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Saturday, November 7, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
POLITICS: Death Penalty Threatens to Split World Body
The 192-member U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote, perhaps by early or mid-November, on one of the most divisive political issues before the world body: a moratorium on the death penalty.DEVELOPMENT: Broken Aid Promises Dim Hopes for MDGs
At a major international conference on financing for development in Monterrey, Mexico in March 2002, more than 100 world leaders pledged to help eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote sustainable development.POLITICS: A Half-Million-Dollar Vacation at U.N. Expense
The U.N. Secretariat has doled out over half a million dollars on a single staffer - an assistant secretary-general (ASG) - who has been temporarily suspended with full pay while under investigation on charges of mismanagement and fraud.RIGHTS: Around the World, Children Make "Good Soldiers"
When the former first lady of Mozambique Gracha Machel authored a 1996 landmark report on child soldiers, she said that military commanders on the ground had told her that children were "impressionable and easy to dominate".HEALTH: No Woman Should Die Giving Life, Says UNFPA
In this 21st century, when medical science and gender empowerment are rising progressively, "no woman should die giving life", declares Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).POLITICS: U.S. Asked to Curb Military Excesses in Iraq
The United Nations has asked the United States to help prevent military excesses by multinational troops and private security firms accused of using indiscriminate force against civilians in Iraq.POLITICS: Darfur Mission May Be Hampered by Lack of Choppers
The United Nations has received pledges from 16 countries volunteering to provide either troops or logistical support for the proposed 26,000-strong hybrid United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force urgently needed in crisis-stricken Darfur, Sudan.
POLITICS: ASEAN Backs Neither U.S. Nor China over Burma
The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma (Myanmar) is a member, is refusing to see eye-to-eye either with the United States or China on how the international community should deal with the ongoing crisis in the politically-troubled military-run country.POLITICS: U.N. Mission in Darfur Jeopardised by Attacks
The 15-member U.N. Security Council, which remains paralysed over the killings and military repression in Burma (Myanmar), joined hands Tuesday to condemn the "murderous attack" last weekend that killed 10 African Union (AU) peacekeepers in South Darfur, Sudan.DEVELOPMENT: Afghanistan in Dire Straits
Against the backdrop of an escalating military conflict, Afghanistan is facing a rash of new problems, including increased poverty, widespread corruption, a breakdown in the rule of law and a paralysed judiciary, according to a new report released here.
POLITICS: Iranian President in Nuclear Theatrics
When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad completed his three-day political theatrics in New York, drawing large crowds and angry demonstrators, he left the United Nations with a defiant warning: Iran will not be cowed by any new sanctions either by the United States or the European Union.ENVIRONMENT: An Int'l Court to Try Ecological Crimes?
As the United Nations takes an increasingly dominant role in guiding the climate change debate, there is renewed interest in a longstanding proposal for the creation of an international court to try environmental crimes.POLITICS: Gov’ts Routinely Dodge U.N. Rights Investigators
The United Nations is disappointed that an increasingly large number of member states are either refusing to respond to charges of extra-judicial killings or have turned down requests for visits by U.N. special envoys mandated to monitor arbitrary and summary executions in these countries.RIGHTS: Hollywood Spotlights Growing Trade in Humans
Kevin Kline, an Academy Award winning movie star, is outraged at the impunity with which human traffickers ply their trade in one of the world's growing multi-billion dollar businesses: the global sex industry.ENVIRONMENT: U.S., U.N. Stage Dueling Climate Meets
Are the United Nations and the United States trying to outdo each other by hosting two parallel summit meetings on the same subject - climate change - during the same week at the end of September?
DISARMAMENT: U.N. Embargoes No Bar to Illegal Arms
The Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage, playing the role of an unscrupulous arms dealer in the 2005 film "Lord of War", contemptuously dismisses military embargoes - whether imposed by the United States or the United Nations - as little or no hindrance to the world's thriving illegal arms trade.ENVIRONMENT: NGOs Unite on Earth's Greatest Crisis
A three-day meeting of over 2,500 delegates from more than 500 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and representing 80 countries affirmed that climate change "is potentially the most serious threat humanity and our environment have ever faced."DEATH PENALTY: U.N. Faults Iraq for Continued Executions
A new United Nations report on human rights criticises the government in Baghdad for its continued executions of prisoners despite appeals by the United Nations and its human rights bodies for a moratorium on capital punishment.POLITICS: Murky Future for Rights Treaty on Water
A proposed international treaty to guarantee water as a basic human right has received mixed reviews from experts, environmentalists and political activists.SRI LANKA: "Deadly" Climate for Reporters and Aid Workers
Sri Lanka, which is fighting a longstanding insurgency against Tamil separatists, is fast gaining notoriety as "one of the world's worst places" both for journalists and humanitarian aid workers - due primarily to a rising death toll and veiled threats from government and paramilitary forces in the country.
HEALTH: Sanitation the World's Silent Humanitarian Crisis
The topic of toilets often makes people uncomfortable, says the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, and the subject of human wastes is rarely aired in public.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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