Refugees Bring Economic Benefits to Cities

Refugees are now more likely to live in cities than in refugee camps, bringing with them planning challenges but also opportunities for economic growth.

‘We Cannot Keep Jumping from Crisis to Crisis’

“We cannot keep jumping from crisis to crisis. We have to invest in long-term development that helps people cope with shocks so that they can continue to grow enough food for their communities and not require emergency aid.”

Climate Change Compounds Humanitarian Crises in Global South

As the Global South works to overcome a history of weak institutions, armed conflict and poverty-driven forced exodus, key causes of its humanitarian crises, developing countries now have to also fight to keep global warming from compounding their problems.

Will Canada Recognise Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Developing Countries Too?

While Canada’s long-awaited support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples brought hope and celebration last week, it's not yet clear whether the rights of Indigenous people in developing countries harmed by Canadian mining companies will also be included.

Now 1 in 2 World’s Refugees Live in Urban Areas

It is true that millions of refugees, especially in Africa and the Middle East, reside in camps. But in all they represent only one-quarter of the total number of refugees. Meanwhile, more than 1 in 2 of all the world’s refugees live in slums or in informal settlements and on the fringes of cities, in overcrowded neighbourhoods and in areas prone to flooding, sanitation hazards and diseases.

A Precarious Fate for Climate Migrants in India

After the sea swallowed up her home and family in the Bangladeshi coastal district of Bhola along the Bay of Bengal, farmer Sanjeela Sheikh was heartbroken. Stripped of all her belongings, her fields swamped and her loved ones dead, she contemplated suicide.

Many Cities Don’t Know How Dangerous Their Air Pollution Is

China and India are not the only countries with an air pollution problem. Ninety-eight percent of cities in developing countries don’t meet World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards, according to new research published by the UN body.

Humanitarian Situation in Yemen Seriously Deteriorating

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen is very seriously deteriorating, said Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs’ (OCHA) Operations Director John Ging.

Kenya’s Young Inventors Shake Up Old Technology

Emma Masibo and Lucy Bwire have many things in common.

Making Bangladesh Ready for Renewables

All his life, farmer Nasiruddin saw his poverty ridden village in complete darkness after dusk, with electricity being a distant dream. That changed last year when he installed a solar lantern system.

‘Human Suffering Has Reached Staggering Levels’

“Human suffering from the impacts of armed conflicts and disasters has reached staggering levels.”

Analysis: Why the UN Needs a “Peace Industrial Complex”

In a world where annual defence spending is over 1.6 trillion dollars and the UN Peacebuilding Fund receives less than 700 million dollars, it would seem that the military industrial complex is unwaveringly entrenched.

Industrial-Level Aid Logistics in Colombia’s Decades-Long Humanitarian Disaster

“If you’re going to talk about Colombia and the peace process, do it somewhere else,” was heard at a regional preparatory meeting for the World Humanitarian Summit, according to Ramón Rodríguez, with the Colombian government’s Unit for Attention and Integral Reparation for Victims (UARIV).

Middle East – The Mother of All Humanitarian Crises

When, in March 2015, delegates from the Middle East met in Amman for their regional consultations round in preparation for the May 23-24 World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, most likely what they had in mind is the fact that their region was --and still is-- the dramatic set of “the mother of all humanitarian crises.”

Bees and Silkworms Spin Gold for Ethiopia’s Rural Youth

Beekeeping and silkworm farming have long been critical cogs of Ethiopian life, providing food, jobs and much needed income.

Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council: Assessment & Way Forward

In my personal capacity as an academic from the Global South and a retired international civil servant, I undertook a study for the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue which was published in November 2014. This was at a time when I had no idea that I would later become a member of this elite group of Special Procedures Mandate Holder. The study is entitled “In Defence of Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council: An alternative narrative from the South”.

Justice for Berta Caceres Incomplete Without Land Rights: UN Rapporteur

The murder of Honduran Indigenous woman Berta Caceres is only too familiar to Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Progress of The World’s Least Developed Countries to be Reviewed

The United Nations will undertake a major review of progress made in the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) later this month.

FAO’s Peace-Building Efforts Through Food Security

At the launching today, of the FAO-Nobel Peace Laureate Alliance for food security and peace, FAO’s Director-General said that “peace and food security are inextricably linked – we cannot achieve one without the other. By integrating food security and peace-building initiatives, we can work together to ensure that hunger is neither a cause nor a result of conflict.”

Deadly Algal Bloom Triggers Social Uprising in Southern Chile

A ban on harvesting shellfish in Chiloé due to a severe red tide outbreak sparked a social uprising that has partially isolated thousands of local residents of the southern Chilean archipelago and revived criticism of an export model that condemns small-scale fishing communities to poverty and marginalisation.

Fund Launched to Help Mountain People Face Climate Change Threat

Jake Norton was on a glacier in northern India. A seemingly impenetrable fortress of sweeping ridges and towering walls of granite, capped by hanging glaciers. It seemed, he said, that nothing could touch it, nothing could beat it down.