About 15 organizations representing a broad cross-section of Jamaican society, including NGOs, the government and the private sector participate din a forum marking the first anniversary of the 51% Coalition: Women in Partnership for Development and Empowerment through Equity. This coalition’s primary thrust is to increase women’s participation in decision-making at the highest levels …
A release from the Highway Re-Route Movement (HRM) in Trinidad and Tobago late on December 5, 2012 indicates that agreement has been reached to conduct a full independent review of the proposed Debe to Mon Desir Highway with terms of reference that address their main demands; pending which no work will begin on the contentious highway. Accordingly, Dr Wayne Kublalsingh ended his hunger strike the same evening. On the face it this constitutes a significant victory, not only for him and the HRM, but more broadly for civil society in Trinidad and Tobago; with wider regional implications…
After 500 years of resistance and at the time of celebration of Latin America’s bicentennial of Independence, the planet is facing a devastating new offensive by the United States and the powerful of the world. The determined struggle of massive popular movements and of revolutionary and progressive governments for democracy, social justice and the right to exercise their identity in North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America; is facing new scenarios of war employing multiple modes covering all aspects of life and physical space…
Report on a survey, carried out in January 2011,, by a team from the Institute of International Relations (IIR) at the University of the West Indies (UWI) of over 100 regional stakeholders on their opinions on the current state of Caribbean regional integration and their recommended solutions for the problems affecting integration.
We commend the efforts of the Minister of Finance in coming to grips with some of the most difficult problems in the economy (but) relentless efforts must be made to root out corruption, non-performance and waste in the society as well as crime. Civil society and the Trade Unions have to become fully engaged in the co-management of the economy and see to it that every initiative announced through the Budget is implemented without delay…
You have to organise, nationally and regionally, independently of the CARICOM Secretariat, independently of the EU, independently of the EPA; even as you utilise the opportunities that may be available from these bodies….Most of the significant institutional innovations in our historical experience have not been the result of external initiative or external support…
The STOP EPA National Coalition strongly protests the signing of the EPA on December 10th (International Day of Human Rights) by the new Préval / Bellerive government and calls on Haitian parliamentarians to speak out against the EPA and to reject its ratification, which would mean the death of the Haitian economy…
On 10 and 11 December 2009 the 3rd ACP Civil Society Forum was held at the ACP House in Brussels. Representatives from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Civil Society came together to discuss how to move forward after many years of silence and inactivity…
[Abridged version of, The Caribbean EPA Affair: Lesons for for the Progressive Movement]
The CARIFORUM-EU EPA, which was initialled in December 2007 and signed in October 2008, precipitated one of the most intense public debates in the recent history of the Caribbean Community (Caricom). At the core of the controversy lay differing views amongst Caribbean elites on development strategy, trade policy, regional integration, and the manner of engaging with globalisation. This paper suggests some ‘lessons learnt’ from the negotiation process itself and from the efforts of civil society to secure review and renegotiation of the initialled text. It employs a political economy approach that considers issues of ideology, power, governance and politics…
