Full Coverage: Social exclusion

29.11.2005 In the last 50 years India’s forests have decreased from 22 to eight per cent while our population has jumped to 1,000 million. The proposed Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of Land Rights) Bill 2005 could sound the death-knell of forests as well as the tribals. Professor Vikram Soni takes a close look at the bill and the plight of both - forests and tribals.

28.11.2005 MANS, the UN Development Programme, LO Podgorica and the Ministry for Environment Protection and Spatial Development are organizing public hearings on issues of illegal settlements in Montenegro. Public hearings are held in all Montenegrin municipalities and so far there was 14 out of 21 meetings held with citizens of Montenegro.

24.11.2005 The Institute for Social Work and Policies at the Faculty of Philosiphy in Skopje, with the support of the UNICEF Office in Macedonia, presented the report Evaluation of Policies, Situation and Programmes for the Street Children. The report was prepared by professor Divna Lakinska.

22.11.2005 One man shares his life story, telling of the difficulties he faces as one of hundreds of thousands of Kurds who live informally in Syria without official citizenship or identity.

18.11.2005 Zagreb and Budapest – 18 November 2005. Croatian legislation addressing the needs of people with intellectual disabilities (people whose learning ability is significant lower than average) is not in line with international standards. This is a finding of the monitoring report Rights of people with intellectual disabilities: access to education and employment in Croatia, released today. The report was produced by the Open Society Institute, in cooperation with the Croatian Association for the Promotion of Inclusion.

18.11.2005 Realising that there are more than 20 lakh children with special needs (CWSN), HRD ministry is rapidly moving towards bringing them under the umbrella of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

18.11.2005 Of the annual MP development fund allocation of Rs 2 crore, 22.5 per cent will now have to be spent on infrastructure development in Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe localities.In case ‘‘a constituency does not have an ST-inhabited area, such funds may be utilised in SC-inhabited areas and vice versa’’.

16.11.2005 Extreme poverty is a societal problem that affects all countries--regardless of income level. The high cost of health care and lack of low-cost housing can be seen as human rights violations. In the U.S., poverty follows racial lines. These are some of the issues highlighted by U.N. Independent Expert Arjun Sengupta during his trip to the U.S. last month.

11.11.2005 This year, the Roma Education Fund will provide 680 scholarships for Roma high school students in Macedonia, under the auspices of the Roma Inclusion Decade. A total number of 1510 scholarships will be provided throughout the four project years.

08.11.2005 IS THE ideology of economic liberalisation working as a powerful drug that numbs the senses of our policy makers? Otherwise, how can they fail to see what is happening to the vast majority of the poor in this country? When not actively busy in promoting the market ideology, policy makers are busy rolling back the state from those very essential spheres that determine the quality of life for the poor — health, education, water and sanitation, rural livelihood and so on. Mr N.J.Kurian addresses this question in The Hindu

08.11.2005 Mistrust, abuse, and the lack of attention to poverty, unemployment, and prejudice sparked the recent spate of riots in France's largely immigrant communities--which the government calls "sensitive urban areas."

04.11.2005 The Parliamentary Committee for Education, Science and Culture started the visits to a number of elementary schools in Macedonia, to investigate the inclusion of Roma children in elementary education and the number and percentage of Roma children that complete their elementary education.