3Click

While Rome Burns

Bush Administration Informs U.S.-Based AIDS Groups They Must Sign Pledge Against Sex Work, Trafficking To Receive Funding
[Jun 10, 2005]

The Bush administration on Thursday officially notified U.S. organizations providing HIV/AIDS-related services in other countries that they must sign a pledge opposing commercial sex work and sex trafficking to be considered for federal funding, USA Today reports (Sternberg, USA Today, 6/10). The policy stems from two 2003 laws, including an amendment to legislation (HR 1298) authorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that prohibits funds from going to any group or organization that does not have a policy "explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking." The policy originally applied only to overseas groups because the Department of Justice had constitutional free speech concerns in applying it to U.S. organizations. However, DOJ in 2004 reversed itself and said that the administration could apply the rule to U.S. groups (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 2/28). The law was amended last year to exclude multinational groups, including the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and U.N. agencies, according to USA Today. Kent Hill, assistant administrator for global health at USAID, said the Bush administration is enforcing what is required in the 2003 laws. However, Ira Lupu, a constitutional law professor at George Washington University, said the pledge violates the constitutional right to free speech for the organizations and their employees. "You're asking (the organizations) in exchange for federal grants to limit their activities under the grant, to sell off their rights to engage in politically committed expression in support of other activities," Lupu said. Paul Zeitz, head of the Global AIDS Alliance, said, "No one endorses prostitution and sex trafficking. We cannot stop AIDS if we lose the trust of people most at risk of HIV infection and undermine effective, lifesaving programs" (USA Today, 6/10).

News from Kaiser Network.org

Expecting Good News From George, or...

"Keep Those Cards & Letters Coming"

President Bush on Tuesday is expected to announce an additional $674 million in aid for African humanitarian relief efforts at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, according to an unnamed official at the National Security Council, the New York Times reports (Stevenson, New York Times, 6/7). The money will be directed toward famine relief in Ethiopia, Eritrea and other African countries and will provide food for approximately 14 million people, according to the official. The $674 million will come from a USDA food reserve program and from funding provided by a recent supplemental appropriations bill to support ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official said. The United States already has pledged $1.4 billion in aid in the current fiscal year through the United Nations and nongovernmental organizations, according to the official (Baker, Washington Post, 6/7). Blair also is expected to announce a British contribution to the initiative, although the amount has not been disclosed (Gardiner, AP/ABCNews.com, 6/7). The initiative appears to be an effort to "take some of the sting" out of the United States' "differences" with Britain over African aid, according to the Times (New York Times, 6/7). U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown at a February meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations proposed increasing aid to developing nations to $100 billion annually through an International Finance Facility, which would frontload development aid to help Africa meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. Brown has said that more than 50 countries have expressed support for the initiative, although the United States so far has failed to fully endorse the plan. Although the Bush administration supports 100% debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries, the United States does not support the U.K. plan to raise funds for poverty alleviation (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 6/2).

(From Kaiser Network.org)

A Prophet In His Own Country...

Readers of this blog will know that I am a fan of Stephen Lewis. Here, Stephen does what he does best - takes a country to task for it's track record and continued waffling on a firm commitment. That country? His and mine - Canada.

U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis on Friday told a meeting of the Public Service Alliance of Canada that it is "shameful" that Canada and other Western countries have not pledged to set a target date to commit 0.7% of gross national income to foreign aid, including aid to combat HIV/AIDS, the CP/Edmonton Journal reports. Lewis said foreign aid from Western countries "isn't keeping up with the AIDS crisis in Africa" and is a "major barrier" to distributing antiretroviral drugs in affected countries, according to the CP/Journal. The United Kingdom and Spain have pledged to meet the 0.7% funding goal by 2013 and France plans to meet the goal by 2011, according to Lewis. However, Canada, the United States and Japan have not committed to target dates. Lewis, who is Canadian, said Canada should commit to a date of 2015 or sooner (CP/Edmonton Journal, 6/4). Speaking to the Canadian Society of Respiratory Therapists on Saturday, Lewis said Canada's pledge of $100 million for HIV/AIDS treatment and its doubling of its contribution to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are "laudable," but the country's foreign aid budget still is "woefully inadequate" and is a "black eye" for the country internationally, according to the Edmonton Journal. Lewis said that because of budgetary surpluses in Canada, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin's refusal to set a target date to achieve 0.7% in foreign aid "makes no sense" and could be "undermining other good work the country is doing on the world stage, particularly in the fight against AIDS" (Jeffs, Edmonton Journal, 6/5).

