The international research centre CARDET, focal point of Social Watch in Cyprus, and the consultancy firm InnovADE launched the Mediterranean Migration Network (MMN), with the aim to promote collaboration and exchange of good practices among public and private stakeholders active in the fields of migration and integration.

A scene of the Tunisian Revolution. (Photo: cjb22/Flickr/CC)

According to the Social Watch 2012 report on the Arab world, last year’s revolutions in that region “reflect the connection between sustainable development, democratic government and freedom” and the search for “a renewed role for the State” as a “leading actor” in “the reform of development paradigms”. This demand also applies to the whole of the developing South.

A mosquito biting the photographer. (Photo: dr_relling/Flickr/CC)

A team of scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany found critical failures in the regulatory processes of the first three countries (Malaysia, US and the Cayman Islands) permitting releases of genetically modified (GM) insects in terms of transparency and scientific quality, reported the Third World Network Biosafety Information Service.

Iraqi women chant campaign slogans. (Photo: Al Jazeera English /Flickr/CC)

Members of the Iraqi Parliament promised to make serious efforts to approve laws in order to ensure all women the enjoyment of their social and economic rights, guaranteed by the Constitution, at the request of Iraqi Al-Amal Association, focal point of Social Watch in that country.

Abdoulaye Wade. (UN Photo)

The civil society organizations gathered in Social Watch Benin invited the incumbent President of Senegal, Abdoulaye Wade, who is seeking a third term in office, “to take a peaceful retirement,” the network said in a statement published on Thursday.