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Roberto Bissio, director of the Third World Institute (IEeM) an international co-ordinator of Social Watch, was interviewed in Madrid by Spaniard journalist Susana Hidalgo (eldiario.es). The conversation, within the framework of the seminar “The Rio+20 we are navigating: Is that the future we want?”, dealt with the variety of definitions assigned by the international community and the social movements to the concept of “green economy”.

The meeting in Geneva. (Photo: UNCTAD)

Civil society was crucial for the success of the 13th Ministerial Meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII) this year, said the Secretary General of the agency Supachai Panitchpakdi to representatives of key non governmental organizations and networks. In their turn, they expressed their appreciation for the UNCTAD’s most recent annual report, which concludes that austerity measures did not lead to economic growth, and recommends supportive government policies to get over the crisis.

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.

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.

Roberto Bissio, Leymah Gbowee, Justin Kilcullen, Graça Machel and Kumi Naidoo.

Beyond 2015, a global civil society campaign pushing for a strong and legitimate successor framework to the Millennium Development Goals, recommended to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, five civil society representatives onto the UN High Level Panel on a post-2015 development framework when it is established.

■ Mongolia narrowed the gap putting legislation into force
■ Brazil reached a low score in political empowerment, although the president is a woman
■ Social Watch Italy: “The economic crisis could represent an opportunity to change”

The achievements made by women all over the world towards equity in education are still very far from making an impact on their having a fair share in the economy or in political power. This can be concluded from the updated figures of the Gender Equity Index (GEI) 2012, published by Social Watch on the eve of International Women’s Day, March 8. None of the 154 countries considered in the study has narrowed the gender gap to an “acceptable” level.

Sources: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Roberto Bissio

"The voices of civil society challenge the conventional wisdom and refresh the international debate" said ITeM's executive director Roberto Bissio during a hearing of the European Parliament in Brussels on South-South cooperation.

"South-South cooperation is meaningful and effective in terms of regional integration and unity in global negotiations. In relation with civil societies, the conventional North-South split is fast becoming meaningless after the Arab Spring," he added.

(Photo: Free Gaza Movement.)

Sources: International Solidarity Movement
PNGOand http://bit.ly/jntOK6

Convened by the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO, focal point of Social Watch), hundreds of people gathered in Mina, the port of Gaza City, to honour the nine Turkish activists killed by Israeli forces that attacked the Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010. At the same time, the organisation made its complaints to the authorities in Ramallah about the new legal restrictions to its activities imposed by the government of President Mahmoud Abbas...[Leer]

Beijing/Berlin/Montevideo/New York/Uppsala, November 15, 2010 – Today, an alliance of civil society groups, networks and foundations, including Third World Network, Social Watch, DAWN, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Global Policy Forum, terre des hommes, and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, launched the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives.

The director of the Third World Institute, Roberto Bissio, was invited to participate in the roundtables of the UN General Assembly that takes place 20-22 September in New York that will review the state of progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).