News

Kabila in Catch22 with M23

28 November 2012 -

The rebellion of M23, the way Rwanda has supported it and the fact that Goma has been taken, throws the peace process back several years. The Congolese elections of 2006 and 2011 initiated a slow and gradual evolution in which Congolese politics became an area for politicians rather than for soldiers, rebels and warlords. Diplomacy had replaced arm ...

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Rwanda's economic challenges

15 November 2012 -

Rwanda is under heavy international criticism for its alleged support to the M23 rebels in Congo. Major donors such as the United States have threatened with suspending or reducing assistance, which would immediately lead to economic woes. Gie Goris visited the country of a thousand hills to better understand the country’s economic agenda and the c ...

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Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade: "More inequality through free trade? I don’t believe it"

14 November 2012 -

For some time now, Karel De Gucht has been a true believer in the benefits of free trade. This view is still apparent when we met in the Berlaymont building, the European Commission’s headquarters and where he, as Commissioner for Trade, holds office.

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Medical migration as the answer to growing health care needs in Europe

14 November 2012 -

Fifteen Filipino nurses have just started a new career in Melsbroek, Ghent and Antwerp. That’s after they waited two and a half years to get a Flemish work permit. Why do they look for a job 10,500 kilometres from home? We went to Manila to find out.

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Belgian diplomat suspected of espionage

5 October 2012 -

The Belgian ministry of Foreign Affairs has called back a Belgian diplomat from his post in Copenhagen on the suspicion of espionage. Consul O.G. from Bruges, who during 25 years had been in contact with the Russian secret services KGB and SVR, was suspended ‘in the interest of the service’. The Federal prosecutor’s office has launched a judicial i ...

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MO*lecture Alfredo Jaar & Katerina Gregos

10 September 2012 -

The Newtopia-event in Mechelen states a very clear relationship between art and human rights, and in a broader sense between artistic creation and political action. The main exhibition Newtopia brings the work of Alfredo Jaar in a satellite expo to the ING Cultural Centre in Brussels from 10th October until 10th December. Title of the expo is Let T ...

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MO*lecture with Jacqueline McGlade and Joachim Spangenberg: A Green Economy within the Limits of Our Planet

4 September 2012 -

Our ecological footprint reaches far beyond what planet Earth can sustain, and if our Western model of consumption and production continues to inspire people from China to Brasil, we will soon need ten planets. Still, the official discourse at the Rio+20 Conference was all about growth. Green growth, admittedly, but growth all the same.

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“The UN provides the necessary legitimacy”

22 August 2012 -

In sixteen UN peace and reconstruction missions around the world, there are some 120.000 men and women at work.‘A real UN army does not exist’, says Marco Bianchini, head of the UN liaison Office for Peace and Security in Brussels. The growing need to prevent or control conflicts on the international stage results in complex UN missions ...

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Indonesian writer Ayu Utami: 'Love is still the name of the game'

2 August 2012 -

She turned down a career as a model because she didn't like make-up. She lost her job as a journalist because she refused to back down in face of the censorship of the Suharto military regime. But as an author, she's the most succesful writer of her generation in Indonesia. Ayu Utami on freedom, monotheism and the expiration date of extramarita ...

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Chili and Argentina repress Mapuche communities

13 July 2012 -

The Mapuche, an ancient Native American people from Chile and Argentina, have been the victim of human rights violations for decades. The government treats them as criminals, while large energy corporations gain an ever greater influence over their native lands. The Mapuche try to raise their voices through international means without much success. ...

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Bangladesh: Waterland is heating up

3 July 2012 -

Despite its 160 million inhabitants, Bangladesh is the kid brother of South Asia. Yet fascinating things are happening in the delta created by the Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna, as economic miracles coexist with political nightmares and social dream scenarios. An update from the land of water par excellence.

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Mexico sees massive protests ahead of presidential elections

2 June 2012 -

On 29 of May, relatives of some of the people killed or missing in Mexico have met the four candidates in July's presidential poll demanding more commitment to end drug violence. Since the crackdown on cartels, figures show that around 50,000 people have been killed and 5,000 are missing. Ahead of the elections protests are intensifying against the ...