Over the last year, reports from Oxfam, the Council of Europe, and the ILO have criticized the implementation of austerity policies both in Europe and worldwide. According to these reports, austerity policies have not only prevented countries from recovering from the financial crisis of 2008, but have also caused states to regress on their human rights obligations.

The latest Citizens’ Report on Governance and Development prepared by the National Social Watch has drawn attention to several disturbing trends in India, comments Bharat Dogra in the latest issue the influential "Mainstream" weekly. The findings of this report are supported by a wealth of facts and figures, says the review.

Iraqi Al-Amal Association, the Social Watch member in Iraq, mourns with deep sorrow and anguish, the assassination of one of its activists, Saad Abdul Wahab Ahmed.

Unknown terrorists assassinated our Colleague Saad, with silenced guns in Muqdadiyah, Diyala Provence last Monday 18th August. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

The UN’s Inter-governmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (it is a bit of a mouthful, I know) met for the last time this month to put the final touches to their much anticipated report on how the world should finance the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals – or SDGs.

So what have they come up with? Does it offer a sensible strategy for financing the new international development vision? Will the report be the game-changer many civil society organizations want to see? And how far will it support human rights realization for all?

Social Watch calls on the international community to declare the Gaza Strip as an "international humanitarian disaster zone", as requested by the Palestinian NGOs. The flow of humanitarian assistance needs to be accelerated and civilians need to be protected. "The recurrence of these episodes in Gaza -says the Social Watch statement- is the result of not having acted before on similar war crimes and of not having pursued with good faith negotiations towards a lasting peace. The current ceasefire has to be maintained and the international community should back it proactively.