tagged w/ Democratic Republic of Congo
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At the end of 2010, Current TV spent four months embedded with charity Doctors Without Borders in the Northern and Eastern regions of Democratic Republic of Congo. The result is an immersive and exciting documentary series about the work and lives of expat doctors in one of the world's poorest and most dangerous countries and provide a rare and intimate look at the people and landscape of the Congo. Working in one of the remotest parts of the country, the expats in Eastern DRC must overcome a logistical nightmare to receive supplies.
"Doctors Without Borders" premieres Tuesday, June 21 at 10/9c.
Current Media, the Peabody-and Emmy Award-winning television and online network founded in 2005 by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, engages viewers with smart, provocative and timely programming -stories that no one else is telling in ways that no one else is telling them. Current's programming shines a light where others won't dare and boldly explores important subjects -- opening minds, sparking conversations and forming deep connections with its viewers. The channel's audience is comprised of affluent, curious, social and connected adults who crave the kind of entertaining, enlightening, witty and informative programming found on Current's TV and online properties. Current is now available via cable and satellite TV in 75 million households worldwide - 60 million households in the US - through distribution partners Comcast (Channel 107); Time Warner ; DirecTV (Channel 358 nationwide); Dish Network (Channel 196 nationwide); Verizon and AT&T. In the UK and Ireland, Current is available on BSkyB (Channel 183) and Virgin Media (Channel 155), and in Italy, Current is available on Sky Italia (Channel 130). Viewers can also find Current online at http://www.current.com.At the end of 2010, Current TV spent four months embedded with charity Doctors Without... more
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Curious to see what kinds of people volunteer to work in some of the poorest and most dangerous places in the world, Current TV spent four months in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the lives and work of medical aid workers from Doctors Without Borders. Filmed in stunning HD, the result is a beautiful and very candid two-part series revealing the immense highs and very real lows of the doctors and nurses as they treat victims of rebel attacks and endemic illness with the bare minimum of resources and without any of the creature comforts of home.
The music track featured in these opening titles is by Congolese/Belgian artist Baloji.
Official Site: http://www.baloji.com/
Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/artist/5u45xl7D9HpJJvRo0joct8
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/baloji
Doctors Without Borders starts Monday 23rd May, 10pm and continues Monday 30th May.
Only on Current TV
Sky 183
Virgin Media 155Curious to see what kinds of people volunteer to work in some of the poorest and most... more
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Curious to see what kinds of people volunteer to work in some of the poorest and most dangerous places in the world, Current TV spent four months in the Democratic Republic of Congo following the lives and work of medical aid workers from Doctors Without Borders. Filmed in stunning HD, the result is a beautiful and very candid two-part series revealing the immense highs and very real lows of the doctors and nurses as they treat victims of rebel attacks and endemic illness with the bare minimum of resources and without any of the creature comforts of home.
Starts Monday 23rd May, 10pm
Only on Current TV
Sky 183
Virgin Media 155Curious to see what kinds of people volunteer to work in some of the poorest and most... more
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A recent report from Enough Project ranked the top 21 electronics manufacturers, showing their progress in creating products with conflict-free minerals and the steps they've taken to ensure that. EP estimates that conflict mining is a $185 million business, which is even more shocking when you consider the World Bank says average the average miner makes only $5 a day.
====== report ===================
By Michelle Castillo, TechLand, on December 15, 2010
Many of our electronic devices are made up of minerals like tantalum, used to make the capacitors in most cell phones, and tin, which makes up the inside lining of some cell phones and is used to solder circuit boards. Unfortunately, many of these materials come from conflict-ridden areas of the Congo, where increasing profits from electronic sales help fund the inhumane treatment of people who live and work in the country. The Enough Project, an advocacy group focused on ending genocide and crimes against humanity, estimates that conflict mining is a $185 million business, which is even more shocking when you consider the World Bank says average the average miner makes only $5 a day.
