Social Watch news

The UN’s Inter-governmental Committee of Experts on Sustainable Development Financing (it is a bit of a mouthful, I know) met for the last time this month to put the final touches to their much anticipated report on how the world should finance the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals – or SDGs.

So what have they come up with? Does it offer a sensible strategy for financing the new international development vision? Will the report be the game-changer many civil society organizations want to see? And how far will it support human rights realization for all?

The last few decades have seen two mutually reinforcing trends with regard to government budgets. First, though fiscal policy has long been seen as a key tool for governments to support stable economies and provide public services, the instrumental role of budgets in promoting development, redistributing wealth, and reducing poverty has been increasingly recognized. Second, this growing recognition of the importance of budgeting in addressing some of the world’s most persistent challenges has been a major factor in transparency and accountability becoming fashionable.

While budgets today have a global profile like never before, the lingo connecting public budgets to people’s lives has a clear precedent in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966

Women of Al-Anbar Iraq. Photo: UNHCR Iraq

Almost eleven years have passed since the US toppled Saddam Hussain’s regime, and Iraq still continues to struggle. In December 2013, Iraq national security forces stormed the private residence of the Iraqi Finance Minister, arresting several of his staff for supporting terrorism. This incident served as a trigger for sectarian violence throughout the Sunni triangle in southern Iraq – Al--‐Anbar Province. It was one of the areas that led peaceful demonstrations on February 2011, but subsequently witnessed the highest amount of sectarian violence, including government security force attacks on civilians.

The recent advancement of Islamic State of in Iraq and Syria (ISIS or Daesh) forces in Mosul and other areas in Iraq has caused great concern about the prospects of peace. Policymakers are scrambling to figure out an appropriate strategy to limit further advancement and prevent further security breakdown.

On 30th July 2014 the Czech Social Watch Coalition released the new National Social Watch Report summarizing the development in the year 2013. The title of the report is Czech Republic: Chaos and incompetence in the next year of crisis and it focuses on social development and gender equity, particularly in the following areas: economics, women in politics, social and accessible housing, Roma minority, the lack of community work and human rights agenda in the Czech foreign policy. The publication includes an additional article about the Czech arms export, which is called Czech Republic again equipped dictators with arms in 2013.