Q&A: Disaster Resilience Starts with Grassroots Women
Women and girls can be powerful agents of change, but they are disproportionately affected by disasters because of social roles, discrimination and poverty. The International Day for Disaster Reduction...
View ArticleWomen Hit Hard by Natural Disasters
In the aftermath of a natural disaster, women are often the most vulnerable. Particularly in rural areas, women suffer disproportionately from inadequate shelter and poor sanitation facilities and are...
View ArticleAsia: Saving Grace of Global Economy?
Developing countries – relegated to the sidelines of the West-led postwar expansion – have emerged as the saving grace of the global economy against a backdrop of calls for a new economic model that...
View ArticleChina Wants Peace in Africa
China could soon expand its involvement in peace and security issues in Africa, according to government officials, researchers and academics from both the Asian giant and resource-rich continent who...
View ArticleThe Key to Damascus Could Lie at the Borders
A group of six men listen as voices crackle through a walkie-talkie. They are sitting in a farmhouse in the north of Lebanon less than a kilometre from the Syrian border. The sound of gunfire and...
View ArticleDonors Urged to Tread Carefully in Myanmar
Foreign donors are rushing into Myanmar (formerly Burma), whose government has been pushing the right political buttons as part of its democratic reform process. But development planners and local...
View ArticleCaged in the Great City
Ali Shuruf turns on the lights, that shine into a gaudy living room. Beyond the window, the dominant colour is uniformly grey: the house stands literally against a wall. Not just any wall – the...
View ArticleFiji’s Leadership of G77 a ‘Rare Opportunity’ for the Pacific
For the first time in 48 years, a Pacific Small Island Developing State (PSIDS) is gearing up to assume chairmanship of the Group of 77 developing nations plus China. In 2013, the Republic of Fiji –...
View ArticleSyria Stands Between Egypt and Iran
The election of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi to the presidency this summer was followed by a flurry of conjecture that the restoration of Egyptian-Iranian diplomatic relations – frozen since...
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Purveyors of Death Flourish in Spain During Crisis
At the height of the economic and financial crisis, the Spanish government is promoting the export of weapons, creating concern among civil society organisations that say commercial interests are...
View ArticleUN Envoy to Syria Calls for Eid Ceasefire*
The U.N.-Arab League envoy has called for a ceasefire in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, as the revolt against the Syrian government enters its 20th month with a death toll of...
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Africa’s Claims for Security Council Seats Still in Limbo
After 20 long years of negotiations on a proposed expansion of the Security Council, African countries continue to be left out in the cold – even as African leaders complain that the international...
View ArticleQ&A: “A Stable, Lasting Peace Treaty for Colombia Will Take Time”
As peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas are about to start in Oslo, the possible participation of rebel leader Simón Trinidad, in prison in the United States, has not...
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Developing World Has 80 Percent of Tobacco-Related Deaths
Tobacco use led to almost six million deaths in 2011, according to new research released here on Monday, of which nearly 80 percent were in low- and middle-income countries. Philippine cigarettes are...
View ArticleVillage Project Helps Rural Producers in Senegal
Increased harvests in the northern Senegalese community of Léona provide evidence of the benefits of multifaceted support for agriculture. But as their yields grow, farmers are calling for consistent...
View ArticleMost EU Nuclear Power Plants ‘Unsafe’
The so-called ‘stress tests’ on nuclear power plants in the European Union (EU) have confirmed environmental and energy activists’ worst fears: most European nuclear facilities do not meet minimum...
View ArticleGiving Women Land, Giving them a Future
Clarisse Kimbi barely ekes out a living from a tiny parcel of land in Kom village in the North West Region of Cameroon. Today, the mother of six finds it hard to put food on the table for herself and...
View ArticleLocal Money Sets Its Own Stamp
Bristol, the eighth most populous town in the UK, has launched a local currency – the Bristol Pound. That makes it one of the largest localities to embrace a complementary currency among more than...
View ArticleViolence Against Women Persists in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, often cited as a model of progress in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), appears to be sliding backwards when it comes to dealing with violence against women...
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OP-ED: What We Owe Our Youth
On Wednesday, we kick off a three-day meeting in Mexico City to discuss how to boost the involvement of young people in politics and expand their role in consolidating democracy in Latin America and...
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