By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | JOHANNESBURG (IDN) — A convoluted tale of monies hidden in a sofa in the home of the South African President Cyril Ramaphosa threatens to unseat a popular leader while it creates more headaches for the African National Congress. According to the charges, a fortune in U.S. […]
Recalling the Massacre in Namibia on Genocide Prevention Day
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Genocide Prevention Day falls on December 9 and marks the anniversary of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (also known as the UN Genocide Convention. On this day, the victims of genocide worldwide are remembered. People around the world […]
Putting Anti-racism & Anti-discrimination High on the International Agenda
Viewpoint by Simone Galimberti* KATHMANDU (IDN) — A recent UNESCO Forum provided some impetus to the fight against racism and discrimination, but the level of the problems involved required a much bigger commitment. It is unfortunate that the second edition of the Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination, organized by UNESCO in Mexico City on […]
Climate Change Threatens the Health of Refugees in Camps
By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA | LONDON (IDN) — Climate uncertainty is creating health threats for thousands of migrants as overcrowding and pollution place huge stresses on humanitarian organisations’ ability to provide sanctuary in refugee camps, a new study reveals. Locating camps in disaster-prone or climate hotspot areas increases their vulnerability and, coupled with stress from […]
World Aids Day Addresses Inequalities Between Global South and North
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year, on December 1, World AIDS Day is commemorated. People worldwide unite to show support for those living with HIV and remember those who have passed on from AIDS-related illnesses. Ten years ago, HIV had infected at least 10 per cent of the population […]
Now is a Good Time for a Ukraine Ceasefire and Peace Talks
Viewpoint by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies* NEW YORK (IDN) — As the war in Ukraine has dragged on for nine months and a cold winter is setting in, people all over the world are calling for a Christmas truce, harkening back to the inspirational Christmas Truce of 1914. In the midst of […]
Urban Dwellers in Southern Africa Turn to Backyard Farming
By Jeffrey Moyo HARARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — At unoccupied swathes of land behind houses in Bloomingdale, a medium-income suburb in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, numerous maize fields and vegetable gardens have emerged as urban dwellers enduring economic hardships switch to backyard farming. Zambia, despite emerging from an economic crisis during former President Edgar Lungu’s reign […]
A Workshop Helps Fill the Basket of Knowledge on the Pacific
Climate Change, Human Mobility and Peacebuilding Draw the Focus Viewpoint by Volker Boege Toda Peace Institute issued this article, and it is being republished with their permission. BRISBANE, Australia (IDN) — While UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his opening speech at this year’s COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh on November 7 stated that humanity is […]
Slim Possibility of Asia-Pacific Getting on Track to Net-Zero
Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana The writer is an Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). BANGKOK (IDN) — The recent climate talks in Egypt have left us with a sobering reality: The window for maintaining global warming to 1.5 degrees is […]
The 34th World AIDS Day: “Achieving Equity to End HIV”
By Somar Wijayadasa* Last year, every two minutes one person got infected with HIV, and every minute one person died of AIDS-related causes. NEW YORK (IDN) — Every year on December 1, people throughout the world commemorate World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. The […]