Arab governments are legally bound by the constitutions to respect basic economic and social rights, but they usually abandon their commitments in the practice as time goes by, according to the first Arab Watch Report, launched by civil society organizations of ten Middle East and North African countries.

The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) launched this first regional report on economic and social rights – focused on the rights to work and to education – during a regional workshop held in Beirut, on 9 and 10 October.

Launch of the Right to Food and Nutrition Watch in Geneva with Flavio Valente (FIAN), Peter Prove (EAA), Huguette Akplogan-Dossa (ANoRF), Abdessalam Ould Ahmed (FAO) and Lalji Desai (WAMIP). (Photo: FIAN International)

The fifth annual global report Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012 focuses on the role of democracy in the fight against hunger. Representatives of the civil society organizations that produced the study called in the launch ceremony in Geneva for a turnaround in global decision-making on the matter, because they concluded that it is impossible to combat the causes of hunger while keeping existing power relations untouched.

Eurodad, Afrodad, Latindadd, Jubilee USA and the Third World Network (TWN) joined hands to call in a joint statement for a lasting solution to the sovereign debt crisis and the establishment of a fair and independent international debt workout mechanism.

A room in the shelter in Amman

The Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU, national focal point of Social Watch) vowed to continue offering services to abused women at its shelter in Amman despite a recent decision by the Ministry of Social Development to close it down, reported journalist Rana Husseini in an article published in The Jordan Times.

UN Human Rights Council.

The UN Human Rights Council adopted last week a set of guiding principles relating to extreme poverty. The decision means that the member states of the Council affirmed that eradicating extreme poverty is not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation under existing international human rights law.