CEDAW at 30

30th Anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
The landmark convention on gender discrimination turns 30. UN conventions are useful as tools to benchmark countries, and also to put human rights violations under international spotlight.

World Consumer Rights Day 2010

Consumers International

The theme for World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) 2010 is ‘Our money, our rights’ and will highlight consumer issues in relation to financial services.

Tutorial centre's PSLE ad misleads anxious parents

channelnewsasia.com
Sad to see a business that is so desperate that it tried to prey on anxious parents keen to give their children that "extra" edge. Great that this is now public.

Asean and human rights: closing the implementation gap

The Nation
Homayoun Alizadeh, the OHCHR rep in Southeast Asia, makes a quite convincing argument for regional systems to advance (instead of retard) human rights.

Twisted rhetoric from Young PAP

Young PAP - To The Devotees of Western Democracy and Human Rights.
sgwatchdog saw this article highlighted in The Online Citizen. It is tiring to see yet another attempt to create a myth that human rights is a solely Western (or American) idea. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted by a group of people, including reps from China and Lebanon. Plenty of non-Western countries voted in favour of the UDHR during its adoption. Also, the US is one of the few prominent countries that has not ratified the key UN human rights conventions. So it is misleading to try to portray human rights advocates as pro-American or pro-West. The usage of the word "devotees" is also sad, as the author is trying to imply that human rights activists are trying to "convert" others to practice the "religion" of human rights. Rights and beliefs are not the same.

Public consultation on proposed changes to regulations on estate agents

Ministry of National Development
The public consultation is now on. Do contribute your feedback to ask for more consumer protection.

U.N. Isn't Addressing Fraud in Afghan Election - washingtonpost.com

washingtonpost.com
When will Singapore get a whistle-blower like the ex-deputy special representative of the United Nations in Afghanistan?

'Buyer beware' works well with papaya

The New Paper
Another great article from Larry Haverkamp (a.k.a. Doctor Money). Larry talks about one of his pet topics; hidden charges in financial products.

Convention on the Rights of the Child turns 20

Celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the Adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
One of the UN's most ratified conventions turns 20 this year. A blurb from the website below.

"The celebration will focus on the theme “Dignity, Development and Dialogue,” and will provide an important opportunity to bring together States parties, United Nations bodies and other intergovernmental organizations, national human rights institutions, international and national non-governmental organizations, children’s and youth groups, academics and all others interested in the CRC."

Embrace diversity, End discrimination

Human Rights Day 2009
This year's theme for Human Rights Day (10th December) is out. Do check out the UN link above.

SMS service provider fined $65,000

Sybase 365's Multiple Breaches of the Premium Rate Services Code (PDF)
Sybase was punished by IDA for breaches for 3 of its services. One particular breach was for a considerably long period of 13 months. During this period, Sybase had continued to collect payment on an ongoing basis from 2,766 subscribers. The company has previously been sanctioned in 2008.

Awareness Seminar on Draft International Standard ISO 26000 - Guidance on Social Responsibility

The ISO standard on Corporate Social Responsibility is reaching its final phase of development. It has been a long journey. I have been following the issue on-and-off via Consumers International (CI) coverage of the issue.

SPRING is organising an event to highlight this new international standard to Singapore businesses.

Date: 5 October 2009 (Monday)
Time: 1.30pm - 4.30pm
Venue:
Theatrette, Level 1
TÜV SÜD PSB Pte Ltd
1 Science Park Drive
Singapore 118221

Myanmar allegations highlight Singapore bank secrecy

AFP

Sad to see this happening. Hopefully pressure from organisations like OECD will force some changes.

UN to establish single new agency to deal with rights of women

UN news centre
UNIFEM, DAW, OSAGI, and INSTRAW to be merged...

Dads 'to share maternity leave'

BBC NEWS
The details are not mentioned, but this looks like a great victory for gender equity in the UK.

Closing loopholes in fee protection scheme

asiaone
Full article at straitstimes.com. Sandra hits out at lack of protection for local students.

MAS Issues First Part of Response to Feedback on Proposals to Strengthen the Regulation of the Sale and Marketing of Unlisted Investment Products

Monetary Authority of Singapore
19 page response, and there's part 2 in Q4. Time to read and digest...

Send in the clowns

yawning bread
Alex is back in action. Nice hard-hitting article that goes straight to the heart of the matter.

FM invites candidate for ASEAN human rights panel

Nationmultimedia.com
Great to see the open selection process by Thailand finally kick off. I wonder if the Singapore government will be "enlightened" enough to follow suit.

Making AICHR work for Asean citizens

The Nation
Updates on the AICHR, including the political declaration, and the proposed statement on Aung San Suu Kyi.