A study released and authored by CCPA research associate and member of the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch Kate McInturff, says that progress on ending violence against women in Canada is stalled by the absence of a coherent national policy and consistent information about the levels of that violence.

“The difficulty of collecting data about violence against women has been a barrier to progress in ending that violence,” says the study’s author Kate McInturff. “However, the data that does exist tells us three things very clearly: this problem is big, it comes at a high cost, and we are making little or no progress in putting a stop to it.”

High unemployment rate among youth. (Photo: ILO)

"In the absence of widespread and sustained economic growth, unemployment remains at an unacceptably high level in many G20 countries," the International Labour Office (ILO) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have said.

In a joint statistical update for the meeting of G20 Labour and Employment Ministers, taking place in Moscow from 18-19 July, the ILO and OECD warned that persistently high and mainly cyclical unemployment in several G20 countries is heightening the risks of labour market exclusion and structural unemployment.

The election of Roberto Azevêdo is a victory for the countries of the South, comments y Isolda Agazzi, analist of Alliance Sud. However, the Brazilian must demonstrate that he will work in favour of developing countries and their small farmers – something Brazil has not always done.

It is a first for the WTO: the industrialized countries' candidate, Herminio Blanco from Mexico, lost out to the developing countries' aspirant. Brazil and Mexico follow very different trade policies.

Photo: Iraqi Al-Amal Association

The "Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)", in partnership with the "CSOs Partnership for Development Effectiveness” and ”Iraqi Al-Amal Association”, and in collaboration with the Parliament of Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the ICNL, organised the Regional Conference for the Arab Region on the Effectiveness of Development, in Erbil on 22 and 23 June, 2013.

This Conference comes in the context of the “development effectiveness”, which was launched in 2003 at the first meeting organised by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation for Development in Rome, to discuss how to make the development aid more effective. The conference was followed by a meeting in France in 2005 which resulted in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. In this meeting, and for the first time, a set of principles were discussed, including the principle of partnership between donors and beneficiaries, the principle of consistency between the policies and directions of the donors to avoid duplication and the discrepancies in standards, the principle of compatibility with public policies and national needs in the beneficiary country, as well as the principle of democratic ownership, including the ownership of decision, and avoid linking development aid with conditions on the policies.

Demonstration in Cairo. (Photo: EACPE)

The dramatic developments in the region carry positive indicators of a better future. Recent developments in Egypt reshuffled cards and underscored the fact that citizens are capable of getting hold of initiative and change once they feel their rights and their revolution’s achievement are in danger. The fact that more than 22 million people gathered in squares in all Egyptian cities after 22 million signatures were collected by the “Tamarod” movement, reiterates that peoples’ will is unbeatable and that people are capable of regaining their rights with their hands even after a while.