By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS | 5 April 2024 (IDN) — The United Nations has continued a longstanding campaign against female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriages, both still prevalent, mostly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. According to the UN children’s agency UNICEF, FGM refers to “all procedures involving partial or total removal […]
Haiti: Unprecedented Human Rights Violations and Humanitarian Catastrophe
By Reinhardt Jacobsen BRUSSELS | 4 April 2024 (IDN) — The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, has warned that the “scale of humanitarian right violations is unprecedented in Haiti’s modern history” and an already exhausted people are facing a “humanitarian catastrophe”. Mr Türk said in a video statement to the Geneva-based UN […]
India Considers Island States New Nodes of National and Security Interests
By C. Raja Mohan* This article was published in The Indian Express. MUMBAI | 4 April 2024 (IDN) — Delhi’s surprising focus on Katchatheevu, an island in the narrow strip of waters between India and Sri Lanka, is a part of the ruling BJP’s determination to break into Tamil Nadu’s electoral map. Hopefully, the potential […]
Latest Huge Transfer of 2,000-Pound Bombs from US to Israel Not Newsworthy to the Times
By Norman Solomon* SAN FRANCISCO | 3 April 2024 (IDN) — When the Washington Post revealed Friday afternoon that “the Biden administration in recent days quietly authorized the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel,” a lot of people cared. Readers of the story posted more than 10,000 comments on […]
US Downhill All the Way in The Middle East
By Jonathan Power* LUND, Sweden | 2 April 2024 (IDN) — The Middle East is going to hell in a handbasket. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the principle living architect of the repression that has long preceded the war in Gaza. There is now effectively only one state in the old Palestine, yet most […]
Countries are Failing Women on Hunger
By Matt Freeman* UTRECHT, Netherlands | 2 April 2024 (IDN) — It is often assumed that women and girls disproportionately bear the brunt of global hunger and malnutrition. Analysis from Equal Measures 2030’s SDG Gender Index that tracks countries’ gender equality progress on the United Nations’ sustainable development goals now shows the true scale of […]
Gambian Women Furious Over Vote to Restore Female Circumcision
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 1 April 2024 (IDN) — ‘Over my dead body!’ That was how one Gambian woman expressed her frustration with a vote by the country’s majority male legislators to end the prohibition of female genital mutilation (FGM). The practice has been on the rise in recent years […]
Drought Grips Southern Africa, Hunger Crisis Foreseen
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 1 April 2024 (IDN) — A severe dry spell in southern Africa linked to the El Nino weather pattern is crippling the nations of Malawi and Zambia. Zimbabwe has seen much of its crops decimated, underlining concerns by the UN World Food Program that numerous nations […]
A Sustainable Future Must Respect Indigenous Peoples’ Worldviews
By Dario José Mejía Montalvo* The writer is Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues NEW YORK | 1 April 2024 (IDN) — The recent sessions of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) have addressed crucial issues and persistent and emerging challenges for the realization of Indigenous Peoples’ rights. For […]
West African Philosopher Who Challenged Colonialism Leaves Major Legacy
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network NEW YORK | 31 March 2024 (IDN)—Paulin Jidenu Hountondji of Benin, West Africa, considered one of the founding fathers of modern African philosophy, has recently passed away at the age of 82. His work “On African Philosophy” (1976) greatly clarified the debate over African philosophy—freeing it from the colonial […]