June 28th 2010
Jeremy Smith
Of Paris, the Council of Europe, local self-government, and just a touch of football
The Council of Europe – the not-the-European-Union organisation of wider Europe (47 countries at last count) – is best known for the work of its Court of Human Rights, and has a general remit to promote democracy and human rights. It is also in the news just now because its Parliamentary Assembly has voted unanimously against a general banning of the burqa or nijab, and criticized the recent Swiss law against the building of minarets. (By the way, the football bit is at the end of this post!)
I was back in Paris last week as “independent expert” for a Council of Europe (CoE) working group meeting on how best it can coordinate its work on local and regional democracy. Continue Reading
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Council of Europe, Local Governments
June 24th 2010
Ann Pettifor
A Lesson in Power by World Leaders
Ann Pettifor and Maz Kessler, Originally published in Huffington Post.
It’s not often that you get to sit in the same room with a group of world leaders and hear their wisdom, ideas and experiences at the personal and political levels.
We’ve just enjoyed that privilege. And the world leaders were all women.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Gender Equality
April 19th 2010
Jeremy Smith
Cities having a go
I’m sitting here in London with fingers crossed – on Friday I’m due to fly to Chicago, a city I haven’t been to since I hitch-hiked round the States, um, quite a few years ago… I keep looking at the web to see what mood the Icelandic Gods are in, and whether they will relent in time to let me fly.
My reason for travel – our world organisation of cities, UCLG, has its Executive Bureau meeting there, at the invitation of Mayor Daley, and I am helping with the planning of UCLG’s City Leaders Summit, hosted by Mexico City in November.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Local government
March 10th 2010
Jeremy Smith
International Women’s Day – European Commission announces its Equality Charter
A few weeks ago, we highlighted the European Charter for Equality of Women and Men in Local Life, co-authored by Ai Director Jeremy Smith for the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR).
On issues like financial (de)regulation we have been quite critical of the European Union’s role – see our recent Iceland posts.
So it is good to record positive news – the European Commission has just announced its own gender equality “Charter” to coincide with International Women’s Day. It is in English, French and German. The EU has really been in the lead over many years, in cajoling its member states into taking legislative and practical action for equality.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: EU Charter
March 2nd 2010
Ann Pettifor
Environment First, Profits Second: Living Within Our Means
Download today’s talk for EcoBuild on how we can afford a Green New Deal.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Green New Deal
January 31st 2010
Jeremy Smith
The crisis – time to defend Europe’s local governments
Last Thursday I was back in Brussels, invited by the European Parliament’s special committee on the financial, economic and social crisis. My mission – to highlight the really serious financial problems now facing Europe’s local and regional governments, just as growing un-(and under) employment make their public services ever more essential.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: Economic Crisis, European Commission
October 1st 2009
Ann Pettifor
Viva Mama
Midwife gives antenatal care to an expectant mother.
First published in the Huffington Post, September 22nd 2009
President Clinton was on Larry King the other night, reminding us with typical directness that people die simply because they can’t get medicine. This is particularly true for poor women and their newborn babies.
Women – mothers – are still dying in pregnancy and childbirth, all over the world, for want of cheap, standard medicines that we take for granted.
But today a new article is published in The Lancet that could transform the attitudes of donors and decision makers and potentially save millions of women’s lives. Continue Reading
