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Sunday, November 15, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Population
POPULATION-JAPAN: Tougher Legal Weapons Needed against Trafficking
New, special legal weapons and alternative protection measures are needed to combat gross human rights abuses against undocumented foreign women lured into Japan's sex industry, experts here say.JAPAN: Sex Work, Illegal Status Add to Risks for Trafficked Women
Patricia, a 23-year-old Colombian woman, wept as she recalled the agony and degradation she suffered at the hands of Japanese male bosses and agents who had lured her into the country to work as a bar hostess.RIGHTS-PAKISTAN: Voluntary Code against Sexual Harassment Pushed
Saima Shah (not her real name) still feels uneasy talking about how humiliated and harassed she felt last summer, when she went for a meeting with a high Pakistani government official to discuss child nutrition.RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Immigrants Deported without Legal Recourse
Argentina's law on immigration, which dates back to the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, allows authorities to detain and deport foreign nationals without providing any specific reasons and without any intervention by the judiciary.THAILAND: Rape Charge Puts Accused – and Accuser – on Trial
A woman who accused a senior Thai government official of rape has won praises from women's groups for her willingness to go public, but is finding herself put on trial just like the official she accuses of violating her.CAMBODIA: Villagers Count Costs of Dam Building in Vietnam
More than six years after flash floods first hit this and other villages in north-eastern Cambodia, drowning people and sweeping away homes and livelihoods, families living along the Sesan river live in fear of the ill effects flowing from a dam across the border in Vietnam.POPULATION: Unskilled Illegal Immigrants Cross into South Africa
Sipho Mahlalela, a primary school teacher, left his home in Swaziland, where unemployment had reached 45 percent of the adult workforce, and crossed the border into neighbour South Africa, the regional economic giant.SOUTH KOREA: Keep Food Aid to North Away from Politics – Activists
Malnourished but delighted North Korean children race to the tables when sweet-coated, milk-rich bread, produced from funds donated by families and individuals in South Korea, are laid out for them in schools and nurseries each day.MIDEAST: U.S. May be Unpopular, but Students Still Head for It
Ayesha Al Mansouri, a final-year student at the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, knows where she wants to go for post-graduate studies - either Amherst College in Boston, or DePaul University, Illinois.INDIA: Gov’t Bid to Woo Overseas Indians Bound to Fall Flat
Devoid of imaginative strategies to boost flagging economic growth, the Indian government is looking for shortcuts, this time by wooing investment from its own 'diaspora', consisting of 20 million people scattered in some 130 countries.POPULATION-LATAM: Unstoppable Emigration
The 58 Latin Americans who leave their countries of origin every hour to seek a better life are a symptom of the failed social and economic policies in the region and are creating a new cultural melting pot, say migration experts.THAILAND: Applause, Admonishment Greet New War on Drugs
Applause mixed with admonishment has greeted the Thai government's attempt this week to open a new phase in its war on drugs, though many agree that illegal narcotics is by no means an easy or simple foe to fight.PAKISTAN: Drug Abuse Grows on Bumper Poppy Crop in Afghanistan
Muhammad Shahid, 35, is lucky to be among just a fifth of drug abusers who are able to get into one of Pakistan's 73 treatment centres, which offer a week-long detoxification programme.BANGLADESH: Shivering Street Children Bear Brunt of Cold Spell
''We try to find a place out of the wind's way,'' says tiny Billal, who came to Dhaka a year ago because there was no food at home. ''We huddle together because then it's warmer.''AUSTRALIA: Gov’t under Pressure to Go after People Smuggler
The Australian government is under increasing public pressure to ensure that self-confessed people smuggler Abu Quessay - temporarily being held by Indonesian authorities - faces charges over the 2001 sinking of a boat carrying hundreds of asylum seekers.POPULATION-NEPAL: Untold Stories Show Growing HIV/AIDS Risks
Seated in the pleasant confines of the Blue Diamond Society here in the Nepali capital, Sunil Panta and his peers voice their frustrations and fears in a society that largely views Kathmandu's gay community as invisible, freakish, or abnormal.HEALTH-LAOS: Low HIV/AIDS Rate a Strength, But Can Be a Weakness
The fact that Laos has one of the lowest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in South-east Asia can be seen as a success, but experts say this strength may turn into a weakness if it breeds complacency in fighting the pandemic.PORTUGAL: Weak Border Controls Attract Undocumented Immigrants
Portugal's border police issued a warning this week regarding the extreme permeability of the borders along Europe's southwestern frontier to the inflow of undocumented immigrants.LABOUR-PHILIPPINES: Migrant Workers Find Ways around Limits on Organising
Beng Los Banez woke up shortly after dawn to be among the first to line up at the Philippine government agency mandated to process 800,000 Filipinos who leave to work overseas each year.RIGHTS-BANGLADESH: Evicted, Sex Workers Won’t be Thrown
It seemed they were hunted criminals, not victims of a sweeping eviction now being contested in a Bangladeshi court of law.ECUADOR: Indigenous Cabinet Ministers Symbolise Change
Indigenous leaders have been named to two key posts in the cabinet of Ecuador's president-elect Lucio Gutiérrez, who takes office on Jan 15.« Previous Page — Next Page »
One Thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Relocated from Tomping Camp in South Sudan. Credit: UN Photo/Isaac Billy
It took hundreds of thousands of years for the world’s human population to cross one billion in 1804. Approximately 200 years later, the population has multiplied sevenfold. In 2023, the global population crossed 8 billion, and is expected to reach 9 billion before 2050. With the planet more crowded than ever, it is essential to keep track of population trends, urbanization, migration, and reproduction across the world.
Life expectancy has seen significant strides in the past century, largely due to economic development and increased standards of living. On the contrary, trends in global fertility are shifting, with certain regions in Africa and Asia reporting higher rates, while parts of Europe and North America report stagnant or lower rates. This is in part due to differences in sexual and reproductive healthcare, as well as societal and economic conditions around the world. For example, child marriage is prevalent in certain societies, where childbearing is also considered a familial duty. Meanwhile, stagnating economies frequently experience lower marriage and childbearing rates.
The increase in migration and urban development around the world is also linked to global population trends. By 2050, it is expected that approximately 66 percent of all people will live in cities. Furthermore, global crises such as warfare and natural disasters also prompt transnational migration. Transnational migration is linked to a variety of socioeconomic issues in both host and receiving countries: migrants often leave developing countries with less access to educational and economic opportunities and arrive in developed countries where they are frequently the targets of ethnic, racial, and cultural discrimination, and economic exploitation. Recent crises in Europe and the United States demonstrate the importance of advocating for migrants worldwide. As migrants from the Global South are increasingly stripped of their legal and civic rights in unlawful deportations, or targeted in acts of identity-based violence, it is essential to keep track of population trends and protect the human rights of migrant populations. Climate-related disasters are now a major driver of displacement, with nearly half of all new internal displacements in 2025 being disaster-related.
IPS is devoted to covering issues surrounding population trends, migration, and reproduction through its compelling articles, which use both statistics and human stories to provide readers with robust and informative viewpoints.
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