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Poor countries work harder than rich ones to reduce carbon emissions
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Climate talks in Bonn.
(Photo: Jon Golinski/UNFCCC)
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Experts and activists warned this week in Bonn, where another UN conference on climate change took place, that the talks are following dangerous paths. Developing countries are working harder than the rich nations to reduce their carbon emissions, said senior scientist Sivan Kartha, while 125 organizations from all continents urged the governments to renew their commitment to the current international moratorium on geoengineering.
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Surge in settler violence against Palestinians
The human rights organisation Al-Haq expressed its grave concern about a surge of the violence against the Palestinian population of the West Bank. The arson of a mosque in the village of al-Mghayyer committed by local Jewish settlers last week is part of the ongoing trend, intensified by the impunity, warned this group based in Ramallah and member of the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO, focal point of Social Watch in the occupied territories).
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Argentina: Canadian mining company accused of violating OECD guidelines
The non-governmental Citizen Participation Forum for Justice and Human Rights (FOCO) accused the Canadian mining company Barrick Gold of violating in Argentina environmental and human health guidelines set by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
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Bangladesh: Subsidy cut to upset agriculture
A budgetary plan to cut farm subsidies will frustrate farmers and the sector as a whole, as they still need special care for a few more years, warned this week Khondar Ibrahim Khaled, emeritus fellow of Unnayan Shamannay (national focal point of Social Watch).
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Kenya: Citizens to participate in budget process
Kenyan citizens will have time until the end of this month to participate in the public discussion of the budget statement delivered to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Finance. The Constitution orders the parliamentary budget committee to process the representations of the people and to take into account their recommendations. The Social Development Network (SODNET, national focal point of Social Watch) has committed itself to play an important role delivering information to the public about the budget in an open fashion.
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Philippines: Rethinking and redefining independence at this times
“On June 12, 1898, we declared ourselves independent from the crushing heel of Spanish colonialism” but “became a colony of the United States after a bloody war that killed thousands of Filipinos,” wrote Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines, in this column for Bussiness Mirror, a major paper in her country.
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Chile: Female pensioners receive one-third less than men
Men who retire under the new Chilean pension system – exhibited as a model throughout Latin America – obtain now an income 33 per cent higher than women who have saved the same funds, informed researchers Manuel Riesco and Mireya Baltra, of the Centre for National Studies on Alternative Development (CENDA, national focal point of Social Watch) to the Chamber of Deputies of that country.
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Egypt: As in Tunisia, the Constitution must be the first step
Twenty Egyptian civil society organisations are looking at the Tunisian example to recommend giving priority to the draft of the Constitution that will rule “the institutions of a democratic regime“, and to postpone the parliamentary and presidential elections.
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