The COVID-19 pandemic is exacerbating threats to press freedom globally, potentially undermining access to freely reported and reliable information for years to come, an international press freedom watchdog said Tuesday.
Category: Op-Ed
No space for social distancing in Rohingya Refugee camps
By Rafiqul Islam Nine-year-old Mohammad Rafique used to collect vegetables from Kutupalong Bazaar and sell them at a market inside Kutupalong camp, a camp of some 600,000 Rohingyas, in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar.
Govt spending must target inequalities, not bail out riches
Geneva, 17 Apr (Kanaga Raja) – States need to invest massively in decreasing inequalities and poverty arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, and not just bail out large corporations, banks and investors with no human rights or social conditions attached.
Problems facing persons with disabilities and way forward
Amrita Rejina RozarioWith current Covid-19 pandemic flaring up across 210 countries in the world, millions of poor people are already affected and more so in the developing world.
Multilateralism thru PPPs key to flattening Covid-19 curve
By Paul Polman, Myriam Sidibe and Siddharth Chatterjee NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 17 2020 (IPS) – The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that now is “a defining moment for modern society. History will judge the efficacy of the response not…
23 restaurants giving their communities back with free meals
Danielle Nierenberg As I’ve been hunkering down at home with my family, practicing social distancing during COVID-19, we’ve done more cooking—but we’ve also tried to support local restaurants. Some restaurants in our community are offering takeout and delivery, but unfortunately,…
Covid-19 crisis, crime, poverty: Need for social security
By Hassanal Noor Rashid Global inequality and injustice have been heated topics and of deep social concern throughout human history. In January 2020, OXFAM (Oxford Committee for Famine Relief), a reputable confederation of charitable organisations, declared in a widely circulated…
Access to affordable biologics in the context of Covid-19
Chetali Rao & K M Gopakumar New Delhi, India – COVID-19 has posed unique challenges for healthcare providers across the globe, as the world has been grappling with the pandemic with no approved treatments or vaccines for the disease. Researchers…
Bridging gap between hunger and food waste during a pandemic
By Seema Sanghavi NEW DELHI, Apr 14 2020 (IPS) – On March 12, the first email came in. An email from a boutique hotel that said they needed to postpone their apron order. The hotel had decided to put a…
Community Radio Response to COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh
AHM Bazlur Rahman Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) has been mobilizing all community radios for developing and broadcasting awareness-building programs on COVID-19: Coronavirus contamination to protect lives and livelihoods since March 1, 2020. www.bnnrc.net
WIMN calls for new social compact in Covid-19 crisis
‘An inclusive, intersectional feminist approach is the only way out of the COVID crisis’ As the world roils with the human and economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic, one thing is clear: this is no time for business as…
Alive Amidst the Mayhem of Covid-19 – A Sex Worker’s Story
By Fairuz Ahmed NEW YORK, Apr 9 2020 (IPS) – For a Bangladeshi woman, who has been a sex worker since childhood, her post-COVID-19 future looks hopeless. Shilpy, who works at Daulatdia, the largest brothel in the country, told IPS…
The World Must Not Forget Climate Change
by Dirk Messner, Nick Nuttall DESSAU-ROßLAU – If the current coronavirus pandemic has taught us anything, it is that our interconnected, globalized economies and societies are highly vulnerable to sudden shocks. The COVID-19 outbreak, and the horrendous scale of its…
Bill Gates finds spiritual purpose behind coronavirus
Multi-billionaire Gates, 64 – who don:ated £85 million to combat the virus last month – believes that despite the chaos, there is ‘a spiritual purpose behind everything that happens’.
