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Regional Workshops/Conferencese
OSSREA Attends WIPO/IPA Conference on Copyright
OSSREA was invited and sponsored by the African Publishers Network (APNET), of which OSSREA is an affiliate member, to attend two major conferences on copyright. The conferences were held in Accra, Ghana, and Dr. Taye Assefa, Publications Officer of OSSREA, represented OSSREA at both conferences. The copyright conferences were the following:
1. WIPO Regional Seminar on Copyright Protection and the African Literary Industry in the Digital Age: This Seminar was organised by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in cooperation with the Republic of Ghana. The meeting took place on 18 – 19 February at the Accra International Conference Centre.
2. 5th IPA Conference on Copyright: The theme of this Conference was “Encouraging creativity through copyright protection”. The Conference was held in Africa for the first time in over a hundred years of the history of the International Publishers Association (IPA), thanks mainly to the efforts of APNET, whose chairman is a member of the IPA executive committee. The Conference took place from 20-22 February at the same venue.
The keynote address for the Regional Seminar was made by the Honourable Nana A. D. Akufo-Addo, Ghana’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, while the one for the 5th IPA Conference was made by representatives of the Pan-African Writers Association, WIPO, and UNESCO. Attending one or both of the meetings were representatives of various publishing institutions (both commercial and non-commercial), governmental agencies, libraries, multilateral organisations, national copyright societies and reprographic reproduction organisations, networks, legal experts, writers and academics, officers of APNET, IPA, and WIPO.
Major issues treated at the Regional Seminar include:
· Comparative perspectives of copyright legislation in various African countries;
· Contractual agreements between writers and publishers;
· Unauthorised copying and piracy of literary works;
· Copyright protection in the digital age;
· Collective management of reprographic rights.
Major topics treated in the IPA Conference include:
· Implementation of WIPO Copyright Treaty;
· Copyright protection and online distribution;
· The legal protection of databases;
· The legal protection of traditional knowledge;
· Licensing;
· The role of law enforcement, the judiciary and customs;
· Jurisdictions, recognition and enforcement of judgements;
· The role of copyright education.
The paper presentations and discussions at the two conferences were very enlightening and useful for the publication activities of OSSREA. On the one hand, the emphasis put on the institution of rights protection measures was a confirmation of the correctness of OSSREA’s current practice whereby authors submitting manuscripts are required to assign to OSSREA the copyrights in such works. This is very important to protect the Organization from claims of copyright violation. On the other hand, since OSSREA is now engaging in digital publication both online and on CD, it was apparent that OSSREA should strive to ensure that its own interests are protected through affiliation with appropriate copyright societies and Reprographic Reproduction Organisations (RROs) within the region.
Inventory of the Role of Regional Research Organisations in Africa
A methodological workshop on the Inventory of the Role of Regional Research Organisations was held in Abidjan from 25-26 February 2002. The workshop is part of an ongoing evaluation exercise undertaken by CODESRIA, AAPS and OSSREA, funded by SIDA. OSSREA was represented at the meeting by its Deputy Executive Secretary, Dr. Alfred Nhema, while CODESRIA and AAPS were represented by their Executive Secretaries, Profs. Adebayo Olukoshi and Severine Rugumamu, respectively. Various researchers identified by each organisation also attended the workshop. The team of researchers in the project identified by OSSREA included Prof. John Shiundu (Maseno University College, Kenya), Dr. Kassahun Berhanu (Addis Ababa University), and Prof. Alois Mlambo (University of Zimbabwe), who will all work in close liaison with the Deputy Executive Secretary, coordinator of the project on OSSREA’s side.
OSSREA/ISS Workshop on Sustainability of African Political Parties
A workshop jointly organised by OSSREA and the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Netherlands was held at the headquarters of the OSSREA Secretariat in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 6-8 May 2002. The workshop was attended by 18 participants drawn from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia and The Netherlands.
Opening the workshop, Prof. Abdel Ghaffar, Executive Secretary of OSSREA and one of the presenters of papers, welcomed the participants and briefed them on the background, objectives and major activities of OSSREA. He noted that OSSREA had been engaged, independently and in collaboration with others, in the promotion of research and the creation of fora for deliberations on political issues such as civil society and good governance as well as conflict and development. He also highlighted the fruitful partnership existing between OSSREA and the ISS, especially in the area of research on pastoralism, whose output has been translated into a series of international publications.
During the three-day workshop, a total of 16 papers were presented and discussed by the participants. The outcome of the workshop is planned to be published in the form of a book to be edited by Prof. Mohamed Salih, the key organiser of the workshop. The papers presented at the workshop include the following.
i. “The evolution of African political parties,” by M. A. Mohamed Salih, Institute of Social Studies and University of Leiden;
ii. “Political parties, party system and democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa,” by Renske Doorenspleet, University of Leiden;
iii. “African democracies: Towards a classification,” by Oda van Cranenburg, University of Leiden;
iv. “Political transition and the crises of an African nationalist party: The case of UNIP in Zambia,” by Jotham C. Momba, National University of Zambia;
v. “Political parties and the unfinished quest for democratic governance in Zambia,” by Njunga-Michael Mulukita, National University of Zambia;
vi. “Party politics and the state of democratic culture in Ethiopia,” by Kassahun Berhanu, Addis Ababa University;
vii. “Political parties and democratic governance in Botswana,” by Mpho Mlomo, University of Botswana;
viii. “Political parties and governance,” by Wil Hout, Institute of Social Studies (The Netherlands);
ix. “Political parties and democratic sustenance in Africa: The case of Ghana, 1999-2000,” by Kwame Boafo-Arthur, University of Ghana;
x. “Chama Cha Mapinduzi, Tanzania: The challenges of change and sustainability,” by Paschal Mihyo, Institute of Social Studies (The Netherlands);
xi. “Sustainability of political parties in Kenya,” by Nick G. Wanjohi, University of Nairobi;
xii. “Obstacles to the development of African political parties: The case of Zimbabwe,” by John Makumbe, University of Zimbabwe;
xiii. Democracy and development in Namibia: The role of political parties,” by T.O. Chirawu, University of Namibia;
xiv. Parties and government,” by Petr Kopecky and Peter Mair, University of Leiden;
xv. Democracy, multiparty politics and elections in southern Africa: Realities and imageries,” by Denis Venter, Africa Consultancy and Research, South Africa;
xvi. “Political parties and governance in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic,” by Dele Olowu, Institute of Social Studies (The Netherlands), and Mathew Okotoni, Ife University (Nigeria);
xvii.“Political parties and democracy in the Horn of Africa: The case of Sudan,” by Abdel Ghaffar M. Ahmed, OSSREA (Ethiopia), and Samia El Hadi El Nagar, UNFP (Sudan).