Full Coverage: Civil society

28.09.2005 OneWorld South Asia organises a side event Missing Grassroots Voices on behalf of the Grassroots Caucus at the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) on September 27th. Bidisha Pillai and TN Anuradha report on the event.

27.09.2005 Over 1,500 have been arrested in Nepal's capital over the last two weeks as political parties and their student supporters hold their most sustained protests since King Gyanendra's February takeover of the country's political machinery. In rural areas, a unilateral ceasefire called by Maoist rebels earlier this month has improved life, villagers say, wishing the government would follow suit.

26.09.2005 “Fighting Organized Crime and Education on Legislation” event, a part of the international “Anti-Mafia” campaign, visits Prijedor today, September 26. The caravan, established in 1994 on Sicily, Italy, is focused on the phenomenon of Mafia and implements activities directed agains organized crime, with the intent to offer an alternative in communities and environments used by organized crime for recruitment of new members.

23.09.2005 Save the Children was the official charity of this week's black music awards in London, apparently because MOBO founder Kanya King was shocked by a television news report about malaria in Africa.

21.09.2005 The North Korean Government has asked all international aid agency staff to leave the country by 31 December.

21.09.2005 ABN AMRO Bank and PlaNet Finance India have announced the launch of the Microfinance Process Excellence Awards (MPEA) 2006 and invite microfinance institutions in India to send nominations for the awards. The last date for nominations is September 30, 2005.

19.09.2005 For the International Day of Peace 2005, Campaign for the Conscientious Objection in Bosnia and Herzegovina is once again organizing traditional activities for this day.

19.09.2005 Som Datt Foundation, a registered charitable trust working for the under-privileged, has launched a mobile computer education bus with all necessary information technology facilities.

19.09.2005 As the Palestinian struggle for equal rights faces a crossroads, a new strategy to secure recognition of equality for all within Israel might lead the way toward a more democratic and secular country, says Todd May.

16.09.2005 Mani Tese e CRBM si dichiarano profondamente insoddisfatte della mancanza di passi in avanti sulla lotta alla povertà e per la giustizia sociale che ha contraddistinto l’attesissimo Summit delle Nazioni Unite, giunto oggi al suo ultimo giorno. La generica conferma degli Obiettivi di Sviluppo del Millennio, fissati nel 2000 ed ignorati fino ad oggi, e l’assenza di provvedimenti concreti per rimuovere le cause alla base della povertà nel mondo e permettere come minimo di centrare questi obiettivi entro il 2015 rappresenta l’ennesima delusione per i paesi del Sud del mondo. “Siamo ormai di fronte ad una palese privatizzazione delle sviluppo” ha dichiarato Antonio Tricarico, responsabile della CRBM per Mani Tese.

16.09.2005 Establishing a parliament is a key step on the road to a stable democracy, but Afghanistan's citizens and candidates have faced serious hurdles throughout the electoral process that will culminate in this weekend's elections, explains Institute for War and Peace Reporting journalists across the country.

15.09.2005 CodePink has set a target to collect one million messages from people all over the world giving their reasons why the U.S. should end the occupation of Iraq. The messages will be hand delivered to the White House on September 26, and CodePink asks you to post your reason online.

15.09.2005 A group of Indian NGOs come together to build local, national and international alliances to fight poverty and injustice. The 'Wada Na Todo Abhiyan' ('Keep Your Promises Campaign') is a new social movement that seeks to remind the Indian government about the promises it made to the people.

15.09.2005 The Gujarat government has stopped UN funds for SEWA (Self-Employed Women’s Association) which is a 5-lakh-member organisation, working for women's empowerment, on grounds of malpractices. SEWA, which is on the verge of closing one of its projects for quake victims, has refuted the government's allegations. The Indian Express reports from Gujarat.

14.09.2005 Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina has drowned out what may be two of the most consequential human rights court decisions in recent U.S. history: rulings that George W. Bush has the authority to indefinitely detain Jose Padilla, a Chicago native arrested in the United States and dubbed an "enemy combatant," and recent appeals to bring Guantanamo Bay cases to the civilian courts.

14.09.2005 Citizens for Global Solutions has launched a nationwide campaign to push the American public into ensuring that the Bush Administration give concrete commitments to make the U.N. stronger and more effective in order to meet the challenges of a new century. A fact sheet explains the issues to be discussed at this week's summit.

13.09.2005 As regular people around the world are mobilizing this week to tell their leaders to "wake up to poverty," OneWorld examines the mass citizen coalitions that have arisen around the goal of cutting global poverty in half. As global leaders prepare to discuss progress towards ending poverty at a U.N. summit this week, OneWorld presents a three-part "IN-DEPTH" series from its new treeless magazine, Perspectives, which offers more background and context on the issue, viewpoints from non-profit organizations, and ways for individuals to get involved.

13.09.2005 As world leaders prepare to meet in New York this week to discuss progress in rooting out poverty, demonstrations of people power from Albequerque to Zimbabwe are telling their leaders that it's time to take decisive action. Find an event near you.

13.09.2005 Unemployed Palestinians staged a sit-in last week after their children were expelled from school because they couldn't pay school fees. A workers' rights group is calling on the Palestinian Authority to return the children to the classroom and ensure the fair distribution of jobs.

13.09.2005 Changemakers, a global online community committed to finding the best solutions to pressing social problems, has launched their latest initiative--seeking market-based strategies that improve the lives of low-income individuals around the world.