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Documents of Interest
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DI - 19/11/2008
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Reaching common ground: culture, gender and human rights is the theme of the State of the World Population 2008. According to this United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) publication, ‘development strategies that are sensitive to cultural values can reduce harmful practices against women and promote human rights, including gender and women’s empowerment’.
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DI - 10/11/2008
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This is a background paper of the 10th Group of Twenty (G-20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, held in São Paulo (Brazil) from 8 to 9 November. ‘The key challenge is to resolve the financial crisis in a durable manner and to mitigate the impact of the crisis on global economic activity through comprehensive, coordinated and timely measures as appropriate’, according to this document. Also, the Communiqué is available on the G-20 website.
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DI - 10/11/2008
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The European Police Office (EUROPOL) has published the 2008 edition of the Terrorism Situation and Trend Report (TE-SAT), which aims to describe the situation in the European Union regarding terrorism and to identify trends.
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DI - 6/11/2008
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The ‘Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean’ ministerial conference -held in Marseilles from 3 to 4 November- adopted a declaration on governance, projects and regional political dialogue. The agreement aims to reinforce the Mediterranean- focused partnership, which is now called the ‘Union for the Mediterranean’.
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DI - 5/11/2008
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‘Weakening demand in developed countries, realignments in exchange rates and fluctuations in the prices for commodities, such as oil and gas, introduced uncertainties into the global markets in 2007. As a result, growth in world merchandise trade slipped to 6 per cent in real terms, down from 8.5 per cent in 2006’, according to the International Trade Statistics 2008 published by the World Trade Organization.
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DI - 5/11/2008
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Illinois Senator Barack Obama was elected as the 44th president of the United States. He will not take the oath of office until January 2009, but the outgoing and incoming administrations are working together for the transition. Barack Obama prepares to meet economic and foreign policy challenges, as he already said in his victory speech. Also, Senator John McCain called on Americans to unite behind the new President in a concession speech.
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DI - 30/10/2008
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This report of the minority staff of the Foreign Relations Committee was commissioned by Senator Richard G. Lugar. It aims to assess the impact of the so-called ‘resource curse’ and to evaluate the effectiveness of current US and international efforts to remedy the problem. It also looks at 20 resource-rich developing countries, including five in Africa—Angola, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and Nigeria. (This link contains the proof-draft pending final publication).
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DI - 29/10/2008
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In its recent report, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) highlights the trends and developments in regional trade, the Doha Round of trade negotiations, globalization and new trends in international trade, integration, trade relations with the European Union and international integration.
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DI - 28/10/2008
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has released its economic outlook on Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, ‘growth in the region is projected to dip to 6 percent in 2008 and 2009 according to the report. The fall is due mainly to the global food and fuel price shock (…) and to the global financial market turmoil’.
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DI - 27/10/2008
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The Seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM 7) -held in Beijing on 24 and 25 October 2008- was attended by the Heads of State and Government of 16 Asian and 27 European nations, the President of the European Commission and the Secretary-General of the ASEAN Secretariat. The declaration was adopted on the following issues: the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), climate change and energy security and social cohesion.
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DI - 21/10/2008
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The Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) – a European research network in which the Elcano Royal Institute participates- has published its commentaries on the Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council, which focused on seven areas of concern: the financial crisis, the Lisbon Treaty, energy and climate change, energy security, the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, Russia and the Eastern Partnership and the creation of a Reflection Group.
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DI - 17/10/2008
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The Presidency Conclusions of the Brussels European Council -held from 15 to 16 October- expresses the agreement of EU leaders ‘to act in a concerted and comprehensive manner to protect the European financial system and depositors’. It also includes statements on the following issues: energy security, climate change, the adoption of the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, the situation in Georgia and the EU’s relations with its eastern neighbours.
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DI - 15/10/2008
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The latest World Resources report states ‘that properly designed enterprises can create economic, social, and environmental resilience that cushion the impacts of climate change, and help provide needed social stability. (…) The efforts that foster resilience chart the first steps on the path out of poverty’. It was published jointly by the World Resources Institute, UNEP, UNDP and the World Bank.
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DI - 14/10/2008
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According to the last edition of the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR), ‘internationally coherent and decisive policy measures will be required to restore confidence in the global financial system (…) In any case, the process of restoring an orderly system will be challenging, as a significant deleveraging is both necessary and inevitable’.
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DI - 13/10/2008
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The fourth report submitted to the UN General Assembly by the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism highlights its activities from 1 November 2007 to 31 July 2008. It is focused on the right to a fair trial in the fight against terrorism.
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DI - 13/10/2008
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The Meeting of the Heads of State and Government of the Euro Zone -together with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Central Bank- was held on 12 October in Paris (France). It aims to draw up a joint action plan for the Euro area in response to the current financial crisis. The plan includes a series of actions of the member states to boost confidence in the financial sector and save failing banks with public money.
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DI - 11/10/2008
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The US Department of State monthly electronic journal examines issues facing the US and the international community. The October edition is focused on the Presidential Elections, mainly on the profiles of John McCain and Barack Obama.
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DI - 10/10/2008
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The publication provides an at-a-glance illustrated guide to global and regional trends in human insecurity –focusing on wars, genocide, battle deaths, refugee flows and human rights abuses. Co-published with the World Bank, it maps political violence, the links between poverty and conflict, assaults on human rights and the causes of war and peace.
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DI - 9/10/2008
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The document provides an international investigation of tertiary education policy across its many facets. Its specific concern is policies that ensure that capabilities of tertiary education contribute to countries’ economic and social objectives. It draws on the results of a major OECD review of tertiary education policy conducted over the 2004-2008 period in collaboration with 24 countries around the world.
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DI - 8/10/2008
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This publication aims to provide systematic measures to summarize the level of inequality of opportunity observed in the region. One technique is the Human Opportunity Index, which measure differences in opportunity among children. The second one builds on measures of income inequality, consumption inequality and inequality in educational achievement.
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DI - 6/10/2008
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This special Eurobarometer wave highlights certain significant changes in European public opinion as Europeans’ economic concerns are one of the most important campaign issues that they want to see discussed at the next European Parliament elections. It analyses four main aspects: the interest of European citizens in the European elections; the likelihood of voting in these elections; the voting criteria of Europeans for the 2009 elections; and the themes that Europeans want to see at the centre of the election campaign.
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DI - 3/10/2008
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The 2008 ARDE ‘Shared Global Challenges’ is a World Bank’s Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) recent report. It highlights the critical importance of making progress on shared global challenges in order to raise living standards and lift people out of poverty.
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DI - 2/10/2008
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The sixth annual report provides information about police-related activities of the OSCE Strategic Police Matters Unit in 2007, as well as other cross-dimensional police-related activities of the thematic units in the Secretariat and OSCE Institutions.
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DI - 29/9/2008
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The 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index highlights the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft. For two years in a row, Somalia shows one of the highest levels (1.0) of perceived corruption, along with Myanmar and Iraq (1.3) and Haiti (1.4). Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden share the highest score at 9.3, followed immediately by Singapore at 9.2.
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DI - 29/9/2008
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This paper is focused on the interest in trying to assess the financial and other impacts of immigration in the UK. It says that ‘perhaps as important as the actual impacts of immigration is the public perception of it. It is increasingly recognised that Government policy must deal with both’.
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