On 11 December 2012 the European Parliament ratified the EU-Central America associatian agreement designed to boost trade between the two blocs

The Ecuadorean Presdent Rafael Correa declared to the Peruvian national TV last week that South American states should follow the European Union’s example in creating a common citizenship.

Lima, Nov. 9, 2011.- The Presidents of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru agreed to ask the acting Andean Community Secretary General to identify jointly with the General Secretariat of MERCOSUR and the General Secretariat of UNASUR, common and complementary elements and differences, with a view toward the convergence of the three integration processes.

In the meeting held on 18 August in Maputo, Mozambique, leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have extended to an indefinite term the suspension of the SADC tribunal.

On Tuesday 14th August a Brazilian federal appeals court ordered to suspend the contruction of the Belo Monte dam

The World Bank has appointed a Chinese national, Jin-Yong Cai, to serve as the Executive Vice President and CEO of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Civicus, a global network of civil society organizations, recently published a report on the “State of Civil Society”.

The European Parliament has rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on 4 July 2012, by 478 votes to 39, with 165 abstentions.

Mercosur announced that Venezuela will become its fifth full member from 31 July.

Mercosur members decided on Sunday 24 June to suspend with immediate effect Paraguay from the Latin American organisation.

The Rio+20 or 2012 Earth Summit has taken place from the 20 to the 22 June in Rio de Janeiro.

In these days, 18 and 19 June in Los Cabos, Mexico, the G-20 summit is taking place.

As hundreds of thousands of people around the world prepared to take to the streets this weekend as part of a global call for change, an international and inter-movement assembly formed of supporters of Occupy, Take the Square and Latin American, African, Asian and Middle Eastern social movements has released a statement describing concrete suggestions for what such global change should entail.

On the eve of International Women’s day, 8 March, Social Watch published the updated Gender Equity Index (GEI),

In April 2011, the World Bank Group (WBG) has launched consultations for a new Global Partnership for Enhanced Social Accountability (GPESA).

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) realised on 15 February 2012 “Attacks on the Press”, a yearly survey aimed at evaluating the level of freedom in the international press.

The World Bank (WB) introduces a new Ipad application in December 2011, with the aim of spreading its World Development Report (WDR) 2012.

 On 2-3 December 2011 in Caracas (Venezuela), 33 Heads of State of the American continent met to launch the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), under the Presidency pro tempore of Hugo Chávez (Venezuela) and Sebastián Piñera (Chile).

The statement has already been endorsed by Sol General Assembly and a number of others networks and was, in its original form (for the G20) endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Vandana Shiva, Michael Hardt and others.

On September 3 in Dushanbe (Tajikistan) took place the latest summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), that celebrated its 20th anniversary.

10 May 2011 | The European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) has passed recommendations to the Council of the European Union on Monday evening that include the request to the Council to advocate at the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly “the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) within the UN system.” The adoption of the text by the plenary of the European Parliament is considered a matter of form and is expected to take place in June.

Following the last Ministerial conference held in Interlaken (Switzerland) in February 2010, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe convened in Izmir (Turkey) to continue their reflections on the effectiveness of the Convention mechanism. Under the Turkish chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the Ministers adopted the Izmir Declaration on the Future of the European Court of Human Rights.

We are aware of the great success enjoyed by the European Convention on Human Rights since its entry into force and the European Court of Human Rights since its inception. They have had a major influence on rights and freedoms in the 47 member states. And, as you are also aware, the European Union made the right decision in providing, under the Treaty of Lisbon, for its accession to the European Convention.

National parliaments must play a key role in stemming the flood of applications submerging the European Court of Human Rights, PACE President Mevlüt Çavusoglu has said, speaking at the opening of the High-Level Conference on the future of the Court in Izmir (26-27 April 2011), Turkey.

Members of the Central African Network of Parliamentarians (REPAC) have met in the Cameroonian city of Douala for a two-day seminar from 1 to 2 December 2010. REPAC is the Assembly of the people of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS). Although decided in 2002 through the adoption by the Member States of the Protocol on the establishment of REPAC, the set up of the network is still not entirely accomplished yet. 

On 1 June 2010 Protocol No.14 to the European Convention on Human Rights entered into force, six years after its adoption by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers. Its aim is to amend the control system of the Convention so as to improve the efficiency of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

United Nations, New York, 24 October 2010 - The anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter on 24 October 1945 has been celebrated as United Nations Day since 1948. It has traditionally been marked throughout the world by meetings, discussions and exhibits on the achievements and goals of the Organization.

On 4th October 2010 an international meeting of the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly in the Senate of Argentina in Buenos Aires has called on the United Nations and its member states to initiate a “preparatory process towards an intergovernmental conference for the purpose of establishing a Parliamentary Assembly at the United Nations.“

On 15 April 2010, the Regional Parliament of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) has formally been inaugurated in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo.

On July 13th 2010 the French Parliament adopted the law of adaptation to the International Criminal Court, a legal text which has been several times amended, and subject of many debates since Paris ratified the ICC statute in 2000.

At a conference in Canberra organized by the Australian National University, experts have suggested the establishment of a world parliament on global climate policy. The new body, initially composed of around 550 delegates from national parliaments, could be set up as a consultative body to the Conference of State Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, UNFCCC.

David Muwanga (Busiweek)- East African Community (EAC) member states are getting prepared for the establishment of a monetary union that is aimed at introducing a single currency across the five states. The monetary union is expected to be operational by 2012.

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Honor Mahony. 27.05.2010.

Not quite six months in place, the EU's Lisbon Treaty has already led to a significant shift in the Brussels power landscape, with many of its main actors still trying to find their feet in the new order.

The new rulebook, in force since December 2009 after many years of negotiation and then ratification, greatly increases MEPs' co-legislating powers and creates a beefed up foreign policy post and a president of the EU council.