| Kenya:  Social Watch heads another fight against impunity
 
|   James Maina Mugo, a local member
 of Social Watch, sent this letter to
 
 the Kenyan authorities
 |  
Kenyan police did not  pay due attention to the disappearance on March 31 of Agnes Wanjiru-Wanjiku, a  21-years old woman from a hotel in the town of Nanyuki. Her body was found on June 5 by a  cleaner in a septic tank behind the hotel. Despite the pressure by relatives  and civil society organizations headed by Social Watch, the authorities are  responding very slowly to the growing clamor from the grassroots that accuse  British soldiers and fiercely criticize military cooperation agreements between  Nairobi and London.
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The Czech  Republic is persisting with policies like those that led Greece into crisis
					
Conditions of life in  the Czech Republic  worsened last year, but the Government is persisting with policies like those  that led Greece  into its current crisis. This bleak analysis comes from the fifth annual report  by the country’s Social Watch coalition, which also questions the budget cuts  that have been made and highlights their negative impact on families and on the  national economy. Other critical points it examines are political corruption,  tax evasion, gender inequity and serious deficiencies in environmental  protection.
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Bahrain:  Nabeel Rajab sentenced to three years imprisonment
					
Nabeel Rajab, President  of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR, focal point of Social Watch) and  Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights  (FIDH), was sentenced last week by the Bahraini Lower Criminal Court to three  years imprisonment for "involvement in illegal practices and inciting  gatherings and calling for unauthorized marches through social networking  sites”, for his "participation in an illegal assembly" and for his  “participation in an illegal gathering and calling for a march without prior  notification”.
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India:  Trade policies are not ‘gender neutral’
						
In India, where  economic, social and gender inequalities persist historically, and where trade  policies are not 'gender neutral' the impact of trade policy on women must be  paid serious attention to. Ranja Sengupta, senior researcher with the Third  World Network (TWN), is worried that as the country climbs up the ladder of an  emerging economy, the health, education and food needs of women get affected.
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Can  Africa and China Learn from Each Other?
						
The present global  financial and economic crisis gives China an opportunity to consolidate its  relationship with Africa, said South Centre advisor Dr. Lim Mah-Hui at the 18th  meeting in Beijing of the Afreximbank Advisory Group on Trade and Export  Development in Africa.
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