Archive for October 17th, 2011

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17/10/2011

Bangladesh: Cell Phones Are More Popular than Toilets

Human Wrongs Watch*

‘By some measures, Bangladesh is modernizing rapidly – one in two residents now owns a cell phone. However, when it comes to basic sanitation, progress is clogged.’

Credit:UN

While some point to obstacles of funding and a lack of political leadership, others say toilets, despite their long-established health benefits, have an image problem, adds IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“People don’t associate latrines with health,” said Azizur R. Mollar, who studied sanitation in Dhaka in 2010. “To many Bangladeshis, a toilet is just a concrete platform. Going to the toilet is a matter of practicality,” according to IRIN.

By comparison,” he said, the mobile phone has become “a symbol of the betterment of lives” for Bangladeshis, the usage of which has skyrocketed in a decade. There were 79 million mobile phone users in 2011, up from just 279,000 in 2000, according to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.

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Posted in Asia, Mother Earth, The Peoples | Leave a Comment »

17/10/2011

World Campain Against False ‘Nuclear Deterrence Doctrine’

Human Wrongs Watch

An international campaign to demand that leaders of the nuclear weapon states and their allies “reject nuclear deterrence and negotiate without delay a Nuclear Weapons Convention for the phased, verifiable, irreversible and transparent elimination of all nuclear weapons” has been launched by the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Nuclear deterrence is a doctrine that is used as a justification by nuclear weapon states and their allies for the continued possession and threatened use of nuclear weapons.

“Nuclear deterrence is the threat of a nuclear strike in response to a hostile action. However, the nature of the hostile action is often not clearly defined, making possible the use of nuclear weapons in a wide range of circumstances,” says this non-profit, non-partisan international education and advocacy organization.

“Nuclear deterrence threatens the murder of many millions of innocent people, along with severe economic, climate, environmental, agricultural and health consequences beyond the area of attack”.

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Posted in Mother Earth, The Peoples, War Lords | 7 Comments »

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