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Morocco: Social Watch launches national debate on sustainable development
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Espace associatif
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The main francophone Moroccan newspaper, Le Matin, expressed its support to the consultation process launched by the Associative Space, focal group of Social Watch in that country, towards the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (“Río + 20”), to be held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, the same as the long remembered 1992 Earth Summit. Furthermore, the process reflects the current approach of Social Watch to sustainable development issues, on which its next annual report will be focused.
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Donors try to “deny, dilute, delay and divide” LDCs
More than forty heads of government and high officers representing 48 countries with a population of 880 million people. A week of discussion. One official meeting and three parallel forums arranged for civil society, the business sector and the parlamentarians. But the week-long fourth Conference on the Least Developed Countries (UNLDC IV) that will begin this Monday in Istanbul “does not promising at all”, according to Bangladeshi ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury, former UN Under-Secretary-General.
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A world with 7 billion of people needs safe family planning options
The 2010 Revision of World Population Prospects, released yesterday by the UN, indicate that the global population will surge past 9 billion before 2050 and eventually pass 10 billion before the end of the century, Babatunde Osotimehin, the Executive Director of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), reported this week. The projections also reveal that the total population should reach the 7-billion mark on 31 October this year.
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PNGO Network welcomed the Palestinian reconciliation agreement
The Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO, focal point of Social Watch in Gaza and the West Bank) welcomed the national reconciliation agreement that put an end to the tragic stage of division between the two major political parties, Fatah and Hamas.
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Tunisian League for Human Rights calls for freedom of belief
The Tunisian League for Human Rights (LTDH, national focal point of Social Watch) denounced "the repeated assaults questioning religious beliefs and opinions of individuals and groups by adopting a religious discourse," reports TAP news agency. The LTDH called upon authorities to "put an end to torture, arbitrary arrests and violation of criminal proceedings," emphasising the need to respect the physical integrity and ensure fair trials, according to the report of TAP (Tunis Afrique Presse News Agency).
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Poland: Government studies same-sex marriage contracted abroad
After years of lobbying by Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH, focal point of Social Watch in this country), with support of European institutions and civil society organisations, the Polish Minister of Internal Affairs announced that will prepare a new version of the application form for those Polish citizens who want to get married abroad with there same sex partner.
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Canadian paradox: Women get worst, but there are more in the Parliament
A recent report coordinated by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA) highlights the sharp decrease in support for women’s issues under the Stephen Harper government, whose Conservative Party's won its first legislative majority since 1988 on Monday, assuring his re-election.
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Bahraini regime accuses doctors who attended repression victims
The Bahraini Military Public Prosecution is accusing 24 doctors and 23 nurses, paramedics and administrators who attended victims of the security forces “for their involvement in the recent deplorable unrest”, said the Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment Minister, Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al-Khalifa, on Tuesday.
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Africa: Governance index versus reality
Africa lacks adequate development monitoring and reporting mechanisms, as is shown in the “imbalance” between the usual indexes and the reality, warned the Civic Commission for Africa (C-CfA), representative regional coalition of civil society organisations, at the third TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) Ministerial Follow-Up Meeting, which was held this Sunday and Monday in Senegal.
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AWID: Call to proposals
Through its 2012 International Forum, the Association for Women’s Rights on Development (AWID) aims to explore how economic power is impacting on women and the planet, and to facilitate connections among the very diverse groups working on these issues from both human rights and justice approaches so that together they can contribute to stronger, more effective strategies to advance women’s rights and justice.
There are many important experiences from which to learn and build, according to AWID call to a process of debate. Indigenous, peasant and rural women building food sovereignty. Grassroots women developing strategies of resilience and empowerment in the face of both environmental and economic disasters. Young women and girls using new information and communication technologies in diverse and creative ways to mobilize and bring about social change. Sex workers, migrant workers and domestic workers redefining what it means to work and why care work should count. Women with disabilities, trans activists and women living with HIV/AIDS continuing to question unbridled emphasis on growth and productivity at the expense of human dignity. And feminist economists naming and analyzing the forces shaping and assigning value to social production and reproduction.
AWID invites all civil society organisations to join to its 2012 International Forum and to be part of deepening its understanding of economic injustice, equipping ourselves to engage in economic debates, and devising strategies to transform and reclaim economic power.
The deadline for submission of proposals to AWID draws near (May 27). Social Watch is going to make a submission. If you feel like participate in the process, please contact Kate McInturff (kate@fafia-afai.org)
