ECONOMY: Workers Will Pay the Costs of Global Crisis

International union leaders warned representatives of governments and employers, and World Bank President Robert Zoellick, that the burden of the current financial turmoil will fall on the world’s workers.

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM: The Public Eye Is Watching

Civil society is in Davos, Switzerland once again to keep a watchful eye on events at the World Economic Forum (WEF). The social and environmental behaviour of 1,000 of the world’s most powerful companies will be scutinised at this annual meeting of business leaders, presidents and prime ministers, and free-market economics experts.

RIGHTS: World Social Forum and World Economic Forum – A Bridge Too Far?

A group of human rights organisations will attempt to bridge the gap between two antagonistic camps in January: the World Economic Forum which meets in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, and the World Social Forum, generally held in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

UNITED NATIONS: Civil Society Wants Partnership

The alliance of civil society groups that have consultative status with the United Nations has without a doubt gained visibility on the international scene, although in many respects the international forum still relegates it to a secondary role.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Today, the Poor – Tomorrow, the Next Generation

Although climate change threatens the international community as a whole, the heaviest human costs are borne by the poor, who have contributed least to the problem, according to the United Nations.

TRADE: Developing Countries Close Ranks

Governments of poor countries in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) made a show of unity the day after the sixth anniversary of the start of the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks.

DEVELOPMENT: Millennium Goals Are Possible

The world’s poorest countries, even those of sub-Saharan Africa, are ‘’approaching’’ the Millennium Development Goals, the new Trade and Development Index (TDI) indicates.

LABOUR: WTO Dusts Off Hidden Collection of Workers’ Art

Works of art with a powerful social message, donated by trade unions in the first half of the 20th century, will again be displayed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters after being deliberately hidden for the past 30 years.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nobel Prize Recognises Scientific Community

Climate change is linked to world peace because the effects of global warming can threaten stability and harmony in the world, according to Rajendra Pachauri, one of thousands of international scientists who are to share the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.

RIGHTS: UN Council Deplores Repression of Protests in Burma

The United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution Tuesday "strongly deploring" the violent crackdown on protesters in Burma over the last few weeks and urging the country’s military regime to engage in dialogue on fundamental rights and freedoms.

RIGHTS-BURMA: UN Emergency Session to Study Crisis

The United Nations Human Rights Council will hold an emergency session next week to discuss the bloody crackdown on protests by the military regime in Burma, which has left an unspecified number of Buddhist monks and other demonstrators dead and injured this week and hundreds under arrest.

RIGHTS-BURMA: Growing Calls for UN Action

Several countries on the United Nations Human Rights Council have begun making consultations to propose a special session to study the brutal crackdown this week by the military regime in Burma/Myanmar on young Buddhist monks and other demonstrators.

TRADE: Only a Handful Are Lords of the Food Harvest

The food and beverage industry is experiencing a high degree of concentration, with 10 distributing companies controlling 24 percent of the world market, according to a report being studied this week by workers’, employers’ and government representatives gathered by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

DEVELOPMENT: Threat of Turmoil in the Midst of a Boom

Regional financial cooperation in the developing world can help safeguard poor countries from financial crises, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says in a new report released Wednesday.

DISARMAMENT: Chemical Weapons – One-Third Down, Two-Thirds To Go

The director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Rogelio Pfirter, urged the United Nations Conference on Disarmament Tuesday to recover the dynamism that led to the adoption of the convention against these weapons.

HEALTH: India Verdict Welcomed by Advocates for Affordable Medicines

Non-governmental organisations that advocate poor countries’ access to affordable medicines applauded an Indian court’s dismissal of a challenge brought by Swiss-based drug-maker Novartis.

POLITICS: Global Compact with Business ‘Lacks Teeth’ – NGOs

The U.N.'s Global Compact with international big business "at the moment is so voluntary that it really is a happy-go-lucky club," says Ramesh Singh, chief executive of ActionAid, a non-governmental organisation.

TRADE: Few Tears Over Collapse of Talks

The four trading powers making up the so-called G4 - Brazil, the European Union, India and the United States - passed a hot potato back to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) when they announced Thursday in Potsdam, Germany that negotiations for an agreement which could have kickstarted the Doha Round of multilateral trade talks had collapsed.

RIGHTS-BURMA: No End to Forced Labour

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) expressed profound concern about the persistence of forced labour in Burma, while it is closely monitoring the implementation of a mechanism for victims to file complaints, which was recently agreed with the Southeast Asian country's governing junta.

AGRICULTURE: 70 Percent of Worst Forms of Child Labour

The global campaign for the elimination of the worst forms of child labour by 2016 is focusing this year on agriculture, which accounts for 70 percent of such jobs, said Kari Tapiola, executive director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

LABOUR: Plight of Workers in Palestinian Territories Has “Worsened Dramatically”

Workers in the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel have suffered another year of drastic decline in living standards and rising poverty, unemployment, social disintegration and political chaos, the ILO said in a new report.