Active Citizens

For Women in Asia, ‘Home’ Is a Battleground

By Kanya D'Almeida
Nearly half of the four billion people who reside in the Asia-Pacific region are women. They comprise two-thirds of the region’s poor, with millions either confined to their homes or pushed into the informal labour market where they work without any safeguards for paltry daily wages. Millions more become victims of trafficking and are forced into prostitution or sexual slavery.

Namibian President Wins $5 Million African Leadership Prize

By Josh Butler

Outgoing Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba was Monday named winner of the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, believed to be the most lucrative individual award in the world.

Everyone Benefits from More Women in Power

By Marianela Jarroud
Women’s participation in decision-making is highly beneficial and their role in designing and applying public policies has a positive impact on people’s lives, women leaders and experts from around the world stressed at a high-level meeting in the capital of Chile.

Farm Projects Boost Bangladeshi Women, Children

By Josh Butler
Women in Bangladesh are carving healthier, wealthier futures for themselves and their children – and they have chicken eggs and pineapples to thank.

Opinion: War on Wildlife Crime – Time to Enlist the Ordinary Citizen

By Bradnee Chambers
It is no exaggeration to say that we are facing a “wildlife crisis”, and it is a crisis exacerbated by human activities, not least criminal ones.

Opinion: Goals for Gender Equality Are Not a ‘Wish List’ – They Are a ‘To Do List’

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
This weekend, at the invitation of President Michelle Bachelet and myself, women leaders from across the world are meeting in Santiago de Chile. We will applaud their achievements. We will remind ourselves of their contributions. And we will chart a way forward to correct the historical record. History has not been fair to women – but then, women usually didn’t write it.

Reporting on Violence in Mexico Brings Its Own Perils

By Lyndal Rowlands
Organised criminals in Mexico are forcing the media to stop reporting on crime, by turning their violence against journalists.

Rousseff’s Brazil – No Country for the Landless

By Fabiola Ortiz
In Brazil, one of the countries with the highest concentration of land ownership in the world, some 200,000 peasant farmers still have no plot of their own to farm – a problem that the first administration of President Dilma Rousseff did little to resolve.

From the Police Station Back to the Hellhole: System Failing India’s Domestic Violence Survivors

By Shai Venkatraman
“One time my husband started slapping me hard on the face because I had not cooked the rice to his satisfaction,” Suruchi* told IPS. “He hit me so hard that my infant daughter fell from my arms to the ground.”

Despite U.N. Treaties, War Against Drugs a Losing Battle

By Thalif Deen
As the call for the decriminalisation of drugs steadily picks up steam worldwide, a new study by a British charity concludes there has been no significant reduction in the global use of illicit drugs since the creation of three key U.N. anti-drug conventions, the first of which came into force over half a century ago.

Families of ‘Desaparecidos’ Take Search into Their Own Hands

By Emilio Godoy
Carlos Trujillo refuses to give up, after years of tirelessly searching hospitals, morgues, prisons, cemeteries and clandestine graves in Mexico, looking for his four missing brothers.

Human Rights in Asia and the Pacific: A “Regressive” Trend, Says Amnesty International

By Kanya D'Almeida
The cradle of some of the world’s most ancient civilizations, home to four out of the planet’s six billion people, and a battleground for the earth’s remaining resources, Asia and the Pacific are poised to play a defining role in international affairs in the coming decade.

Better to Die at Sea, than Languish in Poverty

By Amantha Perera
Weerasinghearachilage Ruwan Rangana had it all planned out last year in September: the big break that would change his life and those of his extended family had finally arrived.

From Brown to Green Again, Trinidadians Reclaim a Forest

By Desmond Brown
Thanks to committed involvement by the local community, the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project has transformed this area of Trinidad from a bare, dusty hillside to one where tall trees flourish, fruit trees grow alongside flowering plants, and more wildlife returns each year.

Big Trouble in the Air in India

By Neeta Lal
Like many others of her age, 15-year-old Aastha Sharma, a Class 10 student at a private school in India’s capital, New Delhi, loves being outdoors, going for walks with her friends and enjoying an occasional ice-cream. But the young girl can't indulge in any of these activities.
Next Page »