LILONGWE – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has welcomed two contributions from the government of Germany totalling €2.6 million. Part of the donation, €395,900 (about 240 million MWK), is for nutrition assistance, and the remaining €2,250,000 (about 1.4 billion MWK) will help build resilience over a four-year period in some of Malawi’s most food insecure districts.

Despite a good harvest in most areas, the July report of the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) found that 640,000 people in 19 districts would not meet their food needs during the lean season (December 2014 to March 2015). Moreover, high malnutrition contributes to about 42 percent of children under five being stunted (low height for age), according to the 2014 MDG/Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. Over the past four years, this survey has shown no improvement in children’s diets which are insufficient both in quality and quantity. As a result, many Malawian children suffer from micronutrient deficiencies.

WFP and its partners are providing a mixed monthly food basket or cash transfers to increase and sustain food security in affected areas during the lean season. Households receiving food assistance that have pregnant or lactating women or children under two years of age will also receive fortified blended food (Super Cereal or Super Cereal Plus, respectively) to treat and prevent malnutrition. To complement the relief assistance, recipients of food assistance will receive key messages and training on raising small livestock or making kitchen gardens as well on improving sanitation, hygiene and feeding practices.

The German government’s contribution will provide Super Cereal to an estimated 25,000 pregnant or lactating women in 19 districts from December 2014 to March 2015.

WFP recognises the importance of linking immediate relief assistance to longer-term solutions to enable communities to prepare for, recover from and strengthen their resilience to recurrent shocks.

“The German Government is grateful to partner with WFP in supporting vulnerable people in Malawi during times where we cannot work directly through Government of Malawi systems,” said German Ambassador Dr Peter Woeste. “One of our principal aims worldwide is to increase food security through resilience building.”

The funds from the German government will enable WFP to provide food and cash transfers to some 15,500 food-insecure households this year in Balaka, Zomba and Karonga districts, while at the same time supporting the creation of productive assets at household and community levels. These assets - including small-scale irrigation schemes, fuel efficient stoves, household and community woodlots and water harvesting structures - are expected to increase and sustain food and nutrition security while reinforcing resilience.

“WFP is grateful for the Federal Republic of Germany’s contribution and support to the people of Malawi. By enabling us to meet the immediate nutrition needs, as well as the longer-term resilience needs of the most vulnerable, Germany is joining our collective efforts to build a more food and nutrition secure and resilient future,” said WFP’s Representative Coco Ushiyama. # # #

WFP is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. In 2013, WFP assisted more than 80 million people in 75 countries.

For more information please contact:
Fitina Khonje, WFP/Lilongwe, Tel. +265 1774666 ext. Email: fitina.khonje@wfp.orghttps://www.wfp.org/countries/malawi

Kerstin Henke, German Embassy/Lilongwe, Tel. +2651772 555. Email: wz-@lilo.diplo.de

Guatemala, 13 nov (AGN).- Un total 400.000 familias han sido beneficiadas con el programa de Agricultura Familiar en Guatemala durante 2014, promoviendo las prácticas de abastecimiento de granos básicos en los 22 departamentos que conforman este país centroamericano, informó una fuente oficial.

La agricultura familiar incluye todas las actividades agrícolas de base familiar y está relacionada con varios ámbitos del desarrollo rural.

Elmer López, titular del Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (MAGA), afirma que actualmente los guatemaltecos están recibiendo, además de fertilizantes, semilla mejorada, una capacitación e insumos que les permitan un verdadero desarrollo en el campo.

“En el gobierno pasado solo se entregaban fertilizantes, nosotros bajo las instrucciones del presidente Otto Pérez Molina, hemos impulsado un plan completo que incluye sensibilización y capacitaciones a las familias del área rural para generar una buena cosecha”, indicó el funcionario.

Agregó que actualmente 1.100 extensionistas están brindando apoyo en el campo con el propósito de promover prácticas de cosecha de riego, tecnificación e incremento productivo en las áreas rurales que hacen agricultura en condiciones de pobreza y pobreza extrema, donde se asocian los más altos índices de vulnerabilidad a la inseguridad alimentaria y desnutrición crónica.

