Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 160 - March 14, 2014

A meeting aimed at coordinating global advocacy on a new development agenda was held last February 23-24 in Istanbul, convened by the UN Secretary-General’s adviser on development planning, the UN Foundation, the Overseas Development Institute of the UK and CIVICUS. Social Watch addressed a letter to the meeting arguing that "joint civil society action around Post-2015 has to focus on goals and commitments for the countries of the North, the necessary changes of the consumption and production patterns in these countries, and the structural framework conditions shaped by these countries, particularly in the global financial, investment and trade systems".Read more

Civil society organizations and networks from around the world met in Montevideo to discuss the current multiple global crises and our collective responses to it. The meeting was opened by Uruguayan president José Mujica and included a debate about development alternatives with three ministers. Concrete action points to curtail the power of corporations over the international agenda were sugested. Read a summary of the findings and recommendations of the “Strategy Meeting” on Monitoring and Accountability.

About two dozen Iraqi women have demonstrated in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers.

The group's protest was on International Women's Day on Saturday (local time) and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shiite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. Read more

The training on Gender-Responsive Budgeting, Budget Analysis and Policy Advocacy was organized for experts of National Budget Group (NBG) in Baku last February under the project: “Your Money, Your Future: Improving Public Finance Policy and Management in Azerbaijan”. The purpose of the training was to increase the awareness and knowledge of civil society experts about the public finance policy analysis and writing capacity, policy advocacy, gender-responsive budgeting and provide them with relevant information on the concept, tools and practices.
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Despite commitments to enhance coherence of development, financial, monetary, trade, investment and other key policies, global economic policymaking remains fragmented and incoherent. “Coherence among the various areas of international policymaking is critical to ensuring that actions in one policy area do not undermine the goals or actions in another,” said a report released by the UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights, Mr. Cephas Lumina (“the Independent Expert”) and prepared for the General Assembly. Read more