This paper from Oxfam highlights the impressive steps being taken to address the overwhelming popular demand for basic education by governments in a number of developing countries since the Education For All Fast Track initiative was launched in 2002. However, the authors argue that such steps are not being matched by funding from the G7.

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The Board of Directors of the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) has agreed to launch a multi-year global anti-corruption program based on the development by civil society of low cost projects that can have a major impact,” stated PTF Chairman Kumi Naidoo, the Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the global civil society non-governmental organisation, which is headquartered in South Africa.

A new paper by the economist Sanjay Reddy and the philosopher Thomas Pogge demonstrates that the World Bank's methodology in calculating global poverty is so flawed that its calculations cannot possibly be correct. Not only does it appear wildly to underestimate the level of global poverty, but the downward trend it purports to show appears to be an artefact of the way in which it has been compiled. The World Bank's figures, against which the success or failure of the entire global economy is measured, are useless.

Shell has boasted record profits for the first quarter of 2003, as well as the "highest hydrocarbon production in recent history ". While Shell's directors and shareholders will be celebrating the figures, the profits may generate less enthusiasm among poor, vulnerable communities around the world whose health and local environment is suffering as a result of Shell's aging and polluting refineries and depots. The news comes just one week after its Annual General Meeting was dominated by representatives from communities around the world who are suffering as a result of living next to the company's polluting refineries.

The Commission on Human Rights in Geneva adopted during its during its 59th session a resolution on the right to education. In this resolution, adopted without a vote, the Commission, among other things, urged all States to give full effect to this right and to guarantee that it was recognised and exercised without discrimination of any kind; to take all appropriate measures to eliminate obstacles to effective access to education, notably by girls, including pregnant girls, children living in rural areas, children belonging to minority groups, indigenous children, migrant children, refugee children, internally displaced children, children affected by armed conflicts, children with disabilities, children affected by infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, sexually exploited children, children deprived of their liberty, children living in the street, and orphaned children, taking all measures to prohibit explicitly any form of discrimination.

It is the biggest and most powerful drug company on the planet. Its famous blue diamond-shaped Viagra pills have made it a fortune beyond the dreams of small nation states and the butt of smutty jokes worldwide. But Pfizer's global reach has not turned the world's third largest business into a benevolent giant, according to its critics. Quite the contrary. The vast multinational stands accused of blocking reforms to global drug pricing that would help lift impoverished countries out of disease and spur their development.

Five senior Kenyan government officials appeared in court on Thursday to be charged with corruption for allegedly making fraudulent bank deposits resulting in the loss of more than $14-million of public funds. President Mwai Kibaki, whose opposition coalition swept to power in December after 24 years of rule by Daniel arap Moi, has vowed to wipe out the corruption blamed for a steep decline in one of Africa's most promising economies.

Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano said in Maputo on Monday that the state needs the cooperation of the private sector for more schools and better quality education. Speaking during the inauguration of the new premises of one of the country's private universities, the Higher University and Polytechnic Institute (ISPU), Chissano stressed, however, that the state would not simply allow private schools to work as they saw fit.

As the economic burden of HIV/Aids increases in sub-Saharan Africa, allocation of the burden among levels and sectors of society is changing. The private sector has more scope to avoid the economic burden of Aids than governments, households, or nongovernmental organisations, and the burden is being systematically shifted away from the private sector.

Treatment success and case detection rates for tuberculosis (TB) have improved appreciably in Africa since 1993 when the disease was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO), but the current indicators in the region still fall short of global targets, a WHO official has said in Harare, Zimbabwe.

"The fight against AIDS will need more resources from the US, with faster delivery, than what the President is proposing," says Dr. Paul Zeitz, Executive Director of the Global AIDS Alliance. "We will need fast action by Republican and Democratic leaders in the US Congress to deliver on an appropriate package for 2003 and 2004. It's very disappointing the President (George W. Bush) is not calling for a more rapid increase in new funding. Plus, it's troubling that the President gives such short shrift to the Global Fund, which is fast running out of resources."

This document reviews recent empirical evidence on the impact of financial globalisation for developing countries. The paper attempts to address three issues. Does financial globalisation promote economic growth in developing economies? What is its effect on macroeconomic volatility in these countries? What factors can help to harness the benefits of financial globalisation.

University of Chicago philosophy professor Iris Marion Young is in Johannesburg and has agreed to give an informal presentation to civil society activists and intellectuals interested in global justice. She will be sharing ideas with Jubilee South Africa and anyone else interested in the question of how we justify our demands for the global redistribution of wealth, and what modus operandi might help achieve our goals.

Tension is intensifying in the education sector in the context of on-going negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) aimed to achieve widespread trade liberalization, including trade in education services. These negotiations are progressing under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). The November 2001 Doha Development Agenda was launched by WTO members to achieve, among other things, further liberalization. This includes the export education industry, with agreement slated to be reached by 2005. Pursuing free trade in the education sector requires dealing with education according to trade law principles. This conflicts with the protection of the right to education in international human rights law.

Foreign aid was harmful to Africa and non-governmental organisations were "professional beggars", the SA National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) conference was told on Tuesday. Professor Shadrack Ghutto of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand said the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) attached to foreign aid, and other forms of "conditional aid" to Africa had several harmful consequences. Trade and investment deals had been "secrets known only to leaders", and this culture of secrecy had widened the gap between governments and their peoples.

A new Global Witness report exposes the Liberian government’s violent destabilisation of West Africa, through its support of mercenaries in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone and through its regular import of weapons in violation of UN sanctions. The report, titled, ‘The Usual Suspects: Liberia’s Weapons and Mercenaries in Cote d’Ivoire and Sierra Leone’, outlines the threat posed by Liberia to international peace and security.

Launched in January 2003, the Global Accountability Report, 'Power without Accountability? is the first report to compare the accountability of inter-governmental organisations, transnational corporations and international non-governmental organisations. Eighteen of the world's most powerful organisations have been assessed and the report provides scores for their performance in two key aspects of accountability: member control of governance structures and degree of online access to information. The results show clear accountability failings across several sectors.

At least three quarters of the world's power must come from clean sources by the end of this century to sufficiently limit global warming, according to estimates released in this week's Science. The study shows that even the most conservative estimates of future warming point to a need for tremendous amounts of clean power development.

A new study from Canadian researchers examines the World Bank's influence in establishing mining codes in Southern countries. It finds that the Bank's assessment of what was needed to attract foreign investment did not consider broader development objectives.