Entre otros incentivos, las familias reciben acceso a medios de producción e insumos (programa de fertilizantes, que se complementará con dotación de semillas mejoradas), innovación y desarrollo tecnológico, sistemas de riego e invernaderos, acceso a seguro y crédito agrícola de 3.000 quetzales (380 dólares) exento de intereses, además de seguro ante pérdidas por desastres naturales.

El ministro enfatizó que la última vez que hubo un programa como tal en el país centroamericano fue en 1989.

López indicó que este año fueron entregados 1,7 millones de sacos de fertilizante al mismo número de familias guatemaltecas, como parte del programa.

Año Internacional de la Agricultura Familiar

El pasado 24 de marzo, el mandatario guatemalteco inauguró el Año Internacional de la Agricultura Familiar en este país centroamericano.

El 2014 fue declarado por la FAO como el Año Internacional de la Agricultura Familiar (AIAF 2014), y dijo que esta representa el 80 por ciento de las explotaciones agrícolas de América Latina y el Caribe.

Registros del MAGA indican que el año pasado este programa benefició a 200.000 familias.

In support of the restoration or establishment of the rule of law (RoL) in crisis and post-crisis contexts, assistance to justice and security sector reform (JSSR) has been at the core of EU and UN peace operations for more than a decade, and will continue to be a major task for both organizations in the coming years. However, there is still no clear joint strategic or operational approach to JSSR. Instead, both organizations have often deployed parallel missions to the field on the basis of ad hoc coordination during planning phases and on the ground. There is a growing need for complementary and effective JSSR support in light of the major challenges facing concurrent EU and UN deployments in Libya, Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR).

EU-UN cooperation has evolved significantly since the establishment of the European External Action Service (EEAS) in 2010. With the implementation of the EU Plan of Action for CSDP Support to UN Peacekeeping from July 2012 until the end of 2014, as well as the recent adoption of the UN guidelines on Coordination between the UN and the EU during the planning of UN missions and EU civilian missions and military operations in April 2014, both organizations are striving for closer forms of cooperation.

The impacts of climate change in Africa will be significant and long-term. Long-lived infrastructure and development planning are likely to be particularly affected. Factoring climate change into their design and implementation is, therefore, vital to development outcomes. Yet we know very little about how long-term climate information is used in African decision-making. While seasonal climate information is increasingly embedded in development and humanitarian actions across Africa, our knowledge of the barriers to and opportunities for to the uptake of long-term climate information is comparatively scant.

It is this knowledge gap that the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) scoping phase seeks to fill. FCFA is a five-year international research programme jointly funded by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). The programme aims to advance scientific understanding of sub-Saharan African climate on decadal timescales and promote better communication, use and uptake of climate information into long-term climate-resilient development strategies.

FCFA starts from the premise that we need to improve our understanding of Africa’s climate system. However, more accurate and precise climate information is unlikely to lead to better decision-making on its own. How long-term climate information is communicated, used and taken up by decision-makers will be of equal, if not greater, importance. The wider factors of political economy, institutional settings and responses to other drivers of development and environmental change also need to be considered. Above all, promoting the uptake of climate information in long-term decision-making requires not only an appreciation of climate science, but an understanding of the economic, social and political processes that contribute towards it.

In informing the wider FCFA research programme, the 18-month scoping phase evaluates the needs of users of long-term climate information against the strengths and limitations of current climate science. In so doing, four case studies have been selected in sub-Saharan Africa; these explore real-world adaptation challenges in Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda and in two cities: Accra and Maputo.

In this Special Edition of Climate and Development Outlook, Lindsey Jones, JP Roux, Charlotte Scott and Tom Tanner reflect on some of the initial lessons FCFA has learned about communicating climate science and ensuring it’s used in decision-making for climate-resilient development.

This Outlook outlines recent activities by the case study teams, and presents lessons on: i) opportunities and barriers to the uptake of long-term climate information, and ii) ways to improve stakeholder engagement processes around the use of climate science in adaptation decisions. It also presents recommendations on how scientists and policy-makers can work better together and on how to encourage better use of climate information.

