The 1997 treaty banning the use, production, stockpiling, and transfer of antipersonnel landmines has been ratified by 118 countries and signed by 140 . Since the treaty became law, countries may no longer sign it, they must accede. Those countries which have already signed, must still ratify in order to be fully bound by the ban provisions.

The First Universal Forum of Cultures will be held in Barcelona in the year 2004. It is to be a new type of world event, of spirit and scale similar to the Olympic Games and International Expositions, but based on the cultures of the world. The premiere adventure in a new sort of international encounter for the 21st century. The Forum will turn Barcelona into a great festival, a stage open to the creativity of all nations and a space in which dialogue among the citizens of the world is possible.

Black-Network.com is an Interactive Community of Resources for African-Americans Worldwide with free Email, Chat Rooms & Personals. It claims it has put all of the BEST African American resources available on the web into one easy to navigate community. Its primary goal is " Uplifting the Black People". Think about how they struggled, for over 400 years, trying to gain equality in this world. Their ancestors embarked upon their journey here, most in the holds of slave ships, after being promised a better life!

In 1999, the U2 lead-singer got involved with Jubilee 2000, now known as Drop the Debt, a London-based coalition of academics and activists who equated Third World debt with slavery. In the course of his work with the campaign Bono has met with Presidents, Prime Ministers and the Pope to get attention for the issue. He relishes the incongruity of a rock star talking about world policy, but he backs it up by knowing his stuff. He reads economics tomes and did some unofficial studying at Harvard. "I think that politicians are attracted at first by the celebrity," says Harvard economics guru Jeffrey Sachs, who has huddled with Bono and the Pope on the debt issue. "But once they meet him, they find that he is an outstandingly capable interlocutor." Senator Jesse Helms met with Bono to talk about starving children in Africa and ended up weeping—marking the first time a rocker has inspired an emotion in the Senator from North Carolina other than perhaps outrage.

Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a lawyer and political scientist, was born in Ghana on December 7, 1950. He attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast and Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, Ph D (1980). He has a law degree from Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio. He was admitted to practice law in Ghana and the State of Ohio.

Bernard Cloutier started his web site to offer his services some years ago when he retired at age 55 to enjoy the freedom of being a consultant. Now that he doesn't work anymore, the web has become a hobby and he uses his site to express himself. If life is a statement, then, the internet is a good place to publish part of it. That's what this site is about, his life, his adventures and his vision of the world.

Ruth Hollinger, Toby Hammond, Paul Bradbury and Frank Hindle will set out at the beginning of November 2001 to make the 10 000 mile journey to the Earth Summit being held in Johannesburg, September 2002. The team will produce a video diary of their experiences of the trip, to be themed broadly around water, focussing on specific issues at various stages of the journey. - To develop an understanding of the issues relating to water and the complex interrelationship that this has with other issues such as poverty, human rights and health. - To raise awareness about the issues relating to water in developing countries both at the Summit and on return to the UK in order to help people think about the implications of their actions.

The 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU elected, early morning of 10 July 2001, Mr. Amara Essy as the Secretary-General, former Ivory Coast Foreign Minister. He is expected to steer the affairs of the Secretariat during the transition period to the African Union.

Hope for African Children Initiative to facilitate community-based programs: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invests $10 million; initiative to receive portion of proceeds from all-star "What's Going On?" single.

The Global Movement for Children is a force for change, calling for people throughout the world to take action and protect the rights of children. We all have a role to play -- leaders and citizens, public and private organizations, children and young people.

In the summer of 1960, 26-year-old Jane Goodall arrived on the shore of Lake Tanganyika in East Africa to study the area's chimpanzee population. Although it was unheard of for a woman to venture into the wilds of the African forest, the trip meant the fulfillment of Jane Goodall's childhood dream.

Poverty is a consequence of unequal opportunities and an unfair distribution of knowledge, power, production and income - on a global scale and within national states. Hivos feels that the world can only become a sustainable and fair place to live if more people have access to the resources and the decision-making processes that determine their future.

On the 4th August 2001 the team left on an overland journey from Demelza House in Kent and drive through seventeen countries in order to reach Cape Town, South Africa. Their primary aim is to raise funds for Demelza House, however, the journey will be broken three times in order to work at African children’s hospices with a view to establishing sustained support from the UK.

Johannesburg Summit 2002-the World Summit on Sustainable Development-will bring together tens of thousands of participants, including heads of State and Government, national delegates and leaders from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and other major groups to focus the world's attention and direct action toward meeting difficult challenges, including improving people's lives and conserving our natural resources in a world that is growing in population, with ever-increasing demands for food, water, shelter, sanitation, energy, health services and economic security.

Founding President of Zambia Dr. Kenneth Kaunda, helped emancipate the Southern African region from colonial dictators. Without Dr. Kaunda, Nelson Mandela would still have been in prison. Kaunda gave refuge to ANC and the freedom fighters. Namibia was liberated because of Kaunda. He played a major role in freeing Namibia from South African colonialists. Angola and Mozambique were liberated from Portuguese colonialists in 1975 because of this son of Africa, Kenneth Kaunda. The contributions to African renaissance by Kenneth Kaunda are so many...

"The King Center is a nonprofit organization that educates the world about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s philosophy and methods of nonviolence in order to create the Beloved Community". The King Center is making significant progress in its long-range mission to spread the teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr. to a broader, global constituency. In addition, it has made dramatic improvement in the Center’s capacity to coordinate the efforts of Dr King's followers in the U.S. and around the world to help fulfill his Dream.

Prof. Drs. Rudolphus (Ruud) Franciscus Marie Lubbers (born 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam) visited the Canisius College in Nijmegen and studied Economics at the Netherlands School of Economics (the predecessor of the University of Rotterdam). As suggested by the title of his 1962 thesis – "The influence of differing productivity trends in various countries on the current account of the balance of payments" – his main interest was in monetary affairs.