Monuments and memorials are often shaped as a wall, the fundamental importance of this temporary art monument lies in the participation of the visitors. The refugees problem in Europe is a very actual and dramatic portfolio for the United Nations and individual states worldwide. Dramatic consequences of (civil) wars, repression and political corruption forces people to leave their home countries. With the emigration to safe places they start a new life. The concept of the project is that this wall is like a physical barrier dividing spaces and representing an obsacle to be passed in order to achieve a certain goal. Petchkovsky is covering the barrier with empty dossiers as a methaphor for the fact that the UN dossiers on refugees is an empty one, not able to solve the problem on a concrete and durable base.

Noam Chomsky comments on the the new war on terrorism, U.S. foreign policy, Osama bin Laden, U.S. involvement with Afghanistan, and the long-term implications of America's military attacks abroad.

Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry may raise some hackles for its controversial approach to a sacrosanct subject, but Michael Ignatieff's arguments are carefully wrought and compassionate. Ignatieff is director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, and his work is part history of the evolution of human rights in international politics and part caution that it not become a new religion. He writes, "We need to stop thinking of human rights as trumps and begin thinking of them as a language that creates the basis for deliberation." The book centers on two essays by Ignatieff. In the second, "Human Rights as Idolatry," he identifies three main challenges to the universality of human rights: Islam, East Asia, and, most interestingly, the West itself. According to Ignatieff, the West is forsaking its political heritage of individualism and thereby eroding the foundations upon which a truly universal system of human rights may be built. In addition to the author's intriguing essays, there is an introduction by Amy Gutmann, as well as comments from K. Anthony Appiah, David A. Hollinger, Thomas W. Laqueur, and Diane F. Orentlicher. The critical reactions to Ignatieff, together with a short response of his own, have the makings of an intelligent and accessible debate. Princeton Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691088934, 2001.

Garson's book sets out to "follow the money," tracking her investments (the publisher's advance for this book) through a small local bank and the international behemoth Chase. Both paths are fascinating and take us to places we would never visit on our own: the ForEx trading room of Chase, the planning offices of a multi-billion dollar petro-chemical refinery in Southern Thailand, and a union meeting in the living room of a sacked Sunbeam worker in Portland, Tennessee, USA. Apart from the deceptively plain writing, and the curiosity and wit that drive the story along, Garson approaches her subjects with an open-mindedness which disarms and charms everyone she meets. She finds everything interesting, she asks all the dumb questions most of us would never dare, she chats with the bosses and finds out about their lives and their kids, just as she chats with the Malaysian fisherman or the Tennessee factory worker and lets them describe their lives in the world of hyper capitalism. Amid all these earthy and amusing stories Garson explains with utter clarity how the international financial markets work, the driving force of "shareholder value" and the growing dis-articulation between workers and capital, profit and productivity. Indeed, by pulling on the threads that connect the shrimp farmer from Songkla to the New York matrons at the mutual fund shareholder meeting, she unravels many mysteries. Garson (who was once the Socialist Party's vice-presidential candidate) is firmly on the side of the people and she builds a picture, frame by frame, of how the globalised economy effects people. She puts the "real" back into the economy. It's a page-turner, extremely informative and a subtle political tract: a fine combination. What's more, it is funny and wonderfully written. Penguin, New York, 2002.

In Africa, where knowledge about HIV transmission is low and the stigma attached to the virus is high, public health officials and AIDS experts are trying a variety of AIDS education methods that include radio programs, sporting events and even adult cinemas. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 75% of the 40 million people infected with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Because only one in 1,440 African AIDS patients has access to antiretroviral drugs, HIV prevention efforts "may be the best hope" for the continent, Reuters Health reports.

January 17, 2002 - As UNESCO is preparing its contribution to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which will be held in 2003 in Geneva and in 2005 in Tunis, a first round of consultations with representatives of NGOs working in the fields of UNESCO's competence is being organized at the Organization's Paris Headquarters in February 2002. The NGOs are invited to provide their specific input to the WSIS preparation process focusing on the challenges of providing for all an affordable and equitable access to information.

UNESCO is to launch a new portal on higher education this year. The portal, among other things, will provide a database on Internet courses on science and engineering.

Mercifully, South Africa has experienced a reasonably peaceful transition into the democratic “rainbow nation”. Yet the soldier with his gun, and the ubiquitous R4 rifle remain the constant, if not the only, signifiers of symbols of power that thread through and remain respected during both apartheid and the era that has come after it. The omnipresent Casspir with its male occupants, rifles at the ready, driving through township streets today, makes one question the extent to which the physical and social spaces of South African townships have been demilitarized.

The largest umbrella body of NGOs in the SADC region, SANGOCO, is looking for services of a strong, self motivated individual to occupy the position of senior bookkeeper.

