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Somavia: Social movements and social struggle must drive the changes
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ILO Director-General, Juan
Somavia. (Photo: ILO)
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“The current growth model that has evolved since the early 1980s has become economically inefficient, socially unstable, environmentally damaging and politically unsustainable. So it must be changed. But getting there will probably lead to increased social conflict,” said Juan Somavia, ILO Director General, in his message to the Social Watch Global Assembly in Manila.
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Governments urged to ratify ILO Convention 189 on domestic work
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The Social Watch Global
Assembly finished on Friday.
(Photo: SW)
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International advocates of social and economic justice attending the 5th Social Watch Global Assembly in Manila urged governments to ratify the Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers approved by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in June.
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Accountability and access to information shouldn't be luxuries just for rich countries
The principles of accountability are universal and “the ‘naming and shaming’ mechanisms are essentially the same", but the means for attaining those principals vary from country to country, said Roberto Bissio, Social Watch coordinator, at the network's Global Assembly that took place in Manila, Philippines.
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Philippines cannot prevent emigration, says Vice President
Philippine government has no reason to apologize for the persistent diaspora of workers, said Vice President Jejomar Binay at the 5th Social Watch Global Assembly on Tuesday in Manila, according to Manila Bulletin newspaper.
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Civil society networks urge EU to rethink priorities towards the Arab world
The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND), European Solidarity Towards Equal Participation of People (Eurostep) and Social Watch urged this week to the European governments to rethink its “priorities and approaches in its cooperation” with the Arab countries in this “period of change and quest for a new social contract between citizen and the state”.
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Israeli forces arrest Gaza patients looking for medical treatment in West Bank
The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO, focal point of Social Watch) warned about a rise in the number of residents in Gaza looking for medical treatment in the West Bank who are arrested by Israeli forces at the Erez crossing.
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Egypt: Civil society and political parties to march again
Revolutionary political parties and civil society organizations that have been participating in a sit-in in Tahrir Square, including the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE, focal point of Social Watch), stressed in statement their demands and called for a million people to march.
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Brazil: Domestic violence affects four in 10 women
Brazil’s Annual Report on Women, released this month by the government, shows that 43.1 per cent of women have suffered some kind of violence in their own homes. The percentage falls to 12.3 per cent in the case of men. “The Annual Report is essential for the political struggle in favour of women’s rights”, said Eliana Gracia, expert of the Institute for Socioeconomic Studies (Inesc, one of the focal points of Social Watch in Brazil).
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Canada’s income gap grows
Income inequality in Canada is widening as the rich get richer while poor and middle-income people lose ground, says the Conference Board of Canada in a report released Wednesday, according to The Star newspaper. “While the poor are minimally better off in an absolute sense, they are significantly worse off in a relative sense. And where is the middle-class in all of this? These are important questions for society,” said board president Anne Golden in an interview.
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