According to Raise Hope for Congo, more than 5.4 million people have died from the continuous wars that ravage the country. The organization urges people to tell companies that they want conflict free products. Congo's minerals are especially attractive to electronic manufacturers because of unregulated mining practices and cheap labor. Minerals from the African nation cost half or a third as much the same materials from other countries, according to the Washington Post. Though the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act requires manufacturers to identify and get rid of conflict minerals in their products and similar legislation will be mandated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2011, Congolese mines are often controlled by armed groups and militias. These groups smuggle the minerals out of the country to smelting companies on other continents, which means the origin of the minerals can often be masked even from the company commissioning the product. Even though Congo's president announced a ban on all artisanal mining in eastern Congo last August, the ruling has not been enforced by the country's national military and has even negatively affected the citizens who work in the mines as a main source of income.
A recent report from Enough Project ranked the top 21 electronics manufacturers, showing their progress in creating products with conflict-free minerals and the steps they've taken to ensure that. Leading the pack was HP with an over 30 percent improvement. The company has endorsed anti-conflict mineral legislation and advocates for strong US regulations for all manufacturers. Apple, who uses tantalum not only in their smartphones but in iPods as well, were given a yellow score, which means there is much room for improvement. (Though several of their top executives have spoken out against conflict mineral mining in the Congo, they did not weigh in on key US conflict mineral legislation.) Toshiba received the worst score of the bunch; they have barely made any changes at all according to the study. Enough Project knows it may be hard for the average consumer to tell whether or not they are helping fund a war over natural resources just by looking at a product. Still, the group hopes that especially this holiday season when people are out shopping for the latest gadgets that by being little more knowledgeable about which companies are taking a stand against genocide and human rights abuses, shoppers can judge for themselves whether or not to support these crimes against humanity.
##### ARTICLE HERE ##################
Is Your Mobile Device or Laptop Funding Conflict Mineral Wars?
By Michelle Castillo on December 15, 2010
http://techland.time.com/2010/12/15/is-your-mobile-device-or-laptop-funding-conflict-wars/A recent report from Enough Project ranked the top 21 electronics manufacturers,... more
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The United Nations has ordered 900 peacekeepers to a remote region of Democratic Republic of Congo, where the LRA killed more than 1,000 adults and children around Christmas in 2008 and 2009 and kidnapped hundreds more, to head off feared Christmas attacks by Lord's Resistance Army fighters.
===== report ==============
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations has ordered 900 peacekeepers to a remote region of Democratic Republic of Congo, to head off feared Christmas attacks by Lord's Resistance Army fighters, a spokesman said Tuesday.
UN forces will go to a region where the LRA killed more than 1,000 adults and children around Christmas in 2008 and 2009 and kidnapped hundreds more.
The UN mission in DR Congo is also sending extra humanitarian supplies to the region, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.
A special operation against the LRA has been launched in the Dungu district of Upper Uele region and would carry on until mid-January because of fears of the "holiday season" attacks, Nesirky said.
The announcement came after the UN Security Council called for greater international action against the LRA, which is led by Joseph Kony who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The LRA sprang out of a rebellion in Uganda in the 1980s but now terrorizes communities in Central African Republic, southern Sudan and DR Congo.
The Security Council welcomed an African Union move to set up a joint task force to fight the LRA and deploy joint border patrols.
"It calls for the countries of the region to enhance coordination and information sharing regarding the the threat posed by the LRA," said a Security Council statement on efforts to bring peace to Central African Republic.
Ugandan special forces currently lead the international hunt for Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In December 2008, LRA fighters killed 865 men, women and children in the northeastern DR Congo and in southern Sudan, and kidnapped hundreds of others.
A year later 300 people were murdered between December 14 and 17, also in northeast DR Congo.
The United States has promised to support a new effort to catch Kony and halt the conflict generated by the LRA, but in a report titled "Ghosts of Christmas Past," 19 aid agencies said the Security Council should do more.
