In the wee hours of one morning in early November, Ernesto, 50, swallowed several glasses of a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in the apartment where he lived alone in the Venezuelan capital, ending a life tormented by declining health and lack of resources to cope as he would have liked.
A catastrophic surge in the frequency, intensity, and severity of extreme weather events has placed children on the frontlines of climate emergencies. Nearly half of the world’s children, or one billion, live in countries at extremely high risk from the effects of the climate crisis. Most of these children face multiple vulnerabilities.
For many of Argentina’s voters the choice on 19 November was between the lesser of two evils: Sergio Massa, the minister overseeing an economy with the world’s third-highest inflation rate, or Javier Milei, an erratic far-right libertarian outsider promising to shut down the Central Bank, adopt the US dollar as the currency, cut taxes and privatise public services.
At 10:42 PM local time on 21 November, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launched a rocket “Chollima-1" loaded with the reconnaissance satellite "Malligyong-1", from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station.
A rising Afropop musician, Garikai Mapanzure, popularly known by his stage name Garry, has become the latest high-profile victim of Zimbabwe’s deteriorating health facilities.
Garry, who was 25, died in mid-October after sustaining grave injuries in a horrific accident near his home in Masvingo, 295 kilometres from Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare.
Throughout 2023, Latin America has suffered heat waves, long, intense droughts, destructive floods and devastating hurricanes - phenomena related to the effects of a climate crisis derived mostly from the burning of fossil fuels.
Another year and another UN climate change conference. As our ‘world leaders’ prepare for two air-conditioned weeks of wrangling at COP28 in Dubai later this month, forgive us for sounding underwhelmed, despairing, and even cynical about these annual jamborees where actions rarely match promises.
The recent U.S.-China summit on November 15 in San Francisco, against a backdrop of low expectations, surprisingly made significant strides with the unveiling of the “Sunnylands Statement on Enhancing Cooperation to Address the Climate Crisis.” This agreement, the result of two years of negotiations between climate envoys John Kerry and Xie Zhenhua, represents a considerable advancement following the 2021 joint declaration at the Glasgow Climate Summit.
Popular migration discourses in Europe often question the ability of African states to govern migration effectively. Media images of African migrants squeezed into dingy boats in the Mediterranean constantly reinforce these discourses.
The rise in authoritarianism worldwide has prompted a coalition of over 85 civil society organizations (CSOs) to call on the Geneva-based Human Rights Council to appoint a Special Rapporteur—an independent UN expert-- to protect democracy and reverse its decline.
The joint appeal comes ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which will be commemorated on 10 December 2023.
"The Latin American and Caribbean region has made many advances in the fight against gender violence, but now we are facing reactions that show that our rights are never secure and that we must always be on the alert to defend them," said Susana Chiarotti, a member of Mesecvi's Committee of Experts.
A just transition should be viewed as an opportunity to rectify some of the wrongs where women are not prioritised in the energy mix, yet their experience of the impact of climate change is massive, says Thandile Chinyavanhu, a young South African-based climate and energy campaigner with Greenpeace Africa.
The politics of global food consumption remain contentious, with the upcoming COP28 taking place against the backdrop of worsening food deficits in the Global South.
Between 1970 and 2022, disaster events in Asia and the Pacific caused 2.04 million deaths and $2.71 trillion in economic damages.
ESCAP estimates that among these totals, tsunamis rank as the third deadliest hazard, accounting for 12% of fatalities, and the fourth most economically destructive hazard, comprising 11 per cent of economic damages.
As we stand at a critical crossroads in climate change, we must recognise the inextricable link between nature and climate. This connection has been overlooked for far too long. IAR's COP28 campaign, 'Give Wildlife A Seat At The Table,' is gaining support from prominent figures such as Joanna Lumley, Peter Egan, and Jo Brand, who are joining forces with the organisation to address the urgent need for wildlife representation.
With a focus on strengthening the resilience of small and vulnerable member countries, Unnikrishnan Nair says the Commonwealth Secretariat is working to align development and climate finance for maximum impact.
Rural women across Asia play a key role producing, processing, and trading agricultural products, and are often the primary users and managers of natural resources.
In a groundbreaking development, indigenous farmer communities are poised to bring the spotlight onto food systems at the upcoming UN Climate Conference (COP28) in Dubai.
Ukraine, the Caucasus and the Middle East. The latest eruptions of violence mark the end of
Pax Americana. The rise of new powers is shifting the global balance of power. Whether tomorrow’s world will be bipolar or multipolar still remains to be seen.
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, once made the distinction between "friendly" right-wing authoritarian regimes (which were mostly U.S. and Western allies) and "unfriendly" left-wing totalitarian dictatorships (which the U.S. abhorred).
Among the “dictators” the U.S. shunned in the 1970s and 80s were Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, Myanmar's General Than Shwe, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Cuba's Fidel Castro, Libya’s Mummar al-Qaddafi, Syria’s Hafez al-Assad and North Korea’s Kim IL-Sung.
In the midst of the Israel-Hamas conflagration, a significant anniversary at the United Nations --October 24th was the 78th year since its founding--went unremarked by the larger world. But the work of--and significant problems with--the UN continues. Among the problems is embedded institutional racism. It's time that it be deeply addressed--not just by lip service.