Politics

The proposal to include nutrition as a human right in the Federal Constitution of Brazil was passed in the first round by the House of Representatives with an overwhelming majority. This ammendment will be included among social rights already established in the Constitution: health, education, employment, and housing.

After having crossed more than 20 countries, the World March stopped over in Paris. On foot, by bus, by boat, to the cinema and finally to the Ministry of Defence, the international and Parisian Marchers, accompanied by the French spokesman Alain Ducq, made the 5 aims of this world campaign known, as well as their applicability to France.

The Manta and Montecristi Declaration, which emerged from the international event held in Ecuador in support of the passage of the Peace Boat, asks governments throughout the world for the abolition of nuclear arms, the dismantlement and recycling of foreign military bases, and the implementation of peace constitutions such as those that exist in Ecuador, Japan, and Costa Rica.

The Peruvian Government has sent four ministerial delegations to various South American countries to put into practice a proposal made by Alan Garcia, the President of Peru, at the last South American Union of Nations meeting. The Proposal is promoting a commitment to non-aggression, with the aim of ending the huge arms purchase in a continent seeking to eradicate poverty.

The city of Berlin commemorates the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Wall as guests, political leaders from throughout the European Union as well as the four allied powers that guarded the former divided city have already begun to arrive. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates are also meeting at their 10th Summit which will take place at Berlin’s City Hall.

Since his arrival at the White House, Obama signaled that poor healthcare coverage in the USA was a major problem and insisted on pushing through his proposals. The historic vote in the House of Representatives was an unprecedented victory for the President, who had staked much of his political capital in the fight for healthcare reform.

Twenty years ago a wall fell and the world watched in awe and in hope. The Berlin Wall had stood for decades as a physical reminder of how mistrust and hatred can dominate relations between nations and peoples. The men and women celebrating its fall were rejoicing not just the reunion of Germany and end of the Cold War but the promise of a new era of freedom and optimism.

This declaration, to be taken to the Nobel Peace Laureates Summit that will take place in Berlin on November 10th and 11th, requesting them to promote it from there, is signed by Patricia Arriagada and Roberto Kohanoff, in the name of the Middle East Team of the World March for Peace and Non-Violence, and Giorgio Shultze, Humanist European Spokesperson.

A report prepared by Marco Gandásegui, professor at the University of Panama and researcher associated with the CELA, demonstrates that the United States approved a military budget of 626 billion dollars in October 2009, the highest sum for a country in all of history. Alarming statistics and tendencies for a world that is on the brink of a possible nuclear tragedy.

Concluding the Third Global Forum on Migration, Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon, urges governments of the world to improve living conditions and treatment of immigrants. Moon emphasizes that ‘immigrants be treated with more sensitivity in the face of these dramatic events. Protecting and promoting human rights of immigrants is fundamental, regardless of legal status’.