Active Citizens

Opinion: Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016: Transforming Economies, Realising Rights

By Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Our world is out of balance. It is both wealthier and more unequal today than at any time since the Second World War.

Want to Help Nepal Recover from the Quake? Cancel its Debt, Says Rights Group

By Kanya D'Almeida
The death toll has now passed 3,300, and there is no telling how much farther it will climb. Search and rescue operations in Nepal entered their third day Monday, as the government and international aid agencies scramble to cope with the aftermath of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck this South Asian nation on Apr. 25.

The U.N. at 70: A Time for Compliance

By Joan Russow and Lori Johnston
At key anniversaries of the U.N., there have been calls for compliance with international instruments.

Peace Is Not a Boy’s Club

By Valentina Ieri
Governments have long pledged to bring more women to the peace table, but for many (if not most), it has been little more than lip service.

Push to Privatise Education in Global South Challenged

By Kwame Buist
The multinational education and publishing company Pearson PLC was challenged during its annual general meeting on Apr. 24 by representatives of civil society and trade union groups over various profit-driven programmes aimed at expanding private education in numerous countries in the global South. 

U.N. Committee Gets ‘Unhindered Access’ to Azerbaijan’s Detention Centres – But Is it Enough?

By Kanya D'Almeida
Months after being denied access to Azerbaijan’s places of detention, the head of the United Nation’s Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) announced Friday that her four-member delegation had successfully conducted investigations of Azerbaijani prisons, police stations and investigative isolation units.

Media Watchdog Unveils Top Ten Worst Censors

By Valentina Ieri
While technology has given millions greater freedom to express themselves, in the world's 10 most censored countries, this basic right exists only on paper, if at all.

Planned Mega-Port in Brazil Threatens Rich Ecological Region

By Fabíola Ortiz
Activists and local residents have brought legal action aimed at blocking the construction of a nearly 50 sq km port terminal in the Northeast Brazilian state of Bahia because of the huge environmental and social impacts it will have.

Opinion: To Solve Hunger, Start with Soil

By Anne-Marie Steyn
Peter looked confused as he recounted how he’d painstakingly planted potatoes to sell and to feed his family of eight, only to find that when harvest time rolled around he had been greeted with tiny tubers not much bigger than golf balls.

Opinion: The World Has Reached Peak Plutocracy

By Soren Ambrose
Parents in despair because they can’t pay the fees at the privatised neighbourhood school…

Opinion: Challenging the Nuclear Powers’ Extremism

By Joseph Gerson
On the eve of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference five years ago, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that governments alone will not rid the world of the specter of nuclear annihilation.

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.

East African Environmental Activist Wins Major Prize

By Lisa Vives
On Earth Day, Apr. 22, Kenyan activist Phyllis Omido takes the stage in Washington DC to receive the Goldman Environmental Prize for her efforts to defend her community from lead poisoning and force the closure of a lead smelting plant that was emitting fumes and spewing untreated acid wastewater into streams, poisoning the neighbourhood – including her own baby.

Water Politics Polarised in Mexico

By Emilio Godoy
Laura Romero has piped water in her home for only a few hours a day, and at least once a week she is cut off completely. Like the rest of the residents in her neighbourhood in the north of the Mexican capital, she has to store water in containers like drums or jerrycans.

U.N. Helpless as Crises Rage in 10 Critical Hot Spots

By Thalif Deen
The United Nations is fighting a losing battle against a rash of political and humanitarian crises in 10 of the world’s critical “hot spots.”

Tailings Ponds Pose a Threat to Chilean Communities

By Marianela Jarroud
Chile lives under the constant threat of spillage from tailings ponds, which became even more marked in late March after heavy rains fell in the desert region of Atacama leaving over two dozen people dead and missing and thousands without a home.

To Defend the Environment, Support Social Movements Like Berta Cáceres and COPINH

By Jeff Conant
The 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize for Central and South America has been awarded to Berta Cáceres, an indigenous Honduran woman who co-founded the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, known as COPINH.

Opinion: Realising Unfinished Business of MDGs : A Call for Greater Action and Investment for Malaria

By Dr. Fatoumata Nafo Traoré
Later this week, communities around the world will commemorate World Malaria Day for the last time in the context of the global development priorities set in 2000.

Instead of Scaling up Funding for Education, Major Donors Are Cutting Back

By Valentina Ieri
Despite commitments by the international community to achieve universal primary education by 2015, funds for education have been decreasing over the past ten years, according to a report released Friday by the global advocacy campaign ‘A World at School’.

Clean Cookstoves Could Change the Lives of Millions in Nepal

By Mallika Aryal
When 26-year-old Laxmi married into the Archaya household in Chhaimale village, Pharping, south of Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, she didn’t think she would be spending half the day in the kitchen inhaling smoke from the stove.

Women Farmers Rewrite Their History in Chile’s Patagonia Region

By Marianela Jarroud
More than 100 women small farmers from Chile’s southern Patagonia region have joined together in a new association aimed at achieving economic autonomy and empowerment, in an area where machismo and gender inequality are the norm.
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