More than 130 million children worldwide have no teacher. Hundreds of millions more have teachers who do not have the training, support or conditions to guarantee a good education. Next week, millions of people around the world will do something about this, uniting their voices to call on governments to ensure that every child has a trained teacher - and this is all down to you.
With a week to go until Global Action Week we’re highlighting some of the activities being run by members around the world, as well as updating you on the new international activities and the developments at www.everychildneedsateacher.org to help you with your campaign activities.
Is the method of popular resistance sufficient to overcome the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem? Are further means necessary to change the status quo? Palestinian activist Tamara Tamimi reflects for Alsharq on these questions.
I have been recently invited by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation to participate in a fishbowl discussion at the World Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia. The workshop was entitled “Revolution or Evolution?
We are a group of 228 refugees from the Choucha camp of different nationalities (Palestinian, Somalian - Eritrean - Chadian - Sudanian - Ethiopian). Among us, there are also 52 children, 35 unaccompanied minors and 34 persons living in Medenine who have obtained a certificate of refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR). We would like to inform you that we began a sit-in in front of the UNHCR office which has continued since March 26th; we have also been engaged in an unlimited hunger strike since March 29th.
The World Social Forum (WSF) has just ended its now biennial meeting, held this time in Tunis. It was very largely ignored by the world’s mainstream press. It was attended by many skeptics who pronounced its irrelevance, something that has occurred at every meeting since the second WSF in 2002. It was torn by debates about the very structure of the WSF. It was filled with debates about the correct political strategy for the world left. And despite this, it was an enormous success.
Despite the repeated promises by the Israeli ruling Authorities in the Israeli Interior Ministry Office in East Jerusalem to solve the problem the Palestinian citizens of...
A call for a coordinated, popular, and grassroots effort to tear down the Wall came out of Jerusalem on the 2nd of October 2002, from the office of the Palestinian Environmental...
Urgent need for climate change adaptation measures in Arab countries
Authors: M.K. Tolba (ed); N.W. Saab (ed)
Publisher: Arab Forum for Environment and Development, 2009
Although greenhouse gas emissions from the Arab world amount to 4.2% of global emissions, the impact of climate change on the fragile environment of the region and its people is expected to be immense. This report aims to provide information to governments, business, academia and the public about the impact of climate change on the Arab countries, and encourage concrete action to face the challenge.
The report analyses the Arab response to the urgent need for adaptation measures, and uses the latest research findings to describe the vulnerabilities of natural and human systems in the Arab world to climate change and the impacts on different sectors. In an attempt to help shape adequate policies, the report discusses options for a post-Kyoto regime and outlines the state of international negotiations in this regard.
Egypt has been strongly criticised by Human Rights Watch for trying a blogger, Ahmed Mustafa, before a military court.
The 20-year-old is accused of publishing false information in a blog a year ago, alleging a case of nepotism at Egypt's premier military academy.
Egypt's emergency law, in place since 1981, allows indefinite detention and trials of civilians in military courts. Egyptian officials have denied that the power is much used.
Mr Mustafa, an engineering student, is charged with releasing information considered secret to the armed forces, and of spreading false information insulting officials responsible for admissions to the military academy. The only evidence presented at his trial this week is the post on his blog.
Elections an Opportunity to Improve Conditions Across the Country
(Washington, DC) - Political parties and candidates in Iraq's parliamentary elections on March 7, 2010, should promise to uphold human rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The election will be a key indicator of whether the country is moving toward greater political stability and respect for human rights and away from the sectarian violence that devastated Iraq after the 2005 election, Human Rights Watch said.
The six-page report, "Iraq's 2010 National Elections: A Human Rights Platform for Candidates," focuses on five key areas of human rights problems: electoral exclusion; abridged freedom of expression; ill-treatment and torture in detention; violence against vulnerable groups; and the plight of refugees and internally displaced persons. Human Rights Watch urged political parties to make the report's specific and feasible recommendations part of their electoral commitments.
In March 2010, the Commission on the Status of Women will undertake a fifteen-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the outcomes of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly. Emphasis will be placed on the sharing of experiences and good practices, with a view to overcoming remaining obstacles and new challenges, including those related to the Millennium Development Goals. Member States, representatives of non-governmental organizations and of UN entities will participate in the session. A series of parallel events will provide additional opportunities for information exchange and networking.
Ongoing national and regional review processes are feeding into the global review process.
The General Assembly is expected to mark the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in a commemorative meeting during CSW.
* National level review of implementation
* Regional 15-year review processes
o Regional reports
o Regional meetings
* Global 15-year review process in the 54th session of the Commission on the Status of Women
* Commemoration of the 15th anniversary by the General Assembly
* Related intergovernmental processes
* Other commemorative initiatives in the UN
That the Israel-Palestine conflict grinds on without resolution might appear to be rather...
“The Arab world is on fire,” al-Jazeera reported on January 27, while throughout the...
