World

The event held by PSI, with the support from FES, on August 1 and 2 in Panama City, sought to analyze how transnationals capture democracy, manipulate public opinion and seek to control personal data to be used in accordance with their own private interests.

On 11-13 August, around 100 young members from PSI, BWI and UNI Global Union affiliates gathered in Rizal, the Philippines, for the 1st Youth Summit of the Asean Services Employees' Trade Union Council (ASETUC).

As of 20 August, the death toll due to floods in the southern Indian state of Kerala stood at 1,361. More than 700,000 people are now in close to 3,000 relief camps across the state. Rescue and relief efforts have been tireless, by the government and by civil society.

The United Nations designated the theme of International Youth Day 2018 as “Safe Spaces for Youth”. The UN explains that “without the existence of safe space, youth may feel intimidated to freely contribute to the community".

PSI affiliates converged in Ghana, on July 27-28, for a two-day meeting sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) on Tax Justice under the theme “Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and the needed Revenue for Public Services Development”. Before Ghana, Tanzania, Nigeria and Kenya held similar meetings; while a final conference has been scheduled to take place in Ethiopia in September.

Thirty-one women trade union activists, nine of them young workers, representing 15 affiliates, attended the 2018 SUBWOC in Castries, St Lucia, on July 2, under the theme “There can be no social justice without gender justice.”

Labour representatives from trade unions from India, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia, and Cambodia joined other public interest groups during the 5-day long People's Response to RCEP and Free Trade in Asia Pacific, from 20-24 July, to raise deep concerned on the content and process of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations - which had its 23rd round of negotiations concluded on 27 July after 10 days of closed door talks in Bangkok.

Friday 13 July 2018 was a historic day in the United Nations. After one year of preparatory thematic and regional consultations and multi-stakeholder dialogues, and six months of intense inter-governmental negotiations, UN Member States have concluded and agreed on the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration

PSI’s sub-regional office for the Caribbean, together with its two affiliates in Barbados, have entered into a research partnership with the University of the West Indies to carry out a pilot study which will focus on the health and social services sector.