CI50 highlights
This section highlights how
our members celebrated 50 years of Consumers International and the
worldwide consumer movement in all its diversity.
Transatlantic celebrations mark CI 50 in Washington DC
Date: 27
April
Organised by: Consumers Union and TACD
Nearly 20 US and 15 EU consumer and public interest groups
attended the CI50 event at the TransAtlantic Consumer Dialogue
(TACD) annual meeting. EU and US government officials were also
present, including Julie Brill, the recently appointed Commissioner
at the US Federal Trade Commission.
James Guest, President of Consumers Union and Vice President of
Consumers International took the occasion to congratulate CI on its
50th anniversary and say a few words about the important work that
it continues to do to ensure a truly cohesive consumer voice at the
international level. He pointed in particular to the key objective
of assuring basic needs for the world's consumers and working to
raise global standards of consumer protection.
Joost Martens , CI's Director General highlighted some of the
organisation's key achievements over the years including its work
on the UN consumer guidelines and the establishment of World
Consumer Rights Day. He also pointed to the important work that
lies ahead, including core campaigns on improving access to
knowledge, ensuring healthier food for children and the restriction
of the marketing of junk food to children, climate change and
energy and sustainable consumption more broadly.
CI regional meeting in Malaysia celebrates in style
Date: 20 April
Organised by: CI's Kuala Lumpur Office
The meeting was attended by Samuel Ochieng - CI President and
many CI Council Members, including Beatriz Buitrago from
Consumidores Argentina, Connie Lau from Hong Kong Consumer Council,
Kim Jai Ok from Consumers Korea and Marimuthu Nadason from
FOMCA.
To commemorate this momentous event, former CI President, Prof Dr
Anwar Fazal launched his book "Consumer Power". CI KL organised an
exhibit capturing CI's work in the region, and share the symbolical
CI's official toast and cake cutting ceremony; with CI President
Samuel Ochieng and several Council Members.
CI 50 celebrations in Fiji
Date:
31st March - 1 April 2010
Organised by: Consumer Council of Fiji (CCOF) and
Commerce Commission
CCOF proudly celebrated CI's 50th anniversary in the presence of
Dato Indrani Thuraisingham, Head of Cl-KL Office for Asia Pacific
and the Middle East. Also present were Datuk Marimuthu Nadason,
President of FOMCA and President of the Malaysian Association of
Standard Users, including the Head of Delegation of European Union
based in Fiji invited as the chief guest.
A small event was organised within the Symposium on Consumerism
whereby Dato Indrani gave a presentation on CI's struggles and
achievements in the past 50 years, followed by a cake cutting
ceremony and hand-over of CI's booklet to the chief guest and other
participants. EU's Head, H.E. Mr Wiepke Van Der Goot delivered a
compelling speech honouring the consumer movement in Fiji and
indeed the global initiative driven by CI to enhance and strengthen
consumer rights across the world.
Association of Consumers of Armenia (ANAC) celebrates CI50 with
the 'Behind Canteen Doors' project
A group of specialists (hygienists, designers and architects)
visited different school canteens to check the building codes,
sanitary-hygienic conditions, and menus with the purpose to find
the best school canteen. After the discussion of the received
results the best school canteen was chosen and a special
certificate was awarded by ANAC. A special seminar on consumer
rights was organized for the schoolchildren and balloons with the
ANAC logo and text displaying '15th March is the World Consumer
Rights Day' and 'CI50' were distributed.
Melita Hakobyan, President of the National Association of
Consumers, together with several other members of the organization
participated in several TV and radio programmes and debates
to discuss current consumer issues in Armenia as well as to
celebrate CI50.
Hong Kong Consumer Council revamps its website to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of CI
Have a look! Chinese version. English version.
Read about CI50 from Sveriges
Consumeters
CI50 celebrations on their website at
http://www.sverigeskonsumenter.se/Vad-vi-gor/Internationellt/Consumers-International-fyller-50-ar1/
and in the newsletter they send to their members (in Swedish).
