Global Issues
News headlines for “Democracy”, page 268
Mining giant Rio Tinto Face Environmental, Human Rights Complaint in Papua New Guinea
- Inter Press Service
CANBERRA, Australia, Jan 04 (IPS) - Local communities in the vicinity of the abandoned Panguna copper mine, have taken decisive action to hold the global mining multinational, Rio Tinto, accountable for alleged environmental and human rights violations during the mine’s operations between 1972 and 1989.
Belo Monte Dam: Electricity or Life in Brazil's Amazon Rainforest
- Inter Press Service
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 28 (IPS) - "We are no longer familiar with the Xingú River," whose waters govern "our way of life, our income, our food and our navigation," lamented Bel Juruna, a young indigenous leader from Brazil´s Amazon rainforest.
Ten Defining Moments for Women in 2020
- Inter Press Service
UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (IPS) - While 2020 will be remembered most for the way COVID-19 changed our lives in nearly every way and in every part of the world, we made some strides for women’s rights and gender equality.
2020: A Yet More Devastating Year Closes With At Least Some Signs Of Hope
- Inter Press Service
ROME, Dec 23 (IPS) - Despite its grim record of multiple natural disasters and a deepening climate crisis, one could be forgiven for looking back on 2019 with a degree of nostalgia. There is no disguising the extent of the calamity wrought this year by COVID-19, yet as we approach the end of 2020 we may also draw strength from positive developments emerging.
A Decade after the Arab Spring, Tunisia Fails to Keep up with the Process of Democratisation
- Inter Press Service
NEW DELHI, India, Dec 22 (IPS) - Ten years ago a young street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi set himself afire in the central Tunisian provincial town of Sidi Bouzid to protest against police harassment. Bouazizi’s sacrificial act served as a catalyst and inspired the Tunisian people to take over the streets that led to the Jasmine Revolution in the country. On January 4, 2011 Mohamed Bouazizi died, and ten days later the country's authoritarian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s rule ended when he fled to Saudi Arabia.
Empowering Women through Wisdom
- Inter Press Service
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Dec 22 (IPS) - During the COVID 19 lockdown in Sri Lanka, seven women from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds came together to deliver Wisdom and their message that women must be empowered and their voices for national unity must be heard through this movement.
Islamic Feminists Speak on Fight to Reclaim Rights
- Inter Press Service
NEW DELHI, India, Dec 22 (IPS) - The court victory to allow women into the inner sanctum of a Sufi shrine in Mumbai was a significant victory for a secular rights-based movement led by Muslim women. However, there is a fear the political climate in India regarding Muslims, could put the women’s rights agenda on the back foot.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Child Marriage and Other Gender-Based Violence
- Inter Press Service
DHAKA, Bangladesh, Dec 21 (IPS) - I recently visited rural areas of Bangladesh amid the COVID-19 pandemic and returned to Dhaka with a new understanding of the impact that COVID-19 is having on child marriage, a harmful practice that is a global challenge. The fundamental shift that I saw was that child marriage, which has typically been encouraged by struggling parents, is now being encouraged by struggling girls. This worrisome trend underscores a new burden of the pandemic on the poor.
Ugandas School Plan for Refugee Children Could Become a Global Template
- Inter Press Service
KAMPALA/KIKUBE/RWAMWANJA, Uganda, Dec 21 (IPS) - Thirteen-year-old Wita Kasanganjo is a pupil at Maratatu Primary School in the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement based in Uganda’s Hoima district. But last month, when Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni ordered the re-opening of schools for the first time since the mid-March nationwide closure, Kasanganjo was not part of the returning group of students. The government, in a cautious lifting of coronavirus lockdown restrictions, has allowed only pupils who are part of the final year or candidate classes to return to their schooling.
Afghanistan's Historic Year: Peace Talks, Security Transition but Higher Levels of Violence
- Inter Press Service
BONN, Germany, Dec 18 (IPS) - While Afghanistan ends a historic year, filled with the hope for peace as the government and Taliban sat down for almost three months of consecutive peace talks for the first time in 19 years, it was also a year filled with violence with provisional statistics by the United Nations showing casualties for this year being higher than 2019.
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