Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 183 - September 5, 2014

The Group of 77 and China tabled at the United Nations a draft resolution to start negotiating a multilateral legal framework establishing a legal regulatory framework for the sovereign debt restructuring processes.

By Roberto Bissio. Read more

A new article produced by Mohsen Abu-Ramadan, the President of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO) in Gaza. The article describes “the horror of the aggression and its negative impact on all aspects of life” which compelled the authorities to announce Gaza a disaster zone. Moreover, the article calls for “Emergency interventions by the authorities, international organizations, and UN agencies” to ensure an active and dynamic mobilization to address the effects of the aggression on the various social and economic sectors. Read more

Big infrastructure – specifically mega-projects in the energy, water, transport and information communications technology (ICT) – dominates the current development policy agenda. Although infrastructure is desperately needed, the current fad – driven by the  Group of 20 (G20) and the BRICS -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has strong biases that create dangers for human rights. The biases favor: 1) mega-projects rather than “appropriate scale” for the purposes served; 2) public-private partnerships (PPPs) rather than the most cost-effective modality for citizens; 3) systems of environmental and social standards that serve the bottom line of investors rather than the needs of citizens; 4) exclusion of citizens – especially affected communities — from participation in all phases of the project cycle. Read more