Ei-iE

Late last month, Paris was the setting for the 4th Francophone Conference on HIV and AIDS. Speakers participating in the event underlined the urgent need to pursue a dual approach to fighting AIDS which would give priority to both prevention and treatment.

In March UNAIDS and the WHO issued official recommendations on the basis of new evidence demonstrating that circumcised men are up to 60% less likely to get HIV than those who are not. Since then, experts have issued statements warning that this evidence should be greeted with caution. Although circumcision...

Over the last year the Global Unions organised five sub-regional workshops on HIV and AIDS in Africa which were attended by national trade union centres and unions. EI affiliates played a key role in these events.

Members of Education International’s Research Network are conducting their third meeting in Brussels on 18th and 19th April.

EI expresses its shock at the murder of 33 people on the campus of Virginia Tech on 16 April by a lone gunman. 17 others were wounded.

The Pan-European Regional Committee and the ETUCE Executive Board will be holding their last meeting before the EI World Congress in Brussels, Belgium, from 16-17 April.

Teachers in Iran are determined to proceed with their strike actions, despite threats by the authorities.

The Chairperson of EI member organisation, the Ethiopian Teachers' Association (ETA), has finally been released from police custody, after the court cleared him of the charges brought against him.

As part of the Tsunami Rehabilitation Programme of EI, Oxfam International and Oxfam Novib, 3 more schools have just been completed in Aceh, Indonesia. This adds up to a total of 18 schools completed out of the 28 planned. The rest of the schools will be finished by the end...

This is to remind all EI member organisations that the constitutional deadline for the submission of delegate details is 22 April.

EI strongly condemned the recent use of violence by the police in Argentina to disperse a peaceful demonstration. The violence resulted in the death of a teacher.

The EI Executive Board met in Berlin, Germany, from 27-29 March. Below is the list of the decisions taken by the Board:

EI sent a strong message to the Greek Minister of National Education and Religious Affairs on 4 April, condemning the use of violence by the police against teacher unionists and students during their demonstration on 8 March.

A few of the 300 teachers arrested during a demonstration on 14 March for better pay and working conditions have been released.

The three elected officers of the Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) detained since December 2006 have finally been released on 22 March. Tilahun Ayalew, Meqcha Mengistu and Antenech Getenet were detained and tortured by the police for over three months. They were freed from custody when they last appeared in court...

EI sent a message to the Prime Minister of Thailand on 30 March, expressing its concerns about the level of violence in the south of the country. According to the UN, over 2000 lives have been lost in the past 3 years, including those of 60 teachers.

Representatives from EI, the Southern African Teacher Organisation (SATO) and the Southern African Trade Union Co-ordinating Council (SATCC) are currently in Botswana to show solidarity with the President of the Botswana Teachers' Union (BTU), Japhta Radibe.

"Education is a public good, not a commodity," said Ulla Burchardt, Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Research and Technology Assessment of the German Bundestag, at a meeting organised by the Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW), one of EI’s German member organisations.