wfn.org | All Africa News Agency Nov 10 2003 Features

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AANA Bulletin				Bulletin APTA
  Editor -Elly Wamari			Editor - Silvie Alemba

AANA BULLETIN No. 44/03 November 10, 2003 Features

FEATURES  SECTION

The Rarely Exposed Side Of Global Trade Rules

"Everybody talks about globalisation, but hardly anybody knows what 
globalisation really means." These were the words of a Ugandan church 
leader during a past discussion on globalisation.  In an attempt to reveal 
the side-effects of globalisation, Annette Groth, who last week gave a 
presentation on the subject at a conference in Uganda, explains a number of 
the WTO agreements that are considered by analysts to harbour some hidden 
agenda.

T
he recent failure of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations in 
Cancun, Mexico, caused by a combined opposition of about 100 developing 
countries to dominant trade superpowers, is testimony to the existence of 
serious imbalances in international trade regulations.

One of the contentious issues involves liberalisation of public service 
sector, which has been implemented within the framework of General 
Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS), signed in 1994.

The GATS agreement, favoured by the European Union (EU), is a 600-page 
document with 20,000 attachments.  Hardly any politician can claim to have 
read this voluminous paper.  Indeed, a former WTO Secretary General doubted 
publicly that governments were fully aware of the implications of the GATS 
agreement they had signed.

In brief, GATS is a corporate boot sale of essential services, from water 
to electricity. It is capable of locking the world into privatisation and 
deregulation of essential services ad infinitum.

Through GATS, the EU is keen on investing in the water distribution market. 
The international water market is worth billions of dollars, and most of 
the global players in this area are European companies.

"Liberalisation" or privatisation of water supply has been debated, and is 
still a hot issue in many countries, due to accompanying  negative 
implications.

Examples exist.  In Canada, the quality of water declined drastically after 
privatisation, while delivery prices went up. Compensation for serious 
health problems due to the poor water quality is being sought in numerous 
court cases.

In South Africa, about two million people have been evicted from their 
homes for not paying utility bills. Many poor families spend up to 40 
percent of their monthly income on water and electricity.

The UK has the longest history of privatisation, introduced in the 
1980s.	The impacts have all been negative.

The question then arises, why governments privatise their valuable public 
commodities. The argument usually put forth is that public services are 
completely inefficient and that the consumers will only get good service if 
governments hand over their services to the private sector.

But these widely believed allegations are a myth. Arundhati Roy, an Indian 
writer, comments: "Privatisation is presented as being the only alternative 
to an inefficient, corrupt state. In fact, it is not a choice at all... it 
is a mutually profitable business contract between the private company 
(preferably foreign) and the ruling elite of the Third World."

WTO's Manipulation Structures

The WTO's Dispute Resolution Body (DRB), through its Dispute Settlement 
Panel (DSP), is the only international structure with a legal system that 
gives members the right to challenge laws and regulations of another 
country on the grounds that they violate WTO rules.

Says Wayne Ellwood in the publication, The No-Nonsense Guide to 
Globalisation: "The DSP is comprised of appointed 'experts' who hear the 
case behind closed doors. If the DSP decides on sanctions, the only way to 
escape them is if every member opposes them - a virtual impossibility...."

There are interesting cases where the DSP has forced governments to comply 
with WTO regulations.  One case involved the US taking the EU to the DSP, 
following EU's prohibition of importation of beef from hormone-fed cattle, 
after it was established that the hormones fed to America cattle posed 
long-term health risks.

The DSP went ahead and decided in favour of the US.  It ordered the EU to 
remove the import controls, but when the EU refused, it was slapped with 
trade sanctions worth more than US$ 125 million annually.

In May, the US once again took the EU to the WTO disputes panel over EU's 
ban on genetically modified (GM) food.	The EU may soon lift this 
ban.  Countries within the union have developed a system of labelling GM 
food in order to enable consumers to make a choice. But the US has 
maintained that the labelling is a barrier for "free trade" hence against 
WTO rules.

