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The Global Network for the Right to Food and Nutrition launches 'When Food Becomes Immaterial: Confronting the Digital Age”,  a report exploring the impact of technologies on what and how we eat, as well as on how food is produced.

Thursday, 2018 Oct 18th

Bali, Indonesia - International Financial Institutions led by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have long touted infrastructure development as a mark of progress.

Thursday, 2018 Oct 18th

This paper was presented by Joseph Purugganan at the Asia Europe Peoples Forum in Ghent, Belgium September 29, 2018. Joseph is the head of the Philippine office of Focus on the Global South and coordinates the network Trade Justice Pilipinas.

Wednesday, 2018 Oct 03rd

Walden Bello traces the rise of the present-day Hindu nationalist movement from its marginal origins at the time of Indian independence to its formidable present domination of the political landscape.

Saturday, 2018 Sep 29th
Guided by its overarching three-year workplan, Focus organized, conducted, and implemented its work in the context of two major challenges in Asia: the deepening of neoliberalism and the intensification of fascist and authoritarian rule in Asian states.
 
Wednesday, 2018 Sep 26th

Focus is pleased to release online its newest publication Repormang Agraryo at Pagbabago? Narratives on Agrarian Conflicts, Transitions, And Transformation; the launch of the book edition took place on September 11, 2018 in Quezon City, Philippines.

Monday, 2018 Sep 17th

 

Focus seeks a Programme Officer for its India office to strengthen its existing programme and expand programme activities into related areas.

Monday, 2018 Sep 10th

Focus on the Global South releases the 4th edition of Focus Newsletter, which tackles the issue of democracy in Asia and its different facets--elections, constitutions, (extreme) nationalism, populism, majoritarian rule, press freedom. Why democracy?

Tuesday, 2018 Aug 28th

On the day of his birthday, 17th September, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam, and dedicated this act to the nation.

farmers marching for agrarian reform

Malolos, Bulacan— Around 150 farmers, women, senior citizens, and children who were part of a "Lakbayan" (march) from Bataan to Malacanang to request President Rodrigo Duterte to help get the lands

Screengrab of webinar

Civil society organizations from Indonesia, Philippines, and Europe criticized the European Union’s Multilateral Investment Court proposal as an attempt to multilateralise the investor-State disput

Rubber plantation in Southern Lao PDR

On 21 March, the International Day of Forests, 200 organisations are

22 February 2017, Manila, Philippines - Civil society and grassroots organizations from across Asia gathered in Manila for a two-day strategy meeting, February 21 and 22, to discuss a global campai

Access Delayed = Access Denied: Trade, Intellectual Property Rights and Peoples' Struggle for Access to Medicines in Southeast Asia

A report from Focus on the Global South and EU-ASEAN FTA Network - click to download PDF (3 MB)

 

We're pleased to announce the release of State of Fragmentation: The Philippines in Transition. The book is jointly published by Focus on the Global South and Friedrich Ebert Siftung and authored by: Walden Bello, Kenneth Cardenas, Jerome Patrick Cruz, Alinaya Fabros, Mary Ann Manahan, Clarissa Militante, Joseph Purugganan, and Jenina Joy Chavez.

Land Struggles III: Keeping Land Local

Focus on the Global South co-founder Walden Bello and staff members Pablo Solon, Afsar Jafri, Joseph Purugganan, and Dorothy Guerrero have contributed to a new reader from Transnational Institute (TNI) called "Shifting Power: Critical Perspectives on Emerging Economies." Their working papers examine BRICS and global trade, BRICS and global capitalism, and the changing role of China in the world

This living document is a result of an extensive process led by the Social Movements for an Alternative Asia (SMAA), Gerak Lawan, La Via Campesina and the supporters of the #EndWTO Campaign. A draft document was written and circulated online before the #EndWTO Week of Action parallel to the 9th Ministerial of the World Trade Organization in Bali, Indonesia last December 201

Ginawa ang komiks na ito upang mas maipalaganap ang mga pagsasaliksik na ginawa ng Focus tungkol sa mga isyung kaugnay ng tubig. Maaari itong gamitin sa mga gawaing pang-edukasyon sa pamayanan, sa LGU at sa mga CSOs. 