AMOUNT: EUR 7 260 000

0 . Major changes since last version of HIP

Additional needs have arisen in the Indian Ocean for supporting the creation of a network of humanitarian teams in four countries (Madagascar, Mauritius, Comoros and Seychelles), similar to the successful project supported by ECHO in the Pacific with OCHA for the creation of humanitarian teams. These platforms will operate in close cooperation with UNDAC, engaging national Disasters Offices, national Red Cross societies and regional partners. DIPECHO experiences could be incorporated in the training curriculum of the national staff in order to encourage replicability and ensure sustainability. It is therefore appropriate to increase the allocation under the present HIP by EUR 260 000.

Mali - IOM and Mali’s Ministry of Solidarity, Humanitarian Affairs and Reconstruction in the North have signed an agreement to formalize the handover of IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) programme to the government.

Following the 2012 crisis in Mali and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, IOM started the programme in close collaboration with the government. It was designed to provide up-to-date information on movements of internally displaced people (IDPs) and returnees, as well as on the needs of people affected by the conflict.

At its peak in June 2013, the DTM registered and identified 353,000 IDPs in the country. This has now fallen to 86,000, due to people returning home. A recent survey of IDP households revealed that 69 per cent would now like to return home, while 28 per cent have decided to stay in their place of displacement. Most IDP households (52 per cent) said that they need food aid.

The DTM team is composed of 120 members of the National Directorate for Social Development (Direction Nationale du Développement Social), the General Directorate of Civil Protection (Direction Générale de la Protection Civile) and IOM, who are deployed in all regions of Mali.

The DTM assessments include the registration of IDPs in the south, location assessments for IDPs and returnees in the north, return intention surveys, and needs assessments in areas of return. In addition, flow monitoring points in Bamako, Mopti, Gao and Timbuktu track IDP movements throughout the country and identify the most vulnerable people.

The handover of the DTM programme consists of transferring the data collection process and analysis to the National Directorate for Social Development, together with the DTM equipment. The programme received support from USAID, ECHO, the Government of Japan and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).

For more information, please contact

Stéphanie Daviot IOM Mali Tel: + 223 90 50 00 09 Email: sdaviot@iom.int

2014

REVISED REQUIREMENT 305 millions

FUNDING (1) 187 millions

UNMET REQUIREMENT 118 millions

Poor rainfall leads to abnormal dryness in parts of East Africa; slow start to seasonal rainfall in Angola, Zambia

1. Low and poorly distributed seasonal Deyr rains have led to growing moisture deficits and deteriorating ground conditions throughout several local areas of southern Somalia, eastern Kenya, and coastal Tanzania. The persistence of below-average rainfall in November is likely to reduce crop growth and limit the regeneration of pasture.

2. Since late September, erratic and poorly distributed rainfall has led to large moisture deficits in northern Angola. The early season dryness follows drought conditions during last year’s rainy season, which may further worsen ground conditions.

3. Several weeks of infrequent and below-average rainfall has led to unusual early season dryness in parts of southern DRC and northeastern Zambia.

4. Below-average and erratic rainfall across parts of southern Côte d’Ivoire and southern Ghana during October have led to increasing dryness.

WHO: Rashid Khalikov (OCHA), Hesham Youssef (OIC), Aisha Abdoullahi (AU)
WHAT: Mission to the Republic of Chad
WHEN: 17 - 21 November 2014
WHERE: N'Djamena and field visits to Mao and Sahr

A High-Level Partnership Mission organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) co-led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the African Union (AU) is scheduled to visit Chad from 17 to 21 November. Officials representing the Arab League, Azerbaijan, Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Qatar and USA and partners from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and charities from different Gulf States will come together for the first such mission to Chad.

The five-day mission will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the humanitarian situation in Chad, notably chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, and the humanitarian impact in Chad of the crisis in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR). The mission participants are scheduled to meet government officials including several Ministers, the Prime Minister and the President as well as humanitarian actors and diplomats to discuss ways of enhancing the humanitarian response in Chad.

