Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 325 - March 16, 2018

International investment and trade agreements are legally binding international treaties which give investors an additional layer of legal protection on top of the host country law and contract law. However, little efforts have been made in ironing out the interface between these different laws and treaties. Inconsistencies and even contradictions have emerged in dispute settlement decisions, sometimes at the expense of public good, sovereignty and financial and economic stability. An asymmetry seems to exist in the allocation of risks and benefits between investors and recipients of investments. Read more

The past few years have seen the economies of the East African Community (EAC) Member States grow by leaps and bounds, with the region averaging some 6 percent annual GDP growth since 2011. These growth rates have been heralded as the proof that the region has finally made a structural shift in its economies, and this is now held out as a harbinger of greater things to come. Furthermore, the potential emerging from the recent hydrocarbon discoveries and the extractive industries in general as well as the long-awaited renewal of dilapidated rail, road and port infrastructure has also served to boost optimism. Indeed, the ‘mix’ of the region’s economies suggests that there is a deeper and perhaps subtler set of changes taking place.
But this economic expansion has been accompanied by a growth in inequality in virtually all countries of the EAC. Put bluntly, not all citizens of East Africa have seen or felt the benefits of these stellar GDP growth figures. Read more

On February 14, 2018, UN Women released its SDG Monitoring Report, Turning Promises Into Action, which assesses what is needed to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular in regards to gender equality.
In line with the report’s focus, the 62nd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) addresses the challenges rural women and girls face in achieving gender equality and empowerment. Despite a number of advances globally, progress for women and girls remains slow, and even where it has been made it is often highly uneven. While issues such as stagnant economic growth, rapid environmental degradation, unsustainable land use practices, and the dynamics of migration and urbanization impact women in both the global North and South, they affect rural women in particular. Read more

Social Watch invites you to participate in our renewed collective effort to make governments accountable for the ambitious promises they made us.
This report will be launched next July during the meeting of the High Level Political Forum of the United Nations that will review at ministerial level the Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Almost three years after the adoption of this ambitious agenda, the 2018 report will look at how it is implemented. The Guidelines for the 2018 Social Watch contributions are available in English, French and Spanish.