GENEVA, Feb 5 2019 (IPS) – History testifies that there is no end to its evolution despite what some have claimed. This is because aspirations of its actors are in constant flux and because the quest for an « ideal…
Category: Columns
Bringing ISIS to justice: Running out of time?
Nadim Houry Director, Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program Sometimes complex policy issues are best captured in a simple question. If ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi is captured alive tomorrow, who should prosecute him, where and for what crimes? When I pose…
Does European Union generate external instability?
by Branko Milanovic The historic achievement of peace within a Europe of universal norms is belied by the external instability engendered by violent and incoherent interventions. The European Union is justly admired for making war among its members impossible. This…
Why border walls don’t stop migration
President Trump has long called migration a security crisis, but in recent weeks he has also referred to the situation along the southern border as a humanitarian crisis. As he ended the government shutdown in a televised speech on January…
Right-wing nationalism threatens democratic norms
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 30 2019 (IPS) – The steady decline in multilateralism—accompanied by a rise in unilateralism– is beginning to threaten democratic norms, including press freedom, global governance, civic participation and human rights across Asia, Africa, South America and the…
People power will bring change — not Davos
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Jan 31 2019 (IPS) – They said they cared about climate change but they flew in on private jets in record numbers. They said they cared about inequality but laughed off the idea of higher taxes for…
European citizens back unemployment reinsurance
Experts argue that European Monetary Union (EMU) has to be completed by ‘automatic fiscal stabilisers’. Welfare states have built-in stabilisers which cushion economic shocks—unemployment benefits, for instance, support the purchasing power of people who lose their jobs and so sustain…
Ending poverty is possible, but by facing up to inequality
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 28 2019 (IPS) – World leaders have committed to ending poverty everywhere for all people by 2030. Achieving this aim means facing up to the need for dramatic declines in inequalities – in income, in opportunity, in exposure…
Asia’s expanding illicit market: Brides
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 25 2019 (IPS) – Paradoxically, the world’s most populated countries are facing a population crisis: a woman shortage. And it’s women who are paying a brutal price for it. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the…
U.S. Shutdown effects ripple to farmers, food banks
From Danielle Nierenberg Greetings from Washington, D.C.! In the United States, this week marks the second missed paycheck for furloughed federal workers. Now on its 34th day, the shutdown’s effects are permeating beyond the lives of federal workers, as farmers,…
Can Italy survive its self-inflicted wounds?
Despite political instability being part of its DNA, Italy is still the ninth biggest economy in the world. Since 1946, when the first republican government took power, there have been 65 administrations over 72 years, or about one government every…
A morally right decision
By Chandra Muzaffar The decision of the Malaysian government not to allow Israelis to enter the country to participate in the World Para Swimming Championships in Sarawak in July-August 2019 is both politically correct and morally right. Tun Dr. Mahathir…
Why are so many humanitarian crises under-reported?
According to a recent poll of aid agencies by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the most under-reported crisis of 2018 was the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, commented that, ‘the…
Moving beyond just building toilets
One of the most laudable initiatives of the current government’s regime is the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) that was launched on Oct 2, 2014, with a larger vision of a clean India. The critical aspect of the mission was that—unlike…
Making tourism more responsible
Long before Joy Daniels became the manager of a travel company she was cleaning rooms at a guesthouse. But after joining a Fair Trade-certified business, a place that valued its staff, in a few years she was soon promoted to…
Eat plants, save the Planet
While the modern agricultural system has helped stave off famines and feed the world’s 7 billion residents, the way we eat and produce food is posing a threat to future populations’ food security.
For a democratic European government
There is one issue which cannot be ignored by parties intending to take part in the forthcoming European election—the absence of a democratic European government. This is the main cause of the crisis in the European Union: a union of…
Tackling insecure work in Europe—a critical moment
Europe has a growing crisis of insecure work. Just before Christmas, the European Commission triumphantly announced that employment in the EU had reached record levels in the latter part of 2018, with over 239 million people in work. Good news…
Gloom ahead of world economic storm
In light of the uncertainty caused by the US-China trade war, the IMF expects the US economic growth to slow from a three-year high of 2.9 per cent in 2018 to 2.5 per cent in 2019, while China’s expansion has…
Disrupting multilateral climate finance
by Håvard Halland, Justin Yifu Lin Beijing – A recent report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that to avoid the direct consequences of global warming, societies must make social and economic changes on a scale…
An optimist’s guide to climate change
by Lynn Scarlett Washington, DC – During a recent commute to work, as my car inched along in rush-hour traffic, I watched a heron stalk the banks of the Potomac River. The majestic bird was a timely reminder that nature…
There’s an App for that: Reducing our food waste
Danielle Nierenberg Greetings from Baltimore! Today, purpose-driven apps offer a new way to advocate for justice in the food system. Turning some of the industry’s problems into innovative solutions, these organizations and apps are transforming the paradox between two massive…
The Rohingya – The forgotten genocide of our time
The Rohingya are a minority community living in Rakhine State in Myanmar. The Muslim Rohingya are considered intruders into Buddhist Myanmar – illegal immigrants from bordering Bangladesh. They have been always discriminated against, looked down upon, ostracized, and denied any…
Time for a new Paradigm
The person most qualified to write the foreword for the latest work by Riccardo Petrella, In the Name of Humanity, would actually be Pope Francis, who, using other words but speaking of values and making denouncements, has often argued what…
Mass immigration and the growth of inequality
The claim that immigration is economically beneficial appears to be an article of faith amongst those who consider themselves progressive. However, mere changes in total GDP often mean little in terms of the lived reality of society. Much more important…
Stopping criminals from laundering their trillions
Al Capone had a problem: he needed a way to disguise the enormous amounts of cash generated by his criminal empire as legitimate income. His solution was to buy all-cash laundromats, mix dirty money in with clean, and then claim…
Solar energy crowns social housing programme in Brazil
“Solar energy makes my happiness complete,” said Divina Cardoso dos Santos, owner of one of 740 houses with photovoltaic panels on the rooftops in a settlement on the outskirts of this central Brazilian city.
The Uighur question: A civil society solution
By Chandra Muzaffar In the last few months, the International Movement for a Just World (JUST) like so many other civil society groups in various parts of the world has been inundated with videos and articles from different sources alleging…
Human trafficking – Hidden in plain sight
The media globally tends to have a bias to negative, sensational and headline grabbing stories and events and this certainly applies to reporting related to human trafficking in the third world. With the abundance of stories around sweat shops, massage…
Global Warming: Severe Consequences for Africa
Record global greenhouse gas emissions are putting the world on a path toward unacceptable warming, with serious implications for development prospects in Africa. “Limiting warming to 1.5° C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics, but doing so…