Chili Harvest, Bhutan. (Photo: Gill Fickling/UN)

The recent Rio2012 Summit upheld the right of all people to food, and the need to support small farmers and promote ecologically-sound agriculture, reported Martin Khor, executive director of South Centre, in his most recent column for The Star, one of the leading Malaysian newspapers.

Meeting of the Afghanistan Youth Leaders Initiative in Kabul. (Photo: Asia Society)

The Afghanistan Young Leaders Initiative, a non-partisan and non-political group of young people who share common values and beliefs to address the social, economic and political problems in the country, asked the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan that will be held on Sunday 8 “a proper follow-up mechanism […] to ensure the promises delivered upon from both the […] government and its international development partners”.

South Korean marines on board an US helicopter during a joint exercise. Photo: Ministry of National Defense, Korea)

South Korea postponed last week at the last minute the signing of a major military agreement with Japan. Watchdog group Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice, focal point of Social Watch in the Republic of Korea, said it would help Japan's rearmament and pave the way for its troops to set foot on the peninsula, reported AFP news agency and several media.

Press conference in Cairo. (Photo: CIHRS)

Seventeen human rights non governmental organizations launched on Wednesday officially launched their “Human Rights in 100 Days” campaign to pressure new Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi to follow through on rights of Egyptian citizens.

“Reclaiming Multilateralism: For People, Rights and Sustainable Development,” the latest United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) publication, is an analytical think piece that looks at the evolution of the multilateral system in the context of the various challenges posed by the global economic and environmental crises.

The publication, authored by Barbara Adams and Gretchen Luchsinger, seeks to engage all stakeholders – whether government, multilateral, regional, and sub-national institutions, civil society and social movements – in an open debate on a “new multilateralism” or rather what kinds of development and governance models the multilateral system should be endorsing that would balance and regulate the political, economic and social shifts brought by globalization and bring the promises of justice, equity and sustainable development to fruition.