A call to President-Elect Obama from The Constitution Project - America’s policymakers need to take a fresh look at the criminal justice system, which so desperately needs their attention. To assist with that review, leaders and experts from all aspects of the criminal justice community spent months collaboratively identifying key issues and gathering policy advice into one comprehensive set of recommendations for the new administration and Congress. You can download the report below.

A second call to President-elect Obama - Breakthrough launched their new multimedia game-like experience, End Homeland Guantanamos which examines the inhumane conditions faced by nearly 300,000 people in immigrant detention due to unfair Department of Homeland Security policies. This project was developed in connection with the Rights Working Group’s campaign “Hold the Department of Homeland Security Accountable".

The Artisanal Fishing Sector of Galapagos is leading a participatory process to improve the framework of fishing regulations in the Galapagos Marine Reserve. This process, that is about to culminate with the signing of an executive decree by the President of Ecuador, represents a huge success for the Fishing Sector of Galapagos that has lobbied for many years for changes to the existing regulation that is full of irregularities. Representatives of the Fishing Sector not only succeeded in convincing authorities that a reform was necessary but also led, together with the Marine Reserve Participatory Management Council, a genuine participatory process that reached consensus on almost all of the 92 articles of the new regulation.

On July 14, the government of Ontario, Canada, announced that it would protect 55 million acres in the Northern Ontario Boreal – an area half the size of California. This outstanding commitment will secure more than 50 billion tons of stored carbon, help species and ecosystems adapt to a changing climate, and provide habitat for the threatened woodland caribou.