Demonstration in Yemen. (Photo: HRITC)

Yemeni people are suffering from a deteriorating human rights and security situation, and the abusers should be subject to justice in order to restore stability and to allow a political dialogue, warned Ezzadin Al-Asbahi, director of the Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC, focal point of Social Watch) last week. Al-Asbahi took part in an interactive dialogue at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights about the crisis in the Arab country.

Source: Better Aid

The report “Aid Effectiveness 2005-2010: Progress in Implementing the Paris Declaration”, released on Thursday by the OECD, shows that the richest countries, which currently provide the lion’s share of development aid ($120 billion of aid annually), have made disappointing progress in making this significant sum work to address poverty.

Eritrean refugees in a demonstration (Photo: EEPA)

Sources: IDN-InDepthNews, EEPA

The European Union (EU) and the European Parliament censured the Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki for sending independent journalists and "thousands of Eritreans" to jail, and urged the African Union to exert pressure on the government to free prisoners. “Europe finally condemns Eritrea; but does it do anything to support the Eritreans?” asked Professor Mirjam van Reisen, founder and director of Brussels-based Europe External Policy Advisors (EEPA).

Launch of the Open Government Partnership in New York (Photo: Inesc)

Sources: Transparency International, Financial Task Force, HumanRights.gov, Inesc

A group of government and civil society organizations from all over the planet, among them the Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (Inesc, focal point of Social Watch in Brazil), launched this Wednesday in New York the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative that aims to promote transparency, fight corruption, strengthen accountability and empower citizens.

Sources: BantuWatch, IPS, Global Voices, Reuters, AllAfrica 

The electoral campaign and the polls held on Tuesday in Zambia counted on unusual but effective observers: the citizens themselves could report irregularities via Twitter, SMS, Internet and telephone thanks to BantuWatch. That’s the name of an initiative headed by the Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Saccord), with the technical support of the Dutch Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation (Hivos) and the Social Development Network (Sodnet, focal point of Social Watch in Kenya).