Theme: Spanish

ADITAL, Friar Tito Information Agency of Latin America, is a news agency that was created to bring the Latin American and Caribbean social agenda to the international media. It wants to encourage ethical and social journalism. It wants to promote integration and solidarity among peoples. It unveils to the world the dignity of those who are building citizenship, it gives visibility to the liberating actions that the God of Life arises in the popular media, it makes known the role of the social actors who are democratizing communication, and who are our sources of information.

AGTER is an international non-profit association (under French law). It has been created in March 2005 by a group of people of different origins that took part in works or exchanges between actors of civil society organizations on the issues of access to natural resources and land. They want to clarify the links between poverty, underdevelopment and access to resources, in order to set up lasting alternatives to the ongoing policies. AGTER aims at contributing to improve the governance of land, water and natural resources and at conceiving new ways of managing those resources, better adapted to face the challenges of the twenty-and-first century.

The International Association of Technicians, Experts and Researchers (AITEC) is a network of professionals, researchers and citizens committed with social issues. AITEC provides also a citizen-based expertise and alternative proposals on urban public services and financing for development.

The Alliance is an informal network made of people, institutions and movements that are aware of the complexity of contemporary problems and seek to find the necessary mutations so that we can together act upon the future. This network has generated a social dynamics and is inventing new forms of collective action.

The Alliance of Independent Publishers is a non-profit-making association governed by French legislation, set up in the spring of 2002 on the initiative of a small group of book professionals. By gradually setting up an international network of publishers, who work independently from the major publishing groups, meet regularly, and work together on publishing projects, the Alliance of Independent Publishers is contributing to the circulation of ideas and the building of an international civil society.

The International Movement ATD Fourth Worldis a non-governmental organization with no religious or political affiliation which engages with individuals and institutions to find solutions to eradicate extreme poverty. Working in partnership with people in poverty, ATD Fourth World’s human rights-based approach focuses on supporting families and individuals through its grass-roots presence and involvement in disadvantaged communities, in both urban and rural areas, creating public awareness of extreme poverty and influencing policies to address it.

ATTAC is an international organization involved in the alter-globalization movement. We oppose neo-liberal globalization and develop social, ecological, and democratic alternatives so as to guarantee fundamental rights for all. Specifically, we fight for the regulation of financial markets, the closure of tax havens, the introduction of global taxes to finance global public goods, the cancellation of the debt of developing countries, fair trade, and the implementation of limits to free trade and capital flows.

The Bretton Woods Project works as a networker, information-provider, media informant and watchdog to scrutinise and influence the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Building Global Democracy programme (BGD) explores how globalization can be governed in democratic ways. Today’s world faces many global challenges: in economics, environment, politics and culture. To handle global problems effectively and legitimately, they need to be handled democratically.

B y its books and its work with the UN, the CETIM denounces the generalised bad-development and the responsibilities of the North.

Choike is a portal dedicated to improving the visibility of the work done by NGOs and social movements from the South. It serves as a platform where citizen groups can disseminate their work and at the same time enrich it with information from diverse sources, which is presented from the perspective of Southern civil society.

The citizens’ assemblies gather women and men, association and organizations that would want to participate in renewing democracy and act in significant changes in their society and at global level. The Assemblies are not a kind of new parliaments or new institutions. First and foremost, they stand for social and participatory processes where trustful relations and cultural, ideological and religious differences are respected. They are based on organizing discussions among numerous members of the society so as to gradually deduce joint and sharing prospects and strategies to be achieved collectively

The Conference of Catholic bishops of France has confided CCFD with the mission of mobilising Christian solidarity, particularly during the Lenten period, in order to promote solidarity between peoples by acting for development. In order to accomplish this mission CCFD focuses its efforts in two fields: Support for development initiatives, and raising public awareness on international solidarity issues.

The Committee for the Cancellation of the Third World Debt (the CADTM - Comité pour l’annulation de la dette du Tiers Monde) is an international network of individuals and local committees from across Europe and Latin America, Africa and Asia. The network acts in close liaison with other movements and organisations fighting for the same ideals. Its main preoccupation, besides the debt issue, is the planning of activities and radical alternatives for the creation of a world respectful of people’s fundamental rights, needs and liberties.

The grassroots entities of the Confederation of Education Workers of Argentina (CTERA) include teachers at all levels and types of both public and private areas. It is the largest teachers union and one of the largest labor organizations of any activity in Argentina.

Coredem is a confederation of Web sites for worldwide democracy that gathers partners around a charter, a search engine, and a wiki.

