News Archives: January - June 2005

June 29th 2005
Mobilizing Political Will - Declaration of the Helsinki Group
The final report of the Helsinki Process on Globalization and Democracy was launched June 29th. Read the Declaration of the Helsinki Group from the report.

June 25th 2005
Making Poverty History: The G8 and Human Rights
Nelson Mandela made the point at the recent 'Make Poverty History' rally in Trafalgar Square. "Overcoming poverty," he declared, "is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life." Four years ago, a UN committee of independent human rights experts came to the same conclusion. ?Poverty?, they said, ?constitutes a denial of human rights?...

June 23rd 2005
Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights
In preparation for the September 2005 special meetings on UN reform and the UN Millennium Development Goals, the Business Leaders Initiative on Human Rights (BLIHR) addressed the UN as part of their consultations with civil society. Download BLIHR's statement (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) and learn more about this EGI partner chaired by Mary Robinson.

June 21st 2005
Groundbreaking project brings together parliamentarians and women living with HIV and AIDS
Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative has joined forces with African parliamentarians to increase women's and girl's access to health services and to accelerate efforts to help women fight HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases in East and southern Africa.

June 15th 2005
Trade Policy Reform and the Future of Africa
Trade and Africa Specialists have called on the G-8 to make African Development its urgent and absolute priority. Read the updated Statement of Principles on Trade and Development in Africa and view photos from the event.

June 11th 2005
Nelson Mandela convenes leaders in Arctic Circle
Nelson Mandela convened leaders in the Arctic Circle to emphasize the global threat of HIV/AIDS. On June 11th, musicians and other leaders gathered in Tromsko, Norway to achieve a generation free from HIV/AIDS by 2015.

May 19th 2005
The Business Women's Initiative Inaugural Meeting
The Business Women?s Initiative against HIV/AIDS aims to harness the power of women business leaders to reach out to our sisters in the developing world and to empower them to respond to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, to succeed, to help their families, to help their communities, and to help themselves. Learn more about women linking across the world to ensure HIV/AIDS services for all women - on every street, in every village, where they live.

May 13th 2005
Think Global 2005
US Public Radio's Think Global 2005 explores often-hidden connections between us, our communities and the rest of the world. Read the transcript or listen (1.29MB) to Mary Robinson as she argues that globalization gives us a great opportunity - and responsibility - to promote human rights worldwide.

May 10th 2005
Profile of Mary Robinson in the New Zealand Herald
Robinson is here to promote her two passions. First, to bring ethics to globalisation. Second, to help harness the strength of women, find the leaders and bring them together from all over the world. As she says, I believe women's leadership can make a difference this century ... we can grapple with wider issues and make a difference and I want to be part of that...

April 18th 2005
Mary Robinson named one of Time's 100 Heroes and Icons
President of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, Mary Robinson, was among the 100 world leaders listed in Time Magazine's 2005 report on the heroes and icons whose power, talent or moral example is transforming the world. Read more>>>

March 2005
Connections between Human Rights and Environmental Changes
A new study, commissioned by the United Nations and conducted by 1300 scholars and environmental experts from 95 countries, warns that human activities are causing environmental damage on a massive scale throughout the world and harming many of the world?s poorest people. The report estimates that 60 percent of the ecosystems supporting life on earth are now being polluted or used unsustainably, and warns that these practices present a serious obstacle to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

March 20th - 23rd 2005
Harnessing Energies to Make Children's Rights a Reality
In Cape Town, South Africa, approximately 700 judges, lawyers and other professionals gathered at the 4th World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights. It marked the 15th anniversary of the most widely ratified human rights convention of all time, the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCROC). Mary Robinson delivered the first Peter Nygh memorial lecture titled Harnessing Energies to Make Children's Rights a Reality. She said: ?As well as urging the United States to ratify, our message to governments must be clear and unambiguous: Keep the commitments you have made to children.

February 10th 2005
Ethical Globalization call-in show
Kerri Miller of Minnesota Public Radio interviewed Mary Robinson in the studio to talk about the work of EGI and how it's trying to convince worldwide corporations to be more ethical.

January 27th 2005
World's first website covering the human rights conduct of 2000 companies
For the first time anybody, anywhere, can go to one place for news and reports on the worldwide social and environmental activities of most major multinationals: www.business-humanrights.org The website was officially launched in Davos, during the World Economic Forum by Mary Robinson, who said: "No debate can move forward, and no positive change can be made, without facts. This website is an essential tool for consumers and investors, companies and campaigners. It helps them make decisions that make a difference." Robinson chairs the Resource Centre's Advisory Network.

January 2005
World Health Report 2005 - Make every mother and child count
10.6 million children die before age five, and half a million women die in childbirth. The World Health Organization's 2005 report: Make Every Mother and Child Count highlights the need for massive investments in health systems, particularly the deployment of many more health professionals, including doctors, midwives and nurses, to support the hundreds of millions of women and children who today have no access to life-saving care.