International Women’s Day, 2025
In Zanzibar, Women Turn the Tide with Sponge Farming

In the early morning, as the tide pulls away, Zulfa Abdallah ties her scarf tightly around her head. She adjusts her goggles, places a snorkel across her forehead, and wades into the chest-deep waters off Jambiani village in Zanzibar. The Indian Ocean is her livelihood now, its waves offering a lifeline to women like her who confront challenges of poverty and climate change.

Anti-LGBTQI Legislation in Europe Curbs Speech Freedom, Democracy—Report

LGBTQI communities across Europe and Central Asia are being ‘weaponized’ by governments as part of a wider attack on fundamental human rights and freedoms, rights activists have warned.

African Leaders Challenged To Unite Against Energy Transition Mineral Oppressors

Renewable energy and climate change activists have challenged African heads of state to take a united stance to safeguard essential mineral resources, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other parts of the continent, which are selfishly exploited by foreign miners with disregard for poverty-stricken local communities.

Life-Changing Quarry Mining Shatters Lives in Zimbabwe

On Christmas Day in 2022, 27-year-old Thabani Dlodlo’s eight-year-old son drowned in a flooded pit dug up by quarry miners in the vicinity of Pumula North, a high-density suburb in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second-largest city. As if that was not enough, just a week after New Year’s Day the following year, Dlodlo’s neighbor, 36-year-old Sethule Hlengiwe, also lost her six-year-old daughter after she drowned in another pit flooded with rainwater near her home in Bulawayo.

Blamed for ‘Causing’ Droughts: Zimbabwe’s LGBTQI Community Faces Climate Crisis Head-on

Takudzwa Saruwaka is hoeing weeds in a cowpea field in eastern Zimbabwe one morning in February, trying to beat torrential rains threatening from the gray clouds above.

Bangladesh: UN Human Rights Denounces Former Government’s Violations Against Protestors

A new report from the UN Human Rights Office confirms that Bangladesh’s former government coordinated and committed human rights violations against its civilians to suppress the protest movement in July last year, with the high commissioner calling for justice and serious reform to end the cycle of violence and retribution.

What is Not Good for Democracy in Peru is Not Good for Women

"We are facing a deeply conservative government that is opening the doors to all kinds of setbacks. We have a failed state with a democracy that is no longer a democracy," said Gina Vargas, a Peruvian feminist internationally recognized for her contributions to women's rights.

Belarus: Brutal Repression Continues Post Presidential Election, Say Human Rights Groups

In the months leading up to presidential elections at the end of January, Belarus’s authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko ordered the release of hundreds of political prisoners. Some observers saw this as a sign that the man who had led the former Soviet state for the last three decades could be planning a relaxation of his regime’s brutal repressions in return for a lessening of Western sanctions.

Ending FGM Requires Strengthening Partnerships and Advocacy Efforts

February 6 is the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). A practice deemed a gross violation of human rights, tragically the practice persists across multiple countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Over 230 million women and girls alive today have been subjected to this gruesome practice, and experts warn that at least 27 million more could endure this by 2030.

‘Areas Essential to the Global Climate Are Being Threatened by Economic Projects’

 
CIVICUS discusses activism against oil auctions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with François Kamate, founder and coordinator of the young environmental volunteer movement Extinction Rebellion Rutshuru.

Kenya’s Shadow War on Activism

Kenya’s young protesters are paying a high price for speaking out. Last June, a protest movement led by first-time activists from Generation Z emerged in response to the government’s Finance Bill, which would have introduced sweeping tax increases. The government quickly withdrew its plans, but protests continued, articulating anger at economic strife, elite corruption and out-of-touch politicians. The government’s response has been violent. Police have used batons, teargas and water cannon against protesters. On the worst day of violence, 25 June, when some protesters attempted to storm parliament, police fired live ammunition. Over 60 people were reported killed during the protests. At least 1,200 were reportedly arrested.

Rising Opposition Movement Looks to Political Renewal, Stemming Erosion of Democracy in Hungary

The Central European nation of Hungary is officially a democracy. But civil society, the media and democratic norms have increasingly come under threat as the Fidesz-KDNP coalition government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, has entrenched autocratic rule over the past 14 years. Now a new wave of energy and popularity is driving the younger opposition movement into the spotlight ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

Report Exposes Silent Global Emergency as More Crises-Affected Children Need Urgent Education Support

A report released today on the International Day of Education sounds alarm as the number of school-aged children in crisis worldwide requiring urgent support to access quality education reaches a staggering 234 million—an estimated increase of 35 million over the past three years fueled by intensifying armed conflict, forced displacements, more frequent and severe weather and climatic events, and other crises.

Pemba’s Woman Salt Farmers Forge Livelihoods Amid Climate Woes

As the cool morning breeze sweeps across the Indian Ocean beach in Tanzania’s Pemba archipelago, Salma Mahmoud Ali begins her day. With her brightly coloured Kikoi cinched tightly around her waist and a dark blue scarf framing her face, she walks barefoot toward her salt ponds. The humid air hangs, but Ali wades through ankle-deep water with courage.

Laureates Call For Moonshot Innovation Effort to Avert Hunger Catastrophe

Neglected indigenous crops, rich in nutrition and resilient to climate change, are key to tackling global hunger only if governments invest in research and development (R&D) to tap the potential of such innovations. More than 150 Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates are calling for investment in moonshot technologies to realize the potential of innovative solutions such as these hardy crops, warning that without swift action, there is a "food insecure, unstable world.”

The Year 2024: Hopes & Despairs

Thank God, we have survived another year of genocide, war, destruction and climate crisis. The passing year of 2024 has been a mixture of hope and despair. It began with some hope as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favour of South Africa’s case against Israel for committing genocide and ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention, and to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

India: Protests Erupt Over Hazardous Waste Disposal of Bhopal Gas Tragedy

An eerie calm prevails over Pithampur, a town 250 km (155 miles) away from Bhopal, the capital of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. This town witnessed widespread protests for three days last week following the transportation of large quantities of toxic waste from the site of one of the world's worst industrial disasters in Bhopal.

Why Russia’s Ban on Child-Free ‘Propaganda’ Impacts Human Rights

“A lot of people are very scared,” says Zalina Marshenkulova. “This is obviously another tool of repression. The state is waging war on the remnants of free-thinking people in Russia and trying to suppress all dissent and freedom,” the Russian feminist activist tells IPS. The warning from Marshenkulova, who left Russia soon after the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and now lives in Germany, comes just days after new legislation came into force in her home country banning "child-free propaganda.”

‘It’s Very Tough’: Turning Youth Employment Dreams Into Reality

It’s a bright winter day in Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia in the southern Balkans. By lunchtime, the cafes are full. The atmosphere is busy and social, and it is not difficult to see why the city, home to one-third of the country’s population of 2 million, is the focus of hope for young jobseekers. But, for many, it is not an easy road.

Food Crises Intensify in Winter Ravaged War Zones

The days are short with bitterly cold rain in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, the largest Balkan country located south of the Ukraine. Over the border, temperatures in Kyiv will plummet to a daily average of zero in December as the Ukraine war grinds on.

Transformative Change Will Save a Planet in Peril—IPBES

Nature is at a tipping point. With human activity having pushed up to 1 million plant and animal species close to extinction, securing sustainable development and halting global biodiversity collapse is no longer just an option but a requisite for human wellbeing.