Social Watch news
Published on Fri, 2012-06-15 20:10
by Roberto Bissio
Twenty years ago, the concept of “sustainable development” was adopted at the highest level in Rio de Janeiro to simultaneously aim at preserving the planet for future generations and promoting a sound development to meet the needs of the present ones. Twenty years after, the volume of international trade has multiplied by five and the per capita world income has doubled to around ten thousand dollars a year. And yet sustainable development is far from being achieved. Increased resources has not accelerated poverty reduction and instead social inequality is on the rise in most countries, North and South, while the unsustainable production and consumption patterns have already overstepped several “planetary boundaries.”
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Published on Thu, 2012-06-14 08:36
Photo: Chad Magiera/Flickr/CC
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The international community must find new indicators to measure the performance of the countries and the world on economy, equity, well-being, human rights and sustainability, suggests the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives, made up of 18 leading activists and scholars from all over the planet.
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Published on Wed, 2012-06-13 15:33
“Human rights considerations have no place” in the discussions of the Group of 20 (G20), “nevertheless their actions have significant impacts on the realization and enjoyment of human rights,” and the members of the bloc “cannot disregard their human rights obligations in any forum, including multilateral economic institutions,” warned the initiative "A bottom up approach to righting financial regulation" in its fourth issue.
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Published on Tue, 2012-06-12 08:26
Danish minister Ida Auken, EU
commissioner Janez Potocnik
and Danish expert Mikkel
Aaro-Hansen at the Environment
Counicil this week.
(Photo: European Council)
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Civil society organizations from around the world are calling on the EU to unreservedly re-commit, in both letter and spirit, to the Rio principles adopted 20 years ago. EU Environment Ministers, who meet in Luxembourg on Monday 11 June, are being urged to demonstrate that EU policies and practices pursued within and outside the EU will be consistent with the principles of sustainable development.
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Published on Tue, 2012-06-12 08:23
Hanaa Edwar, interviewed by
Euronews. (Image: Euronews)
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With insecurity and economic hardship, Iraqis are still paying the price of years of oppression and war, and women carry a heavy burden. Human rights activist Hanaa Edwar has never stopped fighting for women’s rights, said reporter Valerie Gauriat in a special coverage for Euronews TV network.
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Published on Fri, 2012-06-08 11:19
Two weeks before the United Nations conference in Rio de Janeiro (Rio2012), 18 leading civil society activists and scholars from around the globe proposed concrete measures to effectively overcome the obstacles that prevent the world population to achieve a real sustainable development that enhances social equality and protects the environment.
In its report, the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives “describes the root causes of the multiple crises” that suffers the planet, “reconfirms the framework of universal principles and rights, reconsiders development goals and indicators, and draws conclusions for the post-2015 development agenda.”
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Published on Fri, 2012-06-08 11:17
Mohammed Idris lead a protest
in Penang. (Photo: CAP)
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The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) warned that the beauty of this Malaysian state natural environment is slowly losing its shine due to the rapid pace of unsustainable development.
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Published on Tue, 2012-06-05 08:04
A National Civil Society Consultation on the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio2012) was organized in Kathmandu by Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN, focal point of Social Watch), in collaboration with the National Planning Commission and the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development.
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Published on Tue, 2012-06-05 08:02
Seal of the EMMPE.
(Source: EACPE)
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Despite the previous reservations, the first round of the Egyptian presidential elections held last week “can be described as fair and very close to conforming to international standards of transparency,” according to a broad alliance of civil society organizations and individuals that observed the polls, reported the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE), national focal point of Social Watch in that Arab country.
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Published on Thu, 2012-05-31 19:51
Can poverty be measured as the
World Bank does? (Photo: WB)
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The World Bank has calculated that extreme poverty in the developing South fell by half in the period 1981 to 2008, but according to the Social Watch Coordinator Roberto Bissio, in an interview with Radio Nederland, this overall perspective conceals a worsening situation in many regions that is counterbalanced by data showing an improvement in China. Bissio explained that these studies, in which extreme poverty is defined as earning less than USD 1.25 per day, do not take account of the impact of recent disasters like rising food prices or the effects of the world economic crisis.
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