UN DEATH PENALTY VOTE CAN HELP STOP CYCLE OF REVENGE

Such is the world sentiment against the death penalty - with notable exceptions like the USA, China, and Singapore - that a resolution calling for a moratorium on executions and the abolition of capital punishment is to go before the UN General Assembly in October, writes Desmond Tutu, archbishop of Cape Town, Nobel Prize for Peace 1984. In this analysis, Tutu writes that the time has come to abolish the death penalty worldwide. The case for abolition becomes more compelling with each passing year. Everywhere experience shows us that executions brutalise both those directly involved in the process and the society that carries them out. Nowhere has it been shown that the death penalty reduces crime or political violence. In country after country, it is used disproportionately against the poor or against racial or ethnic minorities. It is often used as a tool of political repression. It is imposed and inflicted arbitrarily. It is irrevocable and results inevitably in the execution of people innocent of any crime. It is a violation of fundamental human rights.

NEPAL: PEACE HICCUP

After the heady excitement of last year\'s pro-democracy uprising in Nepal that forced King Gyanendra to restore parliament, Nepal\'s eight-party coalition has fallen apart with the Maoists quitting government on Tuesday. The move did not come as a surprise, since the ex-guerrillas had been warning of just this for months. But it does put in doubt the fate of elections for the constituent assembly scheduled November 22, writes Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times newspaper and author of A People War. In this article the author writes that most of the estimated 15,000 ex-guerrillas are interned in camps supervised by a UN monitoring mission in Nepal and their weapons are under lock and key. On Tuesday, the UN expressed concern about the Maoists quitting the government, saying this would jeopardize the peace process. The hope now is that behind-the-scenes negotiations currently underway will produce an agreement that the first meeting of the constituent assembly after elections will declare Nepal a republic. It remains to be seen whether the Maoists will agree to this, and if they do elections may still be possible. Otherwise they may be postponed. Nepal\'s peace process is not in jeopardy, and the Maoists are not about to go back to war. But it is proof of just how difficult it is for a group that has pursued armed struggle to transform itself into a pluralistic, non-violent political party.

MAKING GLOBALISATION GOOD FOR ALL

Increasing trade restrictions is the wrong response to anxieties generated by the rapid pace of globalization and would cause unthinkable damage, writes Pascal Lamy, Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO). In this analysis, Lamy writes that more often than not, the real cause of pain is not trade opening but the failure to accompany the efficiency gains it brings with economic policies that would amplify its benefits. Trade opening involves a built-in asymmetry: while the millions who experience gains in purchasing power from trade opening are usually unaware of the cause, the thousands whom it hurts can easily identify the source of their pain. For politicians, this asymmetry is difficult to cope with and too often the easy way out is to treat foreigners as scapegoats. The multilateral arena continues to be the most cost-effective way to negotiate trade matters. This is especially true for medium and small developing countries, who have much less negotiating power in bilateral negotiations with big partners than they do in a multilateral setting.

POPE BENEDICT XVI IS LEADING THE CHURCH ASTRAY

The world is suffering from a clear crisis of meaning caused by the irrationality of world economics and politics and the general crisis of religion, which is the natural source of hope and ethics. Today almost all religions are contaminated by the evil of fundamentalism, which is frequently the basis of terrorism, Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian theologian and environmentalist, is a member of the Commission of the Earth Charter. In this article Boff writes that the search for religious peace has not been joined by the Roman Catholic Church which has exhibited an increasingly closed attitude that has lead to positions that are clearly fundamentalist and exclusionary and are reflected in the speeches of the current Pope. The doctrinal strategy of Benedict XVI consists of a direct confrontation with modernity guided by a cultural pessimism that is unacceptable in someone who should know that the Spirit is in humanity and is not a monopoly of the Church, and that salvation is open to all. Its principal social base now lies in lay movements characterised by mediocre thought, submission to the authorities, obedience to the laws of the market, and a preference for big media spectacles over the confrontation of poverty, injustice, and threats to the environment.

