Social Watch news

Serious developments regarding the violations of rights in Egypt are becoming more evident, as the Ministry of Social Solidarity proposes a new law, which would constitute a dangerous escalation in the framework of systematic targeting of civil society activists and the increasing restrictions imposed upon them.

On 26 June 2014, the Egyptian ministry in charge of regulating civil society organization proposed a new draft law, causing shockwaves among civil society organizations (CSOs) in the country. For six months, they had carried out negotiations with former Social Solidarity Minister Dr. Ahmed el-Boraei, which led to a proposed law to be presented to forthcoming parliament soon after the elections.

We are at a crossroads in defining the future of sustainable development. Over the summer, UN member states hashed out some agreement on a proposed set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and targets, and simultaneously devised a ‘menu of options’ for financing these universal goals. The UN Secretary General’s office is at the grind now to synthesize these proposals and many more into a workable set of recommendations for what the post-2015 sustainable development framework could and should look like.

As the post-2015 process now starts to harden and faultlines become more pronounced, experts and activists from the development, environmental and human rights communities are converging around a fairly straightforward argument.

This joint statement, signed by dozens of human rights organizations from all over the world, has been issued in response to the US Supreme Court decision on Argentina's sovereign debt. It has been coordinated by the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) from Argentina.

In a recent decision, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition filed by the Republic of Argentina in the case initiated by the vulture fund NML Capital.

Big infrastructure – specifically mega-projects in the energy, water, transport and information communications technology (ICT) – dominates the current development policy agenda. Although infrastructure is desperately needed, the current fad – driven by the Group of 20 (G20) and the BRICS -Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — has strong biases that create dangers for human rights. The biases favor: 1) mega-projects rather than “appropriate scale” for the purposes served; 2) public-private partnerships (PPPs) rather than the most cost-effective modality for citizens; 3) systems of environmental and social standards that serve the bottom line of investors rather than the needs of citizens; 4) exclusion of citizens – especially affected communities — from participation in all phases of the project cycle.