Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 168 - May 16, 2014

The participants in the civil society strategy meeting on monitoring and accountability organized by Social Watch last february in Montevideo were asked about how they personally work and relate with the huge task of making the powerful accountable. Here is what they said:

Xavier Godinot
The evolution of poverty in the world. The World Bank says that extreme poverty has fallen by half in recent years, but this is based on unreliable indicators. First, because it only takes into account the monetary dimension, when poverty concerns all dimensions of life. And especially the dimension of discrimination, humiliation, which is not at all present in this indicator. The global economic crisis has affected all regions. In Europe, some countries have been more affected than others. In particular, poverty has increased significantly in countries like Greece and Spain. But this increase in poverty is not reflected in this indicator from the World Bank. Thanks to this indicator, poverty has disappeared in Europe and the United States, which is not at all true. See the video here.

See all the videos here. More coming soon.

The National Social Watch Report and the Odisha Social Watch Report 2013 was launched on Tuesday 13th May 2014 in DRTC-CYSD, Bhubaneswar, India. Mr. Jagadananda, President of National Social Watch, presented both the reports, followed by the presentations of the findings of the reports and open discussions.

Dowload the Citizens' Report on Governance and Development 2013 and Odisha Social Watch Report 2013.

Social Watch El Salvador has been executing a project called “Awareness and advocacy as tools for the financial education of the Salvadoran population and demanding a fair legislative framework for financial products.” The project has the objective of contributing to the generation of public opinion on abuses perpetrated by financial institutions that have an impact on the population generating negative impacts on poverty and human rights conditions. Read more

"In whose name? A critical view on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)” provides an overview of the history and content of R2P, its positive contributions and its flaws. It concludes that R2P does not give a satisfying answer to the key question it is supposed to address: how best to prevent and, if prevention fails, respond to large-scale human rights violations and killings? The concept is particularly dangerous as it amalgamates arguments and proposals, mixing uncontroversial and widely accepted notions (that states have a responsibility towards their citizens) with more dubious claims (that military intervention is an appropriate tool to protect civilians).Read more