Colombia’s Example and Our Calamitous Blunders

There is a reason why the peace deal of the Colombian Government with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) became a reality despite formidable obstacles. Credited with brokering the deal and bringing to a close, one of the deadliest and longest-running civil wars in Latin America, Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos,Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for 2016 attributes his success to putting the victims at the heart of the process.

Carbon Tax Could Boost Green Energy in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is weighing a World Bank proposal to introduce a carbon tax, the first of its kind in the South Asian nation, amid fears of a backlash from consumers.

Developing Nations Face Challenges Achieving Food Security

Some 795 million people worldwide do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life—and the vast majority of the world's hungry live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished, according to UN estimates.

Bring Back Our Girls Campaign Faces “Hope Fatigue”

The Bring Back Our Girls Campaign has experienced some successes but must now overcome the challenge of hope fatigue, Bring Back Our Girls campaign co-founder Saudatu Mahdi told IPS in a recent interview.

Refugees from Boko Haram Languish in Cameroon

Tears spring to Aichatou Njoya’s eyes as she recalls the day Islamic militants from Boko Haram arrived on her doorstep in Nigeria.

Beyond Dreams

An op-ed article, advising President Barack Obama to accord recognition to Pales¬¬tine before he left office, appeared out of the blue some days ago in the New York Times.

RTI Act: Learning How to Use It

Despite the political turmoil that engulfed much of the first two and a half decades of Bangladesh's entry into the 21st century, we have fared remarkably well in terms of development and economic growth. While serious governance issues persist, accompanied by socio-political unrest, there is a consensus that the country is going through fundamental changes. We are moving away from the image of a poverty-stricken, trouble-ridden third world country and surging towards becoming a middle-income country soon.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Heads for 50 Years of UN Failure

Come 2017, the United Nations will mark the 50th anniversary of one of the world's longstanding unresolved political problems firmly entrenched on the UN agenda: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dating back to the Six Day War in June 1967.

More of the Same: World Bank Doing Business Report Continues to Mislead

The World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2017, subtitled ‘Equal Opportunity for All’, continues to mislead despite the many criticisms, including from within, levelled against the Bank’s most widely read publication, and Bank management promises of reform for many years.

New Technologies in Debate in Biodiversity Conference

Synthetic biology, geoengineering and the recognition of ancestral knowledge are the issues that have generated the most heated debate in the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity, which ends in this Mexican resort city on Friday Dec. 17.

Right to Information Act to Redefine Sri Lanka’s Media Landscape

Sri Lanka’s upcoming 69th Independence Commemorations will be of special value to the island’s media - that is, if everything works as planned.

War of Words in UN Security Council as Aleppo’s Civilians Suffer

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told UN Security Council members of credible reports of civilians in Aleppo being summarily executed during an emergency meeting held on Tuesday.

For South Asian Policy-Makers, Climate Migrants Still Invisible

Tasura Begum straightens up from picking a bushel of green chilis and looks at the mighty Padma River flowing by, wondering whose life it ruined today.

Gender Equality “Clear Priority” for New UN Secretary-General

Achieving gender equality in UN staff appointments will be a "clear priority" for incoming UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, when he takes up the UN’s top administrative role in January 2017.

Putting Women Front and Centre in the Development Agenda

Reengineering the framework of support by bringing in women as new actors in effective development cooperation will play a pivotal role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Indigenising Human Rights

The notion of human rights has gradually been stripped of its moral legitimacy. It has been reduced to little more than a fiction, laid bare of any substance and consigned to the inaccessible echelons of our society — a paper tiger, to be unleashed only for abstruse debates and holier-than-thou table talk.

Indulging in Sunshine Stories and Taking Foolhardy Risks

If the thinking was that the risks of taking an intelligence chief as part of the Government delegation to brief the United Nations Committee against Torture (UNCAT) recently would be offset as a result of sunshine stories spun by the Government’s policy propagandists living in cloud cuckoo land, then a rude shock was administered this week.

Developmentalism and Conservation Clash Out at Sea

“We don’t have access to marine areas, because most are protected areas or are in private hands. We indigenous people have been losing access to our territories, as this decision became a privilege of the state,” complained Donald Rojas, a member of the Brunka indigenous community in Costa Rica.

New Anti-Corruption Leader Takes the Helm in Ghana

Ghanaian opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo has made history as the first son of a former president to lead the West African country, beating incumbent President John Mahama in the 2016 presidential elections held on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

Food Insecurity: An Agent for Violent Conflict

Up to two billion people live in countries affected by violence, conflict and fragility. Often, such political instability goes hand in hand with food insecurity. “Conflicts have pushed over 56 million people either into crisis or emergency levels of food insecurity”, Kimberly Flowers, Director of the Global Food Security Project, said at this years’ John McGovern Lecture held at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). The number continues to grow with the escalation of conflicts and violence in countries like Syria, Yemen or South Sudan.

Women Human Rights Defenders: Targeted for Identity and Activism

AWID’s 5th online tribute to Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) who have died in recent years, commemorates sixty feminists and activists. Thirty eight of these defenders died violently, and were murdered as a result of who they were, their identities, and the rights they defended.