Climate Change Breaking the Journalists Who Tell its Story

My family lost six herds of cattle during the devastating El Niño-driven drought that swept Zimbabwe in 2024. The loss was as emotional as it was financial. Guilt gnawed at me.

Swept Away: Flash Floods, Failed Systems Bane of Pakistan’s North

Intense rainfall over small areas in Pakistan’s mountainous regions caused massive destruction, sweeping away entire villages. On August 15, the district of Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province experienced a weather anomaly in which glacier melt and intense monsoon rains caused floods that buried villages under mud and rock.

Sexual Health Rights: Contradictions in East African Laws, Policies

Sarah Namukisa nearly missed her final year exams earlier this year. She was subjected to a mandatory pregnancy test—the 25-year-old student at the Medical Laboratory Training School in Jinja was then expelled because she was pregnant.

The Hidden Backbone of Maternal Health: Asia’s Midwifery Gap

Asia-Pacific’s midwives are a healthcare lifeline capable of delivering nearly 90 percent of essential maternal and newborn services. Yet the region grapples with severe shortages, underinvestment, and systemic neglect.

Southern Voices: Grief, Resilience, and Daily Life in Jnoub

"Special, targeted operations in southern Lebanon," a phrase that has echoed repeatedly over the past two years in Israeli Defence Force (IDF) statements. But behind these clinical military terms lies a human cost that statistics cannot capture.

‘Life in Gaza’s Shelters Is Marked by Deprivation – but Also by the Endurance of Human Dignity’

CIVICUS speaks with a West Bank-based Palestinian activist about her family members currently enduring the war in Gaza. She has asked to remain anonymous for security reasons.

Fiji’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission Aims To Restore Trust and Peace After Decades of Political Crises

Fiji, a nation located west of Tonga in the central Pacific, is renowned for its natural beauty and beach resorts. But for 38 years it has endured a political rollercoaster of instability with four armed coups that overturned democratically elected governments and eroded human rights.

How the UN Can Prevent AI from Automating Discrimination

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the world at a speed we've never seen before. From helping doctors detect diseases faster to customizing education for every student, AI holds the promise of solving many real-world problems. But along with its benefits, AI carries a serious risk: discrimination.

Bending the Curve: Overhaul Global Food Systems to Avert Worsening Land Crisis

Current rates of land degradation pose a major environmental and socioeconomic threat, driving climate change, biodiversity loss, and social crises. Food production to feed more than 8 billion people is the dominant land use on Earth. Yet, this industrial-scale enterprise comes with a heavy environmental toll.

From the Margins to the Courts: St Lucia Joins Caribbean Fight to Dismantle Anti-LGBTQI+ Colonial Laws

When Kenita Placide co-founded United and Strong, St Lucia’s first LGBTQI+ organisation in 2001, death threats were routine. Over the years, several friends were murdered for being gay. But 24 years on, Kenita’s Caribbean island nation has become the latest to overturn a colonial legacy that criminalised LGBTQI+ people.

Four Ways Asia Can Strengthen Regional Health Security Before the Next Pandemic

In an interconnected world when infections can circle the globe in hours, cooperation in preparing for pandemics is essential. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted just how vulnerable countries are when surveillance is fragmented, laboratory networks are underfunded and underequipped, and vaccines are not dispersed equitably.

Women in Sudan are Starving Faster than Men; Female-Headed Households Suffer

The food crisis in Sudan is starving more day by day, yet it is affecting women and girls at double the rate compared to men in the same areas. New findings from UN-Women reveal that female-headed households (FHHs) are three times more likely to be food insecure than ones led by men.

From Conflict to Climate Crusade, Refugees Lead the Charge in Kenya

For 18-year-old Lionel Ngukusenge, a refugee from Burundi, where he was forced into hiding because of a repressive regime, he has found another foe to contend with at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya: climate change.

Solar-Powered Fish Farming Feeds Indigenous Communities in the Peruvian Amazon

"Our organization is showing that it is indeed possible to move toward energy transition and not depend on oil," said Elaina Shajian, president of the Regional Coordinator of Indigenous Peoples of San Lorenzo (Corpi-SL), in the Peruvian Amazon.

Beyond Lives Saved: Why Early Warning Systems Are a Smart Investment

Significant progress has been made globally in implementing national and local disaster risk reduction strategies. Yet, the impact of disasters on lives and economies persists and disaster resilience is one of the most regressed areas in Sustainable Development Goal implementation.

From Semei to Hiroshima: Astana Times Editor on Bringing Global Solidarity Through Journalism

Eighty years ago, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki left a lasting reminder to humanity of the inhuman nature of nuclear weapons. Kazakhstan, too, is a nation deeply scarred by nuclear tests conducted during the Soviet era. Having covered the activities of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) in Kazakhstan—including its support for exhibitions and documentary productions on nuclear abolition in Astana—, INPS Japan recently interviewed Zhanna Shayakhmetova, editor-in-chief of The Astana Times, a leading English-language newspaper in the country that continues to convey messages of disarmament and peace to the world. In the interview, Shayakhmetova spoke about the role of religious leaders who will gather in Astana from around the world this September, the importance of passing on memories to younger generations, and the responsibility journalism holds in this endeavor.

‘We Must Build Healthier Digital Environments Where Reliable Information Plays a Leading Role’

CIVICUS discusses Bolivia’s upcoming presidential election with Juan Carlos Uribe and Lucas Illanes from ChequeaBolivia, an initiative that monitors and verifies social media content.

Embracing the Innovation Imperative: Tech-Governance at a Crossroads

Technological progress and the course of human history have moved forward together; more recent technological innovations have emerged with unprecedented speed and reach, deeply influencing many areas of human activity.

Roma’s Long Standing Exclusion Compounded As Ukraine War Continues

As Russian forces continue to lay waste to civilian areas of towns and cities across Ukraine, Roma in the country are struggling to access compensation to help them rebuild their damaged homes.

UN Chief Hails Turkmenistan’s Quiet Diplomacy as Launchpad for Landlocked Solidarity

In the glass-panelled hallway straddling Buildings 2 and 3 at the Awaza Congress Centre, two smartly dressed young Turkmens stood behind an ornate national pavilion—anxious, alert, and surprisingly eloquent.

Equal Footing: Building Pathways for Landlocked Developing Countries to Participate in Global Economy

Heads of State, ministers, investors and grassroots leaders are gathered in Awaza on Turkmenistan’s Caspian coast for a once-in-a-decade UN conference aimed at rewiring the global system in support of 32 landlocked developing countries whose economies are often ‘locked out’ of opportunity due to their lack of access to the sea.