Two field trips will allow them to get a first-hand view of the humanitarian situation and to meet authorities, humanitarians and beneficiaries on the ground. The mission is scheduled to visit Sahr (500 km south of N'Djamena) to the temporary camp of Maingama where several thousand people who fled CAR in the first months of the year live. The mission will also travel to Mao in the Kanem region (250 km north of N'Djamena) to visit a nutrition centre in this region severely affected by food insecurity due to recurring droughts.

The mission will close with a press conference on Friday, 21 November, 14h30 at Hotel Kempinski. For details of media opportunities during the trip, and to set up interviews, please contact Philippe Kropf in N'Djamena: Tel: +235 68 85 10 03, kropf@un.org or Jens Laerke in Geneva: +41 79 472 9750, laerke@un.org.

Tchad

· Une mission de haut-niveau de partenariat humanitaire organisée par le Bureau des Nations Unies pour la Coordination des Affaires Humanitaires (OCHA) en collaboration avec l’Organisation de la Coopération Islamique (OCI) et l’Union Africaine (UA) visitera le Tchad du 17 au 21 novembre 2014.

· Des Officiels représentant la Ligue Arabe, Azerbaïdjan, l’Allemagne, le Koweït, l’Arabie Saoudite, l’Afrique du Sud, le Qatar et les Etats-Unis ainsi que des partenaires des Organisations Non-Gouvernementales (ONG) et des organisations caritatives des différents Etats du Golfe se mettront ensemble pour une première mission de ce genre au Tchad.

· La mission de cinq jours sera l'occasion de sensibiliser sur la situation humanitaire au Tchad, notamment l'insécurité alimentaire chronique, la malnutrition, et l'impact humanitaire au Tchad de la crise en République centrafricaine (RCA) voisine.

· Pour des opportunités d’interviews, veuillez contacter Philippe Kropf, à N’Djamena, kropf@un.org, +235 68 85 10 03

(New York, 14 November 2014): Addressing the media today following a three-day visit to Mali last week, the Emergency Directors of three humanitarian agencies, John Ging of OCHA, Afshan Khan of UNICEF, and Mabingue Ngom of UNFPA, said that Mali is at a crucial crossroads and that failure to act now to meet humanitarian needs may jeopardise the prospects for peace and stability in the country.

“The situation in Mali remains highly fragile,” said OCHA Operations Director John Ging. “Although humanitarian assistance cannot provide the solution to this crisis, which goes back more than 50 years, it can provide a critical contribution by ensuring that human suffering is alleviated and people’s resilience is rebuilt, while the political process continues.”

During their visit, the Emergency Directors travelled to Kidal and Gao, where they met with representatives of armed groups, government officials, humanitarian partners and women’s groups and visited a nutrition centre. In Bamako, they met the Prime Minister, Minister of Solidarity, Humanitarian Action and Reconstruction of the North, MINUSMA senior management, humanitarian partners and donors.

“Everyone we met told us that restoration of basic social services is a top priority,” said UNICEF Emergency Director, Afshan Khan. “Despite the challenges, we must strengthen health systems especially in response to the nutrition crisis in Mali. It is estimated that 500,000 children will suffer from Global Acute Malnutrition by the end of the year. It is also imperative to get schools back up and running. Some children in northern Mali have gone three years without education. This is unacceptable.”

In each of their meetings, the Emergency Directors emphasized that aid workers are risking their lives to deliver assistance and called for greater efforts to ensure their safety and security. They also called for more funding for the response.

“The 2014 humanitarian appeal for Mali is less than 50 per cent funded,” warned Mr. Ging. “The impact of this is very real: the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) has had to halve its fleet, reducing access to remote locations at a critical moment in the response; roaming surgical teams have had to halt their activities; and we can’t deliver basic school supplies, like backpacks and books.”

The impact of the crisis on women, and the crucial importance of women being integrally involved in the recovery of the country, was reiterated throughout the mission. “Women in Gao had a simple message for us,” noted UNFPA Emergency Director, Mabingue Ngom. “They asked to have legal remedies for the horrendous violence and suffering they have endured, to be given the skills and means to earn their own livelihoods, and to be actively involved in peace talks and national reconciliation.”

