REFUGEES: Afghans Resist Going Home

Norway's offers of cash and its promises of reintegration support to failed asylum seekers to return voluntarily to Afghanistan has mostly been a failure, a new study finds.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: Little Progress on Maternal Mortality

Over half a million women die in childbirth annually around the world, according to the World Health Organisation. Nigeria alone accounts for 10 percent of these deaths.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Court Ruling Emboldens Third Gender

Suman Tamang, 26, remembers feeling guilty for wishing he were a man. Tamang, born a woman, wanted to do the heavy work only men do, was friends with more men than women and was attracted to girls. "At that time, I didn’t really understand I was transgender, I was awkward and I knew I was different."

RIGHTS: Fewer Conflicts, But More Refugees

Despite a reduction in the number of violent conflicts around the world, the number of internal refugees has soared to levels not seen since the end of the cold war.

LABOUR-THAILAND: Domestic Workers Everywhere but Invisible

Working in the confines of private homes, unprotected by the labour laws of the country, Thailand’s domestic workers are a silently suffering lot.

BURMA: Females Hit Worst by Cyclone Nargis – Report

Nearly three months after the powerful Cyclone Nargis tore through Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta, it has emerged that the majority of those who died in the devastated area were women.

ENVIRONMENT-BURKINA FASO: Winning People Over to Fight Deforestation

In the West African nation of Burkina Faso, millions of trees are planted every year to reverse desertification. However the growing socio-economic needs of local populations pose a constant threat to these efforts.

POPULATION-PHILIPPINES: Catholic Church Damns The Pill

As World Population Day was being marked on Jul. 11, Tess and Andy were attending a family planning seminar as a requirement for their forthcoming wedding. It turned out to be window into one of the major problems besetting the Philippine population programme.

Q&A: 'Guam Matters, Not Guamanian Rights'

In this second of a two-part interview, IPS spoke with Julian Aguon - whose homeland of Guam is soon to receive thousands more U.S. troops - regarding the island’s economic problems, why Guam matters to Washington and the value of solidarity links between activists who are divided by oceans, yet united in a cause.

Q&A: How Not to Resettle IDPs

Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Return Home, in Kiswahili), designed to help about 350,000 IDPs living in camps across the country go back to their homes and farms has achieved its primary objective, at least according to the Kenyan government. Officials claim that most of the camps are closed and only 30,000 are living in the few that remain, but these numbers are disputed by independent analysts.

Q&A: ''Guam Remains Functionally a US Colony''

The tiny island of Guam - officially an unincorporated territory of the United States - is soon to be inundated with thousands more U.S. military personnel as the world’s superpower realigns its forces. In this first of a two-part interview, indigenous Guamanian activist Julian Aguon spoke with IPS on issues surrounding the build-up.

Q&A: "Reproductive Rights Can Overcome the Conservative Wave"

This year marks four decades of international recognition of people's right to decide how many children they want to have and when, and for that reason there is a great deal to celebrate, says Brazilian expert Carmen Barroso, of the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

POPULATION-INDIA: Emergency Contraception Pill The Answer?

With unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions continuing to be a serious problem in India, some doctors have begun advocating use of the emergency contraceptive (EC) pill as a possible solution, though conditions in India are regarded far from conducive.

EUROPE: New Punishment Planned for Hiring Migrant Workers

Efforts by the European Union to penalise employers who hire unauthorised immigrants have drawn criticism from both business lobbyists and trade unionists.

ITALY: Being a Refugee Becomes a Dream

Ernestine Kayindo fled Goma town in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1997 amidst fighting between the regular army and rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (NCDP), a Tutsi armed group that is still active.

Q&A: Denying Antiretrovirals To Migrants Hurts Us All

South Africa has become a destination for people from across the continent and beyond. But in spite of migrants having a legal right to free antiretroviral treatment (ART) for HIV, they are being turned away from government clinics.

Q&A: 'With the Right Methods, You Can Be Self-Sufficient'

The U.N. High Commission for Refugees says that in the five years since camps were established in Southern Chad for Central African refugees, U.N.-administered agriculture programs have reduced external food assistance to a minimum.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Small Islands’ Warning Went Unheeded

When the president of the Maldives, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, addressed the U.N. General Assembly about 20 years ago, he warned of the possible death of his tiny Indian Ocean island if steps were not taken to curb climate change.

Q&A: "A Silent Housing Crisis Is Unfolding"

With a billion people living in slums, and thousands more joining them every day, the world faces yet another looming challenge - the rise of an impoverished urban underclass, says Anna Tibaijuka of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (U.N. Habitat).

POPULATION: UN Predicts 12 Billion if Family Planning Falters

The United Nations commemorated World Population Day Friday in the shadow of a staggering array of grim statistics: an estimated 200 million women worldwide want to delay or avoid pregnancy but are not using safe and effective family planning.

IRAQ: Refugees Forsaken Even By Their Own Gov’t

As Iraq's refugee crisis continues to worsen, the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is failing to help the estimated five million Iraqis who have been displaced by conflict, says a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG).