UNESCO Courier articles from November 1999

UNESCO Courier archives from November 1999

THE SHELTERING SCREEN.(homelessness, poverty in South Africa)(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... The lights go out and the curtain rises. Images scored with scratches and rich in dust particles flicker over the blotchy screen. A crackling noise issues from the loudspeakers as the strip of brittle celluloid is pulled through the projector....

ALL HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL.(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... The end of the millennium has seen some remarkable advances in political democracy. Oppressed peoples everywhere are at last, or once again, tasting freedom. They owe these victories largely to themselves, to the intelligence, determination,...

CLIMATIC CHANGES THAT MAKE THE WORLD FLIP.(global warming)
November 1, 1999... Global warming's impact on the environment is not necessarily a drawn-out affair. Recent evidence shows that dramatic changes or 'climatic flips' could happen virtually overnight. The once-green land of Ireland turned into a frozen...

WHEN THE PRESS PLUGS THE SCHOOLBOOK GAP.(educational supplements - Latin American newspapers)
November 1, 1999... Educational supplements for young readers are flourishing in the Latin American press A few weeks ago, several children wrote to the editors of Zurqui, the educational supplement of the Costa Rican daily newspaper La Nacion. They...

FOCUS: Making the leap to a rule of law.(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... A cross the world, wherever authoritarian regimes have been toppled and free market economic systems have been introduced, the establishment of the "rule of law" has vaulted to the top of the agenda. Good laws effectively applied respond to a...

A world in transition.(the rule of law)(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... In a number of countries emerging from authoritarian rule, a new quest for the rule of law is being encouraged by popular pressure and globalization On the steppes of Central Asia in countries not so long ago under Stalinist rule, youths...

No quick fix.(rule of law - former Soviet nations)
November 1, 1999... Foreigners have swamped the former Soviet bloc with legal advice, but the results have fallen far short of expectations Over the past half-dozen years, a flock of foreign development agencies and private foundations have organized a...

Kyrgyzstan: breaking out of the old shell.(legal reform )
November 1, 1999... In Kyrgyzstan, widely regarded as the most democratic country in Central Asia, legal reform is running up against old attitudes and dire economic conditions At the Judicial Training Centre in Bishkek, a staff member slips a CD-Rom into a...

Ukraine: legal eagles with clipped wings.(legal reform )
November 1, 1999... Ukraine embarked on a far-reaching legal reform programme, but found that old habits die hard in an entrenched nomenklatura. Below, the viewpoint of a former Minister of Justice Shedding 350 years of colonial servitude when it became a...

A world's eye view of the law.
November 1, 1999... A variety of different legal systems and traditions grew up over many centuries. Some were exported far and wide. Now there are signs that they are starting to converge. Civil law: Inspired by Roman law. Legislation is the primary source...

In traditional societies, the jury is out on legal reform.(analysis of the legal system)
November 1, 1999... Customary laws do not always easily fit into human rights development theories. But they can play an indispensable role in ensuring justice Numerous countries in the South recently have embraced the idea of the rule of law in the...

Benin: justice on the horizon.
November 1, 1999... The law is paramount in Benin, but the courts and the police are still not enforcing it effectively 'Twenty-five thieves burned alive in Benin by vigilante groups," read the headline on a recent news agency story. After a spate of...

South Africa: blending tradition and change.(legal system)
November 1, 1999... In South Africa's Herculean task of law reform, women's groups are in the vanguard of the movement to adapt traditional law to post-apartheid society When former President Nelson Mandela married Graca Machel last year, their Western...

Chinese courts get a hearing.(legal reform)(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... In an increasingly conflict-prone society, ordinary Chinese are shunning guanxi - personal connections - and granny patrols, and calling their lawyers instead The sort of skulduggery to which the 80 women labourers fell victim is now so...

Law and social justice.(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... Law reform in the service of democracy must find ways of protecting the vulnerable Legal reform and "good governance" have vaulted to the top of the development agenda. International financial institutions and influential donors...

TAKING THE SWEAT OUT OF SWEATSHOPS.(organizations take action against sweatshops)
November 1, 1999... Thanks to an alliance between northern consumers and workers in the South hundreds of companies have adopted codes of conduct designed to improve labour conditions From London to Nicaragua, consumers and workers are uniting to attack an...

'WORK, YES - BUT WITH DIGNITY!'.(Nicaragua's labor policies)(Brief Article)
November 1, 1999... Nicaraguan workers have prevailed on foreign employers to adopt a code of ethics enshrining respect for their rights and better working conditions After more than a decade of war and internal conflict, peace officially returned to...

MOVE OVER MILAN, MANILA IS TAKING THE CATWALK.(Filipino fashion industry)
November 1, 1999... Reviving a piece of fashion heritage, a Filipino housewife creates an alternative sense of style Until the late 1980s Patis Tesoro was a housewife and part-time fashion designer who enjoyed an upper-middle class life in the exclusive...

WEDDING BELLS FOR WEB AND TV?(convergent technology of the future)
November 1, 1999... The divide between the Internet and television is fading fast. How will television survive this whirlwind of convergence? Does the future of television lie in the Internet, as many people in the global audiovisual industry believe?...

ANTONIO TABUCCHI: A COMMITTED DOUBTER.(Interview)
November 1, 1999... An Italian novelist jolts the forces of complacency in the world of fact as well as fiction The central figure in your best-known novel, Pereira Declares, A Testimony, is an ageing and lonely widower who is in charge of the cultural pages...