Global Issues
News headlines
Stopping Marine Plastic Pollution: A Key IUCN Congress Goal
- Inter Press Service
St David’s, Wales, Jul 01 (IPS) - Documented images of albatross chicks and marine turtles dying slow deaths from eating plastic bags and other waste are being seared into our consciences. And yet our mass pollution of Earth’s seas and oceans, fuelled by single-use plastics and throw-away consumerism, just gets worse.
Water: A Matter of Survival in the World of Pandemics
- Inter Press Service
HAMILTON, Ontario, Canada, Jul 01 (IPS) - The COVID-19 pandemic has undeniably amplified the existing vulnerabilities of billions of people worldwide. Marginalized communities in developing countries were excluded from social protection and support.
Internet shutdowns now ‘entrenched’ in certain regions, rights council hears
- UN News
The practice of shutting down internet and mobile phone access to stifle dissent has become “entrenched” and more sophisticated in a growing number of countries as governments seek to retain power, a top UN-appointed independent rights expert said on Thursday.
Anti-Gay 'Therapy' Offered at Uganda Health Centres Run by Aid-Funded Groups
- Inter Press Service
KAMPALA, Jun 30 (IPS) - At Mulago, Uganda’s biggest public hospital, a receptionist at an HIV clinic for marginalised and ‘most at risk’ populations, including LGBT people, said that an undercover reporter’s 17-year-old gay brother could “quit” his same-sex attraction.
Terrorists become increasingly ‘innovative’, in a world shaken by COVID-19
- UN News
Despite “significant progress” in the fight against terrorism, the UN counter-terrorism chief warned on Wednesday that amidst new and more diverse threats, COVID-19 has triggered increased activity throughout many countries.
Women must no longer be ‘squeezed into a small corner’, landmark Forum declares
- UN News
In a bid to put gender equality at the heart of COVID recovery, UN Women kicked off a three-day “landmark effort” in Paris on Wednesday, aiming to lay out ambitious investments and policies to bridge the chasm between where women stand in the world today, and where they should be, by 2030.
COVID-19 Pandemic Exacerbates Domestic Workers Plight in Bangladesh
- Inter Press Service
DHAKA, Jun 30 (IPS) - Rani Akter, a mother of five, usually works as a domestic helper in Dhaka’s Zikatola area. When the coronavirus pandemic broke out in Bangladesh last March, her employers asked her not to come to their homes for fear of infection.
“I lost my work in three houses one after the other, which became a nightmare for me. My rich employers did not allow me in their homes as they thought that I might carry the invisible virus,” Akter told IPS.
Urgent action needed to end ‘inhumane conditions’ facing Haiti prisoners: UN rights chief
- UN News
Extreme overcrowding and lack of access to food, water and health, are among the ‘inhumane conditions’ that prisoners in Haiti must endure, often over the course of many years, according to a new UN report.
Migrant worker numbers rise by five million: ILO
- UN News
The number of international migrant workers has increased from 164 to 169 million, the International Labour Organization (ILO) said on Wednesday, noting a marked rise in the number of young people seeking opportunities abroad, too.
“We Need to Act Now” — as Sub-Saharan Africa Faces Third Wave of Covid-19
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON DC, Jun 30 (IPS) - Sub-Saharan Africa is in the grips of a third wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to be even more brutal than the two that came before.
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