WHEN THE STATUE OF LIBERTY BARS THE WAY

It was in 1883 that Jewish American poet Emma Lazarus wrote the famous lines below the Statue of Liberty in New York: \'\'Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free\'\', writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author asks, What would this Mother of Exiles say today? The human flux, stronger than ever, is greeted with intolerance, selectivity, and, worst of all, xenophobia. As nationalism grows increasingly hard-core and furious, hypocritical governments are trying to regulate or even block outright a solution that would be so essentially human that no law or wall could ever completely stop. Today no one is speaking the words of Emma Lazarus, or engraving them on plaques. To the contrary, some even think that this much lauded Jew shouldn\'t have stooped so low. Who today cares for the tired and poor and huddles masses from other shores? What rich and powerful country is asking for the tempest-tossed to be delivered to its shores? The golden doors stand in darkness and no one will light them, and yet, even so, the poor and downtrodden still find a crack to squeeze through towards a better life.

FREE TRADE? COMMODITY PRICES RISE AS POOR FARMER INCOME FALLS

(By Ali Mchumo, John R. Kaputin, Supachai Panitchpakdi, and Kemal Dervis) - It\'s the kind of unfair situation that makes poorer nations wonder where the payoff is with free trade: demand for coffee, tea, cocoa, cotton, and sugar -- which is what many such countries have to offer the world -- has risen, prices paid in the supermarket have risen, yet the share paid to the farmers who grow these basic agricultural commodities has fallen, writes Ali Mchumo, Managing Director of the Common Fund for Commodities; John R. Kaputin, Secretary General of the ACP Group of States, Brussels ; Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary General of UNCTAD, Geneva ; and Kemal Dervis, Administrator at the UNDP. In this article the authors ask, where is the profit accumulating and why isn\'t globalisation \"working\" in this case to reduce poverty in poor or developing nations? Such countries are often lectured. The complexities of the \"value chain\" between crop and supermarket shelf do not work to the advantage of low-income, smallholder farmers. The process may be global, but it\'s not fair. The higher end, where food and natural textiles are \"differentiated\" -- processed in ways that appeal, packaged attractively, branded, and advertised -- is where most of the money accumulates. The original industrial revolution was fuelled by surplus income from farming. The poorer regions of today\'s world deserve the same chance Western Europe and the United States had a century and a half ago. Something is \"off\" about the prevailing situation. It must be fixed. Otherwise the looming scenario offered by a Zambian farmer-trade unionist may become a reality: \"If you will not pay us reasonable prices for our exports, we will export ourselves.\"

KILLING ME SOFTLY: THE UNCERTAIN EFFECTS OF UNTESTED CHEMICALS

\"Better living through chemistry.\" That was the tag-line used by Dow Chemical in the 1950s at the outset of an era when industrial chemicals were introduced on a massive scale into consumer goods, agriculture, and virtually every other sector of modern life, writes Mark Sommer, host of the award-winning, internationally syndicated radio programme, \"A World of Possibilities\". Sommer writes in this article that the phrase has become hauntingly ironic as, tens of thousands of chemicals later, environmental health researchers discover more and more evidence of negative long-term impacts from some of what we had long thought to be a purely benign technology. In the advanced industrial world all of us are unavoidably immersed in a brew of synthetic chemicals most of whose ingredients have never been tested for their long-term impacts on human health. The costs of testing such a vast reservoir of synthetic chemicals would be huge and one way or another those costs would be passed on to consumers. But the costs of continuing to ignore the impacts would undoubtedly be far greater. Given the choice, would you rather find out now and act accordingly or risk being surprised at a later date by maladies that could have been avoided?

A GREEN REVOLUTION IN AFRICA

Imagine a new variety of drought and pest-resistant rice for Africa with double the yield of traditional rice, a growing season 30-50 days shorter than other varieties, a higher protein content, and it even tastes good. This is not a futuristic scenario but NERICA, the New Rice for Africa, which combines the high yield of Asian rice with the hardiness of African rice, writes Kanayo Nwanze, Vice President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and former Director-General of the Africa Rice Centre [WARDA]. In this article, the author writes that NERICA is a reality in the fields of 30,000 farmers in 20 countries. Yields have increased dramatically, families are taking advantage of the shorter growing season to plant an extra crop of vegetables or legumes, and women report that the wider leaf of the NERICA plant casts a shadow that inhibits weed growth. Rice was a crucial building block of the Asian green revolution. The high-yielding varieties that helped people overcome hunger marked the beginning of the end of Asia\'s chronic poverty and allowed its first steps toward industrialisation. Without a doubt, developments such as NERICA are exactly what is needed to move the African Green Revolution forward.

