News articles:

Kent Härstedt, a member of the swedish Riksdag,  just came back from a trip to Sri Lanka. To insure future peace and stability in the country  he stresses that it is vital to include the Tamil minority in the post-conflict reconstruction in Sri Lanka .

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Amidst a deepening economic crisis engendered by the global financial meltdown, thousands of women workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) poured out into the streets of key Manila, Cebu, Davao, General Santos and Cotabato, on the occasion of the International Women's Day on March 8 to demand full employment and equality between women and men.

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- Civil society has progressed further than the political parties in our countries. The mere fact that we are here today, from five different countries, and are openly discussing our route to the EU, shows that we have come further than our political elite.  This was the opinion of Gjergji Filipi from Agenda Institute in Albania, one of the many participants at the Palme Center network meeting on the Balkans and the EU.

The relation between Politics and Religion is an important and debated question in the Middle East. During two days political and religious leaders from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine met in Istanbul to discuss diffrent perspectives. What everybody agreed on was the need and importance of dialouge; which also was the main topic for the Palmecenters General Secreatary Jens Orback's opening remarks.

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With the peace talks between the Philippine government and Muslim rebels in southern Philippines in peril, the Simcarrd (Palme Center partner organization) and around 40 participants from its local partners coming from non-government organizations in conflict areas, national and local government officials, academe, people’s organizations, and the Akbayan Citizens Action Party held a roundtable conference-workshop last November 4-5.

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The 2nd Sweden-Asia Forum gathered representatives of progressive parties and solidarity movements that have been working on representing marginalized constituencies and are active in programmatic party-building efforts.

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Fantastic ideas like ‘Nato membership for Israel’ to ‘nuclear-free Middle East’ were discussed when two former Swedish ministers, Hans Blix and Ingvar Carlsson, met as penalists on the evening of 11th September to discuss post 9/11 world.

September 17, 2008 -- Washington's next war is already on the go. It is as yet undeclared. However, it is not unapproved. ``Classified orders'', according to September 11 New York Times, were passed by President Bush last July. And surprise of surprises! The target is not ``axis of evil''-fame Iran. It is Washington's close ally in the ``war on terror'', Pakistan.

One of The Palmecenter´s partners in South Africa, South Africa Liaison Office (SALO), has produced an analysis to help us understand the outburst of xenophobia resulting in violent attacks on foreign migrants and minority ethnic groups during the spring of 2008.

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A factory owner, Asif, a Muslim League Q member of Punjab Assembly (MPA), directed its gangsters to open fire directly on the 300 workers protesting outside the factory for higher wages. Seven workers were shot at and severely injured.

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The Labour Education Foundation (LEF) is committed to trade union cause in Pakistan. In co-operation with Swedish trade union movement and Olof Palme International Center, the LEF is busy running projects strenghtening the trade union movement. The LEF director, Khalid Malik, visited Stockholm in July's first week and talked about the political and trade union situation in Pakistan.

Friday the 9th of May The Guardian published an article about the work carried out by Center for Children`s Theatre Development, one of The Palmecenters partner organisations in Kosovo. Read the article on The Guardian´s webbsight.

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According to experts, it will take years to reconstruct Rangoon and other towns as all infrastructures are collapsed now.

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More than 30 protesters dressed in the blue uniforms worn by prison inmates staged a protest in Rangoon on Tuesday, demanding the release of political prisoners and respect for UN resolutions on Burma.

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After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, unprecedented mass reactions have taken place in Pakistan. Read the report of Farooq Tariq, one of the founders of the educational organisation Labour Education Foundation i Lahore ans also Secretary General of the Labour Party of Pakistan (LPP).

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The Olof Palme International Center organized its fourth annual Western Balkans network meeting in Tirana, Albania from October 31st-November 2nd, 2007.  Forty-seven of the Palme Center’s partner NGOs from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia gathered to discuss methods of results assessment; evaluation and monitoring in Chateau Linza

Labour Party Pakistan women staged a protest demonstration against Martial Law by General Musharaf at Laxshmi Chowk, Lahore on Monday, 19th November, 2007.

AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros condemned in the strongest terms the bombing that took place inside the Philippine Congress complex, calling the attack a horrible assault on the institution itself.

ITUC calls on Companies to End Business Links with Burma. Burmese Trade Union Federation Asks Companies to Disinvest

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Farooq Tariq is a political and union activist living in Lahore, Pakistan. He has cooperated with The Olof Palme International Centre within The Labour Education Foundation. On several ocations we have received dramatic reports on his situation. This is yet another one. 

Khin Omar, works with one of the womens organizations in Chang Mai in northern Thailand. She describes the latest development in Burma and givs us suggestions of how to keep updated.

Altsean-Burma (One of The Palmecenters partners in Thailand) strongly condemns the SPDC's brutal crackdown against peaceful demonstrators and urges the UN Security Council (UNSC) to convene an emergency meeting to examine the deteriorating political situation in Burma.

Jobs Jobs Jobs is a three-year project which aims to demonstrate that Decent Work is fundamental for development and the eradication of poverty. A key component of the project has been the elaboration of 8 case studies in countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These provide examples of the link between Decent Work and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

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- Abusing the Human Security Act will be very costly on the part of an administration whose dismal human rights record has caused international embarrassment. Manipulating the military to advance political ends has proven to be very costly, especially for this administration, Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros said.

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On 26 April, the Palme Centre arranged the conference about the growing group of migrant workers. Many people are living under very difficult conditions and are being exploited by unscrupulous employers. Read the interviews with those who took part as speakers at the Conference.

There are far less migrants in the world than what we are led to believe in the debate about migration. Only 3% of the world's population has migrated from their countries of origin. There are about 200 million migrants in the world as a whole- but the number increases every year. The bulk of migrants are labour migrants who toil to send back to their home countries 250 billion dollars a year.