Posted 10:45 AM
by Mary
Questioning "BIRD FLU"? Maybe, Scaring Us About The "THREAT OF BIO-TERRORISM" is a HOAX perpetrated by our government in order to JUSTIFY PLANNED MILITARY CONTROL?
Laboratory-Made New Virulent Virus? Gov't Contracts For Quarantine Pens?
Mandatory Vaccines With Useless "Tamiful," Benefitting Only Big-Pharma?
Accusations Re: Mysterious World-Wide Distribution of Infected Dead Birds?
What is going on here? And, On the other hand, Why does the Government refuse to acknowledge its own BIO-TERRORISTIC results of using DEPLETED URANIUM in exposing civilian populations & harming our military who suffer Uranium Poisoning, DNA Damage, coming home to Father Deformed Babies !
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
What can public outcry do to expose these home-grown atrocities? These and other urgent questions are being explored at the HUMANIST ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION at the
Community Church of New York UU
40 East 35th Street near Park Avenue
New York, NY
Tuesday Evening, April 25, 2006 from 6 PM to 9 PM
Bring your own information for sharing and participate in this important action-oriented discussion
~ Refreshments are Available ~
Sponsored by: The Council for Ethics Based Organizations at the United Nations and The Humanist Society of Metropolitan New York
For more information:
http://www.corliss-lamont.org/hsmny/
http://www.humanvalues.net/
http://www.cebo.net/
or phone: (914) 588-5284
Posted 10:04 PM
by Mary
ECOSOC Agenda highlighted at the 2006 Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will hold its ninth special high-level meeting with the international financial and trade institutions on Monday, 24 April 2006. The council has chosen four sub-themes for this year’s meeting:
1.
Implementation of and support for National Development Strategies, towards the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs;
2.
Fulfilling the development dimension of the Doha Work Programme: Next steps, including in the area of “Aid for Trade”;
3.
External debt: Implementing and building on current initiatives to enhance debt sustainability;
4.
Supporting the development efforts of middle-income developing countries"
As part of the 2006 IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings, Civil Society Organizations have worked with the WB and IMF to organize events to bring the ECOSOC agenda to the Spring Meetings. The events below are open to all accredited CSO representatives and will be held at the World Bank’s Main Complex Building. For updates on these events visit the IMF/World Bank Website for the Spring Meetings.
Also, be sure to check out the IFI Watchnet Calendar for events this week.
The Impact of IMF Lending Policies on Long-term Debt Sustainability in Middle-Income Countries
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
11:00 am-12:30 pm
Sponsors: Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speaker/Commentators: Frank Fernandez, Securities Industry Association; Jan Kregel, UN/ DESA; Brad Setser, Roubini Global Economics; Timothy Lane, International Monetary Fund
Chair: Frank Schroeder, Friedrich Ebert Foundation NY
As a result of volatility in private capital inflows and interest rates, middle-income countries are faced with debt servicing problems. While the resources of the IMF are insufficient to meet a distressed borrower's full financing needs, some critics argue that IMF conditionality and its emphasis on external finance in measuring debt sustainability may create the risk of a country being caught in an endless spiral of increased borrowing to service rising debt levels. An additional dimension to the approach of the IMF is not only how it affects the overall level of debt of developing countries, but also real economic performance and development objectives.
The session will be based on ongoing research for a new international debt framework with particular emphasis on the aspect of crisis prevention.
National Development Strategies and Millennium Development Goals
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
12:45-2:00 pm
A light lunch will be served
Sponsors: Action Aid International, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speakers/Commentators : Jan Kregel, DESA/UN; Jorge Soeiro, Plan 2025 in Mozambique (TBC); Rick Rowden, Action Aid International; Vinay Bhargava, World Bank
Chair: Jo Marie Griesgraber, New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
One of the Four topics that the President of ECOSOC has proposed for the Spring Meeting between ECOSOC and the World Bank, IMF, WTO and UNCTAD as part of the official follow up process to the International Conference on Financing for Development is to look at the Coherence between the National Development Strategies approved at the September 2005 World Summit and the country's ability to reach the Millennium Development Goals.
