Social Watch news
Published on Thu, 2012-08-30 08:35
Photo: SODNET/Kenya
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“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.
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Published on Thu, 2012-08-30 08:34
The Great Depression. (Photo:
Heath School Social Studies)
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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.
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Published on Wed, 2012-08-29 09:06
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.
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Published on Wed, 2012-08-29 08:48
Nabeel Rajab. (Photo: Avaaz)
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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.
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Published on Tue, 2012-08-28 15:17
Soy beans cultivation. (Photo:
Leonora Enking/Flickr/CC)
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The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA) decision to give a green light to cultivation of Monsanto’s herbicide-tolerant soybean have been challenged by the European Network of Scientists for Social and Environmental Responsibility (ENSSER), the research firm Testbiotech, the Society for Ecological Research, Sambucus, the foundation Manfred-Hermsen-Stiftung for Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection and the Foundation on Future Farming. These groups argue that EFSA didn’t carry out risk assessments as legally required.
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Published on Tue, 2012-08-28 15:00
Tetteh Hormeku of TWN-A.
(Photo: Transnational
Institute/Flickr/CC)
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The Economic Justice Network (EJN), a Ghanaian coalition of civil society organizations working for socio-economic justice and equitable national development, was re-launched to deal with new policy threats affecting livelihoods, reported Ghana News Agency and AllAfrica news portal.
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Published on Thu, 2012-08-23 08:49
James Maina Mugo, a local member
of Social Watch, sent this letter to
the Kenyan authorities
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Kenyan police did not pay due attention to the disappearance on March 31 of Agnes Wanjiru-Wanjiku, a 21-years old woman from a hotel in the town of Nanyuki. Her body was found on June 5 by a cleaner in a septic tank behind the hotel. Despite the pressure by relatives and civil society organizations headed by Social Watch, the authorities are responding very slowly to the growing clamor from the grassroots that accuse British soldiers and fiercely criticize military cooperation agreements between Nairobi and London.
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Published on Thu, 2012-08-23 08:48
Conditions of life in the Czech Republic worsened last year, but the Government is persisting with policies like those that led Greece into its current crisis. This bleak analysis comes from the fifth annual report by the country’s Social Watch coalition, which also questions the budget cuts that have been made and highlights their negative impact on families and on the national economy. Other critical points it examines are political corruption, tax evasion, gender inequity and serious deficiencies in environmental protection.
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Published on Wed, 2012-08-22 08:53
Ranja Sengupta.
(Photo: Civil Society News)
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In India, where economic, social and gender inequalities persist historically, and where trade policies are not 'gender neutral' the impact of trade policy on women must be paid serious attention to. Ranja Sengupta, senior researcher with the Third World Network (TWN), is worried that as the country climbs up the ladder of an emerging economy, the health, education and food needs of women get affected.
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Published on Wed, 2012-08-22 08:47
Arrest of Nabeel Rajab and
other activists on February.
(Photo: BCHR)
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Nabeel Rajab, President of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR, focal point of Social Watch) and Deputy Secretary General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), was sentenced last week by the Bahraini Lower Criminal Court to three years imprisonment for "involvement in illegal practices and inciting gatherings and calling for unauthorized marches through social networking sites”, for his "participation in an illegal assembly" and for his “participation in an illegal gathering and calling for a march without prior notification”.
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