In a mid-May speech, US President, George Bush, asserted: "By widening the 
use of new high-yield bio-crops, and unleashing the power of markets, we 
can dramatically increase agricultural productivity and feed more people 
across the continent [of Africa].

"Yet our partners in Europe have impeded this effort. They have blocked all 
new bio-crops because of unfounded, unscientific fears. This has caused 
many African nations to avoid investing in biotechnologies for fear that 
their products will be shut out of European markets."

Amadou Kanoute, Africa regional director of Consumers International, states 
that Bush administration's main goal in launching the WTO case is not the 
concern about Africa, but the export of US corn to the EU.

Another dangerously powerful WTO tool is the Trade Related Aspects of 
Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, which ensures exclusive 
rights for a company that has "invented" a commodity, process or a 
genetically modified crop, and allows the owner of a patented product to 
prevent third parties from making, using, or offering for sale, such a 
product, without consent.

For example, US Scientists have genetically modified the popular Jasmine 
Rice from Thailand in order to adjust its production to the climate in the 
US. If the US produces this rice under a patent, about five million Thai 
farmers may be driven out of business because they will not be allowed to 
produce their own Jasmine Basmati rice.

Currently, a multinational company is trying to get patents on the 
mwarubaini (neem tree), and another tree called omukombera, which Kenyans 
use for medication and other purposes. If this happens, Kenyans will loose 
their right to use the plants.

If granting patents lead to increased vulnerability of the poor, then 
patenting now represents a real threat of injustice against the world's 
poor. Vandana Shiva, a famous Indian Scientist and activist concludes: 
"Sustainability and science are being sacrificed for a reckless experiment 
with our biodiversity and food systems, which is pushing species and 
peasants to extinction..."		
		
*The author of this excerpted article works with Diakonisches Werk der EKD, 
a German-based ecumenical organisation. Opinions expressed in the write-up 
are those of the writer or as attributed, and do not necessarily reflect 
the opinion of AANA - Editor

An Unorthodox War On AIDS Takes Root In Dar

A number of bar owners in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, are grappling with the 
high turn-over of barmaids and the extra cost of purchasing new seats, 
thanks to an unorthodox method of combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.  The 
new order requires them to parade HIV-negative barmaids, failure to which 
their bar seats are confiscated, writes AANA Correspondent Oscar Obonyo.

I
n an effort to control the rapid spread of HIV in Tanzania's commercial 
city of Dar es Salaam, local authorities have resorted to compelling female 
bar attendants, to undergo HIV tests.

Typically, the city law enforcement officers, locally known as askaris, 
visit one bar after the other, to inspect if barmaids have undergone the 
tests and if they are in possession of a medical certificate declaring 
their HIV status.

Failure to produce the certificate gives the officers authority to 
apprehend the women. Now there is even a material angle to it.

According to affected bar proprietors, once the officers discover that a 
barmaid has not been tested for HIV, they walk away with property of their 
choice from the bar.

"Alternatively, if the bar owner is present during the raid, he is asked to 
pay a fine of Tsh 45,000 (about US$ 43), if he is unable to parade 
HIV-negative barmaids," says an angry bar owner at Kibamba, in the 
outskirts of the city.

The latest swoop has generated fright among female bar attendants, who are 
opting out because of fear of being nabbed.

The development has also scared away several women from joining the 
profession.

Apart from having to grapple with the high turn-over and scarcity of 
barmaids, bar owners now find themselves in an unfortunate predicament of 
having to purchase new sets of seats.

Recently, a bar owner in Kinondoni area, overseeing the Indian Ocean, 
unwillingly surrendered 30 chairs to members of the city's law enforcement 
officers.

Two weeks earlier, a journalist with The Observer, a weekly paper in 
Tanzania, was a witness to a brawl between a bar manager and city askaris 
who had stormed the premises in a crackdown of barmaids infected with HIV.

"Unfortunately, the only maid who was around said she had forgotten her 
medical certificate at home. This reply did not satisfy the askaris, who 
threatened to carry away 30 chairs including the one I was seated on," 
recounts Peter Msungu.