The panelists will discuss what National Development Strategies are, how they differ from other comprehensive national level approaches (i.e. CAS, PRSP) to development, and how they are specifically designed to ensure the full implementation of the 8 Millennium Development Goals.
Is the Doha Agenda Moving Away from Development?
Thursday, April 20, 2006
MC C1-100
2:00-4:00 pm
Sponsors: International Working Group on Trade-Finance Linkages and the Heinrich Boell Foundation
Speakers: Chandra Patel, Southern and Eastern Africa Trade Information and Negotiations Initiative; Mariama Williams, International Gender and Trade Network/Institute for Law and Economics; Tom Palley, Economics for Democratic & Open Societies; Sandra Polaski, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace;
Discussants: Richard Newfarmer, World Bank; and Michael Hadjimichael, International Monetary Fund
Moderator: Liane Schalatek, Heinrich Boell Foundation
The Doha Ministerial Declaration (2001) launched a round of negotiations that was going to place development at its center. Later on, government leaders meeting at the Monterrey Conference (2002) pledged the Round would address trade as an instrument to finance development.
In this panel, civil society representatives will make an assessment of the export-led growth model underpinning the Round negotiations and the Bank and IMF advocacy and analysis on trade issues. They will assess the challenges and limitations of the current negotiations to achieve such results through trying to respond to the following questions: Is there scope for the Doha negotiations to regain a development focus? How positive would the so-touted deals and tradeoffs being sought by April 30 be for development?
Please RSVP to this session by sending an email to: rbw@coc.org
A Human Development Approach to Debt Sustainability. An Assessment of the New Debt Sustainability Framework from the Perspective of Human Development
Friday, April 21, 2006
MC C1-100
10:45 am-12:45 pm
Sponsors: EED, Afrodad, Latindad, CIDSE, Eurodad and Jubilee USA.
Speakers: Vitalis Meja, AFRODAD; Aldo Caliari, CIDSE; Peter Lanzet, EED; Damian Ondo Mañe, IMF Executive Director for Francophone Africa; Developed Country Executive Director (TBC); Vikram Nehru, World Bank
Moderator: Gail Hurley, Eurodad
The Debt Sustainability Framework adopted last year by the Bretton Woods Institutions represented the culmination of a process to replace the debt relief and debt management criteria established under the HIPC Initiative, and a review of the first year of implementation is scheduled for this Spring.
The Framework and its review come in the context of the Bretton Woods Institutions endorsement of the MDGs, as well as the Monterrey Consensus commitment that debt sustainability assessments should take into account financing requirements to fulfill the MDGs.
This panel discussion will bring together civil society representatives, staff and Board members of the Bretton Woods Institutions to examine the following questions: Has the Debt Sustainability Framework been up to the task?; Does it address the flaws of the HIPC Initiative?; and Does it incorporate the call by civil society organizations to cancel the debt as an instrument to free resources to fulfill human development priorities?
Please RSVP for this session by sending an email to: rbw@coc.org
The Future of the World Bank in Middle-Income Countries: Eradicating Poverty. Tackling Maldistribution of Income and Assets
Friday, April 21 2006
MC C1-100
5:30–7:00 pm
Sponsors: Citizens' Network on Essential Services (CNES), Rede Brasil and New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
Speakers: Smithu Kothari, Intercultural Resources and Lokayan; Marcus Faro, Rede Brasil; Chris Wangkay, International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID); Laszlo Lovei, World Bank
Chair: Nancy Alexander, Citizens Network on Essential Services;
Lending to middle-income countries has significantly declined and several countries are repaying their Bank loans ahead of schedule. Some borrowers are apparently seeking to escape the conditionalities associated with Bank loans. Some observers see little, if any, role for the World Bank in financing middle income countries, while others believe that the Bank has a niche in addressing poverty and inequality in these countries. The Bank's portfolio is increasingly focused on infrastructure (at the regional and subnational level) and social transfers.