RAPE AND THE RULE OF LAW

The lengthy prison terms for war crimes and crimes against humanity handed down by the Special Court for Sierra Leone on 19 July have been greeted with widespread praise; two senior members of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council were sentenced to 50 years in prison and another to 45 years for atrocities committed during the country\'s civil war, including rape, writes Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Director, United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). In this article, the author writes that calling senior military leaders to account for sexual crimes against women is a historic achievement that reaffirms the recognition that rape is among the gravest violations of international law, on par with acts of mass murder and terrorism. It is hoped these sentences will help bolster the capacity of local courts to convict the thousands of lower-ranking rapists who walk free. This is indeed the best hope for resurrecting the rule of law in a war-ravaged nation. Regrettably, international support for the rehabilitation of justice systems and the rule of law has not prioritised women\'s access to justice, which has generally been sidelined in favor of market-oriented reform, such as revising corporate laws to improve the investment climate. We must act urgently ensure that laws on paper are matched by action.

UNQUENCHABLE THIRST: THE WORLD WATER BUSINESS

It is well known that even in countries where mineral water is public property, it is private companies that are making major and easy profits from selling it, writes Riccardo Petrella, founder member and General Secretary President of the International Committee for the World Water Contract, and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain. In this article, the author writes that the \'\'business\' of bottled mineral water has become one of the most lucrative and fast-growing sectors around the world. The Swiss private bank Pictet forecasts that by 2015 private companies will supply water to almost 1.75 billion \'\'consumers\'\'. In this context, it is not surprising to learn that water management companies are among the most hotly bought and sold businesses, much the way shoes or refrigerators are. The last major instance of this was the sale of of Thames Water, which in fifteen years passed from being a public entity to a private British company to a holding of a German energy giant and now of an Australian bank. It should not be excluded that in ten more years Thames Water could pass into the hands of a Chinese company specialising in urban waste removal.

TAILOR THE DEVELOPMENT APPROACH TO LOCAL CONDITIONS

The one-size-fits-all formula for development is clearly a mistake. To begin with, today\'s developed countries used a broad range of economic approaches in their own development strategies, writes Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania (1995-2005) and President of the South Center, an Inter-Governmental Organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. In this article, Mkapa writes a government should design and implement a national development policy that takes into account its country\'s unique conditions and characteristics. The developing countries that disregarded orthodox economic policy advice to combat financial crises were the ones that managed to get over the crises early and in good shape. Globalisation should not require the replication in the developing world of the political and institutional structures of governance of the US and Western Europe. Nor should cultural and social values across the developing world be recreated in the image of western life styles and role models. A fair globalisation requires that the process respect diversity of culture, religion, and political and social opinion while fully respecting universal principles.

PERVERSE SUBSIDIES

Since its inception in November 2001, the Doha Round of the WTO has been unable to take even one step towards the apparently shared goal of liberalising trade because of industrialised countries\' subsidies of their own agricultural production, writes Norman Myers, who is completing, with Jennifer Kent, a book on institutional roadblocks. In this article, Myers writes that certain subsidies are bad not only for the environment but for the economy too and should be designated \'perverse\' subsidies. These are especially prominent in agriculture, fossil fuels, road transportation, water, forests, and fisheries, and total a whopping USD 2 trillion a year. Eliminating perverse subsidies would do more than virtually any other measure to stimulate and streamline our economies and safeguard the environment. Moreover, governments would find that with the freed-up funds they could cancel their budgetary deficits, slash taxes, and boost their health and education budgets by unprecedented amounts.

NOSTALGIA FOR THE OLD PLEASURES

With all the warnings about everything from sunlight to smoking to meat, it seems more and more astonishing that our species has made it to the present day, after millions of years of exposure to the sun and unrestrained eating and drinking, smoking, and indulging in sex (and not only for reproduction) and travelling, writes Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban writer and journalist whose novels have been translated into a ten languages. In this article, the author writes that there was even a time not so long ago that we even considered these suicidal indeed genocidal acts to be pleasures, like smoking a cigarette in a bar with a glass of wine or a coffee. The oblivion that shrouded life back then (of course AIDS, global warming, and the hole in the ozone layer didn\'t yet exist) made life more pleasing, if sometimes shorter. Today, however, when the entire human race risks vanishing from the earth because of its own stupidity and mistreatment of our planet, many people are worried about living to one hundred in perfect health, limiting if not eliminating pleasures while they burn rivers of fuel and raze forests and, most important, forget that for millions of other people in this world, a piece of bread, a glass of clean water, or even an avocado are not enemies but luxuries that it becomes harder and harder to come by each day.

