Leonor Briones. (Photo: Freedom from Debt Coalition)

Social Watch Philippines is questioning some items in the 2013 budget submitted by the government to the Congress. The convenor of this national coalition of civil society groups, Leonor Briones, said there are lump sum appropriations called “special purpose funds”, which did not provide any breakdowns.

Photo: SODNET/Kenya

“Improving gender equity in itself may be a goal with clear, intrinsic value. However, a substantial body of research now suggests that gender equity and the achievement of other development goals, such as health, education, social and economic rights fulfillment, and even growth, are inseparable,” wrote expert Terra Lawson-Remer, of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), based on several statistical studies, including the Gender Equity Index issued by Social Watch.

The Great Depression. (Photo: Heath School Social Studies)

For decades successive governments in the United States have resisted pressure to implement social assistance policies to help the sectors most in need, and this has serious consequences today. According to the Peruvian lawyer, sociologist and university professor Héctor Béjar in his latest column for Agenda Global, some 47 million of the USA’s 308 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, 15 million workers are unemployed and the prison population is 756 per 100,000 people.

The “Week of advocacy on policies and issues of cooperation and partnership between the European Union and Arab countries”, arranged by the Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) in cooperation with Eurostep and CNCD-11.11.11, will engage civil society organizations from both regions. The meetings between 17 to 21 Sept in Brussels are to see exchanges also between Arab representatives and European policy makers on issues of common concern.

Nabeel Rajab. (Photo: Avaaz)

A petition was launched at the Avaaz web site to call on the United States, the United Kingdom and the United Nations to demand the dropping of all the politically motivated charges against activist Nabeel Rajab and his immediate release from prison in Bahrain.