Global Issues
News headlines
Catalysing Change for Gender Equality
- Inter Press Service
BANGKOK, Thailand – UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (IPS) - Great strides have been taken to empower women and girls in the Asia-Pacific region since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing adopted an ambitious global agenda to achieve gender equality twenty-five years ago. Gender parity has been achieved in primary education. Maternal mortality has been halved. Today, the region's governments are committed to overcoming the persistent challenges of discrimination, gender-based violence and women's unequal access to resources and decision-making.
Despite Halting Progress, UN Continues its Push for a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in the Middle East
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (IPS) - A longstanding proposal for a regional nuclear-weapons-free zone (NWFZ) in the Middle East – one of the world's most conflict-ridden regions – has been kicked around the corridors of UN committee rooms since 1974.
UN Warns of ‘Screen Teens’ not Getting Enough Exercise
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 27 (IPS) - It is a common complaint of parents globally that their children and teenagers spend far too many hours sprawled on couches playing video games, sharing selfies with online friends and giggling over TikTok videos.
I am Generation Equality: Child Marriage Survivor & Activist
- Inter Press Service
FUSHE KRUJE, Albania, Nov 26 (IPS) - Billions of people across the world stand on the right side of history every day. They speak up, take a stand, mobilize, and take big and small actions to advance women's rights. This is Generation Equality.-- I am Generation Equality because… I didn't want other girls to go through the same struggles I experienced. I got married when I was 14 years old. I had no idea what marriage was.
Businesses Have Key Role in Safeguarding Human Rights
- Inter Press Service
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Nov 26 (IPS) - Unanimously endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2011, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights are the authoritative global reference point articulating the responsibilities of companies to respect and protect human rights.
Social Protection Necessary to Quickly End Poverty, Hunger
- Inter Press Service
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Nov 26 (IPS) - Historically, most social security systems have developed in the formal sector of rich economies. However, most of the poor and hungry in the world live in rural areas, surviving in the informal economy.
When African Women are Financially Included, an Entire Continent Wins
- Inter Press Service
KIGALI, Nov 26 (IPS) - When Rwandan-born and Senegalese-raised entrepreneur and businesswoman Kristine Ngiriye was 18 she had a brilliant idea that she wanted to translate into a business. But when she went to her local bank for a loan they told her to rather get married, because " a woman must be married instead of venturing into business", Ngiriye tells IPS.
Statistics and Stories – Time to Change the Refugee Narrative?
- Inter Press Service
ROME, Nov 25 (IPS) - Statistics and stories. When aid agencies appeal for funding to tackle the latest refugee crisis and journalists do their reporting, then these are the two narratives most chosen -- one impersonal and the other upfront and individual.
The sheer numbers can feel overwhelming. The UN refugee agency UNHCR says more than 70 million people are currently displaced by conflict, the most since the Second World War. Among them are nearly 26 million who have fled their countries (over half under the age of 18) and 3.5 million more are registered as asylum seekers.
Science & Policy Must Remain Partners in Mercury Challenge
- Inter Press Service
GENEVA, Nov 25 (IPS) - Minamata COP3 provides chance to get effectiveness evaluation right. It has been more than two years since the Minamata Convention on Mercury entered into force. The global treaty protects humans and the environment from the toxic metal, but countries are still stuck on how to measure the agreement's effectiveness.
More Austerity for Developing Countries: It’s Bad News, and It’s Avoidable
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON DC and LONDON, Nov 25 (IPS) - As the West questions damaging austerity policies, it is becoming the new normal for the rest of the world, risking achievement of sustainable development goals. After years of austerity, a number of Eurozone countries are now considering expansionary fiscal policies. And in the UK, government spending is set to return to levels last seen in the 1970s. But austerity abounds elsewhere in the world, including in some of the poorest countries.
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