Visiting after the confirmation of the first death from Ebola in Mali, the Emergency Directors also took the opportunity of their mission to urge all actors, including the Prime Minister, to take immediate action, drawing on best practice from the region, including from Nigeria, to rapidly contain the virus.

The Emergency Directors of FAO, MercyCorps, OCHA, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and WHO took part in the IASC (Inter-Agency Standing Committee) mission.

WHO: Rashid Khalikov (OCHA), Hesham Youssef (OIC), Aisha Abdoullahi (AU)
WHAT: Mission to the Republic of Chad
WHEN: 17 - 21 November 2014
WHERE: N'Djamena and field visits to Mao and Sahr

A High-Level Partnership Mission organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) co-led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the African Union (AU) is scheduled to visit Chad from 17 to 21 November. Officials representing the Arab League, Azerbaijan, Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Qatar and USA and partners from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and charities from different Gulf States will come together for the first such mission to Chad.

The five-day mission will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the humanitarian situation in Chad, notably chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, and the humanitarian impact in Chad of the crisis in neighbouring Central African Republic (CAR). The mission participants are scheduled to meet government officials including several Ministers, the Prime Minister and the President as well as humanitarian actors and diplomats to discuss ways of enhancing the humanitarian response in Chad.

Two field trips will allow them to get a first-hand view of the humanitarian situation and to meet authorities, humanitarians and beneficiaries on the ground. The mission is scheduled to visit Sahr (500 km south of N'Djamena) to the temporary camp of Maingama where several thousand people who fled CAR in the first months of the year live. The mission will also travel to Mao in the Kanem region (250 km north of N'Djamena) to visit a nutrition centre in this region severely affected by food insecurity due to recurring droughts.

The mission will close with a press conference on Friday, 21 November, 14h30 at Hotel Kempinski. For details of media opportunities during the trip, and to set up interviews, please contact Philippe Kropf in N'Djamena: Tel: +235 68 85 10 03, kropf@un.org or Jens Laerke in Geneva: +41 79 472 9750, laerke@un.org.

Tchad

· Une mission de haut-niveau de partenariat humanitaire organisée par le Bureau des Nations Unies pour la Coordination des Affaires Humanitaires (OCHA) en collaboration avec l’Organisation de la Coopération Islamique (OCI) et l’Union Africaine (UA) visitera le Tchad du 17 au 21 novembre 2014.

· Des Officiels représentant la Ligue Arabe, Azerbaïdjan, l’Allemagne, le Koweït, l’Arabie Saoudite, l’Afrique du Sud, le Qatar et les Etats-Unis ainsi que des partenaires des Organisations Non-Gouvernementales (ONG) et des organisations caritatives des différents Etats du Golfe se mettront ensemble pour une première mission de ce genre au Tchad.

· La mission de cinq jours sera l'occasion de sensibiliser sur la situation humanitaire au Tchad, notamment l'insécurité alimentaire chronique, la malnutrition, et l'impact humanitaire au Tchad de la crise en République centrafricaine (RCA) voisine.

· Pour des opportunités d’interviews, veuillez contacter Philippe Kropf, à N’Djamena, kropf@un.org, +235 68 85 10 03

This brief summarizes FEWS NET’s most forward-looking analysis of projected emergency food assistance needs in FEWS NET coverage countries. The projected size of each country’s acutely food insecure population is compared to last year and the recent five-year average. Countries where external emergency food assistance needs are anticipated are identified. Projected lean season months highlighted in red indicate either an early start or an extension to the typical lean season. Additional information is provided for countries with large food insecure populations, an expectation of high severity, or where other key issues warrant additional discussion.

On 6 and 7 November 2014, FIDH and AMDH held an international seminar in Bamako on transitional justice and national reconciliation in Mali, opened by Prime Minister Moussa Mara. The 230 participants adopted a roadmap for the reconciliation process in Mali which rejects any form of amnesty for past crimes.

