PHM Africa Learning Space

Civil society groups want SA to ratify key human rights treaty FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY 07 DECEMBER, 2010 Leading civil society organisations have signed an open letter to President Jacob Zuma and the Speaker of the National Assembly, calling on government to ratify two landmark international human rights agreements. The Community Law Centre, Black Sash, People’s Health Movement South Africa, National Welfare Forum and ‘Global Call to Action against Poverty South Africa’ say it would be an appropriate way to mark the 62nd anniversary of the ‘Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ on Friday, 10 December 2010. Nelson Mandela signed the ‘International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ (ICESCR) 16 years ago but South Africa remains one of the few countries in the world yet to ratify the treaty. Black Sash Advocacy Programme Manager Phelisa Nkomo says the ICESCR is the principal UN human rights treaty that protects economic, social and cultural rights. “It will h...

Stop the WikiLeaks crackdown. http://www.avaaz.org/en/wikileaks_petition/96.php Dear friends, The massive campaign of intimidation against WikiLeaks is sending a chill through free press advocates everywhere. Legal experts say WikiLeaks has likely broken no laws. Yet top US politicians have called it a terrorist group and commentators have urged assassination of its staff. The organization has come under massive government and corporat e attack, but WikiLeaks is only publishing information provided by a whistleblower. And it has partnered with the world's leading newspapers (NYT, Guardian, Spiegel etc) to carefully vet the information it publishes. The massive extra-judicial intimidation of WikiLeaks is an attack on democracy. We urgently need a public outcry for freedom of the press and expression. Sign the petition to stop the crackdown and forward this email to everyone -- let's get to 1 million voices and take out full page ads in US newspapers this week! http://...

Read more http://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/ugandan-paper-will-keep-outing-gays-1.894614

Title: African ministers want 15% of national budgets for health Author: Ifedayo Adebayo Date: 01.12.10 Source: Next Community http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/News/5647731-147/african_ministers_want_15_of_national.csp African health and environment ministers, at the weekend in Angola, agreed to advocate for and monitor an allocation of 15% of government budgets to the health sector, as stated in the 2001 Abuja Declaration by African heads of states. The two-day meeting in Luanda, Angola, with the adoption of the Luanda Commitment, which outlines the continent’s health and environment priorities and commits countries to take actions to address them, also agreed on accelerating the implementation of the Libreville Declaration and a substantial increase of allocations of government budgets to the environment sector. “The Luanda Conference is a milestone, as the health and environment sectors become credible and strategic partners. I leave this meeting further convinced that...

As we reflect on World AIDS Day; The People's Charter on HIV and AIDS is a consensus document that amplifies the voices of the people affected, infected, living with and suffering from HIV/AIDS. It aims at providing a people's perspective on HIV/ AIDS and related issues like access, rights and trade issues. The People's Charter on HIV and AIDS was officially released by the People's Health Movement during the International AIDS conference at Bangkok in July 2004. Click here to read more on our site http://www.phmovement.org/en/node/28