Gender Equality

China's Three-Child Policy Is Unlikely to Better the Demographic Situation

Viewpoint by Shastri Ramachandaran*

NEW DELHI (IDN) — China’s announcement of May 31 to allow couples to have three children, instead of two as is the rule now, has not captured the attention it deserves for its ramifications because the country is so much in the news for the wrong reasons such as its military stand-off with India or glossing over the origin of Covid-19 virus. The ruling Communist Party Politburo’s decision shows that although China’s economy is doing better than any other major economy in the Covid-ravaged world, the country is caught in a demographic crisis that could begin eroding its economic strength.

: Shastri Ramachandaran; OPINION; 19 June 2021

Photo: Women planting an olive tree in the Marrakech-Safi region of Morocco (High Atlas Foundation, 2021)

Decentralisation Vital to Achieving the UN's Global Goals

Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir

The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation.

MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 June 2021

Photo: This video shows why the work of the Accord is an example for how to make change in the garment industry, using the hashtags #protectprogress and #RanaPlazaNeverAgain. Source: Clean Clothes Campaign.

Battle To Ensure Safety in Bangladesh Garment Factories Continues as Safety Accord Is Extended

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — The dark side of the global fashions industry was exposed in 2013 when over 1000 workers were killed in a factory fire and collapse. The global outrage resulted in the adoption of the Accord on Fire and Building Safety (AFBS) in Bangladesh. The eight-year-old Accord was due to expire on May 31 and global unions that were part of this pact gave notice late last month of withdrawing from the body set up last year to look after its technicalities.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 June 2021

Photo: Screenshot of EEPA Webinar on May 25.

Call for Referring Conflict-related Sexual Violence to International Criminal Court

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS (IDN) — The scale and brutality of crimes of conflict-related sexual violence against women committed in Tigray have drawn widespread condemnation from around the world.

It was no surprise that the Europe External Programme with Africa (EEPA) focussed on that theme in the Webinar organised on May 25. EEPA is a Belgium-based centre of expertise with in-depth knowledge, publications, and networks, specialised in issues of peacebuilding, refugee protection, and resilience in the Horn of Africa.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Horn of Africa; 27 May 2021

Photo: UN Women Executive Director Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka, and UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Ms Nakamitsu. Sources: UN Women and UNDOA

Put People Before Runaway Military Spending

Viewpoint by Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Izumi Nakamitsu

Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka Executive Director of UN Women and Ms Nakamitsu is UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs. This OpEd was first published on May 6.

NEW YORK (IDN) — For all of us, but especially women, the pandemic is a reminder that traditional notions of “security” that fuel the weapons industry cannot protect us from dangers and challenges we routinely face.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 15 May 2021

A Robust Blueprint Emerges from the UN's Largest Gathering on Women’s Rights

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — The largest gathering on women’s rights has decided to contribute to accelerating the pace of progress to ensure women’s full participation and leadership at all levels of decision-making in executive, legislative and judicial branches of government and the public sector. It also appreciates that temporary special measures, such as quotas, and increased political will are needed as an enabling pathway to this goal.

: Caroline Mwanga; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 27 March 2021

Photo: Nawal el Saadawi, Tahrir, April 2012. CC BY 2.0

Egyptian Feminist Writer, Activist and Physician Dies

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Over the course of a lifetime spent fighting for women’s rights and equality, Nawal El Saadawi inspired generations of women even while she faced threats against her life and imprisonment.

Aged 89, she died on March 21 in a Cairo hospital after a long illness.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Middle East; 22 March 2021

UN Keen to Achieve Gender Equality Far Ahead of 2150

By Caroline Mwanga

NEW YORK (IDN) — The international community has set the goal of achieving gender equality by 2030. But UN Women, a United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women, maintains that "at the current rate of progress, gender equality will not be reached among Heads of Government until 2150, another 130 years".

This projection is based on the new data published ahead of the ten-day 65th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65).

: UN Bureau; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 March 2021

Image credit: United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Afghan Women's Voices on Peace Heard with UN Mission's Backing

By Devinder Kumar

NEW DELHI | KUNDUZ (IDN) — While the UN Security Council on March 14 "condemned in the strongest terms" the alarming number of attacks deliberately targeting civilians in Afghanistan, women activists were over several days knocking on doors in Kunduz, posing two questions to their relatives, neighbours and fellow residents of the city: “What does the peace process mean to you? How do you see your role in it?”

The members of the Security Council expressed their deep concern regarding the increase of these targeted attacks in the months following the start of the Afghanistan peace negotiations on September 12, 2020.

: Devinder Kumar; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 March 2021

Photo: Criticism of the handling of the rape scandal in Australia involves Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Senator and Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, and Christian Porter, Attorney-General of Australia. In the backdrop is the Parliament in Canberra. Photos from Wikimedia Commons. Collage by IDN-INPS.

Rape Allegations Rock the Australian Parliament

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — While International Women's Day was celebrated around the world on March 8, a debate was gathering momentum in Australia about the “toxic workplace culture” within the corridors of power in the Australian parliament in Canberra, with politicians running for cover as rape allegations against them and their staff surfaced fast and swift.