Shattered Future: Sexual Violence and Child Exploitation in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

I rent a tent for five dollars a week, and pay 30 as a monthly fee to access an artisanal mining camp of more than 900 miners. To get there takes a two-hour climb from the nearest trading centre. I sleep with about six male workers, each of whom pays about three dollars per session. Sometimes a miner pays for an entire overnight session for five dollars. I have four children that I left with my mother in the provincial capital, which is about three hours’ drive from this site. Every month I spend three weeks on top of this hill providing sex services within the camp, then for a week I go check on the children and bring money for their upkeep...

Climate Migration: From the Paris Agreement to the Global Compact for Migration

When Hurricane Maria hit Dominica this year, Tosca Augustine and her three children sought shelter in a nearby school as they saw their home vanish into thin air along with all their belongings.

Aid Workers Under Pressure in Calais

It was mid-morning in late June, but the warehouse in Calais was dark, cold, and drafty. I sat on the ground with “Marie,” a tall, slim French woman in her early twenties. Bent forward with a look of concentration, she described how the French police are not only harassing the hundreds of migrants in Calais, they are targeting aid workers too. “They put pressure, stopping what we are doing.”

Six ‘Signature Solutions’ – New Development Plan for a New Era

While the top priority of any development strategy is still the same - to leave no one behind - the new challenges that have emerged show the need to adapt the actions necessary to face them.

Should Environmental Refugees be Granted Asylum Status?

The 1951 UN convention on political refugees-- which never foresaw the phenomenon of climate change-- permits refugee status only if one “has a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion.”

Clicktivism & Real Life Activism Potent Instruments Against Sexual Violence

It’s the fifth day of the 16 days campaign on violence against women but I feel like the campaign started months ago because of the powerful #MeToo campaign. While I applaud this campaign, I have some thoughts that I believe could make this a truly global watershed moment in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence.

“Every Day Is a Nightmare”

Parul Akhtar,* a Rohingya woman in her mid-twenties, may never wish to remember the homeland she and her children left about three weeks ago.

We Have Never Lived in a World Without Migration

I want to thank Director-General Lacy Swing for inviting me to address you today. My thanks also go to Ambassador Mauras, as Chair of the International Organization for Migration Council, along with Ambassador Quinn, as outgoing-Chair, for their work and commitment. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge the valuable work being done by Special Representative Arbour, and Deputy Director-General Thompson.

Violence Drives Further 1,800 Rohingya Refugees to Cross to Bangladesh as Pope Appeals for Tolerance

In just three months an estimated 624,251 Rohingya refugees have crossed into Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, fleeing violence and oppression in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine State. Of these, over 1,800 have arrived in the past seven days. This brings the total population of Rohingya seeking safety in the district to over 836,000. 

Beware Public Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are essentially long-term contracts, underwritten by government guarantees, with which the private sector builds (and sometimes runs) major infrastructure projects or services traditionally provided by the state, such as hospitals, schools, roads, railways, water, sanitation and energy.

One Third of Food Lost, Wasted – Enough to Feed All Hungry People

Believe it or not, the way to eradicate hunger from the face of the Earth is as feasible as it is handy. In fact, the current loss and waste of one-third of all food produced for human consumption would be just enough to feed the nearly one billion people who go to bed hungry every single night.

Solar capacity jumps by more than half in developing nations: Report

New solar-powered generating capacity is growing at a crackling pace in emerging markets. The growth is fuelled by low-priced equipment and innovative new applications that are expanding energy access for millions, Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) finds in a comprehensive new study of clean energy activity in key developing nations.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation urges promotion of Islamic culture of diversity and pluralism

The Secretary General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Youssef Othaimeen, has called on Member States to publicise the Muslim world’s culture of diversity and pluralism, as a means to convey a message of universal peace, tolerance, moderation and love as advocated by Islam.

Women Activists are Targets of Gender-Biased Violence

Veiled and direct threats, defamation, criminalisation of activism, attacks on their private lives, destruction of property and assets needed to support their families, and even murder are some forms of gender violence that extend throughout Latin America against women defenders of rights.

Migrant Promoters and Musicians Spread Message of “One Africa”

The crowd in the park gave out roars of approval as the next act was announced:  Mothusi Bashimane Ndlovu, one of Zimbabwe’s most popular singers and actors, who took to the stage with a small axe in hand.

Statement by the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre regarding Bangladesh-Myanmar agreement on Rohingya refugees

In relation to the signing of the “Arrangement on return of displaced persons from Rakhine state” on 23 November 2017 by the governments of Myanmar and of Bangladesh, the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue H. E. Ambassador Idriss Jazairy has issued the following statement.

“Ambition & Action” Needed to End Open Defecation

What would life be like without access to a toilet? What if our waste was not properly disposed of?

Uncertain Future for “Diabolic” Free Trade Pacts Between EU and Africa

In the run-up to the fifth EU-Africa summit in Côte d'Ivoire, the future of the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between Europe and its former colonies looks bleaker than ever. While most of Europe’s trade partners around the world keep refusing to sign the deals, the African Union’s Commissioner for Trade will most likely announce a moratorium on all EPAs.

Education, Not Condemnation, Say Women Leaders Who Survived Violence

Sally Mboumien remembers the day she pressed a steaming hot stone against her chest. In Bawock, the rural community of western Cameroon where she grew up, young girls often had their young, sprouting breasts flattened with a hot iron or a hammer or spatulas that had been heated over burning coals.

UAE rolls out renewable energy training programme for Pacific Island countries

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MoFAIC, has launched a two-year renewable energy training programme for Pacific Island countries financed by Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, ADFD, the leading national entity for development aid. The training is being led by Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company.