal miners in various parts of the world burn the amalgam in the home, with small children right next to them. Mercury can also reach infants through breast milk, and even affect the development of the fetus in the womb.
What is the solution? A complete ban on mercury is unlikely to work, as there are no easy alternatives for artisanal miners to extract gold, and the mining provides a livelihood for millions of people.
What is needed in the mercury treaty is stronger wording that requires governments to stop some of the worst practices, such as child labor with mercury and amalgamation in residential areas. To reduce mercury use by adult miners, governments need to introduce simple technologies such as “retorts”—containers that capture the mercury fumes.
Governments also need to develop a comprehensive way to address the effects of mercury on the health of artisanal mining communities, and on children in particular. The governments will need to engage more actively with people engaged in artisanal mining. They will need to raise awareness of the dangers, build capacity and introduce simple technologies to make improvements and carry out inspections to enforce child labor laws.
That governments have agreed to draft a treaty on this issue is a measure of progress. It is also encouraging that African governments have proposed mandatory national action plans to reduce mercury in artisanal gold mining. But the negotiations addressed health only as a secondary issue.
In the final rounds of review before the treaty is put out for ratification, governments need to press for wording that obliges countries that sign on to take action on both health and the environment. In particular, African, Asian, and Latin American countries should ensure that the new treaty protects the rights of their citizens, including the rights of children to be protected from hazardous labor.
Wealthier countries should stand by their words of concern about the situation and help fund the effort.
That way, they will take mercury out of the hands of children, and help them live healthier lives.
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A group of boys working at Tabakoto mine, in Kéniéba
cercle. Young boys frequently dig holes or pull up the ore with buckets.© 2011 Juliane Kippenberg/Human Rights Watch
South African government has chosen World AIDS Day 2011 to launch its new national strategic plan that, for the first time, will guide not only the national fight against HIV but also tuberculosis (TB) until 2016. The document contains several major policy changes, including the immediate provision of lifelong antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to all HIV-positive mothers and TB patients, as well as a focus on positive prevention.
Running a deficit as high as US$6 billion and forced to cancel its latest round of funding, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria is at a crossroads, and a far cry from where it started.
This week, the world marked World AIDS Day whose 2011 theme was “Getting to Zero.” AWID explores some of the themes that have either come to the fore or persisted since the last World AIDS Day 2010, and which affect women’s getting to zero.
Source: Women E-News
It's an odd question to ask Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration's champion for global women's reproductive rights. But where were the women in her "AIDS-free generation" speech two weeks ago? World AIDS Day is a good time to ask.
Source: Women E-News
Tensions between secularists and Islamists are rising daily in Tunisia.
Source: allAfrica.com
Recently, my young niece came home from school crying. We sought to know what had happened to the usually upbeat Standard Two girl. "They didn't vote for me!" she sobbed.
Source: allAfrica.com
Juba — Female Members of Parliament (MPs) in the South Sudan National Legislative Assembly complained yesterday over underrepresentation of women in the Independent Commissions and moved a motion that the names of the Chairpersons of Anti-corruption Commission with its deputy and the Chairperson of Human Rights Commission with its Deputy should be taken back to the Office of the President such that at least a woman should be among the Chairpersons to represent the 25% constitutional posts for women.
Source: allAfrica.com
Kinshasa — Nadine Mbwol suffers from konzo, an epidemic paralytic disease that affects the lower body. "I lost my marriage because of this disability," she says sadly.
We stakeholders of the alleged witches camps in the northern region of Ghana having met in Tamale at Radach Memorial Lodge on the 29th and 30th December 2011, and deliberated on the existence of the alleged witches camps, have resolved to put before Government through the Deputy Minister of Women and Children Affairs, our observations and position on the matter of the disbandment of the camps.
Source: News 24
A team from the International Criminal Court arrived Wednesday in Libya to probe sexual crimes committed by loyalists of slain dictator Muammar gaddafi during the revolt against his rule.
More than 500 women from Edo community in Esit Eket Local Government of Akwa Ibom on Wednesday blocked the access road to the gas plant under construction by Septa Energy.
Chief Aisha Audu (nee Emeje) is a United Nations (UN) ambassador for peace and ex-wife of former Kogi State governor, Abubakar Audu. She is the gubernatorial candidate for the Justice Party (JP) in the 3 December gubernatorial polls in Kogi State. In this interview with Ruth Olurounbi, she speaks on why she is gunning for the number one position in the state.
Source: News 24
International Criminal Court countries on Wednesday agreed to nominate Fatou Bensouda of Gambia as chief prosecutor for the main war crimes tribunal, diplomats said.
The female voices that triggered the dawn of the revolution are being pushed out of Tahrir Square through violent repression.
Source: BBC
In an area of Tripoli called Gargaresh, known for its younger vibe and busy coffee shops, sits a group of girls.
Source: SABC
The Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says the treatment and care of HIV positive people in South Africa will not be affected if the Global Fund goes ahead with the cancellation of grants for AIDS programmes in Africa.
Source: Health-e
Decriminalising sex work would go a long way towards removing the hurdles sex workers face when trying to get health services, especially for HIV.
Source: The Guardian
Thirty years ago, in New York and San Francisco, a small number of young men became inexplicably and very seriously ill. Some had a particular cancer while others had a form of pneumonia that had never before troubled that age group.