New Zealand: Māori Rights in the Firing Line

A New Zealand bill that would roll back Indigenous rights is unlikely to pass – but it’s emblematic of a growing climate of hostility from governing politicians. A recent survey shows that almost half of New Zealanders believe racial tensions have worsened under the right-wing government in power since December 2023.

In the Midst of Hostilities Hunger Escalates in Sudan

The ongoing humanitarian crisis taking place in Sudan, which is a result of the civil war that began last year, continues to escalate as hunger and displacement plague the population, according to spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, during a press briefing on August 21, 2024.

Fast-Acting Interventions Needed for Sudanese Refugee Children as Needs Outpace Response

As peace eludes war-torn Sudan, thousands of displaced people fleeing the deadly battle between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have found refuge in neighboring countries, including Egypt.

Rohingya Refugees Must Not Be Forgotten

Seven years ago, a brutal campaign of violence, rape and terror against the Rohingya people ignited in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. Villages were burned to the ground, families were murdered, massive human rights violations were reported, and around 700,000 people – half of them children – fled their homes to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

Uganda Coffee Smallholders Grapple With EU Regulations on Imports

In Kubewo village in eastern Uganda, children often go to work with their parents in the coffee gardens. Earnings from Arabica coffee are used, their parents and grandparents say, to pay for children’s education and other expenses for the family. 

Education Cannot Wait Interviews UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini

 
On 18 March 2020, Philippe Lazzarini was appointed Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. He took up his post with UNRWA on 1 April 2020.

Power to the Youth

We live in a divided world of the haves and the have nots. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. There is learning poverty, technology poverty, healthcare poverty, and food poverty. When you think about the dynamics of the world today, there is even empathy and humanity poverty.

Gaza Children’s Education, Mental Health Targeted With Emergency Response Grant

Since October 2023, 625,000 children enrolled in schools across Gaza have had no access to education, and more than 370 schools have sustained damage from attacks, according to the United Nations.

The Price Women Pay for Climate Change

Global warming, widely believed to be a universal crisis, will actually impact girls and women far more than boys and men. It is already known that we live in a patriarchal world, one in which men are afforded far greater opportunities for success while women generally hold less societal power and have access to fewer resources. This especially pertains to developing countries in which agriculture related work, usually delegated to females, depends on a variety of environmental factors and subsequently, significantly hurts their livelihoods.

Zimbabwe Needs Awareness, Advanced Tech to Beat Cancer

Earlier this year, then 46-year-old Lydia Musundiwa, based in the Zimbabwean capital Harare, was diagnosed with colon cancer, which, already at an advanced stage, killed her in less than two months. Now, Landeni, her 49-year-old widower, has to contend with the burden of looking after their three children single-handedly.

Emergency Response: Building Resilient Education Systems in Haiti Amid Multiple Crises

Haiti is witnessing unprecedented levels of lawlessness and brutality from armed gangs, which target schools and hospitals. The groups have plunged the country into a crisis and apart from the gun violence accusations, disturbing reports of ruthless sexual violence, including gang rape. Millions of children are in harm's way; many are out of school and it is estimated that between 30 and 50 percent of armed group members are children.

Smartphones: Children’s Blessing or Curse?

Habits can change extremely fast, particularly within so-called “developed” nations, where children, even more than grownups are affected by life changing events. Gone are the times when kids could move around freely and invent games and adventures together with their friends. Far away from the scrutinizing control of parents and authorities they learned to interact with other kids, taking risks and solving problems. It could be tough and often quite merciless times, but educative, beneficent, and fun as well.

Can Scientific Freedom Deliver Development for Africa?

Scientific research has led to social and economic gains worldwide, but the scientists who make it happen face significant challenges.

New Child Marriages, Cohabitation With a Child Law in Sierra Leone Lauded

“A person shall not contract marriage with a child,” Sierra Leone’s landmark Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024 says, outlawing, in no uncertain terms, child marriage, giving consent to and attempted child marriage, officiating, attending and promoting child marriage, and use of force or ill-treatment of a child.

AFGHANISTAN: ‘The Doha Meeting Has Raised Concerns the UN Is Indirectly Legitimising the Taliban’

 
CIVICUS discusses the exclusion of women from international talks on Afghanistan currently being held in Qatar with Sima Samar, former chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). The AIHRC is the Afghan national institution devoted to the promotion, protection and monitoring of human rights. Its status is now a matter of contention: on returning to power, the Taliban decreed its dissolution, but the AIHRC refuses to abide by the decision due to the illegitimate nature of the Taliban regime.

Justice, not Impunity, for Sexually Assaulted Indigenous Girls in Peru

The main fear facing women leaders who have denounced the systematic rape of girls from the Awajún indigenous people in the northeastern Peruvian department of Amazonas is that, despite the media coverage and sanctions announced by the authorities, it will all come to nothing.

Investing in Teachers, School Leaders Key in Keeping Girls in School UN-African Union Study Finds

Investing in teachers and school leaders in Africa is the most important factor in promoting educational opportunities for girls, keeping them in school and ending child marriage, ultimately reducing gender inequality through education.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews The Sunday Times Chief Foreign Correspondent, Best-Selling Author and ECW Global Champion, Christina Lamb

 
Christina Lamb is Chief Foreign Correspondent at The Sunday Times and one of Britain’s leading foreign journalists as well as a bestselling author. She has been awarded Foreign Correspondent of the Year six times as well as Europe’s top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux, and was recently given the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Society of Editors and the Outstanding Impact Award by Amnesty International.

Special Report: Exposing Afghanistan’s Pervasive, Methodical System of Gender Oppression

The UN Special Rapporteur’s annual report on human rights in Afghanistan lays bare the alarming phenomenon of an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls. In the new report, Richard Bennett, the UN’s Special Rapporteur, provides an intersectional analysis of the establishment and enforcement of this institutionalized system of unparalleled gender oppression. It paints a picture of a worsening situation for women and girls.

Today, We Stand in Solidarity with Refugees Worldwide, Today, We Stand for Human Rights

On World Refugee Day, we must stand in solidarity with the 120 million forcibly displaced people – including 43 million refugees worldwide – who have lost their homes and their human rights as the result of persecution and conflict.

Peoples’ Climate Vote Shows Global Support for Stronger Climate Action

The global public opinion research on climate change reveals that 80 percent, or four out of five, of people globally want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.