The report said LRA attacks remote communities in Sudan, Central African Republic and DR Congo almost four times a week.
"These communities await Christmas with fear," added the groups, who include Oxfam, Christian Aid, Refugees International, World Vision and War Child UK, among others.
The UN refugee agency said in October that the rebels had killed 2,000 people since December 2008, kidnapped more than 2,600 and displaced more than 400,000 in DR Congo, the Central African Republic and southern Sudan.
"The acute suffering and mass population displacement the LRA has generated across international borders is undermining stability in an already fragile region, where southern Sudan is preparing to hold a landmark referendum on secession in early 2011," the report said.
The aid groups welcomed recent steps by the United States and the African Union. But it said kidnapped people had to be helped to return home and villages had to be protected.
The aid groups called on the UN Security Council to set up an expert panel as "there is a chronic lack of information about the motivation, composition and location of the LRA."
The LRA began their rebellion in northern Uganda in the late 1980s, but have not carried out an attack there since 2006.
Since south Sudanese-hosted peace talks broke down in 2008, the fighters have roamed the jungles of central Africa and been repeatedly blamed for the slaughter of defenseless civilians.
The African Union has said the LRA should be called "terrorists" rather than rebels.
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UN peacekeepers to head off Christmas massacre
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iduTBApHLCmGUF9clnqdrlk-L8TQ?docId=CNG.a3cd72112889141b0229f761dc840322.2a1
(AFP) – Dec 13, 2010The United Nations has ordered 900 peacekeepers to a remote region of Democratic... more
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Leaders from 11 nations in the conflict-ravaged Great Lakes region of central Africa on Tuesday signed a pledge – partly drafted by a Canadian organization – to stamp out the illegal trade of conflict minerals.
Signed at a summit in the Zambian capital of Lusaka by governments including the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, the pledge commits signatory states to take steps to implement a regional certification system to track such minerals as they are exported from Africa for smelting in Asia.
The summit was called to address mining practices that have helped to fuel mass rapes and massacres in the eastern provinces of Congo. The illegitimate mining of minerals such as coltan, tungsten, tin and gold, which are used in electronic devices, is widespread in the region and often finances armed groups.
Among the mechanisms to be implemented is a “bag-and-tag” system in which minerals are tagged at their point of origin. The African nations also said they would create a database to make it easier to identify and track minerals that originate in areas of conflict.
The move by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region comes as governments in the United States, Canada and Europe consider legislation that would make roughly 6,000 manufacturers, including BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., responsible for tracking the minerals used in their products.
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PLEASE GO AND READ THE ARTICLE !
IAIN MARLOW AND OMAR EL AKKAD
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 2:02PM EST
Last updated Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010 6:57PM EST
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/african-leaders-pledge-to-wipe-out-trade-of-conflict-minerals/article1839121/?cmpid=rss1Leaders from 11 nations in the conflict-ravaged Great Lakes region of central Africa... more
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Hundreds of women and children were raped over and over during 3 days in July, another incident reported in August... estimates indicate many thousands of women and girls are brutalized each year on a gross scale ...for the creature comforts of civilized society. Efforts to combat illicit mining of coltan and other minerals are gaining traction, as politicians in Canada and other Western governments look to establish tough penalties against the practice. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with about 7 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a "tribal conflict" in "the Heart of Darkness". It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a ****war led by "armies of business" to seize the metals*** that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.
(Mash-Quoted from various articles included below. When you see 5.4 million quoted, that is up to 2007, estimates for up to today are at 6.5 to 7 million.)
"Dr. Mukwege [see below] believes the number of women who have been raped since the beginning of the conflict is far higher than the U.N. estimates of 200,000-300,000, saying the real figure is more like half a million."
Over 6,000 rape incidents a year (in recent years) are conservatively estimated based just on what gets reported.
And we do not see the continuing dismemberment and murders (possibly decapitations), nor much footage from the few doctors you may read about working in the tranches.
