By Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini Washington DC, Mar (IPS) – In 1909, the Socialist Party of America, in support of female garment workers protesting working conditions, designated March 8 as a day to honor women. By 1917, women in Russia were protesting…
Category: Think green
A long way still to achieving gender equality: Int’l Women’s Day
By Akinwumi A. Adesina Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, Mar 1 (IPS) – International Women’s Day is a call to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of women and a reminder that globally, we are a long way from achieving gender equality.
Citizen-generated energy enters the scene in Argentina
By Daniel Gutman Buenos Aires, Feb 24 (IPS) – The Argentine population can now generate their own energy through clean and unconventional sources and incorporate surpluses into the public grid, thanks to a new law. This is an important novelty…
Monsoon season threatens more misery for Rohingyas
By Naimul Haq Dhaka, Feb 28 2018 (IPS) – More than half a million Rohingya refugees crammed into over 30 makeshift camps in Cox’s Bazar in southeast Bangladesh face a critical situation as the cyclone and monsoon season begins in…
Students across US walk out of class to protest gun violence
Dhaka, Feb 22 (AP/UNB)-In a wave of demonstrations reaching from Arizona to Maine, students at dozens of U.S. high schools walked out of class Wednesday to protest gun violence and honour the victims of last week’s deadly shooting in Florida.
HR-based approach to SDGs helps realise right to work
Geneva, 19 Feb (Kanaga Raja) – Implementing the Sustainable Development Goals and targets applicable to work in accordance with a human rights-based approach will make a significant contribution to the realisation of the right to work.
Protect rights of labourers in Gulf: Filipino community
A call to ensure the rights of unskilled domestic workers in Gulf countries has been issued by the Filipino community. It comes as the Philippines Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE) on Monday issued an employment ban of overseas Filipino workers…
Latin America focuses on attacking pockets of rural poverty
By Orlando Milesi Santiago, Feb 19 (IPS) – Identifying territories where rural poverty is most entrenched in Latin America and the Caribbean to apply new tools and innovative policies to combat hunger is the new strategy that will be discussed…
Prior to ICESCR review of BD’s rights compliance: HRW
Human Rights Watch has written in advance of your upcoming review of Bangladesh’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Human Rights Watch has extensively documented human rights violations in Bangladesh relating to neglect in the…
Food, agri orgs building better food system in Washington
Danielle Nierenberg The 4th Annual Washington, D.C. Food Tank Summit is just around the corner, and we’re excited to hear from, collaborate with, and meet our member organizations based in the D.C. area. The U.S. capital is humming with food…
BD Election Commission needs to prove neutral, capable
Dhaka, Feb 15 – Evaluating its first year’s performance, election experts have said the current Election Commission needs to gain public confidence by making its neutral role more visible ahead of the next general election as its neutrality and capacity…
Structural neglect of human rights impacts financial crisis
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – The policy responses to the recent financial crisis have revealed a deep-seated structural neglect of human rights in economic policy formulation, insufficient protection of the most vulnerable and a lack of attention to participation, consultation, transparency…
Fortify rights calls on UNSC to take Myanmar to ICC
Dhaka, Feb 14 – The United Nations Security Council should refer Myanmar to the International Criminal Court for investigations into accusation of genocide and other atrocity crimes against Rohingya Muslims, Fortify Rights said on Tuesday.
Pyeongchang Olympics: A new cornerstone for peace, prosperity
By Shamshad Akhtar Bangkok, Thailand, Feb (IPS) – All eyes are on the 23rd Olympic Winter Games and 12th Paralympic Winter Games in PyeongChang this February. Top athletes will carry their national flags in an opening ceremony which has come…
About turn: ‘No’ to disrupt mobile Internet call
Dhaka, Feb 12 – A day after giving instruction to mobile phone operators to slow down internet speed Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) on Monday directed them to keep internet service undisputed.
Pro BNP panel sweeps Chittagong Bar polls
Chittagong, Feb 12 – The lawyers’ panel, backed by BNP, has swept the Chittagong Bar Association election bagging 12 out of 19 posts, including that of the secretary.
Three opportunities for humanitarians in 2018
By Larissa Fast London, Feb 6 (IPS) – As 2018 begins, the challenges of humanitarian crises are momentous. Humanitarians are responding to large-scale emergencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
Editors for revoking section 32 of Digital Security Act
Dhaka, Feb 6 – Expressing its grave concern over section 32 of the proposed Digital Security Act, Editors’ Council on Tuesday urged the government to revoke the section and other controversial ones from the law.
Create ‘sponge cities’ to tackle worsening floods
Penang, Malaysia (Martin Khor) – With floods now causing more damage more frequently around the world, it is time to counter their effects by turning our towns into “Sponge Cities”, a recent trend popularised by China to absorb rainwater through…
Sexual harassment: At least 2 billion women
By Joseph Chamie New York, Feb 1 (IPS) – Most of the world’s women have experienced sexual harassment. Based on available country surveys, it is estimated that no less than 75 percent of the world’s 2.7 billion women aged 18…
Climate-related disasters cost nearly $400 billion in 2017
By Amina J. Mohammed UN, Jan 31 (IPS) – I am pleased to be with you at this important and timely summit on climate risk and to discuss the opportunities that are there for us to seize through decisive climate…
Journos concerned over provisions in Digital Security Bill
Dhaka, Jan 31 (UNB) – The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the Bangladesh Manobadhikar Sangbadik Forum (BMSF) have expressed serious concerns over the provisions curtailing the freedom of expression in the draft of the Digital Security Act 2018.
19 innovations to increase food output without draining earth
Brittany Scalise Whenever you bite into a piece of food, do you think about where it comes from? How did it get from the ground to your table? Who are the farmers and entrepreneurs who cultivated and sourced it? It’s…
Solar home prog in BD suffers for lack of coordination
Sadrul Hasan, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka, Jan 30 – Lack of coordination among government entities in rural electrification has put state-owned Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (IDCO) and its partner organisations (POs) into a great trouble as their investment of about…
Inefficient air-conditioning leaves Asean freezing in the tropics
A new whitepaper on cooling in Southeast Asia finds low public awareness around the importance of energy-efficient cooling for reducing pollution and fighting climate change, and its implications for a more sustainable future for the region.
Roof gardens to help turn Dhaka into sustainable city
Dhaka, 27 Jan – Several hundred roof gardeners got free saplings of fruit-bearing trees at an informal programme at Dhaka University’s Botany Department premises on Friday a fternoon. The ‘Sabuj Bagan Society’ organized the programme. About 2000 saplings were distributed.
Dhaka’s commuters show a strong preference for trains
Masudul Hoque, UNB Staff Writer Dhaka, Jan 26 – Many people who travel between capital Dhaka and neighbouring towns are increasingly using trains as traffic congestions on city roads and those in adjacent areas have become unmanageable.
Growth is back! so what?
by Éloi Laurent Reports of the death of growth have been greatly exaggerated. As the IMF noted last month, the world enjoyed in 2017 the “broadest cyclical upswing since the start of the decade”. In other words, after ten years…
‘Remember the world’s poorest and most marginalized’
Rome, 24 January– As an unprecedented number of government and business leaders gather at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos today to improve international collaboration in a ‘fragmented world’, the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)…
Cement concrete block to be promoted in place of brick
Environment and Forest Minister Anisul Islam Mahmud today said initiative has been taken to manufacture concrete block instead of conventional brick under pilot basis in order to avoid air pollution by operating brick kilns in the country.