COVID-19 exposes fragile world order, thin veneer of civilization
Geneva, 6 Apr (Chakravarthi Raghavan) — It is nearly four months since the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the highly infectious upper respiratory COVID-19 disease it spawned, made its appearance and rapidly spread across the world, resulting in world-wide lock-downs, quarantines and…
Human rights and compassion must guide COVID-19 mitigation
By Siddharth Chatterjee NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 6 2020 (IPS) – Covid-19 infections continue to rise, bringing normal life to a virtual standstill and causing countries to shut themselves off from the rest of the world. Increasingly, governments are turning to…
How COVID-19 is affecting women’s sexual, reproductive health
By Samira Sadeque UNITED NATIONS, Apr 7 2020 (IPS) – A little over half of women across the globe are able to freely make choices about their sexual and reproductive health, according to a latest report based on data from…
Coronavirus doesn’t have to be a killer disease
Sir Frank Peters It’s always soul uplifting and heart-warming to see the youth of Bangladesh show they care for people, especially the elderly and sick.
If you can’t take a joke, be the joke!
Sudhirendar Sharma I recall how scheming we were in our younger days to send gullible on a ‘fool’s errand’ to mark April 1, the most light-hearted day of the year when playing pranks and trying to get people to believe…
Slums-Camps, Terrorism: Worry about virus Hitting South Asia
By Samira Sadeque UNITED NATIONS, Mar 30 2020 (IPS) – As coronavirus makes its way through different continents, countries, and communities around the world having claimed more than 23,000 lives, experts are ringing alarm bells about the implications of the…
Coronavirus & early lessons from China
By Helge Berger, Kenneth Kang, & Changyong Rhee, International Monetary Fund (IMF) WASHINGTON DC, Mar 27 2020 (IPS) – The coronavirus is having a profound and serious impact on the global economy and has sent policymakers looking for ways to…
Covid-19 a universal catastrophe
Mohd Siddiqur Rahman. May I have your few minutes out of your valuable day to have glimpse over what is going on in my mind and emotion around COVID -19 pandemic that already affected 198 countries, and as of now…
Itna sannata kyon hai bhai?
Sudhirendar Sharma During these corona time when all of us are forced into locked seclusion I wonder how would anyone respond to Imam Saab’s innocent query itna sannata kyon hai bhai? Come on, don’t ask me what sense does it…
Fisherfolk fix both food and climate by closing fishing grounds
By Kanis Dursin JAKARTA, Mar 23 2020 (IPS) – Samsul sounded very happy last Monday (Mar. 16) when recounting his experience of catching crabs worth more than $60 in a single day. “I hauled over 12 kilograms of crabs on…
Never Give up on Women’s Rights – Edna Ismail
By IPS International Desk NEW YORK, Mar 20 2020 (IPS) – For Dr Edna Adan Ismail maternal health and midwifery is deeply personal. In an interview with Women Deliver Young Leader Musu Bakoto Sawo, Ismail recalls her mother’s devasting experiences…
WikiLeaks’ latest about OPCW fake Douma Report blaming Syria
By Caitlin Johnstone 28 Dec. 2019 – This is getting really, really, really weird. WikiLeaks has published yet another set of leaked internal documents from within the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) adding even more material to…
Creator of BioWeapons Act says virus is biological weapon
By GreatGameIndia In an explosive interview Dr. Francis Boyle, who drafted the Biological Weapons Act has given a detailed statement admitting that the 2019 Wuhan Coronavirus is an offensive Biological Warfare Weapon and that the World Health Organization (WHO) already…
Changing weather spells doom for unprepared Pakistan farmers
By Xari Jalil Mar 13 2020 (IPS) – Unpredictable weather patterns in the form of excessive or prolonged rainfall are wreaking havoc for farmers across Pakistan as sowing and harvesting periods are severely affected.
Food System Vision Prize Announces 79 Semifinalists
Danielle Nierenberg Last week, the Food System Vision Prize announced the 79 semifinalists who have been selected to move on to the refinement phase of the competition. These teams, chosen from more than 1,300 entrants representing 112 countries, are developing…
How World Bank arbitrators mugged Pakistan
By Jeffrey D. Sachs Thanks to the World Bank’s flawed and corrupt investment arbitration process, the rich are making a fortune at the expense of poor countries. The latest shakedown is a $5.9 billion award against Pakistan’s government in favor…