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By ACP Press
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Assistant-Secretary-General of the ACP Group, Léonard-Emile Ognimba, together with the Director General for Development and International Cooperation of the European Commission, Stefano Manservisi, officially launched the new ACP-EU Culture Programme on the occasion of the 26th edition of The Ouagadougou Pan-African Film and Television Festival (FESPACO), on February 24, 2019 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS | PARAMARIBO, Suriname (ACP-IDN) – Climate change, which is a major concern in the Caribbean, and identifying and implementing effective climate adaptation and mitigation strategies were high on the agenda of the 17th regional meeting of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly in Paramaribo, the capital of Suriname, from February 28 to March 2, 2019
Parliamentarians from the Caribbean region of the ACP Group and their European counterparts also focused on regional Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), security and the political situation of the region as well as on energy, economic growth and employment.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Dr Fatou Bensouda has expressed her profound gratitude for the ACP Group's contributions to the work of the ICC that has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. 51 out of 79 ACP States have ratified the ICC Rome Statute. Altogether 123 states are party to the Rome Statute and therefore members of the ICC.
Dr Bensouda was addressing the Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States on January 24. Chaired by Ambassador Ammo Aziza Baroud of Chad, the session provided an opportunity for the Prosecutor to present the activities of the ICC Prosecutor's Office and to highlight the important historical contributions of the ACP regions in the creation of the ICC, which interacts with communities affected by crime.
By Robert Johnson
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – In the face of burgeoning unilateralism and generally "turbulent" global environment, the 79-nation African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States has urged “vigorous support” for the United Nations.
”Vigorous support for the United Nations to advance multilateralism will loom large in all the programmes and projects of the ACP in 2019,” according to ACP Secretary General, Dr. P. I. Gomes.
The Guyana-born Secretary General said that in a turbulent global environment and increasing violence of regional and civil conflicts, “strong and unequivocal action by the UN system is needed now more than ever."
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – 2019 will be a crucial year for relations between the European Union (EU) and 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP) – uniting more than half of all UN member countries and representing over 1.5 billion people.
The current partnership, governed by the Cotonou agreement, is one of the longest-standing and most comprehensive framework for cooperation between the EU and developing countries. The current agreement expires in 2020. Therefore, the new agreement needs to be both finalised and approved by then.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – As negotiators inch towards updating the most comprehensive but 20-year old partnership agreement between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, they have a broad array of issues on their plate.
These include the name change to the 'Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACP)', ensuring the consistency of participation in parliamentary assemblies, establishment of the ACP Information Centre for South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and enhancing ACP's financial stability.
By Jeffrey Moyo
MASERU (ACP-IDN) – Three years ago, Lesotho, Southern Africa’s small mountain kingdom surrounded by South Africa, was hit hard by the drought that led to the driest season in the region in 35 years. In the tiny dynastic nation, the El Niño driven-phenomenon resulted in a fall in maize production, the country's staple food.
But now thanks to ACP, the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, a group that was created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975, climate change impacts in African countries like Lesotho have met their match.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – A new study finds that the 79-nation African, Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) Group of States can boost climate action with technical and financial support amounting to a minimum of USD 2,317 billion. Capacity building, an important aspect of efforts to halt climate catastrophe, is expected to draw considerable attention at the forthcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP24) in Katowice, Poland.
The urgency of climate action is underlined also by the new report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It shows that global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions rose again during 2017 after a three-year break, highlighting the imperative for countries to deliver on the historic Paris Agreement to keep global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
By Jeffrey Moyo
BEITBRIDGE (ACP-IDN) – At the age of 39, Ndikonyaga Muleya hailing from Beitbridge, Zimbabwe’s border town with South Africa, has found illegal crossing into South Africa convenient.
Over the years he became experienced crossing into the neighboring country looking for casual jobs in Musina, also a South African border town with Zimbabwe, which he now frequents as an illegal transporter of undocumented Zimbabweans itching to cross into South Africa fleeing from this country’s mounting economic woes.
“I earn money from transporting people through unmanned crossing points into South Africa. I was also helped before when I started crossing to SA,” Muleya told IDN.
By Reinhard Jacobsen
BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – The African, Caribbean and Pacific-European Union Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program (ACP-EU NDRR) launched in 2011 has worked to build climate and disaster resilience in ACP countries, where the impacts of climate change are increasingly visible, says a new report.
The Program is an initiative of the African Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Group of States, in partnership with the European Union (EU), and the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR).
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