"Exploited African oil, coltan, chocolate, bauxite, gold, coffee, platinum, chromium, iron, gas, flowers, agriculture and animals are dripping in the blood of African people, making billions of dollars for Europe and America. "
"In the end, it will be consumer education and pressure that will make the difference."
Lets wake up. There's more we can be doing...
Over 10 years, and its still going strong... "The mining industry in that country relies on slave labour, violence and sexual assault. Since the popularity of smartphones has risen, warlords in the country have taken control of the mines to retrieve the precious metal, then sell it on the international market to manufacturers of the gadgets that will ultimately end up under our Christmas trees." more at this link-->
http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/smartphones-the-new-blood-diamonds/
Consider how much of this is about our cell phones and laptops, DVD players, computers, digital cameras, video games, vehicle air bags, jewelry (gold and diamonds), chocolate, and more... all the things so many feel they cannot live without [sic].
And so what can we do? What are we doing? Are we forgetting to keep an eye on this?
The main article prompting me to post is marked as such below. I have included a lot of links to other interesting articles, almost all within the last couple months. There are a couple of key things we all can be doing...
- we need to keep an eye on manufacturers and govt actions behind the statute in the Dodd-Frank bill discussed below
- there's a really provocative video in my third post below, please check it out... the ideas expressed there seem to make very good sense for changing things that matter.
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Q&A: DR Congo conflict (first, a little down and dirty overview)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11108589
"In November 2009, a report by UN-commissioned experts said UN involvement had done nothing to quell the violence - with rebels continuing to kill and plunder natural resources with impunity and claims the rebels are supported by an international crime network stretching through Africa to Western Europe and North America."
Timeline: Democratic Republic of Congo
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1072684.stm
Prevalence of Rape in E. Congo Described as Worst in World (sep 2007)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090801194.html
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MAIN ARTICLE
IPS: Activists Slam World's "Grotesque Indifference"
http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=44965
The following are Excerpts - go read the article:
"TORONTO, Canada, Dec 3 (IPS) - International lust for the enormous mineral and resource riches of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) abetted by international indifference has turned much of country into a colossal "rape mine" where more than 300,000 women and girls have been brutalised, say activists."
""Rape is being used as a deliberate tool to control people and territory," said Eve Ensler, a celebrated U.S. playwright and founder of V-Day, a global movement in 120 countries to end violence against women and girls."
"This "blood coltan" - akin to blood diamonds -
**generates billions of dollars of sales every year for electronics manufacturers in rich countries***
and brings
****hundreds of millions of dollars to rebels and others who control the coltan-producing regions.****
Coltan is also produced in other countries, and the DRC's "blood coltan" is often transported to those countries to give it a sheen of conflict-free provenance. "
There is a lot of news brewing if you look for it. I am disconcerted to seen almost none of it on Current. So you will forgive me if I post what may seem like to much information... I don't think you can have too much of this information and awareness about this.
What is ailing them is not isolated to "them over there". WE are a strong hand in their lives, and deaths, and suffering, by what we do, and what we fail to do.
Do you think it matters to be making an effort during your news sojourns 'out there' to find and read some news in/on Africa?Hundreds of women and children were raped over and over during 3 days in July, another... more
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WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move criticized by human rights organizations, the Obama administration has decided to exempt Yemen and three other countries that use child soldiers from U.S. penalties under the 2008 Child Soldiers Prevention Act.
In a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama said he had determined that "it is in the national interest of the United States" to waive application of the law to Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan and Yemen. He instructed Clinton to submit the decision to the Congress with a written justification for the move.
More at link http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gQWzTSk6lP24CEckrRWUsPYhu1Mw?docId=68137e575b9942f4bd750cbb33cfa936WASHINGTON (AP) — In a move criticized by human rights organizations, the Obama... more
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A plane crash during a flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo was caused when a crocodile escaped from a sports bag and caused a stampede in the cabin, throwing the aircraft off balance, reports the Telegraph online.
