A dangerous new waste stream is rapidly emerging.
The UN estimates that some 20 to 50m tonnes of e-waste are generated worldwide each year, comprising more than 5% of all municipal solid waste. The fate of large quantities of this so-called e-waste is unknown. This “hidden flow” is the e-waste (...)
SACSIS – the South African Civil Society Information Service
It would be a squint-eyed view to read in Obama’s victory just a historic moment for African-Americans in the United States of America (USA).
It should be granted that Obama’s entry through the front door of the White House rather than the back door, once reserved for black cleaners only, does (...)
Forced labour is often associated with slavery. That is correct. Forced labour is therefore often associated with the past. This is incorrect. Forced labour continues to manifest itself in new forms throughout the world, and certain contemporary forms are even increasing in numbers of victims (...)
The latest tightening of Israel’s chokehold on Gaza – ending all supplies into the Strip for more than a week – has produced immediate and shocking consequences for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants.
The refusal to allow in fuel has forced the shutting down of Gaza’s only power station, creating a (...)
This is the English summary of 60 pages full report "Rethinking China’s Urban Water Privatization" in Chinese written by Xinjiang Conservation Fund based in Beijing. Based on reviews of development of the urban water sector since 1949, data analysis and interpretation of 500 household surveys in (...)
The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its Russian partner Anti-Discrimination Center “Memorial” (ADC “Memorial”) publish a fact-finding mission report entitled: Forced Evictions and the Right to Housing of Roma in Russia.
This report is the result of a joint mission that (...)
Historically, women workers hold a marginal position in discussions on workers’ rights. Instead, such rights have been developed with male, full-time and regular employment as the model. For a feminist analysis a central question is how these measures impact the conditions for women workers also (...)
Since the 1960’s, pineapple production has quadrupled and export has tripled worldwide. While profits for some have tremendously expanded under such development, this report demonstrates how pineapple workers, their families and communities, and the environment in the largest pineapple producing (...)
On April 11, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) released a report that found that of the national efforts to improve U.S. food safety, “none of the targets were reached in 2007.” According to the CDC, 76 million Americans — one in four — come down with food poisoning every year. Among the most (...)
MakeITfair, SOMO and SwedWatch, September 2008, 76 p. (pdf)
The mobile phone industry is often presented as a clean, unproblematic industry, but makeITfair’s report ’Silenced to Deliver’ shows that this is not the case. Young electronics workers handle chemicals without protective gear. They work inhumane overtime hours to cover basic needs and are (...)
Immigration and asylum policies in the European Union have entered into a new period. The author sums up the most important achievements and failures of the EU’s efforts to creat a common European asylum and immigration system, and she evaluates the new Hague Programme of the European Council (...)
The report is based on field research carried out in and around shipbreaking yards in Chittagong, as well as in Northern Bangladesh villages, where many child workers come from. With Childbreaking Yards, FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights ) and YPSA (Young Power in Social Action) (...)
The Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved by 2015 at the present rate of progress
Progress in basic social indicators slowed down last year all over the world and at the present rate it does not allow for the internationally agreed poverty reduction goals to be met by 2015, unless (...)
An alarming number of women soldiers are being sexually abused by their comrades-in-arms, both at war and at home. This fact has received a fair amount of attention lately from researchers and the press — and deservedly so.
But the attention always focuses on the women: where they were when (...)
IHLO, Hong Kong Liaison Office of the international trade union movement
It has been six months since the new Labour contract law was implemented inside China. The implementing guidelines – to clear up inconsistencies in the law and help guide companies and labour bureaus in implementing the details – should be issued soon. They were first scheduled for last year and (...)
A generic medicine is a pharmaceutical product that is no longer protected by a patent and which can be copied by other companies. It may be marketed either under its own brand or as an unbranded product. European governments are increasingly relying on generics to save on healthcare costs and (...)
A new report on the social impacts of the agrofuels boom.
Do the majority of farmers and peasants find themselves being assisted out of poverty? Does the production of soy,sugarcane and palm oil increase employment? Are the crops grown sustainably and without competing with food production? (...)
A study into the impact of buying practices of the discounters Lidl and Kik in Bangladesh and the precarisation of working conditions in German retailing
Globalisation and discounting are closely related. About 90 percent of our clothing is produced in Asia, Central America, Eastern Europe and several countries in Africa. The majority of retailing companies, such as also the discounters Lidl and KiK, buy from these countries. The “Alternative (...)
Martin Hearson, Labour Behind the Label, Septembre 2008, 50 p., pdf
The fashion industry has always struggled to talk about the living wage in an open and consistent way. Two years ago, brands and retailers said it wasn’t a problem, or that if it was, it was somebody else’s. Last year they agreed that they ought to do something, but hadn’t quite got round to it (...)
Oxfam Briefing Paper n°117, Septembre 2008, 35 p., pdf
In failing to tackle climate change with urgency, rich countries are effectively violating the human rights of millions of the world’s poorest people. Continued excessive greenhouse-gas emissions primarily from industrialised nations are – with scientific certainty – creating floods, droughts, (...)