The event to take place on Saturday 20 June in New York will bring together people from the South and the North, from the US and abroad, women and men, workers and unemployed on the eve of the UN Summit Conference on the Economic and Financial Crisis.

Saturday 20 June, 2009, New York
1:00pm-6:00pm
Church of the Holy Trinity
316 E. 88th Street

Conveners: Social Watch, Eurostep, LDC Watch, Institute for Policy Studies, Global Policy Forum, Center of Concern, ESCR-Net, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, Global-Local Links Project, Jubilee USA Network, Jubilee South, GCAP Feminist Task Force, Alliance for Responsible Trade, Women's Environment and Development Organization, International Council for Adult Education, UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service, Global Action on Aging, Latindadd, US Human Rights Network, CONGO Social Development Committee, Sub-Committee on the Eradication of Poverty, Hemispheric Social Alliance, Womens´ Working Group on Financing for Development, World Federation of United Nations Associations.

The current economic crisis has shaken the foundations of the largest stock markets and the most influential financial institutions around the globe, yet the precise consequences of this financial meltdown for working women and men and for our fragile environment, have been less obvious and have been little-profiled in the mass media. This is especially the case for workers, small farmers and the poor from the global South impacted by the crisis, whose realities are far removed from that of the investment bankers and large business owners of the global North in whose interest many of the current bailout packages were designed.

In order to highlight the all-too-real social and environmental impacts of the current financial, food, energy and climate change crises, Peoples´Voices on the Crisis will bring together activists from civil society organizations, trade unions and grassroots groups on a local, national and international level who will give testimony on how their lives and communities are being directly affected by this systemic crisis. Peoples´ Voices on the Crisis will also be an opportunity to share ideas and experiences on how to construct a global movement to advocate for a new economic system based on human rights and environmental sustainability.

Thematic Panels:
Gender Rights
Rights of Indigenous Communities and Ethnic Minorities
Decent Work and Social Security
Social Rights and Economic Security
Environmental Sustainability

Testimonials from grassroots human rights and environmental activists from:
Benin, El Salvador, Nepal, Nigeria, Sudan, Uruguay, New Orleans, New York...and other local-global communities

Please write to Social Watch networker Jana Silverman indicating your interest to participate or for further information: jsilverman@item.org.uy