Thirty-nine Egyptian human rights and development organizations have drafted a new law to regulate NGOs and sent a copy to Prime Minister Essam Sharaf. The proposed law provides for the autonomy of Egyptian civil society organizations from the state and its administrative apparatus. At the same time, it guarantees the transparent operation of these organizations in terms of their activities and sources of funding.

Photo: CSA

Civil society is not standing with arms crossed in view of the seeming impasse of the deliberations on the way to the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will begin on Nov 28 in Durban, South Africa. Dozens of organizations launched an urgent call to persuade the industrialized countries to renew their commitment to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and they also prepare mobilizations for climate justice all over the world for the next week, on the eve of the meeting.

Nicole Werner
(Photo: Alliance Sud)

Yet another UN climate conference will take place at the end of November in Durban, South Africa. It is the last chance to seamlessly replace the Kyoto Protocol – which expires in 2012 – with a follow-up protocol, warned Nicole Werner, expert on environment and climate of Alliance Sud, focal point of Social Watch in Switzerland.

“The emergence of the global financial, food, economic, and other crises - which the WTO’s privatization and liberalization rules contributed to, and failed to prevent - provides an opportunity to reflect on the serious problems endemic to the particular model of globalization that the WTO has consolidated globally,” urged several civil society organizations ahead of the 8th Ministerial Meeting of that multilateral institution in Geneva next month.

Marc Lee. (Photo: CCPA)

The richest 20% of Canadian income earners are responsible for almost double (1.8 times) the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of those in the lowest income group, says a new study released this week by in Ottawa by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA), one of the focal points of Social Watch in that North American country.

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