It has now emerged that the crash was caused by the concealed reptile escaping and causing a stampede in the cabin, throwing the aircraft off-balance.
A lone survivor apparently relayed the bizarre tale to investigators. The crocodile survived the crash, only to be dispatched with a blow from a machete.
Danny Philemotte, the Dutch pilot and 62-year-old owner of the plane’s operator, Filair, struggled in vain with the controls, with Chris Wilson, his 39-year-old First Officer from Shurdington, near Cheltenham, Glocs.
The plane was on a routine flight from the capital, Kinshasa, to the regional airport at Bandundu when the incident unfolded, on August 25.
http://www.theblogismine.com/2010/10/22/aircraft-crashes-after-crocodile-on-board-escapes-and-sparks-panic/A plane crash during a flight in the Democratic Republic of Congo was caused when a... more
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Scientists: Serengeti on road to ruin
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/21/serengeti.migration.threat.road/index.html?hpt=C1
Photo: Conservationists say a proposed new road through the Serengeti National Park will disrupt migratory patterns of wildebeests
Serengeti on road to ruin, scientists warn
By Matthew Knight for CNN
September 21, 2010 11:07 a.m. EDT
London, England (CNN) -- Plans to build a highway through Tanzania's Serengeti National Park will destroy one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries, a group of conservation experts has warned.
Writing in the journal Nature, 27 scientists have called for a re-think on a proposed 50 kilometer (31 mile) road which they say will cause "environmental disaster."
Under plans approved by the Tanzanian government earlier this year, the trade route would bisect a northern part of the park, forming part of the 170 kilometer-long Arusha-Musoma highway slated to run from the Tanzanian coast to Lake Victoria, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Construction is expected to begin in 2012.
In "Road will ruin Serengeti," lead author Andrew Dobson, professor at the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, says laying a track across the park would disrupt the annual migratory patterns of tens of thousands of zebras and gazelles, and 1.3 million wildebeest.
Using computer simulations the scientists estimate that if the wildebeests' access to the Mara river in Kenya is blocked their numbers "will fall to less than 300,000."
The ecosystem could flip into being a source of atmospheric CO2
--Scientists writing in 'Nature'
"This would lead to more grass fires, which would further diminish the quality of grazing by volatizing minerals, and the ecosystem could flip into being a source of atmospheric CO2," the scientists said.
In addition to simulations, the scientists also cite the experience of other park ecosystems where large mammal migration has been hindered by roads and fences.
In Canada's Banff National Park in Canada, "habitat fragmentation" has led to the "collapse of at least six of the last 24 terrestrial migratory species left in the world."
In Africa, the ecosystems of Etosha National Park in Namibia and Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park in Botswana have collapsed to "a less diverse and less productive state," the scientists said.
Scientists say a different route running south of the Serengeti should be considered to preserve the 1.2 million hectare UNESCO World Heritage Site.
This alternative route could utilize an existing network of gravel roads and would only be 50 kilometers longer than the proposed northern route, the scientists said.
While they acknowledge that Tanzania needs improved infrastructure to facilitate economic development, they argue that the road would damage wildlife tourism -- "a cornerstone" of the country's economy which was worth an estimated $824 million in 2005.
The Nature article adds weight to the growing pressure on the Tanzanian government to reconsider its position regarding the road.
Last month, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the Zoological Society of London voiced their concerns and campaigns against the highway are gaining support on social networking sites Facebook ("Stop the Serengeti Highway") and Twitter ("SaveSerengeti").
Earlier this year, Tanzania's President Jakaya Kikwete tried to placate opponents of the project by announcing that the section of new road running through the Serengeti would not be tarmacked.
