An eighty-strong delegation of trade union women from ITUC, EI, PSI, BWI and ITF are participating in the 55th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW55) in New York, from 22 February to 4 March, 2011.
This year's priority theme is of special importance to trade unions, as it deals with women and girls' access to education and training, particularly in science & technology (S&T), and linkages with employment and decent work.
Triggered by the Tunisian revolution, then given impetus by that of Egypt, the wave of protests spreading throughout the Middle East and the Maghreb is growing by the day. The response to it has become increasingly violent, culminating in recent days with the atrocious massacres committed in Libya by the brutal dictatorship of Colonel Gaddafi, regarding which the ITUC has just launched an urgent appeal.
The World Social Forum held in Dakar between 6- 12 of February, where thousands of activists, social movements and human rights defenders gathered as a global demonstration against the capitalist and imperialist globalization, wars and the poverty.
Following is the text of a letter sent today to U.S. President Obama, calling upon him to intervene for ending the violation of the Bedouins' most basic rights. Following the repeated brutal demolition of the village of al-Arakib - four times in one month - the Negev Bedouin community feels itself with its back to the wall. All requests to the government of Israel to resolve the problems of residence, land ownership and ongoing discrimination encounter a wall - or outright hostility.
