Active Citizens

Opinion: Voice of Civil Society Muffled in Post-2015 Negotiations for Better Future

By Esmee Russell
In September, the United Nations will agree on new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which will set development priorities for the next 15 years. The draft goals that have been developed are ambitious – they seek to end poverty and ensure no one is left behind.

Opinion: New World Information Order, Internet and the Global South – Part I

By Branislav Gosovic *
More than four decades ago, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) launched the concept of a New International Information Order (NIIO).

Climate Change: Some Companies Reject ‘Business as Usual’

By A. D. McKenzie
When it comes to climate change, business as usual is simply “not an option”.

Pakistan’s Streets Kids Drop the Begging Bowl, Opt for Pencils Instead

By Zofeen Ebrahim
Khalil Ahmed's life story sounds like it could have come straight out of the plot of a Bollywood flick, but it didn’t. And that makes it all the more inspiring.

Opinion: Bangladesh’s Persecuted Indigenous People

By Julia Bleckner
The August 2014 killing of Timir Baran Chakma, an indigenous Jumma activist, allegedly in Bangladeshi military custody, was protested by his supporters. His death, and the failure of justice, like the plight of his people across the Chittagong Hills region, received little international notice.

Development Threatens Antigua’s Protected Guiana Island

By Desmond Brown
In June 2014, Gaston Browne led his Antigua and Barbuda Labour Party to a resounding victory at the polls with a pledge to transform the country into an economic powerhouse in the Caribbean.

Opinion: Edinburgh University Bows to Fossil Fuel Industry

By Kirsty Haigh, Eric Lai, and Ellen Young
The University of Edinburgh has taken the decision to not divest from fossil fuels, bowing to the short-term economic interests of departments funded by the fossil fuel industry, with little to no acknowledgement of the long-term repercussions of these investments.

Murders of Gays Raise the Question of Hate Crimes in Cuba

By Ivet González
During the events surrounding the eighth annual celebration of the Day Against Homophobia in Cuba, it emerged that a young transsexual had recently been killed in the city of Pinar del Río near the western tip of this Caribbean island nation.

“Swachh Bharat” (Clean India) Requires a Mindset Change

By Prerna Sodhi
“Swachh Bharat”, or Clean India, is a slogan that most Indians today associate with the country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his first nation-wide campaign launched soon after taking office in 2014.

Indonesia Still a Long Way from Closing the Wealth Gap

By Sandra Siagian
Every afternoon, Wahyu sets up his wooden food cart by the side of a busy road in Central Jakarta to sell sweet buns, known as ‘bakpao’, to people passing by. In a good month, the street vendor can make around 800,000 rupiah, which amounts to roughly 62 dollars.

Campaign to End Sexual Violence Targets Civilian Peacekeepers First

By Lyndal Rowlands
“We can really argue as much as we want but if we put ourselves in the skin of victims, we just have to do something to stop this.”

NGOs Urge Post-2015 Declaration Include Water, Sanitation as Basic Human Rights

By Thalif Deen
Virtually every major international conference concludes with a “programme of action” (PoA) – described in U.N. jargon as “an outcome document” – preceded by a political declaration where 193 member states religiously pledge to honour their commitments.

Popular Nigerian Author Calls on Americans to ‘Reject Silence’

By Lisa Vives
Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, co-curator of a spectacular World Voices week with over 100 African writers, closed the May 4-10 event with an admonition.

Press Freedom Groups Denounce NSA Spying on AJ Bureau Chief

By Kitty Stapp
Ahmad Muaffaq Zaidan doesn’t deny that he’s had contact with terrorist groups. In fact, it would have been rather difficult to do his job otherwise.

The Definition of ‘Rape’ Cannot Change with a Marriage Certificate

By Neeta Lal
"I was brutally raped thrice by my husband. He kept me under surveillance in his Dubai house while I suffered from severe malnutrition and depression. When I tried to flee from this hellhole, he confiscated my passport, deprived me of money and beat me up," recalls Anna Marie Lopes, 28, a rape survivor who after six years of torture, finally managed to board a flight to New Delhi from the United Arab Emirates in 2012.

NGOs Urge Commission of Inquiry to Probe Sexual Abuse in U.N. Peacekeeping

By Thalif Deen
A rising tide of sexual abuse in U.N. peacekeeping operations has triggered the launch of a high-level campaign to end the continued attacks on women and children and an urgent call for the creation of an independent commission of inquiry.

IACHR Tackles Violence Against Native Peoples in Costa Rica

By Diego Arguedas Ortiz
After years of violence against two indigenous groups in Costa Rica, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) demanded that the government adopt measures by May 15 to protect the life and physical integrity of the members of the two communities.

Q&A: Nuclear Disarmament a Non-Starter, “But I Would Love to Be Proven Wrong”

By Thalif Deen
Albert Einstein, the internationally-renowned physicist who developed the theory of relativity, once famously remarked: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Opinion: Don’t Leave Indigenous Peoples Behind in SDGs

By Victoria Tauli-Corpuz
U.N. member states are meeting throughout the year to finalize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will set the global development agenda for the next 15 years. The goals are supposed to be universal and aspire to “leave no one behind.”

Farmers Fight Real Estate Developers for Kenya’s Most Prized Asset: Land

By Miriam Gathigah
Vegetables grown in the lush soil of this quiet agricultural community in central Kenya’s fertile wetlands not only feed the farmers who tend the crops, but also make their way into the marketplaces of Nairobi, the country’s capital, some 150 km south.

Latin America’s Social Policies Have Given Women a Boost

By Fabiana Frayssinet
Although they do not specifically target women, social policies like family allowances and pensions have improved the lives of women in Latin America, the region that has made the biggest strides so far this century in terms of gender equality, although there is still a long way to go.
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