"I am also a conservation ally and I assure you I'm not going to allow something that will ruin the ecosystem to be built," President Kikwete said in an address to the nation in July.Scientists: Serengeti on road to ruin... more
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Hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capitol of Kinshasa attended the funeral of one of the top rights activists in the country, Floribert Chebeya. Chebeya, who faced harassment after campaigning against arbitrary killings and torture of political dissidents, was found dead in his car after being summoned to meet the chief of the national police.Hundreds of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capitol of Kinshasa... more
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UN to airlift gorillas from DR Congo
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 6, 2010 5:39 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- The United Nations will carry out a second airlift of baby gorillas, one of the world's most endangered species, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The operation, planned for mid-July, will take the gorillas to a sanctuary where they will be cared for before being released into the wild, the U.N. said Saturday.
The first such rescue was undertaken on May 27.
Until now, the Congo Basin in Central Africa had been a rainforest refuge for gorillas and other apes.
But the threats to the gorillas' survival are so acute that a study that predicted only 10 percent of the gorilla population will remain by 2030 is now considered too optimistic.
A new U.N. report, released in March, said gorillas may go extinct in much of central Africa by the mid-2020s.
The situation is especially critical in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
There, militias have seized large chunks of gorilla land and logged and mined it. They have done so because the illegal trade in timber and in metals such as gold and coltan -- used in cell phones -- generates between $14 million and $50 million a year for them, the report says.
As the militia fight the army, the insecurity in the region has driven thousands into refugee camps. Professional poachers have taken to providing "bush meat" -- wild animal meat -- to the refugees and to the workers in the mining and logging camps. And increasingly, that meat comes from apes, the report said.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01250/baby-gorilla_1250136i.jpgUN to airlift gorillas from DR Congo
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 6, 2010 5:39 a.m.... more
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It’s getting to be that my fortitude is being tested on a weekly basis. I’ve witnessed the psychotic outrages of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (and liked it), the moral confrontation that is THE KILLER INSIDE ME (liked it), and the let’s-put-The-Rock-in-a-tutu TOOTH FAIRY (you’re kidding, right?). But all that was make-believe stuff. LIVING IN EMERGENCY is very real, a documentary, and at points can be rough going. But if you can work up the nerve to tough it out, your courage will be greatly rewarded.
‘Course, if you want to talk about courage, you have to talk about the subjects of the film: four doctors who have volunteered to work for Doctors without Borders (aka Médecins Sans Frontières) in two, war-ravaged countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo and Liberia. Director Mark Hopkins — making his feature documentary debut having previously produced numerous docs — takes his cameras into the exam, operating, and break rooms, and doesn’t flinch from showing both the staggering challenges the volunteers face, and the effect those challenges sometimes have on them (one doctor compares the attitude of another to Heart of Darkness — that’s never a good thing). The film winds up an unwavering, credible evaluation of why the organization has justly received a Nobel Peace Prize — one of the best docs I’ve seen so far this year. It also reminded me why I need to stop whining when I have to watch movies like TOOTH FAIRY.
Click on the link to hear the interview:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-persons/emmighty-movie-podcastem_b_601720.htmlIt’s getting to be that my fortitude is being tested on a weekly basis.... more
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A global justice gap is being made worse by power politics despite a landmark year for international justice, said Amnesty International today in its annual assessment of human rights worldwide.
Launching Amnesty International Report 2010: State of the World's Human Rights, which documents abuses in 159 countries, the organization said that powerful governments are blocking advances in international justice by standing above the law on human rights, shielding allies from criticism and acting only when politically convenient.
"Repression and injustice are flourishing in the global justice gap, condemning millions of people to abuse, oppression and poverty," said Claudio Cordone, interim Secretary General of Amnesty International.A global justice gap is being made worse by power politics despite a landmark year for... more
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United Nations peacekeepers in Congo have used helicopters to airlift endangered baby gorillas to a sanctuary after they were rescued in a conflict zone where they faced being captured or eaten.
The animals ferried to safety are eastern lowland gorillas, a species that only lives in Democratic Republic of Congo and is classified as "endangered" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) red list.