(From Kaiser Network.org)

Pony Up

British Treasury chief urges oil producers to help poor nations
05/06/2005 9:31:00 AM 

LONDON (AP) - Petroleum producing countries that have benefited from recent high oil prices should do more to help the world's poorest nations, Britain's Treasury chief Gordon Brown said in an interview broadcast Sunday.

BBC News link.
Scotsman link.
Canadian Press link.

Resistance is Futile

President Bush on Wednesday restated his opposition to doubling the United States' financial aid commitment to Africa in advance of the Group of Eight industrialized nations meeting in Scotland next month, the New York Times reports. Bush was meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki at the White House as part of Mbeki's two-week campaign to speak with G8 leaders about Britain's proposed International Finance Facility, which would frontload development aid to help Africa meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (Becker/Sanger, New York Times, 6/2). U.K. Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown at a February meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized nations proposed increasing aid to developing nations to $100 billion annually through the finance facility. Brown has said that more than 50 countries have expressed support for the initiative, although the United States so far has failed to fully endorse the plan. Although the Bush administration supports 100% debt cancellation for the world's poorest countries, the United States does not support the U.K. plan to raise funds for poverty alleviation, according to U.S. Treasury Undersecretary John Taylor (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/18). During Wednesday's meeting, Bush said that doubling the U.S. contribution to Africa "doesn't fit our budgetary process." Mbeki -- who is urging wealthy nations to "choose their own ways to help" Africa -- said that the European Union is considering a new tax to finance Britain's initiative. "I am absolutely certain President Bush is willing to commit whatever is required," he added. However, because British Prime Minister Tony Blair has received opposition over the plan from Germany and Italy, Bush's opposition could "doom the effort" at the G8 meeting in July, according to the Times (New York Times, 6/2).

(From Kaiser Network.org)

Sounds to me like this guy needs some emails.

Live 8

A letter from Sir Bob Geldof:

By being part of the Make Poverty History campaign you've done a lot over the last six months to create the golden opportunity to change the world that is in our grasp now.

That's why I wanted to tell you about Live 8 myself.

Let me start by saying, this is not Live Aid 2 - this time its not people's money we need, it's themselves. The five concerts taking place around the world are the starting point for The Long Walk To Justice, an event that will see hundreds of thousands of people heading to Edinburgh to tell the G8 leaders that the whole world is expecting them to deliver.

By doubling aid, fully cancelling debt, and delivering trade justice for Africa, the G8 have it within their power to change the future for millions of men, women and children. What we need to do is show them in our millions that we care and that we're watching.

Whether you're starting things off in Edinburgh on the Saturday at the vitally important Make Poverty History rally, or planning to head to the Scottish capital later in the week, the really vital thing is that you see your good work through and send a message loud and clear to those 8 men - now is the time, this is the year, you can make poverty history.

Thanks and good luck,
Bob

Here's the concert schedule:

When: Saturday 2nd July, 2005.
Where:
France – Palais de Versailles, Paris
Germany – Brandenberg Gate, Berlin
Italy – Circus Maximus, Rome
UK – Hyde Park, London
USA – Venue TBC, Philadelphia

Click here for a list of the artists appearing at each venue, and here for ticket/admission information.

Hunger

I've added the UN World Food Programme's interactive Hunger Map to 3Click Resources on the sidebar.

Sit and look at it for a while. Sobering.

