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Social investment is the key to a just and effective solution to the current economic crisis, says citizens' alternative report

PITTSBURGH, USA (September 23): Robust social investment programs should be enacted in order to effectively stimulate the global economy and mitigate the impacts of the financial crisis on workers, women and the poor, concludes the international civil society network Social Watch in its 2009 Report.  This will not only satisfy criteria of social justice but also is sound economic policy, states the Report, titled People First. The report will be launched today, September 23 at 12 noon at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Hotel (107 6th Street) in the run-up to the G-20 summit.  People First includes dozens of in-depth reports from grassroots civil society organizations, which prove that the poorest countries played no part in causing the crisis, yet they are experiencing its worst effects.  The exclusion of these countries from forums such as the G-20 creates a further obstacle to implementing socially just policies. 

For the second installment of our “Spotlight On…” column, which highlights the innovative work of organizations that make up Social Watch coalitions around the globe, this month we will put a focus on the Social Watch coalition in the host country of this year´s World Social Forum, which will take place on the shores of the Amazon River in the city of Belem do Para, Brazil.

Dear friends of Social Watch,
The Social Watch Report 2008 was launched in the European Parliament in Brussels last January 7. The meeting, which focused on human rights as the key to find a way out of the present global financial and economic crisis, was attended by members of the European Parliament, officers of the European Commission and journalists. The meeting was convened by the Vice-President of the European Parliament, Luisa Morgantini, yet she could only salute briefly the participants and had to leave to attend an urgent meeting on the situation in the Gaza Strip. “I hope you understand,” she said in her greeting. And everybody nodded.

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