The four gorillas, which had been rescued from traffickers in various parts of Congo's rebel-infested east, were flown by helicopter on Tuesday (April 27) from Goma to the Kasugho Sanctuary in North Kivu province.
"If you use vehicles, there is a great risk of losing the animals because they are traumatised. We used aircraft because we really wanted to reduce their stress level," Benoit Kisuki, Conservation International's country director, told Reuters.
Kisuki said the air transfer was part of a wider project to combat the illegal trade in baby gorillas, which has intensified in recent years with the proliferation of armed groups and constant insecurity in eastern Congo.
"The objective is to reintroduce them in their natural environment," he added.
The gorillas are often caught, trafficked and sold for thousands of dollars on the world market as exotic pets. Others are killed and sold locally as "bush meat".
The research centre in Kasugho has developed a two-hectare (4.9 acre) area where scientists can monitor young gorillas as they prepare to be released into the wild.
Six other individuals, currently under protection in Rwanda, are due to be flown in on June 10 to "socialise" with the first group and "form a family of 10", Kisuki said.
The gorillas could be a valuable asset for the future economic development of east Congo, after the animals became a major tourist attraction in Uganda and Rwanda, raising several million dollars in revenues.
There is no accurate data for eastern lowland gorilla populations. But Congo's gorillas have weathered years of warfare in the east and more than 150 rangers have been killed trying to protect the area's five national parks from poachers.
A U.N.-backed report last month said gorillas may become near-extinct in Africa's Greater Congo Basin by the mid-2020s unless action is taken to stop poaching and protect their habitat.United Nations peacekeepers in Congo have used helicopters to airlift endangered baby... more
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The United Nations peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo provided food, fuel and logistical support to a Congolese colonel overseeing soldiers accused of gang rapes, massacres and other abuses. He received the support months after U.N. human rights investigators included him on a list of the army's most abusive commanders. The 10-year-old U.N. peacekeeping mission is the most expensive in the world and receives a quarter of its budget from the United States.The United Nations peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo provided food, fuel and... more
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KINSHASA, 10 February 2010 (IRIN) - Schools in Dongo, Equateur Province, in western Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of inter-ethnic clashes from October to December 2009, are still closed because parents are worried about security, despite a call for their reopening by the provincial government.
"We asked if the schools could be reopened, but parents are reluctant as long as the militia are still at large,” said provincial education minister Richard Baengeto.
"Some parents and their children are still in the forest and refusing to go back to their villages, fearing for their safety,” Baengeto told IRIN.
Clashes between the Lobala and Boba ethnic groups led to more than 200 deaths and the flight of 150,000 more - of whom 60 percent are children - to neighbouring Republic of Congo, says the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
More at the link:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=88061KINSHASA, 10 February 2010 (IRIN) - Schools in Dongo, Equateur Province, in western... more
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Over five million people have died during the past decade as a result of the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Few people are aware of the unimaginable scale of human suffering, death, and destruction that has occurred in this vast country deep in the heart of Africa. In the aftermath of this brutal war, children have endured the brunt of the suffering. This 67 minute film documents the plight of thousands of street children living in Kinshasa and confirms the wide-spread accusations of child witchcraft, torture and child prostitution. The film also examines the efforts to reintegrate demobilized child soldiers, displaced refugees, and orphaned children following the eruption of the massive Nyiragongo volcano, near the city of Goma in Eastern Congo. These heroic efforts are finally bringing some measure of hope and stability to the lives of the Congolese people.Over five million people have died during the past decade as a result of the war in... more
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What do you think of this video?
I caught it the other day and found it pretty interesting.
The video won't play in current for some reason, but it will on the link.
What do you think of this video?
I caught it the other day and found it pretty... more
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Larry talks with musician Pete Wentz and the filmmakers of "Invisible Children".
http://www.howitends.tv/Larry talks with musician Pete Wentz and the filmmakers of "Invisible... more
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