Global Issues
News headlines
With Poor Human Rights Record, Repatriation Not Possible
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 26 (IPS) - Policies that allow for impunity, genocide, and apartheid are "intolerable" and make repatriation of Rohingya refugees impossible, say United Nations investigators.
The value of a health scheme
- Inter Press Service
PHILADELPHIA, Oct 26 (IPS) - The challenges for the success of Ayushman Bharat are more than just at the financial and infrastructural level
On September 24, the government launched the grand government-funded healthcare scheme, the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY). While some see its ambitious goals as its main strength, others are sceptical given the inadequate funding for the scheme, the weak infrastructure of primary health care centres, and the time required for the goals to be accomplished. However, nobody disputes the imperative of an insurance scheme as vast as the PMJAY, since every year about 36 million families, or 14% of households, face a medical bill that is equal to the entire annual living expenses of one member of the family. This frequently pushes many families into penury.
Kashmir's Fisherwomen Live Between Hope and Despair
- Inter Press Service
SRINAGAR, India, Oct 25 (IPS) - Much has changed since Rahti Begum, a fisherwoman in Kashmir, now in her late 60s, first began wandering the streets with a bucketful of fish on her head. She was 17 when her father roped her into the business that became the source of her livelihood for the remainder of her life.
African Union Makes Moves to Neutralise Africa’s Main Human Rights Body
- Inter Press Service
JOHANNESBURG, Oct 25 (IPS) - David Kode is the Advocacy and Campaigns lead with global civil society alliance, CIVICUS.For many African activists based on the continent, getting to a major human rights summit just underway in The Gambia is likely to have been a challenging exercise. The journey by air from many African countries to the capital, Banjul, for the 63rd Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR), could have been prohibitively expensive, involved transiting through multiple cities and taken days.
An Ounce of Democracy
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 25 (IPS) - Abdoulaye Mar Dieye is UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP's Bureau for Policy and Programme SupportAs the old adage goes: "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Nowhere is this more appropriate than when it comes to conflict. Violent conflict causes not only human suffering and destruction but robs entire societies of development and growth.
Buenos Aires Shantytowns, Caught Between Exclusion and Hope
- Inter Press Service
BUENOS AIRES, Oct 24 (IPS) - "We are the people who are excluded from the system," says Rafael Rivero, sitting in his apartment in a new social housing complex next to one of the largest slums in Buenos Aires. The contrast sums up the complexity of the social reality in the Argentine capital.
Barbados Looks Beyond its Traditional Sugar and Banana Industries into the Deep Blue
- Inter Press Service
CONSETT BAY, Barbados, Oct 24 (IPS) - Allan Bradshaw grew up close to the beach and always knew he wanted to become a fisherman. Now 43 years old, he has been living his childhood dream for 25 years. But in recent years Bradshaw says he has noticed a dramatic decline in the number of flying fish around his hometown of Consett Bay, Barbados.
The Invisible, Hungry Hand
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 24 (IPS) - The very people who help put food on our tables often face numerous human rights violations, forcing them go to bed hungry.
Trump's Counterproductive Decision to “Terminate” the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 24 (IPS) - Daryl G. Kimball is executive director & Kingston Reif is director for disarmament and threat reduction policy, Arms Control AssociationUnder the influence of his new National Security Advisor, John Bolton, Trump announced Saturday at a campaign rally that he will "terminate" a key nuclear arms control agreement that helped end the Cold War race–the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in response to a long-running dispute over Russian noncompliance with the treaty.
Rich in Agriculture, Madagascar Suffers from Extreme Malnutrition
- Inter Press Service
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar, Oct 24 (IPS) - Hanitranirina Rarison is an agronomist specializing in food sciences in Fanilon'I Madagasikara. She is also a Girl Guide and actively involved in its nutrition advocacy program.As much as 80 percent of Madagascar's population of 24 million people is involved in agriculture and the country's economy largely depends on the sector, yet 48 percent of households are faced with food insecurity according to the National Nutrition Office (NNO). Over 70 percent of households live below the national poverty line of 535,603 Malagasy ariary per year (1 U.S. dollar equals 3,447.50 ariary).
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