GUATEMALA: Civil Society – Look How It Has Grown

Civil society in Guatemala is coming of age, as non-governmental organisations seek to overcome the country's troubled history of armed conflict. Ten years have passed since the peace accords were signed, and social organisations have cut down on the rebellious lashing out in favour of cooperating with the State and setting forth proposals.

RIGHTS: Child Labour – Slow Progress, Right Direction

Encouraging statistics pointing to a decline in child labour do not conceal the fact that the problem remains a major challenge in large parts of the world, said the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on the World Day Against Child Labour.

ARGENTINA: Indigenous People Camp Out in Plaza to Demand Land Rights

"We have endured 500 years of plunder, humiliation, eviction and massacres; why wouldn't we be able to bear a little cold and hunger now?" Orlando Charole, one of the leaders of a group of indigenous people who have been pursuing their land claims in the northeastern Argentine province of Chaco for the past month, asked IPS.

HEALTH-BOLIVIA: Childbirth Still a Gamble, Despite Care Efforts

While the birth of a child generally represents joy and life, in Bolivia, new motherhood is all too often plagued with fear, uncertainty and even death of mothers and newborns, report organisations dedicated to maternal and child health.

BOLIVIA: In Search of the Toromona

A scientific expedition will return this austral winter to the Madidi jungle in the Bolivian northeast in a bid to definitively certify the existence of the ancient tribe of Toromona, who are the origin of the Paititi legend, a southern Amazon version of the El Dorado myth.

VENEZUELA: Many Housing Plans, but Limited Resources

"Where's the end of the line? Another queue; whatever it takes to get a house," said Ángela Rodríguez as she reached Panteón Plaza in the Venezuelan capital, where thousands of housing rights activists who support President Hugo Chávez gathered after a recent march through the central part of the capital.

BRAZIL: Innovative Small Farmers Set to Redefine Development

While their protest marches and occupations of government and business offices recall the struggles of landless campesinos, this group of Brazilian farmers are drawing attention to a distinct facet of agrarian reform. These workers have mobilised to hold onto the land they own and build a more just and environmentally sound society.

ARGENTINA: Kolla Indians Fight to Protect Their Land

"We are here to take care of the land, because we depend on it for a living," said Andrés Sajama, cacique (chief) of Queta, a Kolla indigenous community in the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy. "We don't want to block mining projects, but we won't allow them to take away what little we have left," he told IPS.

HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Women’s Care Blossoms at the Desert’s Edge

The village bumps up abruptly against the plateau, framed by a halo of ochre peaks. In this last outpost before the freezing desert in northwestern Argentina, "perseverant women" are working hard to foster development that does not compromise community identities.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: The Challenge of Paying for Unremunerated Work

María Angélica is a Chilean woman who could not work in her profession as a chef for nearly two years, because she had to look after her mother, who was ill. Including this kind of unpaid women's work in national budgets is one of the big challenges Latin America faces in order to make progress in gender equality.

MIGRATION-US: Statistics Reveal More “Winners” Than “Losers”

Beneath the roar of enormous pro-immigrant rallies across the United States, and behind congressional debates over border walls and guest workers, lurks a knotty question: Who wins and who loses from illegal immigration?

MIGRATION: South-South Flows on the Rise, Says U.N.

Traditional assumptions about international migration are gradually changing, as an increasing number of migrant workers and skilled professionals move from South to South - from one developing country to another, says a new U.N. study released Tuesday.

ARGENTINA: Sold into Prostitution as Children, Accused in Court as Adults

A trial opened Tuesday in Argentina against a former federal police officer charged with running a brothel and three women who were supposedly his accomplices.

WOMEN-PERU: The Enemy at Home

The plot of the film "Sleeping with the Enemy" is not fictional in essence. Close to 70 percent of all the women killed in one year in Peru died at the hands of their husbands, partners, lovers or boyfriends, and the murders were committed at home or in a place that was frequented by the couple.

REFUGEES: Afghan Camps in Pakistan to Close in July

It took a meeting in Qatar's capital Doha for officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to agree on the future of four Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Some Hits, Some Misses on Int’l Report Cards

The Colombian government was able to soften an International Labour Organisation (ILO) sanction proposed to address the country's continued situation of impunity regarding the murder of dozens of trade unionists and workers, but it bore the full brunt of another multilateral body's harsh criticism of the toll that the country's armed conflict is taking on children.

RIGHTS-BRAZIL: Indigenous People – Victims of Violence and Neglect

Disputes over land ownership are the main cause of the rise in violent deaths of indigenous people in Brazil, according to the lead author of a report presented at the 10th National Conference on Human Rights, which ended Friday.

ARGENTINA: World Cup – Behind Bars

The Argentine team lost 7-3 to Ivory Coast and was eliminated from the 2006 world football championship. But luckily for Argentina, this is not the World Cup that kicks off this month in Germany, but a contest that has already begun in 32 prisons in the province of Buenos Aires.

HEALTH-CUBA: Abortion Competes With Contraceptives

Many women in Cuba resort to abortion, 40 years after it was decriminalised, as though it were just another contraceptive method. Some even prefer it to condoms, the pill or intrauterine devices (IUDs), without giving a thought to the risks involved or the ethical aspects.

HEALTH: Northwestern Argentina – a “Paradise” Only for the Tourists

The silence is overwhelming in the desolate Puna plateau region in northwestern Argentina. The cold is penetrating, although the locals say winter hasn't even really arrived. When it does, in June, temperatures drop to 15 degrees below zero Celsius.

CUBA: 83-Year-Old Powerhouse Confides Her Secret – Keeping Active

"I was born on Friday the 13th, which didn't bring me bad luck, but just the contrary," says Antonia Díaz, bubbling with vitality and optimism. It is hard to believe that this Cuban teacher, who is studying psychology and heads an educational institution, is about to turn 84 on Jun. 13.