The participants specifically requested that a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR) be composed of qualified and independent persons who will be able to listen to victims of all forms of political repression and grave violations of human rights perpetrated by governments and armed groups and can recommend reparation measures for the victims as well as extensive state reforms that include the introduction of guarantees of non-recurrence of human rights violations and respect for the rights of all citizens, without exception. Additionally, the participants stated that impunity should no longer be tolerated and international and national justice must be able to do its work without political interference or intervention. While negotiations are currently being conducted in Algiers between certain armed groups and the government of Mali, these measures need to be accepted by the parties and implemented by the government and the CVJR, if true lasting peace that is beneficial to all the people is to be achieved.

“The parties negotiating in Algiers must listen to the call for truth and justice from all of the Malian people who massively reject amnesty for past and present crimes”, declared Souhayr Belhassen, Honorary FIDH President, at the close of the Bamako seminar (see her statement [in French]).

230 participants attended this seminar including representatives of the Malian civil society, political parties, national political and judicial authorities, security and defence forces, religious and traditional leaders, as well as victims of human rights violations, journalists and academics from all over the country. A dozen national and international experts contributed to the participants’ discussion, in particular by relating similar experiences of national reconciliation in Togo, Morocco, Tunisia, Burundi, Guinea and even South Africa and Ghana.

A need for truth about past and present crimes

The need for truth seems to be fundamental to a national history characterized by divergent viewpoints and marked by State violence, rebellion and repression, which led to the commission of grave human rights violations. The way these violations were handled politically enabled the perpetrators of these crimes to enjoy impunity and, in some cases, promotions, leading to more violations and recurrent periods of instability. The 2012 crisis marked by the Tuareg rebellion, the jihadist occupation of the northern part of the country and a military coup d’état reflect this poor governance and impunity.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Moussa Mara emphasized that “the fight against impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes in conjunction with the implementation of a mechanism for the search for truth and national reconciliation should allow for the venting of animosities and feelings of revenge and to the assembling of communities around a Mali that is united in its diversity”.

The government therefore established a Ministry of Reconciliation and, on 15 January 2014, a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (CVJR) with a mandate to listen to the victims of human rights violations perpetrated between 1960 and 2013, to investigate those violations and to recommend measures for reparation and the non-recurrence of the crimes. Since the 15 CVJR members have not yet been appointed, participants underscored the necessity of having them chosen for their competence, independence, impartiality and fairness. They excluded members of the armed forces, security services, armed groups, and political leaders. It was often said that the CVJR should be “a reflection of Mali”, the experts and participants pointed out that the principal criteria for the selection of commission members should be competence and independence. Lastly, the participants emphasized that the CVJR should be composed of an equal number of men and women and that a gender sub-commission should be established, especially considering the prevalence of sexual crimes in times of conflicts. The participants also underscored the necessity for the CVJR to remain independent of the executive branch, in order to guarantee the impartiality of the Commission and its members, and thus enable the victims to come to them without mistrust.

Fighting impunity is essential to reconciliation

Consultations with various sectors of the society indicated that the fight against impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes was a priority for transitional justice and national reconciliation which should not be compromised by any amnesties and any political agreements. The participants unanimously supported the response of both international and national justice in dealing with crimes within their jurisdiction committed in Mali. The participants did not agree with the “pardon against cooperation” formula for perpetrators of more minor offences. Instead, they reasserted the inalienable right of victims to refer to reformed and more effective judicial institutions and to have their complaints examined and justice done.

When justice is no longer possible because the suspect has died or the evidence has been lost, the fight against impunity must be channelled through a mechanism such as the CVJR for transitional justice or justice in times of transition. The participants stressed the major role that the victims should play in CVJR actions so that they can file their complaint without fear of punishment; be assured that their file will be studied; state their case with the assistance of a psychologist when appropriate; testify publicly if they so desire or in private if they make a request to that effect; be accompanied by members of the civil society, and receive individual, collective, community and/or symbolic compensation for the harm they suffered.