Democracia Sur is an initiative of D3E / CLAES that promotes information, analysis and strengthening of democracy, and the role of civil society in the political arena. This web site provides information and resources on topics such as the concepts of civil society and citizenship, its different manifestations at local, national, regional and international levels, the relations between the citizens’ spaces, the corporations and the state, the ways that the civil society is organized, and so on. We also offer a selection of key documents in Latin American politics.

Because sharing experiences, building common references and proposals, is necessary to developing a global citizenship and empowering local actors. DPH provides more than 7,000 articles on exemplary struggles, innovative actions and organisations, collective analyses and proposals - in four languages and from all continents.

The creation of the bi-regional network "Linking Alternatives" opens a new chapter in the relations between peoples which integrates civil society organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean with its European peers in a network that responds to a concept of solidarity and of mutual support. This new partnership between civil society organizations from both continents aims to build a world based on the concepts of peace, participatory democracy, social justice, human rights, food sovereignty, sustainability and the right of peoples to self-determination.

FIDH’ s mandate is to contribute to the respect of all the rights defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. FIDH aims at obtaining effective improvements in the protection of victims, and in the prevention of Human Rights violations along with the punishment of their perpetrators. Its priorities are set by the triennial World Congress and the International Board (22 members), with the support of the International Secretariat (30 staff members).

FIAN is an international human rights organization that has advocated for the realization of the right to food for more than 20 years. FIAN consists of national sections and individual members in over 50 countries around the world. FIAN is a not-for-profit organization without any religious or political affiliation and has consultative status to the United Nations. FIAN’s mission is to expose violations of people’s right to food wherever they may occur. The organization stands up against unjust and oppressive practices that prevent people from feeding themselves. The struggle against gender discrimination and other forms of exclusion is integral part of its mission. It strives to secure people’s access to the resources that they need in order to feed themselves, now and in the future.

Forest Peoples Programme supports the rights of peoples who live in forests and depend on them for their livelihoods. We work to create political space for forest peoples to secure rights, control their lands and decide their own futures.

The Forum of Ethics & Responsibilities (FER) is made up of individuals, professional and thematic networks, and organizations aiming to introduce the concept of Responsibility into international debate in order to face the current multiple crises (environmental, economic, finance, and social). The FER partners’ actions aim to promote cultures of responsibility in every field of human activity.

We are the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, uniting 76 national member groups and some 5,000 local activist groups on every continent. With over 2 million members and supporters around the world, we campaign on today’s most urgent environmental and social issues. We challenge the current model of economic and corporate globalization, and promote solutions that will help to create environmentally sustainable and socially just societies.

The Global Marshall Plan Initiative aims at improved and binding frameworks for the global economy, to create a balance between the economy, the environment, society, and culture.

Global Voices is an international community of bloggers who report on blogs and citizen media from around the world

Globethics.net is a global network of persons and institutions interested in various fields of applied ethics. It offers access to a large number resources on ethics, especially through its leading global digital ethics library. In addition, it facilitates collaborative web-based research, conferences, online publishing and active sharing of information. Globethics.net aims especially at increasing access to ethics perspectives from Africa, Latin America and Asia. It strengthens global common values and respect of ethical contextual diversity.

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems

Habitat International Coalition (HIC) is an independent, nonprofit alliance with hundreds of organizations and individuals , which has been working in housing and human settlements for more than 30 years. The Coalition comprises social movements, community-based organizations, support groups and academics. The strength of the Coalition is based on its worldwide membership (it has members in 117 nations in five continents) and on the fact that it brings together a range of civil society groups.

Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (Brazilian Institute of Social and Economic Analyses), Ibase, is a civil society organization founded in 1981 by sociologist Herbert de Souza, called Betinho, and by other members. The goal of Ibase’s work is to consolidate democracy and to promote active citizenship. To meet this goal, the institute deems necessary to reinforce the associative fabric of society, develop public policies and produce a new culture on rights. Ibase’s initiatives are ruled by principles based on freedom, equality, solidarity, participation, diversity and social-environmental justice.

ISTEC’s mission is to foster sustainable socio-economic development in Ibero-America by carrying out programs focused on, among others: Advancing the state of higher education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM); Promoting the culture of quality, innovation and sustainability; Generating and disseminating knowledge and information; Promoting leadership models that adhere to the principles of responsibility and accountability.

Indymedia is a collective of independent media organizations and hundreds of journalists offering grassroots, non-corporate coverage. Indymedia is a democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of truth. Indymedia was founded as an alternative to government and corporate media, and seeks to facilitate people being able to publish their media as directly as possible.

