Stories written by Haider Rizvi
Haider Rizvi, who spent nearly 20 years as a reporter for IPS covering the United Nations, died October 29 in a hospital in Pakistan, his home country. He was in his mid 50's. Haider began with IPS South Asia back in 1993 and eventually landed in the United States, reporting both from the IPS UN Bureau and later from Washington DC. In between, he grabbed a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, New York. As a journalist, he was always true to his ideals of justice and equality, and a passionate advocate of the underdog. Haider’s writings faithfully reflected the causes he fought for. He advocated the rights of minorities and native Americans in the US and indigenous people in Latin America; highlighted the student protests in the US; advocated the Palestinian’s right to statehood; battled for the eradication of hunger and poverty in the developing world; joined the global campaign for nuclear disarmament and covered the “Occupy Wall Street” protests (which for him, also meant “Un-Occupy Palestine”). He was, in many ways, a prophet -- someone who saw past the veil to the terrible realities in the world. May God give him peace and bless his soul.

ENVIRONMENT: Women Demand Voice in Climate Debate

By Haider Rizvi
Calls for increased participation of women in policy-making decisions are on the rise as world leaders prepare to attend an international meeting on climate change to be held at U.N. headquarters next week.

RIGHTS: Native Peoples Score Historic Political Victory

By Haider Rizvi
After 22 years of long and cumbersome negotiations, leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous people have won a powerful symbolic victory in their fight for recognition of the right to self-determination and control over their land and resources.

U.S.-PAKISTAN: Sharif&#39s Exile "Flouts" Int&#39l Law

By Haider Rizvi
The George W. Bush administration and its closest ally in the Islamic world, Saudi Arabia, are facing scathing criticism from one of the world's leading human rights watchdogs for their covert support to the Pakistani government's continued crackdown on democracy activists.

RIGHTS: South Stands with Indigenous Peoples at the U.N.

By Haider Rizvi
Despite continued opposition from the United States and some other major powers, the United Nations General Assembly seems poised to adopt the Universal Declaration of Indigenous Peoples' Rights later this month.
Roundtable discussion on climate change at U.N. headquarters, Sep. 5, 2007. Credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras

CLIMATE CHANGE: Leaders to Debate Warming at U.N.

By Haider Rizvi
Amid growing concern over the slow pace of international negotiations, the United Nations has called an extraordinary meeting of world leaders to discuss climate change.

POLITICS: U.N. Chief Visits Darfur Amid Ongoing Attacks

By Haider Rizvi
Hopes for restoration of peace in the Sudanese region of Darfur appear to remain as distant as ever, although international efforts to resolve the four-year-long bloody conflict have recently intensified and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is now getting personally involved.
Les Malezer, chairperson of the Indigenous Peoples Caucus, speaks at UN Headquarters in New York. Credit: UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

RIGHTS: Native Peoples Renew Call for U.N. Recognition

By Haider Rizvi
Leaders of the world's 370 million indigenous peoples are reiterating their calls for the 192-member U.N. General Assembly to recognise their sovereignty over ancestral lands and resources.
Greenpeace ship stages protest offshore of Japan&#39s Takahama nuclear power plant in 2002. Credit: Greenpeace

ENERGY: Nuclear Power No Panacea, Critics Say

By Haider Rizvi
The nuclear mishap caused by Monday's earthquake in Japan has unleashed another wave of environmental concerns about the use of nuclear technology to meet the world's energy needs.
U.N. peacekeeper in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo Credit: UN Photo/Martine Perret

POLITICS-US: Legislators Renew Call for UN Intervention Force

By Haider Rizvi
The U.N.'s failure to take swift action in Darfur and other hotspots around the world is propelling new calls for the creation of a permanent peacekeeping force that would stand ready to help stop armed conflicts before they turn into humanitarian catastrophes.

G8: U.S. Again the Odd Man Out on Climate

By Haider Rizvi
When leaders of the world's most advanced economies - also known as the Group of Eight (G8) - tried to set new targets to fight climate change at their summit in Britain in 2005, the United States balked.

CLIMATE CHANGE: “We’ve Never Seen What We’re Seeing Now”

By Haider Rizvi
One night about four years ago, Lakhan Bibi's grandfather told her that things in their land were going to change. "How come?" she asked. "Look up to the sky," he said. "You see the moon? It is no longer where it used to be."
Native Waorani hunter-gatherer in Yasuni. Credit: Save Americas Forests

ENVIRONMENT: Ecuador Seeks Aid Not to Exploit Amazon Oil

By Haider Rizvi
A novel proposal by Ecuador is testing world leaders' commitment to fight global warming and preserve the biodiversity of the Earth.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Leaders Sound the Alarm on Island Peoples, Economies

By Haider Rizvi
The effects of global warming could devastate local economies and force the migration of tens of thousands of people, warn the leaders of small island nations as they fight to put the issue in the global spotlight.

BIODIVERSITY: Cities Eating Up Resources and Habitat

By Haider Rizvi
Disproportionate growth of the world's urban population could result in further loss of many forms of life on Earth, warn experts in the sciences of climate change and biodiversity.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Rallies Nationwide Take Aim at U.S. Congress

By Haider Rizvi
Environmentalists say they are running out of patience with what they see as the snail's pace of climate change legislation moving through the U.S. Congress.

POLITICS-US: Frustration Marks Another War Anniversary

By Haider Rizvi
The growing anti-war movement in the United States has sent another strong signal to the George W. Bush administration and the Congressional leadership that it is unwilling to accept mere cosmetic changes in the current U.S. policy on Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Frustration Marks Another War Anniversary

By Haider Rizvi
The growing anti-war movement in the United States has sent another strong signal to the George W. Bush administration and the Congressional leadership that it is unwilling to accept mere cosmetic changes in the current U.S. policy on Iraq.

AFGHANISTAN: On the Road to Becoming a Narco State

By Haider Rizvi
Although fully backed by U.S. military might and support from other Western powers, the government in Kabul has failed to change Afghanistan's status as the world's leading illicit producer of opium, according to U.N. experts who monitor the worldwide trade in narcotic drugs.

ENERGY: Major Oil Consumers Warm to Biofuels

By Haider Rizvi
Despite their diverse - and sometimes sharply conflicting - political and economic interests, the world's major powers seem to be getting closer to each other in their quest to develop clean alternative sources of energy.

ENVIRONMENT: Fighting Warming Key to Anti-Poverty Goals

By Haider Rizvi
Driven by increased concerns and mounting evidence of the threats posed by global warming, some of the world's most eminent scientists are telling policymakers to get their act together before it is too late to avoid a doomsday scenario.

RIGHTS-US: Protesters Seek U.N. Help on Police Abuses

By Haider Rizvi
Discouraged in their efforts to seek justice in cases of police brutality, which activists say have often involved extra-judicial killings of innocent Black and Latino youth, some rights groups based in the United States are now looking to the United Nations for help.
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