By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The Secretary General of SWAPO, Namibia’s governing party, appears to have been napping as women around the world stepped up to demand tough measures from their political leaders against gender-based violence. Sophia Shaningwa, who serves in SWAPO’s upper echelon of party officials, left her party’s […]
Postponed Pan-African Film Festival Opens in Ouagadougou
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — The much-awaited pan-African film festival opened on October 16 in Burkina Faso’s capital city of Ouagadougou at the Palais des Sports with dancers, acrobats and celebrities, including Senegalese Grammy nominee Baaba Maal. This year’s theme was Cinemas of Africa and the Diaspora: New perspectives, new […]
North Korea Flexes its Nuclear Muscles – and Defies the Western World
By Thalif Deen NEW YORK (IDN) – North Korea, long dubbed as a “hermit kingdom” has continued to remain cut off from the rest of the world—politically, economically and geographically. But neither rigid sanctions, nor international isolation and growing food insecurities, have prevented the country—officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK)—from making […]
Volunteerism Must be at the Centre of Our Common Agenda
Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti The Co-Founder of ENGAGE, a not-for-profit NGO based in Nepal, Simone Galimberti, is one of the participants at the IVCO 2021 conference. KATHMANDU, Nepal (IDN) — The ambitious plans put forward by UN Secretary-General António Guterres with the recent launch of Our Common Agenda, are based on key universal values and […]
Little Visible Economic Impact of Russian Cooperation with Africa
By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW (IDN) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Angolan counterpart Tete Antonio, held a sordid diplomatic meeting for a few hours on October 13 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This was earlier during the month, preceded by a similar meeting with Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International […]
Public Development Banks Fail to Meet Commitments to Human Rights & Community-led Development
Viewpont by Siddharth Akali The writer is an international lawyer who has been trained by local communities, Indigenous governments and peoples in Canada, India and Nepal. He works as director of the Coalition for Human Rights in Development, a global coalition of social movements, civil society organizations, and grassroots groups working together to ensure that […]
As Asia Grapples ‘Living With COVID-19’ Media May Need to Shed Adversarial Culture
Viewpoint By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Indonesia’s popular tourism islands of Bali opened for tourism October 14, while Thailand announced that from November 1 vaccinated travellers from 19 countries will be allowed to visit the kingdom including its tourism island of Phuket. Both those countries’ tourism industry, which is a major revenue earner, has […]
With Public Interest Journalism Fund, NZ Seeks To ‘Normalise’ Diversity
By Sri Krishnamurthi The author wrote this article for the IDN partner Asia-Pacific Report on October 13. WELLINGTON (IDN) — The announcement in February of a new $55 million, three-year Public Interest Journalism Fund (PIJF) by Minister for Broadcasting and Media Kris Faafoi suggested a revitalisation of tired old traditional media models. Since then it […]
We Are in a Global State of Emergency on Extreme Poverty
Viewpoint by Shameran Abed The writer is Executive Director, BRAC International. Originally founded in 1972 as the Bangladesh Rehabilitation Assistance Committee and later known as the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, BRAC’s operations have grown globally and with that growth, the organization is now simply known as BRAC.
How Hyperlocal Businesses can Save Biodiversity
Viewpoint by Julia Rohe-Frydrych and Luis Ebert BERLIN (IDN) — Markets have not been kind to biodiversity. Activities up and down the economic value chain take an enormous toll on the planet’s ecological riches, and many people believe conservation and private-sector commerce are mutually opposed. In recent years, some conservationists and economists have started to […]