The Institute for research and debate on governance (IRG) is a forum for international and cross-cultural debate, aiming to give rise to, confront and bring together new conceptions of governance that move away from the Western-based concepts of “good governance” and constitute a source of renewed proposals for regulating societies.

IPS is the world´s leading provider of information on global issues, backed by a network of journalists in more than 100 countries. IPS is a communication institution with a global news agency at its core. IPS raises the voices of the South and civil society. IPS brings a fresh perspective on development and globalization.

At the end of an International Conference which got them together, for the first time, 82 national NGO platforms representatives of 82 countries and NGO regional coalitions from Africa, Latin America, Europe and Oceania, decided to create an International Forum of national NGO platforms, a permanent space of cooperation and initiatives.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency dealing with labour issues, particularly international labour standards and decent work for all.[2] Almost all (185 out of 193) UN members are part of the ILO.

A global alliance of civil society and intergovernmental organisations working together to promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men through advocacy, dialogue, knowledge sharing and capacity building.

IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, helps the world find pragmatic solutions to our most pressing environment and development challenges. It supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, non-government organizations, United Nations agencies, companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best practice.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a scientific intergovernmental body. Its mission is to provide comprehensive scientific assessments of current scientific, technical and socio-economic information worldwide about the risk of climate change caused by human activity, its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences, and possible options for adapting to these consequences or mitigating the effects.

IRED is an international network of local networks, rural and urban groups, craftsmen’s and women’s organizations, cooperatives, NGOs and other fellow organizations that are eager to collaborate in order to break out of their isolation and, by joining forces, constitute an organized force to bring about change.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is the main international trade union organisation, representing the interests of working people worldwide. The ITUC was founded at its inaugural Congress in Vienna, Austria, on 1 -3 November 2006. It groups together the former affiliates of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), along with trade union organisations which had no global affiliation. The ICFTU and the WCL dissolved themselves on 31 October 2006, to pave the way for the creation of the ITUC.

La Via Campesina is the international movement which brings together millions of peasants, small and medium-size farmers, landless people, women farmers, indigenous people, migrants and agricultural workers from around the world. It defends small-scale sustainable agriculture as a way to promote social justice and dignity. It strongly opposes corporate driven agriculture and transnational companies that are destroying people and nature.

The Multinationals Watch in Latin America (OMAL) is a project created by the association Peace with Dignity in 2003, with three main objectives: 1 .- To identify and systematize information on the impacts generated by Spanish transnational corporations in Latin America. 2 .- To investigate, complain and raise awareness of the consequences of their presence 3 – To network with European and Latin American social movements resisting against the power of transnational corporations.

On 26 March 2008, the UN Human Rights Council approved the President’s proposal to appoint Prof. Olivier De Schutter the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food. The right to adequate food is realized ‘when every man, woman and child, alone or in community with others, has physical and economic access at all times to adequate food or means for its procurement. The right to adequate food shall therefore not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with a minimum package of calories, proteins and other specific nutrients. The right to adequate food will have to be realized progressively. However, States have a core obligation to take the necessary action to mitigate and alleviate hunger even in times of natural or other disasters’ (General Comment No. 12, at para. 6). For the Special Rapporteur, the right to food is the right to have regular, permanent and unrestricted access, either directly or by means of financial purchases, to quantitatively and qualitatively adequate and sufficient food corresponding to the cultural traditions of the people to which the consumer belongs, and which ensure a physical and mental, individual and collective, fulfilling and dignified life free of fear.

The next Earth Summit Rio+20—officially named the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development—will be held from 4 to 6 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This summit is a new attempt by the United Nations in this new millennium to advance the commitment of States and the world community in the major transitions of the twenty-first century. United Nations invites States, civil society and citizens to “lay the foundations of a world of prosperity, peace and sustainability.” Two questions, closely related, are placed at the heart of the summit: 1. a green economy in the perspective of sustainability and poverty eradication, and 2. the creation of an institutional framework for sustainable development. These issues are also those of all Peoples, of all men and women citizens of the planet.

Peuples Solidaires is an association whose mission is to mobilize people, alert the media, inform the public, and act in the long term, about human rights at work, food sovereignty, and in general all matters related t international solidarity.

Program on Democracy and Global Transformation

Public Services International (PSI) is a global union federation of public sector trade unions. It has 620 affiliated unions, in 160 countries, representing 20 million workers. PSI is an officially recognized non-government organization for the public sector within the International Labour Organisation, and has consultative status with the United Nations’ ECOSOC and observer status with other UN bodies such as the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and UNESCO.

CRID is a network of French NGOs for International Solidarity which : share the same conception of a humane and sustainable development in a spirit of solidarity, through the strengthening of the civil society. They work in partnership with Southern and Eastern NGOs, they implement development education projects in France and promote public opinion campaigns, and they participate in the construction of a “ global movement for international solidarity ” and try to develop it further in France.

