Viewpoint by Ekua Nuama Bentil, Yoko Nagashima, Himdat Bayusuf, Jamil Salmi, Assane Dieng & Venkatesh Sundararaman* WASHINGON, D.C. (IDN) — The Western and Central Africa (WCA) region is home to an estimated half a billion people and more than 40% of the population is under the age of 15, as shown by the data from […]
Indian Farmers’ Protests Continue to be Innovative
By Arun Srivastava* NEW DELHI (IDN) — World history is full of narratives of peasant struggles and uprising. India also has seen many of them which had different perspectives and dimensions. Early peasant movements were usually against feudal and semi-feudal societies and resulted in violent uprisings.
UN Experts Call for Lifesaving Help for Venezuela Cancer Patients Hit by US Sanctions
By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — Independent UN rights experts are concerned that Venezuelan cancer patients could die because they have been caught up in excessively strict application of U.S. sanctions aimed at Venezuela and the state-owned oil company Petroleum of Venezuela (PDVSA).
OPEC Fund Loans Uganda to Enhance Productivity for Smallholder Farmers
Newsbrief by Reinhard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) — More than 120,000 smallholder households in Uganda’s northern and north-eastern regions engaged in the production and marketing of oil seeds (groundnuts, sunflower, sesame and soy) are expected to benefit from US$30 million loan agreement the OPEC Fund for International Development has signed with Uganda.
In the US, Unpaid Maternity Leave Puts Mothers in a Bind
By Mike Brown* OMAHA, Nebraska, USA (IDN) — Around the world, paid maternity leave is the norm. According to data from the International Labour Organization, African nations including Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, and many more provide 14 weeks of paid maternity leave where 100% of wages are replaced. In the Americas, Barbados, Colombia, Dominican […]
A New Global Biodiversity Framework Seeks to Bring ‘Humanity in Harmony with Nature’
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — The Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) has published the first official draft of a new global framework for biodiversity to guide actions to conserve and protect nature and its basic services to humans by 2030. After more than two years of development, the draft […]
Honduras Granted USD20 Million OPEC Fund Loan to Help Improve Climate Resilience of Rural Communities
By Reinhard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN) — The OPEC Fund for International Development has signed a US$20 million loan agreement with Honduras to co-finance the ‘Northeastern Small Producers’ Economic and Social Inclusion Project—PROINORTE’. The importance of the project lies in the fact that the Central American nation’s economy is primarily agricultural, making it especially vulnerable to […]
ALCAP Ventures into Sri Lanka for Joint Movie Production
By Niba Mirza* COLOMBO (IDN) — Sri Lanka which from time immemorial is linked to South America through the Indian Ocean is now also connected through Joint Movie/ Documentary co-production and audiovisual exchange. The Asociación Latinoamericana de Comunicación Audiovisual Parlamentaria, ALCAP, or the Latin American Parliamentary Association of Audiovisual Communication, signed a MOU with TTV […]
UN Determined to Counter Cyber Crime and Ensure Peace and Security
By J Nastranis NEW YORK (IDN) — As digital advances continue to revolutionize human life, the United Nations has called for remaining “vigilant” about malicious technologies that “could imperil the security of future generations”. Currently, there are over 4.6 billion internet users around the world.
UNODC’s First Global Research on Imprisonment Reveals Shocking Facts
By Reinhard Jacobsen VIENNA (IDN | UNODC) — One in every three prisoners worldwide are held without a trial, which means that they have not been found guilty by any court of justice, according to the first global research data on prisons published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The research […]