IN THIS ISSUE:
EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
UN MDG+5 summits
Erasing the margins: researching disabilities in Higher education
Water, Heath and environment 2005
ECONOMY
Houston U.S – Arab Economic Forum.
MACMAG/ Gender
Cairo Forum Focuses on Role of Women in Economy
Summit in Bahrain for Arab First Ladies; a New dawn for women
ICT
World Summit for Information Society WSIS – phase II
NEWS
GENDER/ MACMAG
Women's right in focus - Kuwait
Women and the new Iraq: What will the future of Iraq's government mean for women?
United Arab Emirates divorce law
ICTs
Catalyzing the access to ICT in Africa (CATTA) – Africa
Kuwait: Tapping into e-government initiative
HUMAN RIGHTS
Amnesty International report says U.S held two Yemeni prisoners in secret underground jail
DEVELOPMENT
Green party: Lebanese Environmental Party seeks to integrate environmental issues with politics
NGOs
EU to consult on Code of Conduct for Non-Profit Organizations
REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
ICT & DEVELOPMENT
Development gateway special report, Oct 2005
DEVELOPMENT
Pro-poor Growth in the 1990; Lessons and insights from 14 countries Disabled people and development
Disabled people and development
GENDER/MACMAG
Toward gender equality in the Arab/ Middle East region: Islam, culture and feminist activism
Leading to change: eliminating violence against women in Muslim societies
BRIDGE cutting edge pack: Gender and budgets
"Arab women: Beijing+10" Lebanon
Gender and ICTs for development – 2005
For Middle Eastern women, tokenism no longer cuts it
HUMAN RIGHTS
Fighting for children's rights in IRAQ – Save the children UK.
Globalization and in-equality in the Arab region.
LINKS/WEBSITES
Millennium Review Country Report website

EVENTS
DEVELOPMENT
UN MDG+5 summits, 14-16 September 2005
The UN MDG+5 summit will take place on 14-16 September 2005 as a High-level plenary at the opening of the UN General Assembly 60th session. The Summit will be a review of the Millennium Development Goals established by the UN at the 2000 Millennium Summit. For full information including details and videotapes leading up the event click here.

Erasing the margins: researching disabilities in Higher education – Oct 5 – 7th 2005 – Johannesburg, South Africa
The focus of the conference will be on hidden disabilities, though research into all categories of disabilities will be considered. Topics will include: access to information in alternative formats; technological developments in access to information; disability in the African context; disability and employment; and social and cultural aspects of disability; socio-emotional barriers; and physical and infrastructural barriers. Read here

Water, Heath and environment 2005 - Sep 13-15 2005 - Tanta, Egypt
The theme of this conference is "Remediation and Restoration of Water Resources Ecosystems". Participants will discuss and develop a general framework for minimizing and retarding the increasing
deterioration in water resources ecosystems. Link
Contact bakenaz@dec1.tanta.edu.eg , bakenaz@ewra.com or bakenaz@ieecenter.net

ECONOMY
U.S – Arab Economic Forum – September 14th 2005 – Houston – U.S
The second U.S – Arab Economic Forum, set for launch in Houston on September 14, will focus on improving economic ties and economic development as a source of societal change. The Forum will bring together over 1500 leaders from both the United States and the Arab world. For more details

MACMAG/Gender
Cairo Forum Focuses on Role of Women in Economy – June 14th 2005
The Arab International Women’s Forum (AIWF) on women’s role in the economy and integrated rural development hosted by the Arab League was held in Cairo in June 14th 2005.
The conference focused on the role of women in the Arab economy, investment in the Middle East and ways to provide rural women with opportunities to establish small and medium enterprises. The conference showed what has been achieved for women’s empowerment in the region and to explore
what mechanisms should be put in place to enhance the economic empowerment of women. For more details

Summit in Bahrain for Arab First Ladies; a New dawn for women – June 13, 2005
"The issue of enabling women must become the priority on the agenda for our regional and national programmes, said Shaikha Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Bahrain's First Lady as she chaired a summit in Bahrain of Arab First Ladies.
"This will lead to opening up doors for women to exercise their right for a real partnership, which should not be limited at the social level but at the national level, by uniting men and women as equal citizens in their rights and duties, both responsible for progress and development." For more details

ICT
3rd preparatory meeting for the World Summit for Information Society WSIS – phase II
The third meeting of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom-3 of the Tunis phase) will take place in Palais des Nations, Geneva (Switzerland) from 19-30 September 2005.
The WSIS PrepCom-3 meeting is open to representatives of States; observers' representatives of: entities and organizations, UN specialized agencies and other invited intergovernmental organizations; UN Secretariat and organs; Associate Members of Regional Commissions; Accredited NGOs and civil society
entities. For more details

NEWS
GENDER/MACMAG
Women's right in focus – Kuwait
The Kuwaiti National Assembly considered a law that would grant Kuwaiti women political rights for the first time in Kuwait's history, a series of focus groups found modest support for granting women the
right to vote, but less enthusiasm for women running as candidates in elections.
Conducted with a cross section of Kuwaitis from Kuwait City and Al-Jahra in July 2004, the focus group research offers fresh perspectives on public attitudes on key issues related to women's rights.
Key findings of the research as well as recommendations based on views obtained in this research to help Kuwaiti civic groups, the Kuwaiti government, and international women's rights advocates in
efforts to expand women's rights are all available online.
 
Women and the new Iraq: What will the future of Iraq's government mean for women?
The new Iraqi constitution is due on August 15, and due to this many Iraqi women are growing increasingly nervous -- and lobbying ever harder -- to ensure that's women's rights are adequately
enshrined.
This blog (Eldis Community Site 2005) monitors national and international pressures to include women in the new Iraqi constitution and government, tracking news articles, documents, and first hand accounts of the advocacy and governance process. It covers differences between women legal and political status under Saddam Hussein's regime and in the new government. More details.

United Arab Emirates: Women to gain from new divorce laws
In a major breakthrough for women's rights in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the cabinet has approved a draft personal law that will soon allow women to end their marriage after petitioning the Shariah (religious)
court and paying compensation to their husbands, reports IPS. Read more here.

ICTs
Catalyzing the access to ICT in Africa (CATTA) – Africa
The CATIA Programme aims to enable poor people in Africa to gain maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and to act as a strong catalyst for reform. It supports a package of strategic activities to improve affordable access to the full range of ICTs, from Internet to community radio. This Programme is focused on the need for ICTs to
address social and economic development issues. It will be working to help build capacity across Africa to achieve sustainable change. Read more

Kuwait: Tapping into e-government initiative

HUMAN RIGHTS
Amnesty International report says U.S held two Yemeni prisoners in secret underground jail
"The United States must end the practice of detaining "secret" prisoners around the world", Amnesty International said, highlighting the cases of two Yemenis held in solitary confinement for over 18 months in countries they were never able to identify. "The U.S. and other countries must end the practice of secret detention. For more information

DEVELOPMENT
Green party Lebanese Environmental Party seeks to integrate environmental issues with politics
In a departure from traditional confessional politics, one new party is focusing on a truly national concern: the environment. Only recently established, the Lebanese Environmental Party (LEP) seeks to integrate environmental issues with politics. More information
 
NGOs
EU to consult on Code of Conduct for Non-Profit Organizations
The European Commission is preparing a set of recommendations to Member States and a voluntary Code of Conduct for Non-profit organizations to promote transparency, accountability and best practice in the non-profit sector. The draft Code is now online.
The consultation period expires on 26 August 2005. Please send any feedback by Monday, 22 August 2005 to Richard Davidson at the Voluntary and Community Unit. (Source: NICVA Newsletter)

REPORTS & BOOKS & ARTICLES
ICT & DEVELOPMENT
Development gateway special report, Oct 2005
The Information Society has produced a tantalizing array of new information and communication technologies (ICT) that have transformed today's approach to development. Yet the long-heralded promise
of ICT remains far out of reach for most of the developing world. The Development Gateway's upcoming online Special Report for October 2005 will address the promise of the Information Society as a tool for development in poor countries.
Share your thoughts by taking this survey by August 25 to make sure your answers are considered for featuring in the Special Report. To share your comments on these and other questions

DEVELOPMENT
Pro-poor Growth in the 1990; Lessons and insights from 14 countries Disabled people and development
This paper is based on a study designed to better understand the options for policymakers to increase the impact of growth on poverty reduction and how they vary depending on policies and country
conditions. It aimed to explore the channels for the poor to participate in growth and the country context and initial conditions affecting the efficiency of growth in reducing poverty.
The paper draws on 14 country case studies: Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Romania, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia. Available online.