Braithwaite's argument against punitive justice systems and for restorative justice systems establishes that there are good theoretical and empirical grounds for anticipating that well designed restorative justice processes will restore victims, offenders, and communities better than existing criminal justice practices. Counterintuitively, he also shows that a restorative justice system may deter, incapacitate, and rehabilitate more effectively than a punitive system. This is particularly true when the restorative justice system is embedded in a responsive regulatory framework that opts for deterrence only after restoration repeatedly fails, and incapacitation only after escalated deterrence fails. Braithwaite's empirical research demonstrates that active deterrence under the dynamic regulatory pyramid that is a hallmark of the restorative justice system he supports, is far more effective than the passive deterrence that is notable in the stricter "sentencing grid" of current criminal justice systems. Oxford University Press, 2001, 0-19-513639-X.

* John Braithwaite, Professor of Law, Australian National University

Xavier Cirera , Neil McCulloch , L Alan Winters.
This Handbook, published with the Department for International Development (DFID), examines how openness to trade is a key element of economic policy; continuing extreme poverty in developing countries is a disgrace. This Handbook examines how our concerns about the world’s poor should affect our attitude towards and implementation of trade liberalization. ISBN: 1 898128 62 6, Centre for Economic Policy Research, 2001.

In 1999 global population surpassed 6 billion people, and this number rises by about 70-80 million people each year. Six Billion and Counting examines the consequences of continuing population growth for the world's resource systems and for national and global food security. Leisinger, Schmitt, and Pandya-Lorch offer here a sober analysis of a complex and alarming situation. They assess the progress the world has made in controlling population growth and point to the areas where future difficulties will lie. They describe the effects of rapid population growth on social and economic conditions and on natural resources, and they consider what population growth will mean for the food security of poor people and poor countries. In addition, the authors make clear how the roles of women and children in traditional societies affect birth rates. Six Billion and Counting shows that neither the population pessimists, who predict a catastrophic exhaustion of natural resources, nor the population optimists, who foresee technological solutions for all of the problems raised by population growth, offer the most useful approach to this problem. Instead, Leisinger and his coauthors argue that new technologies mitigating the harmful effects of rapid population growth can give the world valuable time to take the complex and multifaceted steps needed to reduce population growth rates to sustainable levels. ISBN 0-89629-705-5, John Hopkins University Press.

In the wake of genocide, it is probably impossible to achieve anything that approaches justice--and Boston Globe journalist Elizabeth Neuffer knows it. Yet this heartfelt book describes how some of the people in war-torn Rwanda and Bosnia have sought after it anyway, and why the search is so important. The Key to My Neighbor's House is ultimately an anecdotal and impressionistic document, but therein lies its power. It's difficult to forget scenes that begin this way: "Photographs of mass graves can prepare you for what you might see--a jumble of skeletalized limbs, heads, bodies--but nothing prepares you for how it smells." The reportage is marvelous. For instance, Neuffer recounts how prosecutors at a Rwandan tribunal were forced to argue "over whose motion was the most important to be printed out from the scarce paper supply." She also describes the harrowing experience of a Bosnian soldier beginning to grope her--only to discover "the steel plate inside my bulletproof vest." Picador USA; ISBN: 0312261268, 2001.

Jillian Edelstein spent four years recording the progress of the truth commission. Her new book, Truth and Lies, tells some of the stories that emerged. The link leads to an extract from the book.

The latest project of Karyl-Lyn Sanderson - a 22-year-old, recent NYU film school graduate - is "Elusive Fortune", a documentary about the influence of western culture on young South Africans. It is at once intriguing and disturbing. In the film Karyl-Lyn interviews young Black South Africans, asking them to define themselves. Some responses are shocking. Karyl-Lyn documents the loss of traditional cultures in South Africa and the overpowering influence of the West. She talks here with the African Magazine.

Brian Raftopoulos & Lloyd Sachikonye
In the struggles for democratisation that emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s in Africa, labour movements often played a central role in the development of opposition politics. This book examines the emergence of labour as a strong organisational and political force in the struggles against an increasingly authoritarian state in Zimbabwe. Written by specialists in the labour movement from a variety of different perspectives, the chapters discuss the political, economic, global, organisational, legal, gender and sectoral challenges faced by the Zimbabwean labour movement in its move from the margins of liberation movement politics to a pivotal role in the post-colonial struggle for a more responsible and accountable civil society and government. ISBN: 0797422862, 2001 Weaver Press Ltd.

The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Friday announced the addition of Lamu Old Town, eastern Kenya, and the Tombs of the Buganda Kings at Kasubi, southeastern Uganda, among 31 new sites inscribed on the World Heritage List.

UNESCO is one of several development partners working to support the establishment of community radio in Mozambique. They are supporting 4 on-air stations, the creation of a women's community radio network and a national coordination forum for community radio, as well as working to establish 8 new community radio stations. This is part of UNESCO's 'Strengthening Democracy & Governance through Development of the Media in Mozambique' project.

A movie created to address issues of teen pregnancy and safe sex explores what happens when a boy is held accountable for his actions. Traveling road shows bring the movie to rural, hard-to reach locations. Trained facilitators travel with the road shows, teaching leaders at schools, churches, and youth clubs to use a Yellow Card support video and manual to guide adolescents through discussions about the movie's themes - including relationships, sex, AIDS, responsibility, communication, and life goals.