Narsingdi, May 25 (UNB) – A man reportedly has strangulated his two daughters to death at a launch terminal in the district town, apparently having failed to bear their living cost and meet various demands due to abject poverty. The…
Category: poverty
Welfare gap: Scraping together pennies for a loaf of bread
Welfare changes made by the UK government over the past decade have led to thousands of poor families in England not having enough food. Parents report skipping meals and living off tea so their children can eat, and teachers talk…
Global hunger threatening families because of climate change
By Siddharth Chatterjee Nairobi, Kenya, May 2019 (IPS) – There is barely a corner of human life that will not be affected by climate change, and some of its impacts are already being felt. Consider this, 821 million people are…
Food import bill to fall, but poorest unlikely to benefit
Geneva, May (Kanaga Raja) – The global food import bill is set to decline by 2.5 percent in 2019 to USD 1.472 trillion, the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) has projected. In its latest Food Outlook…
Poverty rate in BD declines to 21.8 pc in 2018: BBS
Dhaka, May 13 – Bangladesh’s poverty rate came down to 21.8 percent and the extreme poverty rate to 11.3 percent in 2018, according to the latest data of the official Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS). The rates were calculated based…
Child trafficking victim wins £85,000 over attempted rape
A Vietnamese boy has been awarded £85,000 in compensation from the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice after he was illegally detained at Morton Hall immigration center and sexually assaulted. Known as H, the boy had been trafficked by…
Rural education: Moving past poor solutions for poor people
NEW DELHI, May 6 2019 (IPS) – Communities are treated as passive recipients, giving them no say in the functioning of their schools. Here’s why this needs to change. During our work with people living around the Ranthambhor National Park…
Mozambique cyclone victims Forced to trade sex for food: HRW
The Mozambique authorities should urgently investigate and appropriately prosecute alleged sexual exploitation of Cyclone Idai victims by local officials, Human Rights Watch said today. Hunger and destruction caused by the cyclone have left hundreds of thousands of women vulnerable to abuse. Victims, residents, and…
Future of Rohingya refugees in BD ‘hangs in the balance’
At the end of a joint visit to the country, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock, head of UN migration agency (IOM) António Vitorino, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Filippo Grandi, reiterated their commitment to find safe and sustainable solutions for Rohingya…
World Bank dispossessing rural poor
By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury Kuala Lumpur and Sydney, Apr 16 2019 (IPS) – The World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture (EBA) project, launched in 2013, has sought agricultural reforms favouring the corporate sector. EBA was initially…
Impact of high debt levels on LDCs ‘can’t be overstated’: UN
The impact of high levels of debt on development efforts “cannot be overstated”, the head of the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP) told a Ministerial Breakfast Meeting on least development countries (LDCs) on Saturday. “While debt financing remains an important…
Rising inequalities in Asia-Pacific a major obstacle to progress
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 28 2019 (IPS) – 2019 will be a defining year for the 2030 Agenda; and the regional forums will pave the way for our first stocktaking on the SDGs in the General Assembly in September. Asia-Pacific is a…
Was slavery world’s first human rights violation?
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 7 2019 (IPS) – The United Nations, which diligently monitors human rights violations worldwide, believes that centuries-old slavery still exists worldwide. The UN mandate on “contemporary forms of slavery” includes, but is not limited to, issues such as:…
The unbearable unrealism of the present
by Paul Mason What characterises the present moment in history is a pervasive sense of unrealism among elites. Official discourses are no longer used as guides to action, laws are not applied and regulations are ignored. The ultimate symbol of…
Aid in reverse: How poor countries develop rich countries
By Jason Hickel We have long been told a compelling story about the relationship between rich countries and poor countries. The story holds that the rich nations of the OECD give generously of their wealth to the poorer nations of…
Poor quality employment a major challenge says ILO
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – A majority of the 3.3 billion people employed globally in 2018 experienced a lack of material well-being, economic security, equal opportunities or scope for human development, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has found. In its latest…
Make hunger thing of past Pope Francis at IFAD annual meet
Rome, 14 February 2019 – Pope Francis set the tone for the 42nd session of the annual Governing Council of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) by saying that hunger can be made a part of the world’s past,…
Meghan puts notes on bananas sent to needy women in Britain
London, Feb 3 (AP/UNB) — Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has written personal messages to women being helped by a charity that seeks to help sex workers break free from prostitution. Prince Harry’s wife took the unusual step of writing…
Mild cold wave starts sweeping across Bangladesh
Dhaka, Jan 29 – The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) on Tuesday forecast mild cold wave in late Magh is likely to sweep over the western parts of the country in the next 72 hours. The mild cold wave may be…
$4 bn must to protect 41 mn children from conflict, disaster
Tens of millions of children living through conflict, disaster and other emergencies in dozens of countries urgently need protection, UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday, in an appeal for $3.9 billion to support its humanitarian work around the world.…
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…
The movement fighting inequality is growing
The world’s political and economic elites, that will once again gather at the Swiss mountain resort of Davos for the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) 22-25 January, have become all too predictable. It’s not difficult to predict what they will…
Migrants send record remittance but overall poverty pertains
At the end of this year, migrants will have sent 466 billion dollars to family and friends in their countries of origin. Despite this record amount these remittances have little to no effect on the dire economic state of affairs…
UN: Climate change, depleted resources leave world hungry
Feeding a hungry planet is growing increasingly difficult as climate change and depletion of land and other resources undermine food systems, the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization said Wednesday as it renewed appeals for better policies and technologies to reach…
Peace, stability not possible sans rural development
Rome, 9 November 2018 – At this week’s Paris Peace Forum, Gilbert F. Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will ask global leaders to consider the crucial role that increased investment in rural areas of developing…
Two major problems of the world
Shah Abdul Hannan The two greatest problems of the present world are the spread of immorality and poverty of a great number of people. The reason of immorality is lack of faith in the Creator or its absence in practice.…
Bangladesh launches social security strategy action plan
Dhaka: 05 Nov – The Cabinet Division of the government with support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Australian Aid, launched the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS) Action Plan on 04 November 2018, at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre…
The invisible, hungry hand
The very people who help put food on our tables often face numerous human rights violations, forcing them go to bed hungry.
780 mn people in Asia-Pacific out of extreme poverty by 2013
Asia and the Pacific accounted for 42.6% of global GDP at purchasing power parity in 2017, up from 30.1% in 2000. Around 780 million people from the region moved out of extreme poverty from 2002 to 2013.
Going above and beyond to end poverty
New ways of measuring poverty shed new light on the challenges ahead. The fight to end extreme poverty is revealing a developing dichotomy. On the one hand, extreme poverty continues to be stubborn in certain parts of the world, while…