Disabled people and development
This document aims to give a consolidated set of guidelines that can be used to identify and address issues affecting people with disabilities in poverty reduction strategies.
It bases these guidelines on the 'KIPA' framework i.e. Knowledge, Inclusion, Participation, and Access. Available online

GENDER/ MACMAG
Toward gender equality in the Arab/ Middle East region: Islam, culture and feminist activism – Human Development Report Office (HDRO), UNDP 2004
This paper examines the relations among gender, culture, and Islam, and draws attention to the tensions that exist between concepts of cultural heritage and concepts of cultural freedoms in the Arab region and elsewhere in the Middle East.
The paper hypothesizes that notwithstanding elements of a shared culture and shared religion, there is considerable variability in gender norms and laws in the Arab world/Middle East, and there have been significant changes over time in the position of women. In particular, the author highlights debates and
discussions within the region pertaining to women's rights. Available online

Leading to change: eliminating violence against women in Muslim societies
This report summarizes the proceedings and findings of the Women's Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP)'s international symposium entitled 'Leading to Change: Eliminating
Violence against Women in Muslim Societies,' held in New York on March 1, 2005. It includes reports on
speakers, discussions, and seminars.
The symposium provided a forum for  prominent women leaders and activists from Muslim-majority societies to address major challenges to eliminating violence against women and girls and discuss
grassroots, national, and regional efforts focusing on prevention and awareness raising, as well as ongoing efforts to reform legislation on violence and women's human rights. Available online

BRIDGE cutting edge pack: Gender and budgets
This Cutting Edge pack from BRIDGE outlines the concept and practices of gender-responsive budgeting, and examines strategies for improvement. The pack highlights the deficiencies of  non-gender responsive budgeting, such as assuming that economic actors are genderless, classless, ageless, and without social, historical, and geographic situation. However, gender budgeting initiatives break down government budgets to make it more gender-responsive.

This Cutting Edge pack examines both the need for gender responsive budgets, as well as strategies for outside- government initiatives, and future possibilities and evolution for gender budget initiatives (GBIs). Available online

"Arab women: Beijing+10"  Lebanon – UN ESCWA
The ESCWA Center for Women will launch its flagship report entitled “Arab Women: Beijing+10”on
Friday 22nd of April. The report documents the most important achievements of Arab women and highlights the obstacles and challenges they have faced in the ten years following the Beijing Conference.
It recommends a regional framework to overcome these obstacles and challenges in the next decade based on the Beirut Declaration on Arab Women launched last July at the conclusion of the Arab regional conference “Ten Years after Beijing: Call for Peace” and organized by UN-ESCWA. The report was launched during the 5th Conference of the National Council for Egyptian Women held in Cairo
from 14 to 16 March 2005. Read more

Gender and ICTs for development – 2005: A Global Source Book 2005
Five case studies illustrate the different contexts facing gender and ICTs for development, including e-commerce in Bhutan, entrepreneurship by women workers in China, post-war communication using radio and ICTs in Sierra Leone, sustainable fisheries production in Ghana, and information exchange related to HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean. More details

For Middle Eastern women, tokenism no longer cuts it
In the last few months, Iraqi women have witnessed with dismay the erosion of Iraq's secular family law. There is serious pressure to replace it with a law based on Islam and religious law - a change that will impact negatively on all spheres of women's lives. More information

HUMAN RIGHTS
Fighting for children's rights in IRAQ – Save the children UK.
This brief discusses the key issues around children's rights in Iraq, including: the foundations of children's rights in Iraq; key issues affecting children's rights in Iraq; duties and obligations of the key stakeholders in children's rights; and taking action to protect and fulfil children's rights in Iraq.
The brief's main findings and recommendations are available online

Globalization and in-equality in the Arab region – Arab Planning Institute – Kuwait
The paper investigates the effects of globalization on the Arab region. For understanding the process of globalization as increased international economic integration, three measures of globalization are used: the rate of increase in the trade/GDP ratio, the ratio of the stock foreign direct investment to GDP, and the number of immigrants to the US.
To investigate the effect of globalization on inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditure or income, as appropriate proxies for the standard of living and hence the welfare of individuals, it is important to note that there exists a number of measures of inequality in the specialized literature.
The papers findings are available online.

LINKS/ WEBSITES
Millennium Review Country Report website
This page contains all country progress reports on the MDGs (including progress in realizing MDG 3 to promote Gender Equality and Empower Women). The page also features the regional reports released so far, covering Africa, the Arab region, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and Central European countries.