Category Archives: International Events

Any event that involves two or more nations.

Viewers Want Realistic TV for a Change

I find this report to be a bit of shock, TV viewers acknowledge that they have a negative view of the developing world. Of course, it’s not their fault, but TV’s and viewers want that to change.

Hopefully this will serve as a wake-up call to journalists that we want critical analysis about the world and not just sports, boobs, and celebrity gossip.

“Reflecting the real world? How British TV portrayed developing countries in 2005 compliled by volunteer agency VSO, with DFID support, reveals that television viewers have an overwhelmingly negative view of the developing world and that they hold TV responsible. The report shows that viewers have a real appetite for richer representations of the world outside the UK and calls on broadcasters to invest more funds, creativity and talent in bringing the world to UK audiences. “

Less Sweat in Shops

Sweatshops are wretched things, and that is why many organizations don’t like them. Some groups like United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), UNITE!, and as previously mentioned, UNICEF. Alternet has a great article on the state of the anti-sweatshop movement in universities and colleges in the United States. In the past decade, over 200 universities have adopted antisweatshop codes of conduct in response to student protest.

“In collaboration with human rights groups, unions and faculty experts on the apparel industry, campus activists developed the DSP to give universities a mechanism to enforce their antisweatshop codes. With the help of the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an independent monitoring organization with 152 member colleges and universities, USAS has identified a number of factories around the world — particularly in Asia, Mexico, Central America and the United States — that could qualify under these more stringent worker-friendly standards. Alternatively, major brands like Nike could identify one of their major suppliers to specialize in producing clothing for the university market under the terms of the DSP.”

WHO Paves Way for Medicines for the Poor

The World Health Organization is actually going to try to make drugs more affordable for the majority of the world.

“The resolution approved by the Assembly, the supreme decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO), urges the 192 member states to make the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals a strategic sector, thus committing themselves to making R&D of medicines consistent with public interest needs a priority.

This was the response of health ministers at last week’s meeting in Geneva to the concerns of developing countries and humanitarian non-governmental organisations, which criticised the tendency of transnational pharmaceutical companies to concentrate their R&D efforts on diseases prevalent in affluent countries. “

UN World Food Programme is Blogging

After creating the fantastic and educational video game for kids, Food Force, the UN is providing a way for kids to talk to humanitarian workers on the front lines. From the UN press release:

“Fresh from the global success of the world’s first humanitarian video game designed to arouse children’s interests in the challenges of fighting hunger, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of a blog, an interactive internet chat site, that allows youngsters to talk directly to aid workers on the battle’s frontlines.

“In response to queries from Food Force players all over the world on how they could help, the new blog is a way to channel interest and a place to exchange ideas,” WFP said, referring to the educational video game which has now been played by at least 4 million people since its launch in April 2005 and is currently available in five languages.”

African Nations to Fight Sand

Africa’s most arid nations, you know, the ones covered in all that sand have grouped together to stop the increasing rate of Africa’s decertification. They will look into ways to protect forests that already exist, water, and improve agriculture.

“Svetla Rousseva, soil erosion researcher at Pushkarov Institute of Soil Science in Bulgaria, says the North Africa Green Belt Project will be “a good point to start combating desertification in Africa and will soon become an excellent example for the entire world”.

“Soil cannot be conserved through sporadic efforts or short-term projects; what it needs are long-term programmes backed by sound land-use policies and strategies to catalyse their development,” says Rousseva.”