“There was unanimous agreement on the need for justice for the victims of present-day as well as past crimes. All the people consulted during the seminar felt that national reconciliation must pass through the wheels of justice at both the international and the national level,” said Moctar Mariko, AMDH President and lawyer for victims before national courts. “The people will not accept amnesty and impunity. The negotiators in Algiers must listen to them”, he added.

Guaranteeing non-recurrence of the most serious crimes

“Fifty years of poor governance has led to human rights violations and conflicts in our country”, said one of the participants during the debates. Many others agreed which inspired the group to think about the third phase of the transitional justice process: recommendations from CVJR and the implementation of its recommendations to transform the State and the society in an effort to curtail the causes of the conflicts and the massive violations of human rights. Besides ensuring reparation for the victims, the work of the CVJR should identify and propose the institutional reforms needed to put an end to the poor governance, the human rights violations, and the conflicts. This involves reforms to the judiciary, the territorial administration and the security sector, the strengthening of the instruments of democracy but it also involves strengthening schools’ curriculum, the abolition of slavery including all forms of modern slavery, reforms to the family code and guarantees that women will be represented on the political stage, the establishment of national archives as stewards of the country’s memory and historical truth, and the introduction of institutional checks and balances that can guarantee democratic life and the economic development of the country. The effectiveness and the implementation of these reforms are not only challenging for the present and future governments and political leaders, they are also prerequisites to a successful national reconciliation for all the people of Mali, without discrimination or stigmatisation.

As part of a joint programme called “Mobilising the civil society to respond to the human rights crisis in Mali”, FIDH and AMDH launched a series of actions to look for ways to respond to the crimes and the political stakes of the conflict and the political crisis that struck Mali in 2012. Actions include documenting human rights violations, providing legal support for the victims, advocating to the national authorities and the international community, etc.

Since 26 and 28 November 2013, FIDH and AMDH have been assisting victims of crimes perpetrated by the military junta under Captain Amadou Haya Sanogo in the cases of the “Missing Red Berets” and the “30 September 2013 Mutiny in Kati”. (See the report, Mali: Justice in Process).

On 12 November 2014, FIDH, AMDH and four other human rights and women’s rights defence organisations – WILDAF, the Association of Malian Female Jurists, DEME SO Association, the Collectif Cri de Cœur – filed a complaint with a plaintiff triggering criminal proceedings, on behalf of 80 women and girls, for sexual crimes committed in northern Mali during the 2012-2013 conflict.

Fuente: Prensa Latina

Encuestadores y antropometristas comienzan hoy el tercer censo para medir el impacto del gubernamental Pacto Hambre Cero en Guatemala, país donde la desnutrición afecta a la mitad de los menores de cinco años.

Guatemala cerró el 2013 con 106 niños muertos por desnutrición, 39 menos a los reportados un año antes, de acuerdo con la Secretaría de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutricional.

Durante un mes, a partir de este lunes, 88 encuestadores y 22 antropometristas realizarán la tercera pesquisa de acciones implementadas dentro del Pacto Hambre Cero, informó la Secretaría de Comunicación Social de la Presidencia.

La recopilación de datos, precisó la fuente oficial en una nota, busca conocer y actualizar los datos de peso, talla y estado nutricional de los miles de infantes y mujeres embarazadas o en edad fértil en los 166 municipios priorizados dentro del programa.

Se tiene previsto hacer pruebas de hemoglobina y yodo a integrantes de cinco mil hogares.

Mediante el trabajo de campo, miembros del Instituto Nacional de Estadística llevarán a cabo la actualización cartográfica, levantamiento de encuestas y obtención de datos antropométricos.

La inversión para el estudio es de nueve millones 100 mil quetzales (un millón 181 mil dólares), indicó la vicepresidenta Roxana Baldetti.

Acorde con cifras del Fondo de las Naciones Unidas para la Infancia, la desnutrición alcanza a casi un millón 300 mil menores de cinco años en Guatemala, la mitad de la población infantil en ese rango de edad.

A través del Pacto Hambre Cero, impulsado por el gobierno del presidente Otto Pérez Molina desde febrero de 2012, se pretende reducir en un 10 por ciento la cantidad de niños afectados por esa enfermedad en un plazo de cuatro años.