AFRICA MUST BE HEARD ON CLIMATE CHANGE

While in wealthy countries, the looming climate crisis is a matter of concern, in Africa, which has hardly contributed to climate change, it is a matter of life and death, writes Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate and a member of Kenya's Parliament and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. In this analysis, the author writes that therefore, Africa must not remain silent in the face of the realities of climate change, and its causes. African leaders and civil society must be involved in global decision-making about how to address the climate crisis in ways that are both effective and equitable. Unfortunately, the generation that destroys the environment may not be the one that pays the price. Politically, it is more expedient to sacrifice the long-term common good and intergenerational responsibility for the convenience and opportunities of today. But, morally, we are required to act for the common good of all. The global challenge of climate change requires that we ask no less of our leaders, or ourselves

THE ALIGNMENT OF FORCES IN THE ETHANOL WAR

For Brazil, the development of its ethanol production and exports represents the possibility of becoming the world\'s new energy power in the most promising fuel; the consumer that expects to benefit from the global development of ethanol is the US, writes Alberto Garrido, a journalist and professor of the theory and history of the labour movement at the University of the Andes. In this analysis, Garrido writes that the US-Brazil strategic alliance, finalised in the Camp David agreement signed by Bush and Lula on March 31, is in line with the strategic interests of both states, which have proposed to march together to create the \'\'Ethanol Age\'\' and stimulate and control production of the fuel on a global scale. Bush\'s hope is to create, together with Brazil, an ethanol OPEC capable of competing with the oil OPEC and the future gas OPEC that Russia is pushing for. Brazil, the king of cheap ethanol, stands to benefit the most from the biofuel boom. Brazil will project itself as a world player, with ethanol as its geopolitical, economic, and energy weapon. But it will only be able to do this hand-in-hand with the United States, the great consumer. The political potentiality of the strategic Brazil-US axis will influence Brazil\'s foreign policy more and more.

BIOFUELS: MORE BENEFITS THAN JUST ENERGY

Many economic, social, and environmental goals could be fulfilled by increased production, use, and international trade of biofuels, writes Supachai Panitchpakdi Secretary General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The author writes in this analysis that biofuels could slow global warming and provide an opportunity for developing countries to diversify agricultural production, raise rural incomes, and improve the quality of life. They could also enhance energy security, reduce expenditures on imported fossil energy, and foster other technological developments. But it is also important to consider the possible economic and environmental impacts of biofuels, the compatibility of biofuels with existing fuel delivery infrastructures, and competing uses for arable land. For example, the amount and type of primary energy consumed in producing biofuels - and the related emissions of greenhouse gases - vary enormously. And as long as current technology is used, the fast-growing demand for biofuels will mean devoting an increasing amount of arable and pasture land to the production of energy crops, which implications for food security.

AFRICA, LATIN AMERICA AND THE BIOFUEL REVOLUTION

Biofuels should be at the centre of a planetary strategy to preserve the environment and spur sustainable development, writes Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil. In this article, the author writes that developing countries stand to benefit significantly from biofuels. Given their enormous potential for creating jobs and generating income, they offer a real option of sustainable development, especially in countries that depend on the export of scarce natural resources. At the same time, ethanol and biodiesel open up new paths of development, especially in the bio-chemical industries, in the form of social, economic, and technological alternatives for countries that are economically poor but rich in sun and arable land. However, this revolution can only occur if the rich countries open their markets to the poorest and eliminate agro-subsidies and barriers to the import of biofuels. Agreements like that signed by Brazil and the US and now being negotiated with European countries would provide for the creation of three-way projects in Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa, combining Brazilian technology with these regions\' favourable climates and soils. The Brazilian government and business class are already offering bilateral technical co-operation in the production of biofuels in Mozambique in a marriage of Brazilian technology and British financing. This formula could be adapted throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

