Last Vietnamese camp closes in Hong Kong
At the end of May the last refugee camp in Hong Kong housing Vietnamese boat people closed down. The first boat people arrived in Hong Kong in 1975 - since then a total of 200,000 plus have sought refuge there. At the height of the exodus over 60,000 asylum seeklers were housed in more than 60 camps in the former British colony. The last 1,400 occupants are to be given residency status.

SEE The 'IN FOCUS...' SECTION OF GLOBAL EYE NEWS, SPRING 2000 and/or GLOBAL EYE MAGAZINE ISSUE 11 (TALE of TWO SISTERS and VIETNAM case study)

Aids conference ends with optimism
For the 13th World Aids conference in Durban, South Africa in July, 12,000 people gathered to discuss the problem of Aids and ways to deal with the virus through more treatment for infected people in poorer communities and to encourage changes in sexual behaviour. Another big issue at the conference was whether drug companies should make their products for treatment of HIV and Aids more affordable. Aids in Africa now kills two million people a year, ten times more than war. This is having a devastating effect on the development of countries. Many fear that there could be a similar scenario in Asia in the future unless action is taken. For the first time, all the main interest groups were represented at the conference including development agencies, multinational drug companies, scientists, United Nations and government officials. Participants at the conference were optimistic that discussing the problems together would encourage people and governments to overcome prejudice and instead take more direct action to reduce the spread of this deadly virus. For more information on this issue, see www.unaids.org

Is your chocolate a product of slavery?
A Channel 4 documentary called, "Slavery" shown on Thursday 28th September exposed tales of extreme hardship on many of the one million cocoa farms in Cote d'Ivoire. The programme makers discovered that teenage boys from neighbouring countries like Mali are encouraged to migrate to Cote d'Ivoire in search of work. However, many are held captive on the cocoa farms where they are made to work long hours for no money and little food. Evidence on the programme suggested that those who tried to escape were viciously beaten. According to the organisation, Anti-Slavery International, modern day slavery is a worrying trend in many developing countries. For more information on cocoa farming in Cote d'Ivoire, refer to the summer archive edition of Global Eye. For more information on the issue of slavery, see www.antislavery.org/

High oil prices hit the poorest countries hardest
While the countries of Western Europe have seen widespread protests over the rising price of fuel, many poorer countries that import oil are having to cut back on government spending on other sectors of the economy because they can't afford the new world price for oil. Oil prices are currently about 50% above the average price during the 1990's. This is particularly a problem for countries that rely on the export of primary products for their income because while oil prices have soared, the value of agricultural products and metal ores have fallen. Only member countries of OPEC (the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries)have benefited. After years of depressed oil prices, countries like Venezuela now have more money to invest in their economies.

Protests over debt relief in Prague
Up to 20,000 people representing many different interests gathered in Prague, Czech Republic at the end of September to protest against the actions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund during their joint conference. Despite moves to offer £142 billion in debt relief to the world's 42 poorest countries, the protesters argue that the World Bank has been too slow to act. In the meantime, governments of the poorest countries have been forced to make more cutbacks in essential services in order to pay the interest on their debt to overseas banks. Nevertheless, the World Bank president, James Wolfensohn agreed that some of the criticisms from the protesters were valid, and that the World Bank would continue to fight world poverty. For more information on the World Bank's role in debt relief, refer to the Global Eye edition 13's supplement entitled, "world poverty : responding to the challenge" and the website, www.worldaware.org.uk

Unusual rain brings severe flooding in South-East Asia
Since July, weeks of unseasonably heavy rain has caused major problems to people living on the banks of the Mekong river in Cambodia and Vietnam in the region's worst flooding for years. Over one million Cambodians and several hundred thousand Vietnamese people have been affected and many have been forced to move to higher ground. Although over 250 people have died, government policies to prepare people for such natural disasters have saved lives. There are now early warning systems which enable people to evacuate from areas particularly at risk to flooding, and more people live in houses on stilts which remain above the floodwaters. Nevertheless, the scale of the flood has meant that emergency supplies of clothing, food, blankets and plastic sheets are in very short supply. In the longer term, the authorities and relief workers will be trying to ensure that people who are unable to farm their land get the necessary amount of food. As the risk of water-borne diseases like malaria becomes more widespread, more resources are also needed to keep the flood victims healthy.