By Dr Ian Anthony and Dr John Hart Stockholm, Sweden, Feb 27 (IPS) – The legal framework prohibiting chemical weapons (CW) is considered the gold standard for multilateral disarmament. It features both comprehensive provisions and intrusive verification measures. Yet, in…
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…
Geneva, 26 Feb (Kanaga Raja) – “Today oppression is fashionable again; the security state is back, and fundamental freedoms are in retreat in every region of the world,” the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Zeid Ra’ad Al…
John Seed The tropical Andes of Ecuador are at the top of the world list of biodiversity hotspots in terms of vertebrate species, endemic vertebrates, and endemic plants. Ecuador has more orchid and hummingbird species than Brazil, which is 32…
February 6, 2018, marked the centenary of the Representation of the People Act, which enfranchised (some) women in Britain for the first time – a reward for women’s work during World War I. In honor of this historic event, statues…
Contemporary music is a powerful tool to counsel West African youth at risk of being lured into attempting the dangerous journey as undocumented migrants through North Africa and the Mediterranean, to Europe.
In Kaliganj village, 20 kilometres south of Rangpur city in Bangladesh, small farmers are turning to vermicomposting after crop yields started dropping. The problem was that soil fertility eroded due to organic nutrient depletion.
By Chandra Muzaffar A series of events linked to West Asia in the last nine months has brought to the surface the under-currents and cross-currents in the region’s perennial struggle between occupation and hegemony, on the one hand, and resistance…
By Kul Chandra Gautam Kathmandu, Nepal, Feb 22 (IPS) – As a member of OXFAM GB’s Council of Trustees since 2014, I have received many queries about the recent scandal concerning sexual misconduct committed by some OXFAM staff in Haiti…
By Mia Swart Doha, Qatar, Feb 22 (IPS) – In the post-Apartheid era, it is safe to say that Jacob Zuma has become the most reviled public figure in South Africa. Zuma was essentially discredited even before he became president…
Robert J. Burrowes Is Earth the largest garbage dump in the Universe? I don’t know. But it’s a safe bet that Earth would be a contender were such a competition to be held. Let me explain why.
In 2017, the world witnessed a rollback of human rights. Signs of a regression were everywhere. Across the world governments continued to clampdown on the rights to protest, and women’s rights took a nosedive in the USA, Russia and Poland.
A new initiative aims to use data to shed light on a pervasive multi-billion dollar criminal industry: human trafficking.
Should Democrats complain about the large deficits that Trump and the Republicans are creating? Or is this playing into the Republican narrative that made the stimulus in 2009 inadequate and gave us austerity from then onwards?
By Chandra Muzaffar The unjust incarceration of Dr Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University, demeans and disgraces the French legal system. Tariq has been detained in a solitary cell in the high security wing of Paris’s…
by Steven Schonberger How can we think in new ways about expanding farmer-led irrigation in support of global food security and poverty reduction? This was the question at the heart of the 2017 Water for Food International Forum. The t…
By Erik Larsson As a video clip spread all over the world, so too did the name Ahed Tamimi. For Palestinians, she has become an icon of freedom. Arbetet Global met the father of the teenage girl that kicked and…
By Adel Abdel Ghafar Doha, Qatar, Feb 20 (IPS) – A pillar of the Saudi social contract has been the allocation of oil rents to the population in exchange for loyalty and fidelity to the Saud clan. A key weakness…
By Amantha Perera Colombi, Sri Lanka, Feb 20 (IPS) – It was a shutdown that was emblematic of the instability plaguing the Maldives in recent months. On Feb. 8, Raajje TV, an opposition aligned TV channel in the atolls, suspended…
A New IRENA report outlines how increasing share of renewables to 34% can boost economy, and help meet emission reductions goals Brussels, 20 Feb — The European Union (EU) can increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix…
Measures to promote gender pay transparency haven’t been delivered yet in half of Europe – making EU level legislative action to speed up implementation an option. Here’s what we know about the measures from countries that have been early adopters.
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.
Dhaka, Feb 20 – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Tuesday distributed coveted Ekushey Padak-2018 among 21 eminent citizens for contributions to their respective fields.
By Adel Abdel Ghafar Doha, Qatar, Feb 19 (IPS) – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing a process of change in its social, economic, and political structures unseen since its founding in 1932. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and…
Geneva (Kanaga Raja) – The Government of Zambia’s policy of turning export-oriented large-scale commercial agriculture into the driving engine of the national economy, in a situation where land protection is weak, runs the risk of pushing peasants off their land,…
By Jake Johnson US “can never camouflage its true identity as the gross violator of human rights,” Pyongyang says Just as U.S. President Donald Trump was preparing to lambast North Korea as “a menace that threatens our world” in his…
The crisis of liberal democracy is roundly decried today. Donald Trump’s presidency, the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom, and the electoral rise of other populists in Europe have underscored the threat posed by “illiberal democracy” – a kind of…
Sexual abuse allegations against Oxfam staff, and failings in the charity’s response to them, delivered a body blow to an organisation renowned for years of humanitarian and development work. At the very least the accusations will leave a stain on…
From Mohammad Zainal Abedin in NY New York – America remembers Susan B. Anthony, a women’s rights activist, on her 198th birthday – which is observed in the US as Susan B. Anthony Day – and recollects her contributions. Susan…
Corporal punishment is a violation of the most basic and crucial laws of a civilized society… but who cares? By Sir Frank Peters A highway billboard in Amarillo, Texas, that screams ‘beat your children’ to thousands of passing onlookers daily…