Active Citizens

Sex Workers in Nicaragua Break the Silence and Gain Rights

By José Adán Silva
After living in the shadows, thousands of Nicaraguan sex workers have broken their silence, won support from state institutions and gained new respect for their rights.

Chechen Media Outlet Issues Death Threats against Russian Journalist

By Nora Happel
Press freedom groups are condemning veiled death threats against Novaya Gazeta correspondent Elena Milashina by a Chechen online news portal last month.

U.N. Urged to Put Global Citizenship at Centre of Post-2015 Development Agenda

By Thalif Deen
When Denmark hosted the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) in March 1995, one of the conclusions of that international gathering in Copenhagen was to create a new social contract with “people at the centre of development.”

Small Victories at Bonn Climate Talks

By Kitty Stapp
As climate talks wind down in Bonn, Germany, observers of the negotiations say that despite some progress on a draft text, key issues remain unresolved and will carry over at least until the next round in August.

Opinion: Cli-Fi Film from Philippines Packs a Punch

By Dan Bloom
I live on a crowded, subtropical island ​nation ​in the Western Pacific, on the opposite side of the "Pacific Pond" from North America. And just south of Taiwan is the ​many-splendored island nation of the ​Philippines. We are neighbours. You can fly there in one hour, it's that close.

Rights Abuses Still Rampant in Bangladesh’s Garment Sector

By Naimul Haq and Kanya D'Almeida
Some say they were beaten with iron bars. Others confess their families have been threatened with death. One pregnant woman was assaulted with metal curtain rods.

Compensation Fund for Victims of Bangladesh Factory Collapse Reaches 30-Million-Dollar Target

By Kanya D'Almeida
Two years after a massive garments factory collapsed in a suburb of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, killing over 1,100 people and leaving more than 2,500 injured, a major international fund has met its target of raising 30 million dollars to be paid out in compensation to the victims and their families.

Chinese Public Most Worried About Climate Change

By Kitty Stapp
A new survey finds that China leads the world in public support for government action on climate change.

India Erupts Over Loopholes in Child Labour Law

By Neeta Lal
In a bid to overhaul the country's child labour laws, the Indian government has banned the employment of children below 14 years of age in various commercial ventures, while permitting them to work in family enterprises and on farmlands after school hours and during vacations.

Israel, Hamas Escape U.N.’s List of Shame on Attacks on Children

By Thalif Deen
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, reportedly under heavy pressure from the United States and Israel, has decided not to blacklist the Jewish state in an annex to a new U.N. report on children victimised in armed conflicts.

India’s Four Million Sex Workers Demand Equal Labour Rights

By Sujoy Dhar
Although forced prostitution and trafficking of women remains a huge challenge in India, health experts, policy-makers and legal advocates say that most of the country’s estimated four million commercial sex workers join the trade of their own free will.

Call for Disability Rights to Be Mainstreamed in Post-2015 Development Agenda

By Nora Happel
“We should remove the ‘dis’ and focus on ‘abilities,’” Daniela Bas, director of the Division for Social Policy and Development at the U.N. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said at a media event on the rights of persons with disabilities on Friday.

Ni Una Menos – The Cry Against ‘Femicides’ Finally Heard in Argentina

By Fabiana Frayssinet
In the wake of the massive response to their call to protest violence against women in Argentina, the organisers of this week’s demonstrations are starting to plan the steps to be taken to get results for their demand “Ni Una Menos” (not one less), taking advantage of the strength in numbers shown to obtain political support for public policies aimed at protecting women.

Governments Must Do More to Support Volunteers, Says U.N.

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
Volunteers are increasingly essential to ensuring government accountability and effectiveness - but their vast potential is untapped and undervalued, a new United Nations report has found.

Journalists, Gov’ts Square Off in Game of Drones

By Kitty Stapp
For some, the word "drone" immediately conjures up ominous phrases like "targeted assassination" and "precision strike."

8.2 Million Iraqis In Need of Emergency Humanitarian Assistance

By Kanya D'Almeida
As fighting drags on between Iraqi armed forces and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), millions of refugees caught between the warring groups are in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

Opinion: For a New Generation of Climate Activists, It’s Too Late to Wait

By Chris Wright
I remember pretending not to be so excited. There was this nervous energy that kicked up my heels as I prowled through the U.N. negotiations that afternoon. You could feel it all around. Circling our meeting point like sharks quietly rounding our prey. If you knew what to look for, you would know exactly what was about to happen.

‘Legal Friends’ Fight Gender Violence in Rural India

By Stella Paul
Mamta Bai, 36, distinctly remembers the first time the police came to her village: it was December 2014 and her neighbour, Purva Bai, had just been beaten unconscious by her alcoholic husband, prompting Mamta to make a distress call to the nearest station.

As Jamaica’s Prime Forests Decline, Row Erupts Over Protection

By Zadie Neufville
For Jamaica, planting more trees as a way to build resilience is one of the highest priorities of the government's climate change action plan. So when Cockpit Country residents woke up to bulldozers in the protected area, they rallied to get answers from the authorities.

Pacific Civil Society Swings Out Against Free Trade Agreement

By Catherine Wilson
Fourteen Pacific Island Forum countries are currently locked in negotiations with their two largest economic neighbours, Australia and New Zealand, to forge a new regional free trade agreement called ‘PACER Plus’, which supporters believe will boost economic growth in the region.

U.N. Sets Up Independent Panel to Probe Sexual Abuses in CAR

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations, which came under heavy fire for its failure to act swiftly on charges of sexual abuse by French troops in the Central African Republic (CAR) last year, has decided to set up an External Independent Review (EIR) to probe these allegations.
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