According to the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), from only three 
known cases in 1983, Tanzania has an estimated two million people living 
with HIV/AIDS today. Nearly 86 percent of the infected are young people 
aged between 20 and 49.

More women than men are infected as reflected in recent statistics, which 
show that 8.5 percent of men and 11.8 percent of women who donated blood 
last year were found to have HIV.

NACP further states that HIV/AIDS is more rampant in Dar es Salaam, and in 
Hai and Morogoro districts.

Quoting social workers while delivering a speech to the Youth of Tanzania 
two years ago during an Uhuru Torch Race, President Benjamin Mkapa pointed 
out that one out of every two barmaids was infected with the AIDS-causing 
virus.

It is perhaps out of this scenario that Dar es Salaam city fathers have 
opted to target women bar workers in their latest innovation to combat the 
spread of the deadly virus. The trend, according to Msungu, is the order of 
the day.

Among the latest victims of the clampdown are some of the city's popular 
entertainment spots, such as Cool Breeze and Hoja bars, which have since 
lost a total of 50 chairs.

While they support efforts of combating the disease, affected bar owners 
are furious at the approach used by the authorities, which they term as 
wrong and barbaric.

"Why do they collect the chairs to deprive bar owners of their customers? 
And honestly, what has HIV/AIDS got to do with bar chairs?" poses Msungu.

Apart from the apparent daylight robbery, the city officials are 
perpetuating a more serious human rights violation by forcing barmaids to 
undergo the HIV test.

According to affected barmen, the operation seems to stem from an official 
government policy, as the askaris who carry out the swoop also issue 
receipts to those paying the fines. However, no senior administrative 
official has come out in the open to accept responsibility.

The segregation and victimisation of members of one sex is bound to draw 
the ire of gender and human rights pressure groups.

Only recently, a nominated Member of Parliament (MP) for Iringa, Ms Lediana 
Mafuru Mung'ongo, enumerated the negative effects of isolating people 
suffering from HIV/AIDS, including the dangerous attitude of revenge by the 
affected.

The MP, who is also a commissioner with the Tanzania Commission for AIDS 
(TACAIDS), and chairperson of the MPs association against AIDS committee, 
known as TAPAC, called on the society to accommodate and care for AIDS 
sufferers, warning that no one can claim to be free from the danger of 
infection.

According to Mung'ongo, most of the young women have been exposed to the 
disease as they migrate to urban centres, especially Dar es Salaam, with 
the hope of securing employment.  Many of them have been unlucky, and end 
up working as barmaids or commercial sex workers.

Mung'ongo made the observations when officially opening a one-day seminar 
on HIV/AIDS related stigma in Iringa, north-west Tanzania.

World-wide, women constitute 58 per cent of the infected in sub-Saharan 
Africa. The rate is much higher among young women in many countries, 
according to the latest report of the United Nations Joint Programme on 
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

A Worrying Scenario Of Human-Wildlife Conflict

In Kitengela, on the outskirts of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, zebras are now 
grazing side-by-side with cattle.  To a visitor, the site might appear 
spectacular, but not so for the concerned pastoral communities living here, 
who are aware that this phenomenon spells doom for their livestock.  Our 
writer, Joseph Karanja, reports.

C
ommunities living in Kitengela, about 30 Kilometres from Nairobi, last week 
expressed concern that their livestock were once again threatened by 
predators from the wild.

A mass movement of zebras and other wild herbivores into the area in search 
of more pasture, is exposing domestic animals to attacks by lions trailing 
their favourite preys.

The phenomenon, which is not new, once again brings to the fore, the 
persistent human-wildlife conflict in parts of Kenya, which might be 
getting out of hand.

Ever since, one of the major problems along the interface of game reserves 
or national parks and human settlements is the conflict between animals and 
human beings.  Year-in, year-out, crops, livestock, and human life are 
destroyed, often with little or no compensation.

According to the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists, 
the conflict is aggravated by the fact that the Kenya Wildlife Service 
(KWS) has failed to be pro-active, only intervening when animals are killed 
or injured, but showing disinterest when crops, livestock and human life is 
affected.