Rinoceros est le portail d’information de Ritimo sur les initiatives citoyennes pour la construction d’un autre monde. Rinoceros met en avant une diversité géographique et culturelle des points de vue, en français, anglais, espagnol ou portugais. Rinoceros veut favoriser la participation de tous pour : inventer une autre mondialisation, renforcer la démocratie, soutenir un développement durable, défendre les droits fondamentaux, cultiver la paix, défendre la diversité culturelle, favoriser l’accès à l’information, cultuver une science citoyenne, promouvoir une économie au service des hommes

SHERPA is a Paris-based non-profit organization dedicated to protecting and defending victims of economic crimes. The association brings together international jurists and lawyers and works in close collaboration with civil society organizations from all over the world.

Irenees.net is a website of Resources for Peace at the service of Artisans worldwide with the goal of equipping them in their efforts to rethink peace and propose new modes of action.

Social Watch is an international network of citizens’ organizations struggling to eradicate poverty and the causes of poverty, to ensure an equitable distribution of wealth and the realization of human rights. Social Watch is committed to social, economic and gender justice, and emphasizes the right of all people not to be poor. Social Watch holds governments, the UN system and international organizations accountable for the fulfillment of national, regional and international commitments to eradicate poverty. Social Watch promotes people-centered sustainable development

The mission of the Sustainable Earth alliance is to help the development of more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable societies. At the heart of the issues that concern the Sustainable Earth alliance: the future of the agricultural population and fishing communities in the world; the place of food in our increasingly globalized societies; sustainable management of our natural resources and land; the harmonious development of our territories and its inhabitants.

The Tax Justice Network promotes transparency in international finance and opposes secrecy. We support a level playing field on tax and we oppose loopholes and distortions in tax and regulation, and the abuses that flow from them. We promote tax compliance and we oppose tax evasion, tax avoidance, and all the mechanisms that enable owners and controllers of wealth to escape their responsibilities to the societies on which they and their wealth depend. Tax havens, or secrecy jurisdictions as we prefer to call them, lie at the centre of our concerns, and we oppose them.

Through the power of collective action, the Global Compact seeks to promote responsible corporate citizenship so that businesses can be part of the solution to the challenges of globalization. In this way, the private sector—in partnership with other social actors—can help realize the UN Secretary-General’s vision: a more sustainable and inclusive global economy.

The Transnational Institute (TNI) was established in 1974 as an international network of activist researchers (“scholar activists”) committed to critical analyses of the global problems of today and tomorrow. It aims to provide intellectual support to movements struggling for a more democratic, equitable and environmentally sustainable world. TNI works on a wide range of interlinking issues.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN). Its purpose is to contribute peace and security by promoting international collaboration through education, science, and culture in order to further universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the UN Charter.

United Cities and Local Governments is the voice of local government before the United Nations and the international community. In founding this global organisation, mayors and councillors agreed to establish a single voice for cities as a concrete and united response to the challenges of urbanisation and globalisation.

The World Forum for Alternatives is an international network aimed at supporting the international convergence of social movements and other actors of the Civil Society from below. It creates spaces for reflection and coordination, providing social movements and ONGs, with tools for information and analysis on the globalization of resistances, and contributing to broadcast information about the existing international struggles.

World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers (WFF) is an international organisation that brings together small scale fisher organization for the establishment and upholding of fundamental human rights, social justice and culture of artisanal /small scale fish harvesters and fish workers, affirming the sea as source of all life and committing themselves to sustain fisheries and aquatic resources for the present and future generations to protect their livelihoods.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health

The World March of Women is an international feminist action movement connecting grass-roots groups and organizations working to eliminate the causes at the root of poverty and violence against women. We struggle against all forms of inequality and discrimination directed at women. Our values and actions are directed at making political, economic and social change. They centre on the globalization of solidarity; equality between women and men, among women themselves and between peoples; the respect and recognition of diversity among women; the multiplicity of our strategies; the appreciation of women’s leadership; and the strength of alliances among women and with other progressive social movements.

The World Social Forum is an open meeting place where social movements, networks, NGOs and other civil society organizations opposed to neo-liberalism and a world dominated by capital or by any form of imperialism come together to pursue their thinking, to debate ideas democratically, for formulate proposals, share their experiences freely and network for effective action. Since the first world encounter in 2001, it has taken the form of a permanent world process seeking and building alternatives to neo-liberal policies. This definition is in its Charter of Principles, the WSF’s guiding document.