EUROPE MOVES FURTHER FROM ITS CITIZENS

The European Council met recently in Brussels to restart the European Union process, but the meeting was far from a success, writes Mario Soares, ex-president and ex-prime minister of Portugal. For a start, Soares writes in this analysis, they are putting into effect the previous treaties (which the Constitutional Treaty should replace) and two clauses that significantly alter the Treaty on European Union (TEU), which will now be called the Treaty on the Operation of the Union. The word \'\'constitution\'\' is now taboo and has been flatly banished from the two texts as if a curse. It is indefensible that European governments, out of fear and shallowness, are opposed to assuming a European identity. Federalism, as understood in the old Constitutional Plan, simply disappears. If this is the case, how will it be possible to stimulate and develop a real European citizenship? The gap between European citizens and institutions has broadened considerably. This is a dramatic shift the negative consequences of which will be felt very soon. Meanwhile all the European states know --however much they may deny it-- that by themselves, whoever they are, including the largest, like Germany, they have neither the influence nor the size to compete successfully in today\'s globalised world. The European Political Union (with Turkey, of course) is indispensable and represents the most original and promising political project of the 20th century for the 21st century, and one day it will eclipse short-sighted nationalist egoism and win over certain European politicians.

MILLENNIUM GOALS NOT ON COURSE – TIME FOR URGENT ACTION

Where do we stand on the UN Millennium Development Goals halfway to the 2015 deadline? asks Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and founder and president of Realising Rights: The Ethical Globalisation Initiative. In this article, Robinson writes that a new UN report shows that significant strides have been made in some countries while in other places, like sub-Saharan Africa, no country is on track to meet the goals of halving extreme poverty, ensuring universal primary education, or stemming the AIDS pandemic by 2015. This is tragic and unacceptable because we know what works and what kinds of actions are needed to make faster and more equitable progress. The experience of the past seven years tells us that where political will exists there can be positive results. Even some of the poorest countries, like Rwanda, Mozambique, and Bangladesh, are on track to achieve many of the MDGs, precisely because there is political will and responsible donor support. Developed countries have an obligation to provide timetables for delivering on their promises concerning aid volume, aid effectiveness, and debt cancellation.

DEATH PENALTY NOT A DETERRENT BUT A CAUSE OF VIOLENCE

Fortunately for humanity, the death penalty is being eliminated from the world. Executions have dropped by 25 percent between 2005-2006 and the countries that still have the sanction are growing fewer and fewer, writes Fatima Aburto, Socialist spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Affairs of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies. In this analysis, Aburto writes that while a moratorium is not the same as abolition, it does offer the opportunity to demonstrate that the death penalty is not a deterrent but a cause of violence and vengeance. The moratorium also frees its supporters from the feeling of complicity, however indirect, in causing the death of a human being through execution. This is all the more relevant today in the context of international terrorism, which can be easily manipulated by those in power to convince the people that a barbaric punishment like the death penalty might increase security. Apart from the fact that this argument is flat wrong, tapping people\'s fears in order to awaken their instincts for vengeance and cruelty is absolutely despicable. The fight against terrorism will only succeed when it is rooted in a complete respect for human rights and fundamental liberties.

THE WORST DISASTER IN AMAZON HISTORY – SO FAR

The massive spill of kaolin clay waste by the French multinational Imerys on June 11 in Barcarena, Brazil, is the largest environmental accident yet in the Amazon, writes Lucio Flavio Pinto, director of the Jornal Pessoal (Personal Diary), which denounces corruption, impunity, and the economic and ecological consequences of the exploitation of the Amazon. In this article, Pinto writes that unfortunately this is only the latest of a series of incidents in the industrial zone of Barcarena in Para, the largest state of Amazonian Brazil. And it is likely that this type of incident will happen again given the area\'s worrying concentration of industrial activities with serious potential for causing environmental damage. The international interest in the kaolin of Para is due in part to the exceptional quality of the product but also to the fact that other countries have imposed restrictions on mining it that do not exist in Brazil. Para is clearly not receiving what is should from its rich deposits of kaolin. For three decades it has produced kaolin and cellulose, but not paper, which is produced with these ingredients and has a far higher value.