Brussels, 19/08/08: Yesterday (18 September), Pakistani people celebrated as President Pervez Musharraf, facing impeachment on charges drawn up by the governing coalition, announced his resignation in an hour-long unscheduled televised speech.

"For the interest of the nation, I have decided to resign as president. I will let the people of Pakistan decide my future", he said.

The National Assembly formally accepted Musharraf's resignation hours after the televised address. Local media reports said he had been granted safe passage out of the country.

• Click here to read an article from BBC
• Click here to read an article from CNN
• Click here to read an opinion piece by Farooq Tariq, spokesperson for the Labour Party Pakistan

Brussels, 11/08/08: A recent report published by the Asian Centre for Human Rights, (ACHR), finds that Sri Lanka is the worst human rights violator in South Asia (with 52 points), followed by Bangladesh (45 points), Bhutan (43 points), Pakistan (41 points), Maldives (23 points), Nepal (24 points) and India (24 points).

While Sri Lanka is judged to be the worst country in South Asia in terms of human rights, the report also underlines that all countries in the region have very poor records. It finds that discrimination is endemic, institutionalised and in many cases legalised.

• Click on Read more to read the full article from the Bhutan News Service

Brussels, 08/08/08: The Mauritanian women’s rights NGO l'Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (AFCF), a partner organisation of the Women's Learning Partnership (WLP), has strongly condemned the coup d'état which took place in Mauritania on Wednesday 6 August in contempt of the democratic choices expressed by the people of Mauritania after a long period of dictatorship and instability.

The AFCF calls on all human rights organisations to reject the coup d’état and appeals to international institutions, notably the European Union, to use their influence to ensure that the constitutional government is restored in Mauritania.

Brussels, 05/08/08: In the run up to the SAARC summit of South Asian Heads of State or Governments on 2-3 August, the members of social movements, labour unions, women's groups and civil society organisations gathered in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 18-20 July 2008, as part of the process of Peoples SAARC, to forge a vision for a Peoples Union of South Asia. After discussions and debates for three days at plenary sessions and over thirty workshops, the civil society representatives issued a “Colombo declaration” calling upon the government representatives attending the SAARC summit of 2-3 August to seriously address the concerns and demands of the people of the region, in areas such as human rights, free movement of peoples, food security, the setting up of regional institutions and mechanisms such as a South Asian Tribunal of Justice, fighting the neo-liberal instruments and achieving climate justice. Responding to the concerns regarding the food crisis, the SAARC summit issued a statement on food security.

Click here to read the Colombo declaration issued by Asian civil society organisations.
Click here to read the Colombo statement on food security issued by the government representatives from South Asia.

Brussels, 04/08/08: Food security was one of the main topics at both the "Peoples SAARC" meeting on 18-20 July (a gathering of social movements, labour unions and women's groups from South Asia), and at the SAARC Heads of State Summit on 2-3 August.

Regarding the numerous concerns expressed by civil society, government representatives present at the SAARC Summit issued a statement in which they affirmed their commitment to increase food production and to invest more in agriculture-related activities. They also announced that an extraordinary meeting of agriculture ministers of the SAARC member states would be held in November in India.

In mid-July, Commissioner Louis Michel announced that the European Commission would provide € 1 billion to help farmers in poor countries.

• Click here to read the Colombo declaration issued by Asian civil society organisations at the "Peoples SAARC".
• Click here to read the Colombo statement on food security issued by the government representatives from South Asia.