By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 5 March 2024 (IDN) — In 1991, the Cold War ended and the good times began—the big powers stopped using their veto in the UN Security Council, the number of wars fell dramatically, human rights improved all over the world including in Russia and China, and the number of […]
UN Observes ‘Zero Discrimination Day’ While Anti-Gay Laws Spread Across Africa
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 4 March 2024 (IDN) — Forced evictions, loss of jobs, increased violence and other human rights abuses are being reported across Africa, worrying UN agencies and other watchdog groups around the world. Since a harsh new bill was passed in Ghana, 12 UN agencies issued an […]
Gaza: Worst Famine Fears Realised as 10th Child Reportedly ‘Starves to Death’
By UN News UNITED NATIONS | 1 March 2024 (IDN) — Repeated warnings from humanitarians over desperate food insecurity and imminent famine in Gaza came into focus on Friday amid reports from the enclave’s authorities that a tenth child had died from malnutrition and dehydration. “The official records yesterday or this morning said there was […]
Political Anger Pushing Youth Disillusionment with Democracy
Analysis by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY | 1 March 2023. (IDN) — A series of elections around the globe this year may change the political landscape. But is democracy making a better world—and if youth and other marginalized groups are still angry, who is to blame? Wealth inequality, the cost of living, lack of secure jobs […]
Tackling Homelessness and Poverty Through Global Street Papers
By Mike Findlay-Agnew The writer is the Chief Executive of the International Network of Street Papers. GLASGOW | 1 March 2024 (IDN) — You may not be aware of it, but newspapers and magazines that are sold on the streets by homeless people are part of a global phenomenon. In 500 cities and towns, across […]
Gaza War: Europe, Israel and the US Form the Triangle of Guilt
By Boaventura de Sousa Santos* ‘Z’ originally published this article under the Creative Commons licence. COIMBRA, Portugal | 26 February 2023 (IDN) — In 1947, Karl Jaspers published a short book entitled The Question of German Guilt (Die Schuldfrage)[1]. It was the time of a Germany devastated in body and soul, a pariah people, disgraced […]
Plastics Threatening Ghana’s Wild Fish Industry
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 26 February 2024 (IDN) — Environmentalists are worried. Plastics, tons of it, are being produced annually, but 70 percent of it ends up in landfills or is incinerated. Several studies have predicted that by the middle of the 21st century, there will be more plastic than […]
FAO Chief Pleads for Peace, Right to Food and Global Governance Reforms
By Jaya Ramachandran RIO DE JANEIRO | 23 February 2024 (IDN) — The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Mr. QU Dongyu, has called for peace, recognition of the right to food, and reform of multilateral institutions as cardinal imperatives. Addressing the first session of the G20 Foreign Affairs […]
Kenyan Women Rally Against Gender-Based Violence
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 22 February 2024 (IDN) — Hundreds of women dressed in black gathered in Kenya’s capital at a vigil dubbed “Dark Valentine” to protest the rise in femicides in the country. More than 16 cases were reported by police and local media since the start of the […]
UN Meeting Agrees Actions for the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
By Jutta Wolf BERLIN | 19 February 2024 (IDN) — While human migration continues to stir up emotions, the world’s migratory species that undertake astonishing journeys between ecosystems, often through air, land and water—increasingly damaged by unsustainable human activities—remain out of focus. The State of the World’s Migratory Species report—launched at the start of the […]