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by Marilee Karl

In her updated essay, Marilee Karl reviews the promises of the 1996 World Food Summit (WFS) as well as the Millennium Development Goals as she once more makes a case for a sharper gender lens in assessing the current food crisis. She asserts that we are still far from achieving a hunger-free world. The 1996 WFS aimed to decrease the number of malnourished people by 2015 to 400 million yet 2008 saw this number soared to 923 million. In addition, some 75 million more people experienced hunger in 2007.

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By Nina Somera

More than a decade since the World Food Summit (WFS) in 1996, the fears of women and men over the then emerging shadows of neoliberal globalisation have come true. Many farmers have been displaced; lands are becoming more concentrated to a few and contaminated; the distribution of goods has become more skewed; and hunger is increasingly on the rise, among many others. More than a decade since the WFS, another episode of food crisis is taking place in a stage of modernisation and overproduction. Of all the actors involved, women have borne most of the brunt.

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by World March of Women and the Red Latinoamericana Mujeres
Transformando la Economía
[This statement was issued on 30 June 2009]

The World March of Women and the Red Latinoamericana Mujeres Transformando la Economía join all feminist organizations and social movements from Honduras to condemn and strongly reject the military coup against president Manuel Zelaya Rosales, organised by the Army and the President of the National Congress, Roberto Micheletti, with the support of the mass media controlled by the oligarchy of that country.

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by Nina Somera, Isis International

The biggest democracy in the Southern hemisphere has chosen its leaders for the next five years. Indian voters gave a fresh mandate to Prime Minister Mammohan Singh and cemented the charisma of Congress President and UPA chairperson Ms. Sonia Gandhi.

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by Ivanka Custodio, Isis International

“As for women, they always suffer the most.”

These were the words of Shumaila Jabeen of Pakistan's Network of Women's Rights, confirming what is already expected in any war.

Since the United States (US) released a statement early in May accusing the Pakistani government of “abdicating” the militants, the offensive against the Taliban militants have intensified, leaving over 2.5 million displaced from their homes. Of the recently displaced, about 200,000 are living in 16 camps set up by the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) government and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), most of whom are women and children.

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by Nina Somera, Isis International

The outbreak of the influenza A (H1N1) virus may seem to be more controlled these days even as the numbers of infected individuals are set to increase. As of 8 June 2009, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that there are now 25,288 cases of A(H1N1) infection in 73 countries. These cases are mostly concentrated in the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. Of all major affected areas, Mexico is said to be the least prepared, accounting to 106 deaths. It is in a situation where many a developing country may learn from at this phase of the pandemic.