Active Citizens

Post-War Truth and Justice Still Elusive in Bougainville

By Catherine Wilson
Almost every family in the islands of Bougainville, an autonomous region of about 300,000 people in the Pacific Island state of Papua New Guinea, has a story to tell of death and suffering during the decade long civil war (1989-1998), known as ‘the Crisis.’

Why I Started SMART ALEC – Lobbying for the Public Good

By Matthew Charles Cardinale
For many years, as a reporter, including for IPS, I wrote about the dominance of a giant, corporate-funded lobbying organization called ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council), on public policy in the United States.

Civil Society Under Serious Attack

By Lyndal Rowlands
Despite their contribution to social justice, civil society organisations came under “serious attack” in 109 countries in 2015, according to a new report published by CIVICUS Monday.

Women’s Cooperatives Ease Burden of HIV in Kenya

By Charles Karis
Seventy-three-year-old Dorcus Auma effortlessly weaves sisal fronds into a beautiful basket as she walks the tiny path that snakes up a hill. She wound up her farm work early because today, Thursday, she is required to attend her women's group gathering at the secretary’s homestead.

Can Better Technology Lure Asia’s Youth Back to Farming?

By Diana G Mendoza
Farming and agriculture may not seem cool to young people, but if they can learn the thrill of nurturing plants to produce food, and are provided with their favorite apps and communications software on agriculture, food insecurity will not be an issue, food and agriculture experts said during the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Food Security Forum from June 22 to 24 at the ADB headquarters here.

Bringing Back Our Girls Is Not The End of The Story

By Aruna Dutt
"Wherever war reaches there is rape, and wherever rape is there is trauma, pain and terror” Zainab Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict said here last week.

The Environment: Latin America’s Battleground for Human Rights

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
2015 was the deadliest year on record for the killings of environmental activists around the world, according to a new Global Witness report.

Civil Society in Latin America Campaigns Against Trans-Pacific Partnership

By Emilio Godoy
Civil society organisations from Chile, Mexico and Peru are pressing their legislatures and those of other countries not to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Children of a Lesser God: Trafficking Soars in India

By Neeta Lal
Sunita Pal, a frail 17-year-old, lies in a tiny bed in the women’s ward of New Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. Her face and head swathed in bandages, with only a bruised eye and swollen lips visible, the girl recounts her ordeal to a TV channel propped up by a pillow. She talks of her employers beating her with a stick every day, depriving her of food and threatening to kill her if she dared report her misery to anybody.

Combating Rape Requires Cultural Change in Brazil

By Mario Osava
The outrage in Brazil over the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl by more than 30 men prompted mass protests by thousands of women on the streets of cities around the country, while activists complain that the response to the case by politicians has been misfocused.

Bougainville Women Turn Around Lives of ‘Lost Generation’

By Catherine Wilson
Finding a sense of identity and purpose, as well as employment are some of the challenges facing youths in post-conflict Bougainville, an autonomous region in eastern Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific Islands.

Youth Leaders Push for More Progressive Action to End HIV AIDS

By Aruna Dutt
Young people are disproportionately affected by HIV, yet their concerns about sexual education, and discrimination of key populations were ignored at the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on ending AIDS.

Fear of a Triumph by Keiko Fujimori, the Key to Peru’s Elections

By Ángel Páez
Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets of Lima and other cities to protest the likely triumph in the Sunday Jun. 5 runoff election of Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence for corruption and crimes against humanity.

Transgender in Pakistan: A “Forgotten People”

By Alec Forss and Humaira Israr
At an open market in the district of Mehmoodabad in Karachi, Miss Bindiya Rana, 35, starts another day at work selling clothes. Living in one of the poorer parts of the city, like many others here she faces a daily struggle to make ends meet. Yet, of strong build with dyed hair and wearing heavy make-up, she and others like her face a bigger challenge than most.

LGBT Communities Silenced in HIV Reduction Efforts

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Treatment for HIV and AIDS has increased, but key populations including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities continue to be left behind and even excluded altogether.

Young African Women More Vulnerable to HIV

By Lyndal Rowlands
When Lebogang Brenda Motsumi was 16  years old she fell pregnant, terrified about what her life would look like, she went to a backdoor clinic for an abortion.

Traditional Mexican Recipes Fight the Good Fight

By Emilio Godoy
In a clay pot, Araceli Márquez mixes tiny Mexican freshwater fish known as charales with herbs and a sauce made of chili peppers, green tomatoes and prickly pear cactus fruit, preparing a dish called mixmole.

OPINION: Central America, Still Caught Up in the Arms Race

By Lina Barrantes Castegnaro
The recent announcement of the Nicaraguan government’s 80-million-dollar purchase of 50 Russian tanks caught the attention of the press in Latin America and caused alarm in the international community.

Prickly Pears Drive Local Development in Northern Argentina

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Family farmers in the northern Argentine province of Chaco are gaining a new appreciation of the common prickly pear cactus, which is now driving a new kind of local development.

Indigenous Peoples Inclusion at United Nations Incomplete

By Aruna Dutt
The United Nations Indigenous Forum is one of the UN's most culturally diverse bodies yet its inclusion within the overall UN system remains limited.

Climate Change Compounds Humanitarian Crises in Global South

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
As the Global South works to overcome a history of weak institutions, armed conflict and poverty-driven forced exodus, key causes of its humanitarian crises, developing countries now have to also fight to keep global warming from compounding their problems.
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