2007/05/15

Social Watch Newsletter May 2007

Social Watch

Read or download the Social Watch Newsletter May 2007 available in English, Spanish and French.

Read or download the Social Watch Newsletter May 2007 in English (Word format or pdf format), French and Spanish.

1. Social Watch in the media

India. The arrest of an Indian Member of Parliament on a human-trafficking attempt became a dramatic example of an issue first raised by SW India: nearly 25 per cent of the members of the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) have criminal records. SW India’s Report was quoted in International Herald Tribune Asia-Pacific, The Indian Express, Bloomberg New York, Central Chronical, Daily News & Analysis DNA, IOL (more).

Malta. While EU figures rank Malta as the new member state with the highest percentage of its Gross National Income (GNI) given to international development aid, the local Social Watchers claim that this goal was achieved “deceptively”. SW Malta’s Report was quoted in: Maltastar.com (more).

2. Launch of the Italian Social Watch Report 2006
Social Watch Italy organized several activities on occasion of the launching of the 2006 Report “Architettura Impossibile”. Areli Sandoval (Equipo Pueblo, SW Mexico), co-chair of the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch made a presentation on 2 May, at the Italian Parliament in Rome, with the presence of members of the European Parliament as well as Italian government representatives. On 3 May, a debate was organized at the Municipality of Florence, where the SW Report was launched with a strong message on the role of civil society in promoting social development and human rights (more).

3. Gender Equity Index 2007
The evolution of the GEI over the last few years shows that a country’s level of wealth does not automatically determine its degree of equity. Rwanda ranks third in the world while the US is among the ten countries that are regressing the most (more).

4. During the special high-level meeting of ECOSOC with the BWIs, the WTO and UNCTAD in New York on 16 April, Roberto Bissio defended innovative finance mechanisms against the attacks of the US and the business sector and the ambiguities of the European Union. Social Watch demands that the presidents and prime ministers come away from the Financing for Development summit in Doha next year with a political declaration and not just a no- consequences debate (more).

5. Social Watch participation at the UN Commission on the Status of Women
Emily Sikazwe (Zambia), Genoveva Tisheva (Bulgaria), Rehema Kerefu (Tanzania) and Cecilia Alemany (Secretariat) participated in the different sessions of the Linkage Caucus where the organizers presented the debates on the UN Gender Equality Architecture. SW decided to sign the statement from the Linkage Caucus to support a new gender entity, which was presented and opened for adhesions.

6. Social Watch participation at the first lunch of the new UN Deputy Secretary General with NGOs
On 2 May, 2007, sixteen representatives of Civil Society Organizations, including NGOs, met with the Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of the United Nations, Ms. Ashe Rose Migiro at a luncheon co-hosted by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (NGLS) and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES). The purpose of the meeting was to give an opportunity to NGOs to express their views on the report of the High-level Panel on UN System-Wide Coherence (“Delivering as one”). Cecilia Alemany (SW Secretariat) participated on behalf of Social Watch addressing some key questions from a Southern perspective (more).

7. Workshop held in Mozambique on the role of civil society in monitoring the MDGs.
This workshop was organized by the Mozambican Survey Consortium together with The North-South Institute (NSI) and World Vision Canada, in cooperation with the Commonwealth Foundation. The main objectives were: to share the methodology and findings of the Mozambican Survey Consortium on the progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals in Mozambique, to present research by NSI on global best practice for monitoring by civil society and to strategize on advocacy opportunities resulting from the research findings. Daniel Macadar from SW Secretariat took part in the workshop making an evaluation of the methodology used in the survey and the importance of these kinds of monitoring-tools for civil society organizations (more).

8. Analysis: “Financing for Development: From Monterrey to Doha” Jens Martens (Global Policy Forum, SW Germany) co-chair of the SW Coordinating Committee summarizes the most recent trends, the possible issues on the agenda and the key events in the preparatory process for the 2nd Global Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to be held in Doha in 2008 (read the full article).

9. What’s next?

Launch of the Basic Capabilities Index.
From 6 to 8 June 2007 the G8 Heads of State and Government will meet in Heiligendamm, Germany. The G8 members are Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, the United States, Canada (since 1976) and Russia (since 1998); the European Commission is also represented. The German presidency proposed to focus this meeting on shaping globalization and helping Africa to develop. During the G8 alternative mobilizations Social Watch will launch the Basic Capabilities Index 2007 with the support of Social Watch Germany (more).

Social Watch at the OECD meeting “Measuring and Fostering the Progress of Societies”
27-30 June - Istanbul, Turkey.
Daniel Macadar and Ignacio Pardo (SW Secretariat) will represent Social Watch during this meeting, and will provide the inputs for the discussion on “Improving Data Collection and Data Quality”. This session will explore how data collection in developing countries can be improved and extended to include indicators of social policies (more).

Social Watch at the Civicus General Assembly.
Cecilia Alemany (SW Secretariat) will represent Social Watch at the Civicus General Assembly to be held in Glasgow from 23 to 27 May. She will present the SW experience in the workshop “Holding Governments accountable” (more).