As trade and investment flows rapidly increase across Southeast Asia, several countries have experienced a surge in large land deals for plantation agriculture. Against this backdrop, civil society organisations have been using a wider range of legal tools to promote public accountability in investment processes.

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Fishing workers, through the very nature of their work, are especially vulnerable to human trafficking as well as forced, bonded and slave labour, operating as they do in isolated and hazardous conditions.

Focus on the Global South Statement on the 3rd State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2018

Save the Mekong, a coalition of non-government organizations, community-based groups and concerned citizens within the Mekong region, wish to express our shock and concern at the recent collapse of the Xe Pian - Xe Nam Noy hydropower project in Laos, and ou

On the 20th of July 2018, 25 civil society organizations in Thailand in the sectors of health, agriculture, fishery, environment, internet, labor rights, women rights and climate change convened a meeting on the impact of RCEP and CPTPP.

Focus on the Global South, the ETC Group and Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute (CUSRI) are organizing a Forum on Corporate Concentration in Food and Agriculture; Implications on Food Sovere

 

The following open letter has been issued and signed by scholars, academics, and civil society members from across the world in support of the five academics and researchers who have been summoned by the military following the International Conference of Thai Studies (ICTS13), and to object to attempts by the state to control spaces of learning.

We the undersigned express our alarm and dismay at the Summons issued by Col Suebsakul Buarawong, deputy commander of the 33rd Military Circle in Chiang Mai, to Dr Chayan Vaddhanaphuti, Pakawadee Veerapatpong, Chaipong Samnieng, Nontawat Machai, and Thiramon Bua-ngam. They are accused of violating the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chief's Order No.3/2015, Thailand’s military regime's ban on political gatherings of five or more persons. Conviction on the charges issued against these five scholars carries a potential six months in prison.

Statement from iDEFEND on the declaration of martial law in Mindanao, the Philippines

On Tuesday night, President Rodrigo Duterte declared Martial Law on the entire Mindanao Island while on a state visit in Russia, following the fighting between the military and the Maute group.

It has to be clarified that the clashes were triggered by law enforcement operation in Marawi. This is a situation started by the government itself. Similarly, the Maute group is a local terrorist group, and not ISIS, even as the former tries to ally itself with ISIS.

 

It’s been over a year since the late afternoon on 16 April 2016 when Den Kamlae went missing on his way to collect forest items. Material evidence was later discovered between 23-25 March 2017. Today, these important materials are still under examination by forensic scientists and the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS).

On 14 March 2017, the International Day of Action for Rivers, we, the Save the Mekong Coalition along with civil society and community partners from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, make this statement to express our gratitude to the Mekong River and the way of life she supports. The Mekong is our mother river, home to unique biodiversity and a lifeline for millions of people throughout the river basin. We recognize the efforts of Mekong communities who are working to protect and preserve the unique ecosystems and resources of the river for future generations. 

 

Joint Organizations

July 11, 2016 - We, the undersigned Cambodian civil society groups, are outraged at the brutal murder of independent political analyst and grassroots organiser Kem Ley yesterday morning, and call for a prompt, thorough and independent inquiry into his death.

Kem Ley, 46, was shot twice, in his chest and his head, in a heavily-frequented Caltex petrol station cafe in central Phnom Penh shortly before 9.00 on Sunday morning.

Secretariat: c/o NFBM #1066-B, Emerald St., Taglesville Subd., Balanga City, Bataan

5th July 2016

Dear Friends,

5th July 2016

Translated from Filipino

Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya (KILUSAN) strongly condemns the treacherous murder of our comrade Gloria Capitan of Mariveles, Bataan!

Labor Day statement of Independent Senatorial Candidate Walden Bello

 Today, I march side by side with our workers to affirm their struggle for labor rights and continue the fight for dignity for our working class.

Labor day is a celebration of what the labor movement has won over decades of struggle.

Not many people know this but the fact that it is illegal to force workers to work for more than 8 hours and that they have to be paid more if they work beyond that is something that workers—through collective action—achieved.

You may sign this statement by clicking here

Suffering the brunt of the ongoing El Nino, more than 6 thousand farmers converged along a national highway in Kidapawan in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines on March 30 to demand 15,000 sacks of rice and financial subsidy promised to them six months earlier by the provincial government. They urgently need this assistance to tide them over until they are able to plant and harvest rice again.