Pluralism: a key challenge of the 21st century - Koffi Annan A global debate needs local voices - Jay Naidoo Listen to, not attack Turkey protestors: CIVICUS The deteriorating situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic and the recent killings in Al-Qusayr A new global partnership: eradicate poverty and transform economies through sustainable development - The Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda Africa: West African civil society leaders meet in Accra Egypt: NGO law becomes test for Egypt’s Morsi Russia: Who's next? Putin critics worry as Russia clampdown spreads Canada: Tell the Prime Minister that you care about global poverty reduction and human rights Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai Open Budgets: The Political Economy of Transparency, Participation, and Accountability  Read this issue online or subscribe to receive all future issues

One of the final announcements at Women Deliver, the global conference on family planning, was the launch of a social network campaign to demand countries include reproductive and sexual health and rights in the UN’s new development goals.

The European Union is edging closer to its final take on the post-2015 agenda.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to receive the World Statesman Award from U.

More than 3,000 delegates including policy-makers, advocates and world leaders representing over 150 countries will convene for the Women Deliver 2013 Conference at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC) here, tomorrow, the decade's largest meeting focused on girls' and women's health and rights.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office in Lebanon is organizing a National Consultation on the Post-2015 Development Agenda which will take place on 29 May, at the Holiday Inn Beirut-Dunes (Dunes Ballroom) at 9:00 am.

Investing in the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls will help accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, United Nations senior officials said on the final day of the Women Deliver Conference.

Investing in the sexual and reproductive health of women and girls will help accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, United Nations senior officials said on the final day of the Women Deliver Conference.

The 27-member U.

Excellency, The undersigned organisations are writing to urge your government to ensure that the human rights situation in Egypt is addressed by your delegation at the Human Rights Council at its upcoming twenty third session in June 2013.

“We are writing to call on members of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to take action during the current 23rdsession of the HRC to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Eritrea, in response to the continued appalling situation of widespread and systematic human rights violations in Eritrea and the lack of cooperation demonstrated by the Eritrean government towards international and regional human rights mechanisms.

Kenya's medical practitioners are among 3,000 guests attending an international conference on girls and women's health and human rights issues in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

As the 2015 deadline to meet up with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches, the African region on Thursday called for the inclusion of all unmet health targets in the post-2015 agenda.

There is a growing push to include resilience to disaster risk in the post 2015 development agenda discussion.

A group United Nations human rights experts today called* for the post-2015 development agenda to be urgently refocused on equality, social protection and accountability.

Reproductive health is an essential right for all females and should be a major component in the Post-2015 Development Agenda, local and international experts told The Jordan Times.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that a total of 470 million new jobs, or about 32 million jobs per year, will be needed to provide employment to the world’s working age population in the 15 years from 2015 to 2030.

As the world faces growing water securitychallenges, experts are calling for better monitoring of the availability, quality and use of water, and its inclusion in the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as a key issue in the post-2015 development agenda.

“The rise of inequality has severely undermined the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs,” the independent experts said in their message to Member States which will meet this week in New York to discuss how to a shape a new set of global development goals for the period after the 2015 deadline of the MDGs.

African leaders and experts have called for children to be at the centre of the post-2015 development agenda.

In a new post-2015 development agenda, we must build on the achievements of the MDGs while avoiding their shortcomings.

As part of the World Bank and IMF Spring Meetings that took place in Washington, D.

In UN corridors you'll often hear frustrated diplomats whispering that the amount of process around an issue is inversely correlated to the likelihood of achieving anything on it.

AGAINST the backdrop of the alleged inadequacies of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), experts drawn from the United Nations (UN) and Africa, among others, have urged a review of the targets for the continent’s development.

In the opening address of the event, Minister for International Development Heidi Hautala declared that Finland is strongly committed to formulating the Post-2015 development agenda and is closely involved in contributing to its progress.

UN Women have presented a report to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development that was convened on June 2012 in Brazil; this is a review of that report.

The World Health Organization’s Director General has asked the member states to ‘do everything’ they can to ensure that health occupies ‘a high place’ on the post-2015 development agenda.

Over 560,000 citizens from 194 countries have already voted for the issues that would make the most difference to their lives, providing, for the first time ever, real-time and real-world intelligence on what people think about the biggest challenges facing them and their families.

