Another world is possible / CHRONICLE 2001

.WITH A SPECIAL FOCUS ON THE MAJORITY WORLD

JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC
Click a month above to read an alternative view of the key events of that month.

THE HAGUE The International Criminal Tribunal finds three Bosnian Serb men guilty of the rape of Bosnian Muslim women and girls. The verdict is significant as it asserts that sexual enslavement during war is a crime against humanity, for which perpetrators can be held accountable.

BRAZIL The São Paulo State Environmental Protection Agency orders Shell Chemicals of Brazil to clean up an area 90 kilometres east of São Paulo where, in the 1970s and 1980s, it manufactured the toxic pesticides aldrin, dieldrin and endrin.

WORLD The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that the impact of climate change is becoming more severe. Temperatures could rise by up to 5.8 degrees Celsius this century.

EL SALVADOR Two earthquakes strike within a month. The combined death toll is more than 2,000 and the number of people made homeless over 700,000.

Ray Wood / Panos Pictures

BAHRAIN In a vote, 98.4 per cent of citizens support a National Charter, which would provide for a constitutional monarchy and an elected parliament (the first for more than 25 years), and prioritize human rights.

COLOMBIA President Andres Pastrana signs a 13-point deal with the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The plan reconfirms a rebel-controlled demilitarized zone, opening the way for a potential ceasefire.

BRITAIN Cases of foot-and-mouth disease are found in livestock in an abattoir in Brentwood, Essex, at the start of what is to become the world’s largest-ever outbreak of the disease.

IRAQ American and British aircraft bomb radar sites south of Baghdad in response to Iraq’s alleged violation of no-fly zones. Only Canada and Kuwait support the strikes.

INDONESIA At least 450 Madurese settlers are killed and tens of thousands forced to flee as local Dayaks engage in fierce ethnic cleansing in Central Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo.

CHINA An Amnesty International report on torture declares that it is used extensively by state officials – from tax collectors and birth-control officials to prison guards. The Government insists that the report is based on ‘rumours and hearsay’.

UKRAINE Thousands of protesters demand the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma after it is revealed that he used murder and intimidation to win a 56 per cent majority in the country’s 1999 general election.