IPEN News Centre:
Welcome to the May 2008 IPEN Newsletter!
This month's newsletter includes up to date news on the following:
1. SAICM International Outreach Campaign Update
2. 2008 IPEN General Assembly
3. IPEN Executive Committee
4. Regional Focus: This month's region: Middle East
5. Future Newsletters
6. Calendar of Events
Translations of the Current Newsletter:
English as a .pdf
Spanish as a .pdf
1- SAICM INTERNATIONAL OUTREACH CAMPAIGN UPDATE
As many of you are probably aware, 21 April marked the online launch of the SAICM Global Outreach Campaign. Please see the new website here: http://www.ipen.org/campaign/
We hope that at this point many of you are familiar with this Campaign. However, for those of you that are not, the introduction letter below may clarify its goals and process:
Dear Colleagues:
Attached is the NGO/CSO Global Common Statement on the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management. We are asking your organization to please review this Common Statement, and if you can do so, to please endorse it.
This statement is part of a Global Outreach Campaign to raise awareness about the harms of toxic chemicals, plus engage and broaden the base of civil society groups working on issues related to the implementation of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM).
The SAICM is a policy tool that was endorsed by over 100 governments, as well as environment, labor and health organizations, in February 2006, with the overarching SAICM goal to change how chemicals are produced and used in order to minimize their harmful effects on human health and the environment.
Recognizing that the SAICM text provides an opportunity to advance NGO and civil society organization campaigns related to protecting human and environmental health, a collective group of representatives from six international NGO networks active in the SAICM process developed the Global Outreach Campaign and the Common Statement, with the aim to collect over 1,000 NGO/CSO endorsements from more than 80 countries.
Moreover, this group has formed a Campaign Committee, which has also agreed to prepare educational materials and to promote outreach activities. The unifying campaign goal is a common commitment to work for a future world where toxic chemicals no longer injure human health and ecosystems.
The six NGO networks that initiated this campaign are:
In January 2007, the Campaign Committee finalized the Common Statement (below/enclosed), which highlights the text from the SAICM. We believe your NGO/CSO may agree with this text, and thus we are seeking your support and endorsement.
We encourage your NGO to endorse this Common Statement and to also pass it on to other organizations in your country as a way to help broaden the civil society movement for toxics-free future.
The results of the Campaign will be presented at the next global SAICM meeting in May 2009.
Endorsement Process
If your NGO endorses this Common Statement, please reply to this email (with a cc to ipen@ipen.org) with a completed endorsement form/questionnaire, embedded in the Common Statement. This text is also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, with other Campaign information and material online at http://www.ipen.org/campaign/index.html.
Thank you very much.
The Common Statement and the Endorsement Form can be found online in the six UN languages. If you would like a copy of the introductory letter in a language other than English, please let me know. jenniferfederico@ipen.org
To date we have received approximately 140 signatories. We invite all IPEN POs that support the Campaign goals to complete the Endorsement Form and return it to ipen@ipen.org. Your endorsement will help us reach our goal of 1,000 signatures!!
2 - 2008 IPEN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The date for the 2008 IPEN General Assembly was recently announced via an email from the IPEN International Coordinator. It will be held in Kerala, India from 12 -15 August.
This year's IPEN General Assembly represents a very special year, as 2008 is the year we celebrate IPEN's 10 year anniversary!
Therefore, the General Assembly program will focus on:
Our goal is to convene as many IPENers from across the globe as possible in southern India for the IPEN General Assembly. Recognizing that funding is always a limiting factor to participation, the IPEN Secretariat is interested and available to discuss creative proposals and potential collaborative partnerships with IPEN POs to ensure robust participation.
Information about registration was recently sent out over the IPEN listserve. Please note that the deadline for funding requests to attend the General Assembly is 31 May, while registration itself will be open through June. If you need a copy of the registration / funding request form, please let me know (jenniferfederico@ipen.org). Information about the agenda will be sent out shortly. In the meantime, please be sure to check your calendars and save the date!