Ending extreme poverty can be achieved in this generation, United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron told journalists in New York on Wednesday.

The G8 club – France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and Russia – will hold its annual summit on June 17-18 in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland.

"Culture has to feature prominently in global thinking about the world we want," Deputy Secretary-General Petko Draganov told the Hangzhou International Congress on 15 May.

A senior researcher is calling for China to play a more positive role in the agenda setting for the era of post-2015 UN Millennium Development Goals.

The High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons working on the post-2015 development agenda concluded a two-day meeting at United Nations Headquarters, New York, on May 14 - the final opportunity for the 27-member Panel to discuss pending issues before the report can be finalized and submitted to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on May 30, 2013.

A United Nations high-level panel on a post-2015 global development agenda wrapped up today with consensus emerging on how to make a more equitable world, said British Prime Minister David Cameron in his role as co-chair of the body.

The Stakeholder’s Consultations of the IBSA Women’s Forum entered its second and final day with parallel sessions on ‘Gender Responsive Budgeting’ and ‘Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality: Post 2015 Development Agenda’.

Several governments and the HFA2 Advisory Group identified the need to take advantage of the momentum for the Fourth Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction to further advance the consideration of disaster risk reduction and its link to the Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Iraqis came together on Sunday to agree on their country’s most pressing needs, and send a message to the international community on what issues should be prioritised after 2015.

“As he prepares to co-chair a session of the U.

This year's forum of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), has been described as a unique opportunity to develop multi-stakeholder consensus on what is needed for the WSIS process in the future to ensure that the bottom-up approach of the process is preserved.

As we move toward the end date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), work towards a new post-2015 global architecture to frame development outcomes and track progress is already underway.

In the consultations about what will replace the millennium development goals (MDGs) when they expire in 2015, there is pressure on politicians and political commentators to come up with the next "new" idea.

A briefing to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) addressed the position of food security and nutrition in the post-2015 development agenda, and the work of the newly-reformed Committee on World Food Security (CFS).

A large number of reports and papers have been published as part of the discussions on the post-2015 development framework.

Efforts to develop a global development framework beyond 2015 - the completion date of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) - have continued to advance in recent weeks, with the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda holding its final formal meeting in Bali, Indonesia on 25-27 March.

UN discussing role of technology, innovation for sustainable development - Senior UN officials, policymakers, civil society representatives and other stakeholders gathered on Tuesday in New York for a special UN Economic and Social Council forum on mobilizing science, technology and innovation for sustainable development.

CIVICUS calls on the government of Bahrain to urgently disclose the whereabouts of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab.

Are NGOs whiners, winners or what? - Fraser Reilly-King What’s ‘Development’ with Rights Abuses Along the Way? Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CIVICUS organise the workshop: “Holding government to account through direct citizen engagement – what works for Africa?” Johannesburg, South Africa 16-17 May 2013 The situation is becoming dire for civil society in Uzbekistan Update from the Secretariat of the High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Agenda Accreditation procedure threatens to undercut civil society participation at UN meeting New global development agenda must have human rights at its core European Commission - Progress on equality between women and men has just been released  Read this issue online or subscribe to receive all future issues

Are NGOs whiners, winners or what? - Fraser Reilly-King What’s ‘Development’ with Rights Abuses Along the Way? Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and CIVICUS organise the workshop: “Holding government to account through direct citizen engagement – what works for Africa?” Johannesburg, South Africa 16-17 May 2013 The situation is becoming dire for civil society in Uzbekistan Update from the Secretariat of the High Level Panel on the Post 2015 Agenda Accreditation procedure threatens to undercut civil society participation at UN meeting New global development agenda must have human rights at its core European Commission - Progress on equality between women and men has just been released  

Sukhrobjon Ismoilov, the founder and director of the Expert Working Group (EWG), speaks to CIVICUS about ongoing restrictions on civil society in Uzbekistan and the need for greater international support following Uzbekistan's recent examination under the UN Universal Period Review (UPR).

Senior UN and government officials on Monday called on countries to prioritize establishment of innovative policy and legal instruments alongside new funding kitties to eradicate slums and enable urban population have access to low cost and environmental friendly homes.