Changing The Wind

This is an adaptation of a story I heard Jim Wallis tell about a year ago. I believe at the time he said he had borrowed if from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Every morning in Washington, in Ottawa, in London, in every seat of political power for that matter, politicians stick their index finger in their mouths, then raise their hands.

They're checking to see which way the wind is blowing.

It's what they do; it's who they are. Our political leaders don't make a move without checking to see which way the wind is blowing on the issue at hand. We go to them with our passion - nothing short of the alleviation of global poverty - and in go the fingers and up go the hands. It's automatic; it's unconscious. It would be naive of us to think we could change that reality. It's not going to happen.

Instead,  we need to change the wind.

This is where Make Poverty History comes in. Initially, I didn't understand what they meant when they said "We don't want your money. We want your voice." I caught a glimpse, just about a month ago, watching a blue glow spread through GM Place as thousands of us took out our cell phones and called Paul Martin. Now, as I recall this story, another piece falls into place, and the understanding grows.

Every email and phone call to a political leader, every passionate conversation with friends over coffee, every heart and mind focused on a distant Scottish city in July... these are all little breezes. Individually they are hardly noticeable. Combined, they are formidable.

Together, we are changing the wind.

Justice & Mercy

One day I stood by the edge of a raging river. Barely audible over the roar of the water I heard a faint cry for help. Looking up, I saw someone in the water, rushing towards me. With just enough time to act, I grabbed a tree branch, leaned out over the water, and grabbed the person by the wrist as they went under. Another bystander happened along and and helped me pull the victim from the frigid water.

Just as we did, we heard a faint cry for help.

Someone else was bobbing through the rough water towards us. Working together, my new friend and I quickly pulled the hapless person from the torrent.

And as we did, we heard another cry for help.

This went on for hours. There were many of us now, pulling people from the water as fast as we could. Two or three times I could have sworn that we pulled the same person out more than once, but I may have been mistaken.

Here's the point. Pulling these people from the water was an act of mercy. It is critical work; it saves lives. However, it did not become a quest for justice until a number of us left our spot on the shore and went upstream to see who was throwing them in.

The Girl In The Café

I'm growing increasingly impressed with what is going on in the UK, clearly the epicentre of the Make Poverty History movement. Glenn (my favorite Scotsman, next to my father) has pointed us to this great article from The Herald:

The new script: making poverty history
CAMERON SIMPSON May 27 2005

HE'S moved away from love, actually, and now the focus is on changing the world.

Richard Curtis, Britain's most successful screenwriter, last night took on the role of champion of Africa's poor when his new film, The Girl In The Cafe, had its world premiere at the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh.

A poignant, 90-minute tale, it is part of the Make Poverty History campaign which aims to convince politicians to cancel Third World debt, double the aid budget and rewrite global trade laws so that developing countries can protect their economies.

Curtis has previously written and/or directed some of Britain's most successful movies, such as Love Actually, Four Weddings And A Funeral, Notting Hill, and Bridget Jones's Diary. More to our point, he is the creator of the Click concept (so I would think that makes him the patron saint of this blog).

I'll leave it to you to read the complete article at your leisure (there is additional information on The Girl in the Cafe in this BBC press release) but I'll leave you with a couple of poignant quotes.

First, this, which is reminiscent of our thoughts on The Present Future:

Mr Hunter, who has put £1m into Make Poverty History, said: "It is fantastic the world premiere has come to Scotland. G8 offers a unique moment in history to change the world for the better. "We can either make history by eradicating world poverty or be confined to it as the generation who had the chance to stop 30,000 innocents dying every day and didn't take it. "That's not something I want to explain to my children and I hope the G8 doesn't either."

And then this damning indictment:

Curtis added: "If 50,000 people died in London on Monday, in Rome on Tuesday, Munich on Wednesday, in New York on Thursday and in Paris on Friday, they would find the money and the solution to the problem as they walked from the lift to the breakfast bar, they just would."

It's true, they would. We would.

UPDATE: For our American friends (and satellite-wielding Canadians) Mac points out that The Girl in The Cafe is airing on HBO on June 25.