Cases involving killings of lions attacking livestock has increasingly been 
reported in south-western parts of the country, inhabited mostly by the 
pastoralist Maasai community.

On September 17, speakers from the affected areas filed a legal case 
challenging the Wildlife Management and Co-ordination Act.

The Act, which was enacted in 1976 and amended in 1989, is, according to 
them, discriminative against native Kenyans, especially communities living 
with wildlife

Briefing members of the press on September 18 in Nairobi, Maa Pastoralist 
Council official, Dr Kimpei Ole Munei, challenged the government to revoke 
the Act, saying: "I have noted with growing concern the turn that 
wildlife-human conflict has taken lately. From the look of things, 
something is totally wrong, not only out there in the countryside, but also 
within the law."

Maa Pastoralist Council is a non-governmental organisations representing 
people living in close proximity with wild animals.

Dr Kimpei noted that many of the communities living within or adjacent to 
game reserves have always applied their traditional conservation 
mechanisms, but have never been appreciated.  "Instead of the law seeking 
to empower the guardians of this resource, it has sought to alienate them," 
he charged.

In a press release issued on the same day, the council expressed anger that 
such communities have often been maimed or even killed with little 
consideration for compensation by the authorities.

Dr Kimpei charged that, according to the Act, a human life was worth a 
paltry Ksh 30,000 (about US$ 395).

"On the other hand, if one kills, say, an elephant or a lion, they are 
faced with a jail sentence of not less than seven years," he complained.

The remarks came barely two days after the Maasai community living in 
Kitengela killed a lion that had allegedly attacked livestock.

Come September 24, another lion reportedly killed ten cows in Musiro 
Village in Kajiado District, about 50 km to the south-west of Nairobi.

According to reports, the affected cows belonged to the area assistant 
chief, Samuel Ole Kukuta.  Other villagers also lost sheep and goats.

A group of wildlife officers was deployed in the area  to asses the 
situation.  Even though KWS promised about Khs 20,000 (about US$ 263) 
compensation to each affected livestock owner, observers generally 
expressed discomfort with the reactive, rather than proactive approach to 
the problem by the organisation.

The human-wildlife issue was also a major point of concern during a recent 
wildlife congress.  At the 5th World Parks Congress, held in September in 
Durban, South Africa, tempers erupted when seasoned conservationist, Dr 
Richard Leakey, "rubbished" the concept of grouping some communities as 
indigenous, saying it amounted to politicking conservation.

In his presentation, Dr Leakey had stated that national economic and 
security interests should not be undermined by traditional claims of 
affected minority communities.	This did not go down well with indigenous 
groups attending the congress.	Led by the Maasais of Kenya and Tanzania, 
they swiftly issued a statement denouncing Dr Leakey's views.

They said they had suffered during Dr Leakey's tenure as director of KWS, 
since he regarded them as enemies rather than co-managers of 
wildlife.  This, they alleged, led to the escalation of human-wildlife 
conflict in the region.

"Dr Leakey represents a clique of ageing conservationist, whose idea of 
protecting parks with the use of the gun is responsible for the ongoing 
human-wildlife conflict in Kenya.  We believe that old colonial 
conservation mentality has no place in the 21st Century,"  said a 
spokesperson of the groups.

The International Commission of Jurists (Kenya chapter), states that there 
is nothing in the Act to prevent a civil suit claiming compensation.

The major concern is that the amount that can be awarded under the Act is 
not only inadequate in most cases, but also takes a long time to receive.

Indeed, inhabitants of Taita Taveta district towards Kenya's coastal region 
allege that the last compensation awarded in the area was in 1989, despite 
numerous reported incidences of destruction caused by wildlife every year.

Speaking to AANA last week, the head of legal services at the KWS, Mrs 
Mueni, however, maintained that there was nothing wrong with the Act, since 
it passed through parliament before enactment, and was therefore 
representative of the wishes of the people.

An official from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, who 
requested anonymity, revealed that the minister was formulating strategies 
for developing solutions to the rising human-wildlife conflict in different 
parts of the country.