■ Negotiations to free up international trade culminate after seven years in a round of talks this week which will be crucial for Africa. Success would be in African countries' long-term interests, writes AllAfrica guest columnist Nkululeko Khumalo, while a failure would collapse the process for years. The meeting of trade ministers which begins in Geneva on Monday presents the last realistic opportunity for member countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to salvage something out of the Doha Round of trade talks and register at least a modest success. When the Doha Round began, there was a general understanding that progress depended on whether members strike agreements in four major negotiating areas: agricultural trade between nations, access to one another's markets for non-agricultural goods; the right of citizens of member countries to sell their services in one another's countries; and development issues which have a particular impact on the world's poorest countries, otherwise called poor country concerns. Though negotiations on services are generally complex, it appears there are no serious blockages. So members are basically waiting to see what happens in the negotiations over agriculture and non-agricultural market access before they make new offers in the talks. On poor country concerns, developed countries offered to developing countries a lot of pledges of support and market access during the Hong Kong Ministerial Conference at the end of 2005. Least developed countries (LDCs) were offered duty-free, quota-free access for 97 percent of their exports. More importantly, cotton exports from LDCs would receive duty-free, quota-free treatment which should boost the ability of West African cotton growers to export their product to developed countries. It is therefore clear that WTO member countries must broker a deal on agriculture and non-agricultural goods if this week's meeting, which in WTO parlance is called a "mini-ministerial," is to be successful.Agriculture remains the most heavily protected and distorted area of international trade. Developed countries have continued to subsidize their farmers to the tune of over U.S.$300 billion a year in addition to levying high tariff duties on agricultural imports. Substantial liberalization in this sector is needed to enable competitive exporters from the developing world to realize gains that could fuel economic growth and poverty reduction.
■ The human rights abuses fuelling the spread of HIV, little progress will be made towards addressing the global epidemic, 400 AIDS and human rights organizations said today. The coalition called on organizers of the biannual International AIDS Conference, which will be held in Mexico City on August 3, 2008, to make human rights a central theme of the world’s largest gathering on HIV/AIDS. The Mexican government, host of this year’s International AIDS Conference, has also made commitments to address HIV-related human rights abuses through legislation and programs, but has fallen short in implementing these promises. “Mexico has good laws on HIV/AIDS,” said Anuar I. Luna Cadena of the Mexican Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS. “But government institutions don’t adequately monitor abuses faced by people living with HIV or make sure they get the treatment and/or protection they’re legally entitled to.” Sex workers in Mexico have reported human rights violations including physical abuse and discrimination experienced at the hands of police, civil servants, health workers, and employers. People living with HIV, men who have sex with men, and transgendered people also experience high levels of stigma and discrimination. Outside of Africa, nearly one-third of all new HIV infections occur among injecting drug users.
■ At least 21 people were killed in landslides triggered by heavy rain in a rural community in eastern Guatemala, local media reported Monday. According to information reaching here from Guatemala City, landslides brought down tonnes of mud and rocks on a village near La Union city in Zacapa province, burying at least 21 people. Among the dead were 12 from a same family who were trapped inside their house by the landslide. Rescue teams had not been able to reach the accident site till Sunday evening. Downpours in the previous weeks have led to many landslides, destroying houses, bridges and highways and several families have been evacuated to safe places including provisional shelters set up by the government. The city of La Union, which borders Honduras and is located some 220 km northeast of Guatemala City, has a population of 25,000 and is one of the poorest areas in the Central American country.
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Government authorities in Loreto, Peru's largest and northernmost region, have announced that measures are being and will be taken to protect, care for and preserve the lives of pink dolphins and other mammals in captivity.It was reported that anyone who had a pink Amazon River dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, or "bufeo colorado” as they are known in Peru, will have 60 days to report to the Regional Production Directorate and explain why the animal is being kept in captivity.The new regulation will also apply to gray river dolphins and the Amazonian manatee or "vaca marina". According to an ordinance published in the country's official gazette, not reporting to the regional directorate will result in fines and punishment for breaking the law.
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Youth's in Latin America in general prefer surfing the internet instead of watching television, revealed a survey done by the University of Navarra and Educared, a program organized by the Telefonica Foundation 22,000 children from over 200 schools in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela took part in the poll. The technological preference survey for children and youth, which is the first of its kind, was conducted between July and October 2007. According to the survey, 42 percent of the 11-year-old children that participated stated they preferred surfing the Internet as opposed to watching T.V Figures rose as high as 60 percent in adolescents between the ages of 14 and 15. Youngsters between the ages of 10 and 14 that did not have access to the Internet at home stated it was one of their strongest desires and affirmed they logged on without their parents' supervision at cafes and other places. The survey also showed that while 81 percent of the children questioned used cellular phones to make and receive calls, over half of them used the phones to play games.
■ The UN said the political parties in Zimbabwe have reached a consensus on holding crisis talks. UN Zimbabwe representative, Haile Menkerios, said President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai have settled on a draft agreement, which he described as "a first step". It is hoped the agreement will be signed in the next 24 hours, allowing talks to begin. It comes as a UN World Food Programme report said millions of Zimbabweans face severe food shortages. Hyperinflation and government mishandling of land distribution is being blamed for the crisis.