The World Bank speaker will address the nature and trajectory of World Bank infrastructure financing. The NGO speakers, each from middle-income countries, will respond and highlight the record of the Bank in their countries and identify what kind of future the Bank may have in their countries. The chair will briefly comment on the implications for democracy of World Bank lending at regional and subnational levels and make available publications on this and related topics.
Apologies for cross posting! Please let me know if you do not wish to receive event announcements from the New Rules for Global Finance Coalition.
Jamie Baker, Coordinator
New Rules for Global Finance Coalition
c/o Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
1470 Irving Street, NW
Washington, DC 20010
tel. 202-247-7486
fax.202-483-0708
jbaker@new-rules.org
www.new-rules.org
Posted 7:30 PM
by Mary
news release
Contact Ana Lita to RSVP
(212) 687-3324 | AnaLita@iheu.org
Top Bioethicists, Physicians, Lawyers & Activists to Speak at UN Conference
Brilliant minds gather to address ?Is There a Global Bioethics? Moral, Legal,
and International Norms in Bioscience?
New York, NY (April 5, 2006) ? The IHEU- Appignani Center for Bioethics and
the Genetics Policy Institute, assisted by The Alden March Bioethics Institute,
will be hosting a conference to discuss the entity of bioethics and its place in
the scientific world through paper presentations and panel discussions. This
event will take place on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 21st ? 23rd, in
Manhattan, New York City.
Topics in the panel discussion include: stem cell research, genetic engineering
and human rights, reproductive and sexual rights of women, the United Nations
as a forum for bioethics, intellectual property in global bioscience, ethical
issues in infectious disease control, and the challenge of evolutionary theory.
?This conference brings together some of the world?s most brilliant minds in
medicine and the life sciences to share ideas, research, teachings, and
arguments, says Ana Lita, director of the IHEU-Appignani Center for
Bioethics.
Arthur Caplan is currently the Emmanuel and Robert Hart Professor of Bioethics,
is also the chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and director of the
Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia. He is
the author or editor of twenty-five books and more than 500 papers in refereed
journals of medicine, science, philosophy, bioethics and healthy policy. He
also writes a regular column on bioethics for MSNBC.com and is a frequent guest
and commentator on National Public Radio, CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times, Washington
Post, Philadelphia Inquirer and other media outlets.
Posted 10:16 AM
by Mary
Dear Colleague and Friend,
The United Nations University - Office in New York (UNU-ONY) and the
United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and social Research and
training center on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT) are organising a
panel discussion on Challenging Intellectual Property: Access to Knowledge
Issues in Open Source and Medicine on 13 April 2006, at 2:30 to 6:00 pm,
Conference Room 6, UN Headquarters.
On the basis of UNU-MERIT?s research findings on the economic benefits for
developing countries in adopting free software, the panel will discuss the
need for a new global intellectual property paradigm that supports
equitable access to knowledge. Similar concerns within the health sector
have led to proposals for new global mechanisms that help generate
affordable drugs for the world?s poorest populations.
Panelists include:
- Rishab Aiyer Ghosh, Senior Researcher, UNU-MERIT
- Renato da Silveira Martini, Director-General, National Institute of IT,
Brazil (TBC)
- Louis-Dominique Ouédraogo, Retiring Inspector, UN Joint Inspection Unit
- Tim Hubbard, Head of Human Genome Analysis, The Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute, Cambridge, UK
UNU-MERIT was established on 1 January 2006 following the integration of
the UNU- INTECH (established in 1990) and the Maastricht Economic Research
Institute on Innovation and Technology, MERIT. UNU-MERIT focuses on the
role of science in bringing about development and social welfare.
I look forward to seeing you on 13 April 2006. Please register online at
http://www.ony.unu.edu. For further information, please visit our website
or mail louise@ony.unu.edu or call UNU Office in NY at 212-963-6387.
Following the panel, we invite you to a reception at the UNU Office (2 UN
Plaza, 44th Street, between 1st and 2nd Ave, 20th floor, room DC2-2060).
Sincerely, Jean-Marc Coicaud, Head, UNU-ONY
