MALAYSIA: Emerging Trend in Trafficking Tribal Women

An emerging trend in the trafficking of tribal people, mostly young girls, is raising concern among government officials, rights organisations, migration experts and human rights lawyers.

POLITICS-US: Asian Americans Tilt Heavily Toward Obama

By a margin of nearly two to one, Asian-American voters favour Democratic Sen. Barack Obama over his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain, in the Nov. 4 elections, according to a major new poll released here Monday.

SRI LANKA: Cornered Tamil Rebels Resort to Suicide Bombing

Cornered by the Sri Lankan army in their northern stronghold of Kilinochchi, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) struck back on Monday with the deadliest weapon in their arsenal, the suicide bomber, killing a former army chief and 24 other people.

SRI LANKA: Gov’t Pledges Steady Supplies to Trapped Tamils

The Sri Lankan government will organise weekly food convoys and maintain supplies to 220,000 civilians trapped by fighting between Tamil rebels and the army for control over Kilinochchi town and the surrounding area known as the Vanni.

EGYPT-REFUGEES: Stepping Stones Across the Desert

"When I left Darfur, I left the hell of death and entered the hell of life. That is the only difference," said Galoud*, one of the many Darfuri refugees who have escaped to Egypt.

LABOUR-ASIA: Migrant Women’s Success Adds To Brain Drain

Liana Garcellano was teaching in a private school here in the Philippines when she got an offer to teach English in Singapore. Though quite happy with her job in her home country, the promise of higher pay and career advancement spurred Garcellano to try her luck overseas.

LEBANON: At the Palestinian Camp, Bombing Is a Way of Life

A bomb blast at the Ain el-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp as this IPS correspondent was visiting, comes as yet another reminder of the precarious peace in these places.

DEVELOPMENT: Social Cost of Migration Hits Women, Families

Carla Danao is hit by guilt and pain every time she comes home to the Philippines for a visit. This was especially true in August, when she returned to realise that she had been far away and unavailable for her 12-year-old daughter when she had her first menstrual period.

GREECE: Refugees Kept At Sea

When the people of Patmos blocked a group of refugees landing on their island last Sunday, they raised questions about both refugees and about Greece that have not gone away.

LABOUR: Abuse, Alienation Daily Fare for Women Migrants

Sexual abuse, harassment, poor living conditions and disconnection with their families and own cultures - these are real-life stories that Sharu Joshi Shrestha hears from many Nepali, Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan women migrants who come to her office each day.

RIGHTS-US: Asylum Courts Mishandled Gender Violence Case

A woman who was denied asylum in the U.S. despite her fears that she would suffer additional female genital mutilation if she was deported to her native Mali has been given a second chance.

SRI LANKA: Help For Embattled Civilians Missing

An estimated 230,000 people are in dire need of assistance in the northern areas of Sri Lanka that remain under the control of Tamil separatist rebels, according to international humanitarian agencies.

SRI LANKA: Supplies to Tamil Rebel Areas Firmly in Gov't Hands

With the United Nations and other international humanitarian agencies vacating the Tamil rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, now under army siege, the onus of maintaining essential supplies to tens of thousands of civilians in the area called the Vanni has fallen on the government.

RIGHTS-KENYA: Rethinking 'Return Home'

The most urgent test of the grand coalition in Kenya is resettlement of the estimated 350,000 or so people made homeless by the violence after the December 2007 elections. Launched in May, the government's Operation 'Return Home' has been riddled with flaws and many experts on internal displacement argue it has exacerbated the crisis rather than resolving it.

ASIA PACIFIC: MDGs – Children Under Five Straggling

Children under five years across Asia and the Pacific are being left behind in the race to reduce poverty even as the region boasts impressive strides in meeting major United Nations development goals.

CUBA: “Ike” Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Danger

Even before the ravages caused by Hurricane Gustav in the western part of Cuba have been fully assessed, Hurricane Ike made landfall on the northeastern shore of the island on Sunday, swept westwards out to sea on Monday, and is showing signs of powering up before slamming Cuban territory again.

ARGENTINA: Children of Exile – Strangers Still

While perpetrators of human rights violations during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship have begun to be sent to prison, a new study has shed light on a less conspicuous aspect of the regime's legacy: the problems faced by the children of former exiles who are struggling to integrate into Argentine society.

MEDIA-INDIA: Columnists Support Kashmir's Secession

"Anti-national" is the charge hurled in India at the usual radical suspects who argue for the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

RIGHTS-CUBA: Dissidents Work for Racial Integration

Dissident groups in Cuba are attempting to open up a debate on the problem of racism in the country, in order to promote "full integration" of all the island's citizens, without discrimination on the grounds of ethnicity or skin colour.

DEVELOPMENT-SWAZILAND: Don't Blame Donor Dependency

What happens to a nation whose people depend on the largesse of international donor agencies for their existence, once support is withdrawn?

RIGHTS-GUINEA: “We Can Forgive, But We Have To Know The Truth”

Kadiatou Diallo Sylla shares a shack with her family in Bambeto, a Conakry suburb. She is haunted by memories of her 14-year-old son, an only child: he was killed by the military during anti-government demonstrations in January 2007.