Climate Change Conclusion: Time for Bold Action

With climate change bringing about increasing numbers of human deaths and untold suffering, and rising economic, social, and environmental consequences worldwide, it’s time for governments to take bold action to address the climate change emergency.

UN’s Education Summit: An Opportunity to Create a Bottom-Up Global Governance

The upcoming summit on Education, part of the UN Secretary General’s ambitious agenda, can truly bring accountability and participation to the inevitably new ways education will be imparted in the future.

Zimbabwe Makes First Journalist Arrests Under Cybersecurity Law

Zimbabwe's press freedom credentials suffered further criticism with the arrest of two journalists from a privately-owned newspaper charged with transmitting "false data messages."

Women Have Always Trailed Men in Research Output: How COVID Made the Situation Worse

The under-representation of women in research is well documented. Emerging evidence suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated this inequality and disrupted the research enterprise globally.

Aid Workers Encounter Courage, Damage, Dislocation and Resilience in War-Torn Ukraine

During Todd Bernhardt’s visit to Ukraine’s conflict zones, he encountered untold damage to hospitals, healthcare clinics, and communities. The Senior Director of Global Communications at the International Medical Corps also encountered enormous courage.

Infrastructure Growth Threatens Brazilian Amazon with Further Deforestation

The mandatory initial permit granted by Brazil's environmental authority for the repaving of the BR-319 highway, in the heart of the Amazon jungle, intensified the alarm over the possible irreversible destruction of the rainforest.

Colombia’s New President May Need U.S. Blessing to Realize his Domestic Agenda

For the first time in its contemporary history, Colombia has a left-wing government. The presidency of Gustavo Petro, who took the reins August 8, marks a significant break from the political status quo. He also represents a stiff test for U.S. influence in Latin America.

April Fool’s Inflation Medicine Threatens Progress

The world economy is on the brink of outright recession, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Ukraine war and sanctions have scuttled recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Of the Far West, the ‘Good Cowboys’… And the ‘Bad Indians’

Nothing --or too little-- has changed since Hollywood started producing its spectacular western movies. Rough men, ranchers, mercenary killers, saloons, cowboys, guns, gold fever, the ‘good sheriff’… and the ‘bad indians”. Those movies were anything but fiction–they were real history.

Bringing Specialist Telemedicine to Children of Rural Kenya

New telemedicine technology, Daktari Smart, aims to mitigate the gap between child patients and medical specialists in rural Kenya. Officially launched in November 2021, the system was built to help sick children have easy access to medical specialists minus the cost of being physically present (remote/digital access). According to them, this will help optimise the delivery of healthcare systems.

Racism Erased (and Erases) Black Intellectual Contribution to Brazilian History

The battle against racism and inequality will be a long one in Brazil, because a prejudice against the intellectual capacity of blacks is a problem rooted in the national culture, and even in the minds of Afro-Brazilians themselves, as well as highlighted in the country's official history.

Indigenous Women at the Forefront of Transformational Change

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, commemorated annually on August 9, is a day to celebrate the many contributions of the 476 million Indigenous peoples worldwide.

The Price of Bukele’s State of Emergency in El Salvador

The body of Walter Sandoval shows a number of dark bruises on his arms and knees, as well as lacerations on his left eye and on his head - signs that he suffered some kind of violence before dying in a Salvadoran prison, accused of being a gang member.

The Plastic Crisis Has Deep Corporate Roots: To Protect Our Planet, They Need To Be Exposed

This spring, I taught a new undergraduate course in environmental sociology. Most of my students took the course because they were curious to see what their desire to live more sustainably had to do with sociology.

Researchers Embrace Artificial Intelligence to Tackle Banana Disease in Burundi

A group of scientists involved in finding solutions to minimize the impact of a devastating banana virus in Burundi have developed an Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool for monitoring the disease.

Women Play a Key Role in Food & Nutrition Security in Nigeria

In Nigeria, women play key roles in food and nutrition security through their contributions to agricultural production, their influence on how to allocate household income, and their efforts to ensure proper nutrition for all household members.

What Makes a Human Rights Success? PODCAST

The largest ever settlement in Canadian legal history, 40 billion Canadian dollars, occurred in 2022, but it didn’t come from a court – it followed a decision by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. In 2016 the Tribunal affirmed a complaint that the Government of Canada’s child welfare system discriminated against First Nations children. (First Nations are one of three groups of Indigenous people in Canada).

Nonagenarian Opposition Backer Contends for Change in Zimbabwe

Idah Hanyani, popularly known as Gogo Chihera, has backed the opposition since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980. Born in Wedza, a district in Zimbabwe’s Mashonaland East province, the 91-year-old first supported United African National Council (UANC).

UN Chief Urges Governments to Tax “Immoral” & Excessive” Oil and Gas Profits

The war in Ukraine continues to have a devastating impact on the people of that country. Civilians are dying in the most tragic circumstances every day. Millions of lives have been destroyed or put on hold.

Technology Helps Traffickers Hunt Their Victims, Enslave Them, Sell Their Organs

Human beings have proved to be capable of producing innumerable practical inventions while much too often making the worst use of them. Take the case, per example, of how criminal groups heavily rely on digital platforms to trap and enslave their victims also for extracting and selling their organs.

A Demographic Snapshot of the Philippines: One Step Forward, a Half Step Back

With the national election and transfer of power in the Philippines from outgoing President Duterte to incoming President Marcos Jr. in July 2022, it seems an appropriate time to briefly take stock of the country’s current demographic situation, as well as recent related developments.