News stories by Yasmine Sherif

NEW YORK, July 14 (IPS) - On the first International Day of Hope, we are all responsible to #KeepHopeAlive for the children impacted by the world’s most severe humanitarian crises. Perhaps the strongest responsibilities lie with those entrusted to lead the world and make the right moral and legal choices. This is especially so today, when we have led the world into an abyss of excruciating pain for nearly a quarter of a billion innocent children now suffering brutal conflicts and violence, forced displacement and punishing climate disasters – without quality education.

NEW YORK, Dec 20 (IPS) - As 2024 comes to a close, I dare to say that this has been an especially gruesome year for millions upon millions of young children, their parents and their teachers. The world has witnessed one horrific crisis of cruelty, dispossession and human suffering after another.

NEW YORK, Nov 01 (IPS) - Africa has the youngest population in the world today. Around 40% of the population is 15 or younger. They have a non-negotiable right to an inclusive and continued quality education, just like young people everywhere across the globe.

NEW YORK, Oct 05 (IPS) - We must build a new social contract for education – a contract based on equality, equity, and universal human rights. At the center of our global efforts to ensure education for all, we must put teachers first in everything we do. They are frontlines heroes who deliver every day to educate children, cultivate young talent, and build a strong society. They are the substitute parents, the mentors and the ones who contribute to shaping the identify of a child in war, in refuge or in climate change.

NEW YORK, Sep 21 (IPS) - The longing for peace transcends time, geography and religion. Based on justice, human rights and universal values outlined in the UN Charter, a culture of peace brings us all together in our common agenda for humanity. We can only co-exist by aligning ourselves with such a world order.

NEW YORK, Sep 17 (IPS) - Today, we stand with solemn hearts as the world marks this week the three-year ban on girls' secondary education in Afghanistan.

Today and every day, we must stand up for the millions of Afghan girls and women living under the yoke of gender-apartheid: systematized and institutionalized oppression, exclusion, and marginalization based exclusively on their gender. However, standing in solemnity for their suffering is not enough. We must act to remove the oppression and injustice. Against all odds, we must continue to deliver results to provide the girls access to an education well beyond grade sixth.

NEW YORK, Aug 26 (IPS) - Seven years ago, a brutal campaign of violence, rape and terror against the Rohingya people ignited in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Villages were burned to the ground, families were murdered, massive human rights violations were reported, and around 700,000 people – half of them children – fled their homes to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

NEW YORK, May 14 (IPS) - The words above, by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, serve as a reminder that we still have a long way to go to in educating ourselves. In doing so, we will naturally ensure that the young generation can access an inclusive quality education and use their knowledge to build a world of justice, equity, peace and security.

NEW YORK, Dec 10 (IPS) - Today we mark a milestone in history: the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As people around the world commemorate Human Rights Day, we must also deeply reflect on the meaning of this historic document and what it takes to achieve peace in the world.

London/New York, Dec 05 (IPS) - “The one international language the world understands” wrote Eglantyne Jebb, founder of Save the Children, “is the cry of a child,” and the evidence is accumulating that children are not only the innocent victims of conflict whose pleas need to be heard, but also the most vulnerable victims of climate change.