OPINION: Stand in Solidarity with Courageous Women’s Human Rights Defenders

Almost two decades ago, in Beijing, 189 countries made a commitment to achieve equality for women, in practice and in law, so that all women could at last fully enjoy their rights and freedoms as equal human beings.

Will Rollout of Green Technologies Get a Boost at Lima Climate Summit?

The road towards a green economy is paved with both reward and risk, and policymakers must seek to balance these out if the transition to low-carbon energy sources is to succeed on the required scale, climate experts say.

Ebola Overshadows Fight Against HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone

The outbreak of the deadly Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone has dwarfed the campaign against HIV/AIDS, to the extent that patients no longer go to hospitals and treatment centres out of fear of contracting the Ebola virus.

OPINION: Climate Justice Is the Only Way to Solve Our Climate Crisis

In November, the world's top climate scientists issued their latest warning that the climate crisis is rapidly worsening on a number of fronts, and that we must stop our climate-polluting way of producing energy if we are to stand a chance of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

HIV Prevention is Failing Young South African Women

When she found out that she had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Thabisile Mkhize (not her real name) was scared.

Illegal Logging Wreaking Havoc on Impoverished Rural Communities

Rampant unsustainable logging in the southwest Pacific Island states of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, where the majority of land is covered in tropical rainforest, is worsening hardship, human insecurity and conflict in rural communities.

When Social Unrest Vents Itself on Migrants

“It’s like putting explosive, gasoline and matches all in one shed. These are things that should be stored in separated places.”

Only a Few Drops of Water at the Lima Climate Summit

Although it is one of the victims of global warming, water will not be given a place of importance at the COP20 climate change conference to be held Dec. 1-12 in Lima, Peru.

OPINION: People with Disabilities Must Be Counted in the Fight Against HIV

Jane is a young Zambian mother with a physical disability in Lusaka, who uses a wheelchair to get around. She does not let clinics without ramps or without wheelchair accessible toilets and equipment stop her from claiming her right to health care, including HIV prevention services.

Elections Offer Little Solace to Sri Lanka’s Poor

Priyantha Wakvitta is used to seeing his adopted city, Colombo, transform into a landscape of bright sparkling lights and window dressing towards the end of the year.

Indigenous Community Beats Drought and Malnutrition in Honduras

In the heart of the Pijol mountains in the northern Honduran province of Yoro, the Tolupan indigenous community of Pueblo Nuevo has a lot to celebrate: famine is no longer a problem for them, and their youngest children were rescued from the grip of child malnutrition.

Democratising the Fight against Malnutrition

There is a new dimension to the issue of malnutrition – governments, civil society and the private sector have started to come together around a common nutrition agenda.

OPINION: All Family Planning Should Be Voluntary, Safe and Fully Informed

The tragic deaths and injuries of women following sterilisation in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh have sparked global media coverage and public concern and outrage.

Internal Ruling Party Wrangles Stall Development in Zimbabwe

With the ruling Zimbabwe Africa National Union Patriotic Front party in Zimbabwe seized with internal conflicts, attention to key development areas here have shifted despite the imminent end of December 2015 deadline for global attainment of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Women on the Edge of Land and Life

November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

OPINION: The Decline of Social Europe is Part of a World Trend

After the Italian sea search-and-rescue operation Mare Nostrum at a cost of nine million euros a month, through which the Italian Navy has rescued nearly 100,000 migrants – although perhaps up to 3,000 have died – from the Mediterranean since October 2013, Europe is now presenting its new face in the Mediterranean.

Crisis of Poverty and Inequality in Oil rich Nigeria

With a production capacity of over 3 million barrels of crude oil per day Nigeria is Africa’s top crude oil producer and the continent’s largest economy. But Nigeria’s wealth has only benefited a privileged few while majority of the citizens remain poor. Poverty and inequality in Nigeria have increased crime rate and heightened crisis including the insurgency of the terrorist group Boko Haram.

Filipino Farmers Protest Government Research on Genetically Modified Rice

Jon Sarmiento, a farmer in the Cavite province in southern Manila, plants a variety of fruits and vegetables, but his main crop, rice, is under threat. He claims that approval by the Philippine government of the genetically modified ‘golden rice’ that is fortified with beta-carotene, which the body converts into vitamin A, could ruin his livelihood.

Central American Civil Society Calls for Protection of Local Agriculture at COP20

Worried about the effects of global warming on agriculture, water and food security in their communities, social organisations in Central America are demanding that their governments put a priority on these issues in the COP20 climate summit.

Jewellery Industry Takes Steps to Eliminate “Conflict Gold”

Major U.S. jewellery companies and retailers have started to take substantive steps to eliminate the presence of “conflict gold” from their supply chains, according to the results of a year-long investigation published Monday.

Water and Sanitation Report Card: Slow Progress, Inadequate Funding

The Ebola crisis has thrown into sharp relief the issue of water, sanitation and hygiene in treating and caring for the sick. Dying patients are being taken to hospitals which never had enough water to maintain hygiene, and the epidemic has pushed the system to the breaking point.