http://www.choike.org a portal on Southern civil societies http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/4092.html Over the last two decades, awareness has grown regarding the importance of weapons control and disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration in peace processes, both during the negotiation of peace agreements and in their implementation. Experience gained during this period has demonstrated that the way these issues are handled can significantly influence the outcome of peace-building efforts and contribute to their success or failure. http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1799.html Prices on the world market for cereals are rising. Wheat prices increased by 130% in the period between March 2007- March 2008. Rice prices increased by almost 80% in the period up to 2008. Maize prices increased by 35% between March 2007 and March 2008. Some analyst have been exclusively blaming agrofuels, the increasing world demand and global warming for the current food crisis. But actually, this crisis is also the result of many years of destructive policies that have undermined domestic food production. http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/693.html A report released today by ETC Group, reveals that the world's largest seed and agrochemical corporations are stockpiling hundreds of monopoly patents on genes in plants that the companies will market as crops genetically engineered to withstand environmental stresses associated with climate change - including drought, heat, cold, floods, saline soils, and more. http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/4777.html The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force one month after the required twentieth country ratified the landmark treaty which guarantees the rights of some 650 million people worldwide. The Convention does not create any new rights, but aims to ensure that the benefits of existing rights are fully extended and guaranteed. http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1450.html A new report from the Arab Association for Human Rights documents the danger of eviction facing the Palestinian residents of the Ajami neighborhood in Jaffa and reveals the true motives behind this process. For these residents, ethnic cleansing did not end in 1948. It continues to this day, albeit by different means. The process being implemented in Jaffa (and in other locations in Israel) amounts to the "quiet transfer" of the Palestinian residents. http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/496.html The Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity recognized the unique risks that genetically engineered organisms pose to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity when they adopted the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. A necessary component of a global biosafety regime is rules and procedures on liability and redress. The Fourth Meeting of the Parties to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety is set to conclude negotiations on liability and redress when it meets in Bonn, 12-16 May.