3 - IPEN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
This June, the new IPEN Executive Committee will meet for the first time. You may recall that the Executive Committee was confirmed in March, and consists of:
Jamidu Katima, IPEN Co-Chair, AGENDA for Environment and Responsible Development, Tanzania
Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Co-Chair, National Toxics Network, Australia
Anne-Sofie Andersson - International Chemical Secretariat (ChemSec), Sweden
Fernando Bejarano G. -Red de Accion sobre Plaguicidas y Alternativas en Mexico, Mexico
Ken Geiser - Lowell Center for Sustainable Production at the University of Massachusetts, US
Olga Speranskaya - Eco-Accord, Russia
Ravi Agarwal - Toxics Link, India
The sixth Executive Committee member has not yet been identified, and a search for qualified and appropriate candidates to propose to the IPEN General Assembly is currently underway.
At the meeting in June, themes that the Executive Committee will address include the legal registration of IPEN in Sweden, as well as IPEN's long-term planning (including IPEN program and project / campaign development). A report back from the meeting will be circulated to the IPEN listserve after the meeting takes place.
4 - REGIONAL FOCUS: MIDDLE EAST
Each IPEN Newsletter includes a Regional Focus section that provides an opportunity for IPEN Participating Organizations (POs) to share their NGO's work, news, updates and/or local information as it pertains to our shared mission for a Toxic Free Future. We encourage all interested IPEN POs to share their work and information with the global IPEN network. In an effort to be inclusive and comprehensive, all articles are welcomed; however, lengthy articles are summarized for the newsletter and then added at the end in their original form.
This month the area of the Middle East is the Regional Focus. We encourage IPEN POs from South Asia to submit articles for next month's IPEN Newsletter (submit to jenniferfederico@ipen.org).
Day Hospital Institute for Rehabilitation & Development (DHIRD)
Last November, the Day Hospital Institute for Rehabilitation and Development (IPEN Hub for the Middle Eastern region) received an invitation to participate in the Arab Environmental day in Tunis. The theme of the day was sound management of chemicals, and there were 70 NGOs from Tunisia plus several others from different Arab countries in attendance. Dr. El Banna from Day Hospital gave a presentation on Hub activities and the IPEP project, then elaborated on the toxics-free future campaign and the importance of endorsing the Common Statement of the SAICM Global Outreach Project, noting the importance of NGO commitment to participate in SAICM implementation until fulfilling the Johannesburg Summit 2020 goals. For more information, please contact Dr. El Banna at: mbanna@starnet.eg.com
Additionally, Day Hospital helped JICA (the Japanese agent for International Cooperation) in a conference about PCBs in Cairo 26-27 February. They assisted in raising community awareness about PCBs and its dangers to health and the environment, and Dr. El Banna gave a presentation. If you would like a copy of the presentation, please contact mbanna@starnet.eg.com.
Association pour la protection de l'environement et du patrimoine Nabatieh (APEP)
5-FUTURE NEWSLETTERS
In future Newsletters, we will continue to have a section that will focus on a regional component within IPEN. The upcoming regions are as follows:
South Asia (June) Western Europe (August)
Southeast Asia (July) Pacific & Island States (September)
The IPEN Secretariat will invite input and contributions from IPEN POs in the featured region each month. This could include specific articles, press releases, action alerts, updates, etc. Moreover it will provide the opportunity for your NGO to share its work with the global IPEN network.
For the next Newsletter, South Asia will be the featured region for the IPEN Newsletter. Therefore, IPEN POs located in the South Asian region are invited to submit a short article (under 500 words), press release, or other news/updates from this region for the newsletter.
Please send your emails to Jennifer at the IPEN Secretariat at: jenniferfederico@ipen.org
Website
Please note that the Newsletter can now be found on the IPEN website: http://www.ipen.org/ipenweb/news.html
6 - CALENDAR OF EVENTS
May
19- 24: World Health Organization's (WHO's) Sixty-first World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information, please see: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/events/2008/wha61/en/
June
6: Berlin, Germany - German conference on SAICM organized by the German Environment Ministry: www.saicmkonferenz.de
23- 27: Basel COP9 in Bali, Indonesia. The COP-9 will address: the implementation of the Strategic Plan; Basel Convention Regional and Coordinating Centres; synergies and cooperation with other chemicals conventions; e-waste and end-of-life equipment; and ship dismantling. For more information contact: Secretariat of the Basel Convention; e-mail: sbc@unep.ch; Internet: http://www.basel.int/meetings/meetings.html
If there is an upcoming event that you would like to have listed here, please let me know! Jenniferfederico@ipen.org
Tel: 1 (510) 704 1962/3 " Fax: 1 (510) 883 9493
email: ipen@ipen.org
web: http://www.ipen.org
Version: July 2008
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