I'm no longer a student, but this competition almost makes me wish I were one:

CFJ/CNN European Award for the Best Student News Blog
Rewards students currently studying journalism at a university or school of journalism in a country within the European Union for news blogs in French or English. The winner of the top prize will receive 3 months of training at CNN International's London headquarters, and US$2,500. Deadline: May 1 2007. Details here.

while everyone is busy talking about the Wolfowitz scandal, also quietly making some headlines is the removal of the word "family planning" and "climate change" in recent WB documents, refelcting Bush policy more than WB policy. See below.
________________

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are writing to update you on new developments in the World Bank's plans
to review and approve the draft "Healthy Development: The World Bank
Strategy for Health, Nutrition, and Population Results" (HNP Strategy).
The date for the review has now been postponed to Tuesday, April 24,
providing additional time for advocacy to ensure that language on sexual
and reproductive health and rights, family planning and integrated HIV
prevention efforts are both included in the document and strengthened.

Update on commitments to reproductive health and family planning:

As we earlier reported, the original version of the HNP strategy leaked to
the press did not contain references to family planning—with the exception
of one reference to a prior Bank-funded project on family planning. Thanks
to repeated efforts by ministers who were concerned by the lack of
references to family planning, those references have been re-inserted in a
revised version, which is not currently available to the public.

Internal sources have, however, provided us with text from the draft
document referring to reproductive health and family planning. You can
review them at
http://www.pepfarwa tch.org/pubs/ Reinserted% 20ParagraphsFPan dRH.pdf

The re-inclusion of this language is only a partial victory as the
language itself is quite weak, and we are unable at this time to review
the context of the larger strategy in which this language has been
included. As a result, your efforts are still needed to ensure that the
Executive Directors of the World Bank, especially the Europeans, take
action to safeguard reproductive health and rights in World Bank-funded
programs.

We also need to hold those in positions of power accountable for their
mismanagement and for undermining World Bank policy. The fact that the
references were removed in the first place is indicative of a failure by
Bank management.

We urge you to contact Executive Directors before Tuesday.
A sample letter can be found at
http://www.pepfarwa tch.org/pubs/ CivilSocietyLett er4.19.07. doc
Please feel free to use the draft letter to send to Executive Directors or
to write your own.

The names, phone numbers and email addresses of the World Bank Executive
Directors can be found at: http://www.bicusa. org/en/Article. 92.aspx

For more information about this issue, see Nicole Gaouette's piece in the
Los Angeles Times (April 19)
http://www.latimes. com/features/ health/medicine/ la-na-worldbank1 9apr19,1, 2963249.story? ctrack=3& cset=true
and Sarah Boseley's piece in The Guardian (April 16)
http://www.guardian .co.uk/imf/ story/0,, 2058078,00. html

Also, visit the Government Accountability Project's website at
http://www.whistleb lower.org/ content/press_ detail.cfm? press_id= 893

As you know, the World Bank is a key agency for development cooperation.
We need its support if we are to deliver sexual and reproductive health
and rights for all by 2015.

Serra Sippel
Deputy Director
Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE)

Sudan’s Children at a Crossroads, a report by Watchlist, outlines the continued and extensive aggressions committed against children in the Sudan. While children in the South are enjoying improved security and access to services, those in Darfur face appalling levels of violence and abuse. This report is released in the backdrop of a humanitarian crisis and rapidly deteriorating security situation in Darfur where thousands of children lack access to the most basic resources and face the threat of abduction, rape and other forms of sexual violence, armed attacks and forced displacement. Despite real progress achieved in southern Sudan, the region still lacks an adequate health infrastructure and qualified health personnel, with only one primary healthcare center for every 79,500 people.

Restrictive government policies and administrative procedures have hindered access to Darfur, the East and other volatile regions in Sudan, making it difficult for humanitarian agencies to deliver essential services. In addition, information about abuses against Sudanese children is
increasingly difficult to obtain as many organizations express concern that sharing information will trigger retributive attacks against their staff and operations or beneficiaries. On top of this, the deteriorating security situation in Darfur and the unstable situation in the East have prevented many humanitarian actors from accessing severely vulnerable populations,
providing services, documenting abuses and sharing this information with the international community.

I am helping to organize an art exhibition and concert event on April 20th, with 100% of the proceeds going towards trafficking intervention work.

As you know, I have been working on the issue of trafficking for many years, and it is not often that we collectively can come together in NYC to contribute towards ending this modern day form of slavery. The organization recieving the proceeds is Maiti Nepal and it's border intervention program. A few years back I was fortunate to spend a week observing Maiti Nepal's work while conducting a situational analysis of anti-trafficking efforts in Southern Nepal. There couldn't be a more worthy recipient. Please let me know if I can provide further information.

I request you to please forward this on to friends/contacts who may be interested. (click on image for larger view)

Earlier in March, IRIN launched "The Shame of War: sexual violence against women and girls in conflict" - a reference book and photo essay of portraits and testimonies of the sexual violence women suffer when men go to war. It examines the scope and nature of this violence and looks at the different ways the international community is addressing sexual violence against women and girls during and after conflict. Above all, the aim of this book is to inform, to shock and to join the voices saying 'Enough!'. Sexual violence against women and girls does not have to be an inevitable consequence of war.

For more information and to download the full text, please click here.