By Jamshed Baruah GENEVA (IDN) — There is a long way to go to achieve gender parity. But a new report reveals that the share of women parliamentarians worldwide reached more than 25 per cent in 2020 marking a historic step. Women in Parliament report was launched on March 5 ahead of the International Women’s […]
More Women Researchers in Developing Nations Than in the Rich
By Jaya Ramachandran PARIS (IDN) — While women make up 33.3% of researchers in the global average, in South and Southeast Asia, several countries are achieving gender parity, according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics for 107 countries covering the years 2015–2018. This is the case for Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand, for instance. […]
Free COVID-19 Vaccines from Big Pharma Control
Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. LOS ANGELES (IDN) — At a recent virtual […]
Texas’ Sustainable Energy Initiatives Under Fire Amid the Latest Grid Failures
By J W Jackie RENO, Nevada, USA (IDN) — The recent energy failure in Texas left 4 million Texans without power and almost half the state under a boil water advisory. As below-freezing temperatures and an intense winter storm swept the state, the state’s energy grid—at the worse possible time. Clean energy is poised to […]
UN Issues ‘Red Alert’ In A Climate Action Report
By Radwan Jakeem NEW YORK (IDN) — A UN climate action report warns that nations are “nowhere close” to the level of action needed to fight global warming. It urges countries to adopt stronger and more ambitious plans to reach the Paris Agreement goals, and limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, by the […]
Response to COVID-19 Embedded in Global Power and Diplomatic Wrangles
Viewpoint by Michael Jennings* LONDON (IDN) — The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to various new, repurposed or newly popular terms. The newest entry to the pandemic lexicon might be “vaccine diplomacy”, with some countries using their jabs to strengthen regional ties and enhance their own power and global status. In early February, half a […]
An Inclusive Energy System Key to COVID-19 Recovery
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) — The past year is one that few of us will forget. While the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have played out […]
UN’s ECOSOC Chief Calls for Backing Up World’s Poor Fight COVID-19
By Ramesh Jaura BERLIN | NEW YORK (IDN) — UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) President Munir Akram has called for a ‘Coalition of the Willing’ to promote agreement at the global level, on a specific set of early actions to provide fiscal space and supplementary liquidity to developing countries suffering the disastrous impact of […]
Bolsonaro May Well Emerge Unscathed from Brazil’s Disaster
Viewpoint by Robert Muggah* RIO DE JANEIRO (IDN) — It was once fashionable to describe Brazil as the country of the future. What a difference half a decade makes. In recent years, a democratically elected president was stripped of power and ultimately replaced by an authoritarian strongman. Today, Latin America’s largest country is suffering from […]
Rural Voices to Be Heard at Food Systems Summit
By Kwame Buist ROME (IDN) – The United Nations is to involve millions of rural people in the 2021 Food Systems Summit as part of an ambitious public engagement process, in which indigenous communities, family farmers, rural women and youth are among those invited to take a seat at the table during Independent Dialogues to […]