Council of the UPOV in Geneve. (Photo: Magrama)

The Council of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) adopted this month new rules on the granting of observer status to its meetings that will restrict the participation of NGOs and farmer communities, especially their biggest and more important organization worldwide, La Via Campesina. The UPOV Convention has over the years been systematically changed to increasingly favor formal plant breeders, endowing them with rights that are far stronger than those of farmers, warned the Third World Network (TWN).

“People over profits,” a global demand. (Photo: Fibonacci Blue /CC License)

“It’s not just money that’s required for achieving the MDGs. Another reason why we are so behind with them is the Philippines’ warped development. Yes, there is economic growth, but it has been accompanied by greater inequality, unemployment, underemployment and environmental degradation,” wrote Jessica Cantos, Co-Convener of Social Watch Philippines, in a report published by New Internationalist, newspaper specialized on issues of world poverty and inequality.

Egyptian Constitutional Assembly. (Photo: ANHRI)

The constitutional declaration issued by the Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi last week “contravened the revolution’s goals of democratization and exploited the expansive powers he granted to himself shortly after his election to arrogate unparalleled powers and immunize his decisions against judicial oversight,” warned 22 human rights organizations.

Sustainable agriculture project in Benin: the poorest people not allways enjoy the benefits. (Photo: Eskinder Debebe/UN)

"The MDGs have hardly induced changes and outcomes in Benin" concludes the report from the Social Watch coalition in this West African country, because "the current model based on economic growth at the top does not benefit the majority of the people".

Illustrationon the eight MDG created by students of Hollar Graphic School, Prague.

Achieving food security as a common responsibility of the South and North, promoting decent work and providing electrification for all by 2030 at the national level: those are the focuses of attention of a broad non-governmental alliance created in the Czech Republic against poverty. To achieve them, the Czech Social Watch coalition thinks it necessary to rebuild the financial architecture at the global level.