CECU issues press release on CI50
Read CECU press release here and have a look at their April
newsletter with a feature on CI50. CECU press
release. CECU numero
17 abr10
CI50 featured in Serbia
The Association of Serbian Consumers (APOS) highlight CI 50th
Anniversary in the March issue of its monthly consumer
magazine.
Read the full article (in Serbian pdf)
CI50 in Vietnam - Raising the Efficiency of Consumer Protection
Activities and Pushing Forward Organisation Development
Date: 17/3/2010
Organised by: Vietnam Standard and Consumers
Association (VINASTAS)
Venue and address: Ngan Ha Hotel, Ha Tinh City,
Vietnam
VINASTAS highlighted CI's history, how consumer rights were
formulated, the main milestones of CI, CI policy and activities and
World Consumer Rights Day 2010. Contributions and comments by
VINASTAS and its member associations to the draft Law on Consumer
Protection will soon be submitted to the Vietnam National Congress
(Parliament) for examination and approval.
Read more about the event
: www.nguoitieudung.com.vn
CI50 member packs
11-12 February CI50 pack sent out to members.
With their annual member pack, CI Members received a CI50
resource pack which included a soft copy of the CI50 booklet, CI50
stickers, a CI50 CD with logos, a model press statement, and a CI50
power point to help organise CI50 events. We will be featuring
member events here, so keep an eye on this space!
ConSuAcción Network celebrates in El Salvador
Organisers: CI
Santiago CDC (El Salvador)Date: Thursday, 14
January, 2010
Place: Auditorium of the Center for Consumer
Defence of El Salvador
Audience: 60 people
Organisations and Institutions involved
- Members of Consumidores en Acción de Centroamérica y
El Caribe Network (ConSuAcción)
- Center for Consumer Defence (CDC) and
Enlaces Network (El Salvador)
- LIDECONIC and Consumer National Network (Nicaragua)
- AMBIO (Costa Rica)
- CODECOH (Honduras)
- LIDECON (Guatemala)
- IPADECU and UNCUREPA (Panama)
- FUNDECOM (Dominican Republic).
Government Agencies
- Defensor for Consumer Protection , Ministry of
Environment, Women's Institute.
- Cooperation Agencies: Engineers Without Borders, OXFAM,
Diakonia
- Academic sector: Professors and Researchers from the Central
American University (UCA).
Media
- Two TV channels and 3 radio stations.
Brief account of the activities
The celebration, held within the framework of the annual meeting
of ConSuAcción Network, was presented as a conversation among
participants.
It began with a presentation made by Juan Trimboli on the
achievements and challenges of Consumers International at the
global and regional level.
Then 15 people gave their opinions about the role of CI and
expressed their expectations of the development of the consumer
movement in Central America.
During the celebration, the Center for Consumer
Defence and ConSuAcción Network presented to Juan
Trimboli 50th Anniversary commemorative plates.
The celebration culminated with a cocktail that CI and CDC offered
to all participants.
CI-Santiago gave CD to all the paticipants, which included:
- CI50 Brochure published by CI London office
- Documents on World Consumer
Rights Day (WCRD)
- Powerpoint called CI and Climate Change made by Bjarne Pederson
and presented to CI-Santiago staff. CI Policy on Climate
Change and Energy Charter
Consumer NZ's Consumer magazine turns 50
It's not just Consumers International that is celebrating 50
years as a consumer watchdog. This month Consumer magazine
is also looking back over the first 50 years of fighting for
consumers in New Zealand.
Achievements: In their December 2009/January
2010 issue, Consumer highlights its work and shows
how New Zealand would have been a poorer place without it. The
central pillars of the country's consumer law are the Consumer
Guarantees Act and the Fair Trading Act - both of which were
campaigned for and developed by Consumer.
CI is 50
Consumers International marks 50 years of the global
consumer movement in 2010.
Celebrate with us as we continue to support, promote and protect
consumer rights around the world.
www.consumersinternational.org/50