2005/10/21
German Social Watch report 2005 launched
Social Watch
Endorsed by 28 organizations, the German Social Watch Report 2005 was launched in Bonn last October 21.
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download the
Social Watch Deutschland Report 2005 / NR. 5:
Handeln statt Versprechen
Soziale Gerechtigkeit und Armutsbekämpfung
Press Release:
5th German Social Watch Report released
„Actions, not Promises”
(Handeln statt Versprechen)
Greater efforts demanded to
realise global social justice and to fight poverty
10 years
after the Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and 5 years after the
United Nations Millennium Summit, the world is still a long way from reaching
the goals agreed at the two world conferences. Although poverty has been
somewhat reduced in a few countries and regions, it has grown in many others. At
a global level the gap between rich and poor has grown. Social Watch Germany
addresses these themes in its 5th report on global social
development, which will be presented to the public in Bonn on 21 October 2005.
“The huge
promises to fight poverty have so far been insufficiently translated into
concrete actions. So the international Social Watch Network is challenging
governments to reinforce their efforts to fight social injustice within their
own countries and worldwide” explained Klaus Heidel, a spokesperson from Social
Watch Germany. “Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the situation has
deteriorated. Today, there are 140 million more people living in absolute
poverty there than there were in 1980” continued Heidel, who also pointed out
that even in Germany, not all of the World Social Summit decisions had been
carried out, with the situation of tolerated refugees in the country having
worsened.
Given this
global situation, human rights should take priority in foreign and development
policy, said Prof. Jürgen Reichel of the Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst (EED).
This year’s Social Watch report, he said, draws urgent attention to what happens
“when international organisations like the WTO show no
sign of any understanding of social or human rights, with the WTO, for example,
pushing through rules that for example, pushes through rules that protect
patents so successfully that today not a single country is in a position to
import generic drugs for the millions of people suffering from HIV-AIDS. Because
the IMF caps national budgets in order to avoid inflation, countries heavily
affected by AIDS are forced to fight to be allowed to apply for additional
resources from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria” Reichel
explained.
Social Watch
does recognise Germany’s efforts so far to contribute towards fighting poverty.
But the overall evaluation remains negative, as Germany has “missed a unique
opportunity to give a convincing and timely answer to the question of how German
policies will contribute to resolving the future global challenges of poverty,
sustainable debt relief, fair trade policies and a new world order guided by the
UN” said Reichel.
Gender
equality is also a long way from being established 10 years on from the World
Social Summit and 4 years after the World Women’s Conference. And it has not
even happened yet in the European Union and Germany, said Sabine Gürtner of
NRO-Frauenforum. “Despite increased participation of women in education and the
job market, women are still not equal when it comes to social and economic
power. Despite women’s increased success in gaining jobs, there are still marked
structures of inequality between men and women in the European job market” she
continued.
Social
Watch/World Social Forum is a network of 28 development and social political
organisations. It was founded in the run-up to the World Social Forum for social
development. Its goal is to monitor critically the implementation of social and
development policies and decisions made at the major world conferences.
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