Social Watch News

Arab governments are legally bound by the constitutions to respect basic economic and social rights, but they usually abandon their commitments in the practice as time goes by, according to the first Arab Watch Report, launched by civil society organizations of ten Middle East and North African countries.

The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND) launched this first regional report on economic and social rights – focused on the rights to work and to education – during a regional workshop held in Beirut, on 9 and 10 October.

Launch of the Right to Food and
Nutrition Watch in Geneva with
Flavio Valente (FIAN), Peter
Prove (EAA), Huguette
Akplogan-Dossa (ANoRF),
Abdessalam Ould Ahmed (FAO)
and Lalji Desai (WAMIP).
(Photo: FIAN International)

The fifth annual global report Right to Food and Nutrition Watch 2012 focuses on the role of democracy in the fight against hunger. Representatives of the civil society organizations that produced the study called in the launch ceremony in Geneva for a turnaround in global decision-making on the matter, because they concluded that it is impossible to combat the causes of hunger while keeping existing power relations untouched.

Eurodad, Afrodad, Latindadd, Jubilee USA and the Third World Network (TWN) joined hands to call in a joint statement for a lasting solution to the sovereign debt crisis and the establishment of a fair and independent international debt workout mechanism.

A room in the shelter in Amman

The Jordanian Women’s Union (JWU, national focal point of Social Watch) vowed to continue offering services to abused women at its shelter in Amman despite a recent decision by the Ministry of Social Development to close it down, reported journalist Rana Husseini in an article published in The Jordan Times.

UN Human Rights Council.

The UN Human Rights Council adopted last week a set of guiding principles relating to extreme poverty. The decision means that the member states of the Council affirmed that eradicating extreme poverty is not only a moral duty but also a legal obligation under existing international human rights law.

A group of United Nations independent experts on extreme poverty, external debt and equitable order reminded European Union governments that economic reforms must be crafted in line with the human rights obligations of States, following the release of a European-wide flagship study on the structure of the EU banking sector. 

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) must organize the protection of the refugees it takes responsibility for in the Sinai, so that they are secure in the camps and do not risk kidnapping, according to a new report authored by Mirjam van Reisen, Meron Estefanos and Dr Conny Rijken, from Tilburg University and European External Policy Advisors (EEPA)t.

An article about the report, written by Van Reisen and published by InDepth NewsViewpoint (IDN), says that the victims of kidnapping endure unspeakable torture, and increasingly women and children are included, tortured and raped.


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