UN Aims at People-Centered Governance in a Post-Pandemic World

The recently disseminated Zero Draft Ministerial Declaration of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF)-- the main UN event to track the member states’ progress to achieve the Agenda 2030 slated to be held in the first half of July-- is a disappointment.

Boosting Food Security and Education in Schools in Brazil

"I like lettuce, but not tomatoes and cucumbers," said nine-year-old Paulo Henrique da Silva de Jesus, a third grader at the João Baptista Caffaro Municipal School in the southeastern Brazilian city of Itaboraí.

Digital Mentorship: The Key to Women’s Labour Force Participation in India?

Today, approximately 19 million young women are accessing post-secondary or tertiary education in India. Yet, such education has not translated into expected gains in female labour force participation. Only 34 percent of women in India with post-secondary education are active in the labour force, compared to 81 percent of men.

Democracy Loses Its Glow for South Africans Amid Persistent Inequality

South Africans believed that the introduction of democracy in 1994 would transform their lives for the better through equality of opportunities. This hasn’t happened.

Indigenous Women in Mexico Take United Stance Against Inequality

Every other Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. sharp, a group of 26 Mexican women meet for an hour to discuss the progress of their work and immediate tasks. Anyone who arrives late must pay a fine of about 25 cents on the dollar.

Earth Day to Earth Disaster

Since the first Earth Day observed on 22 April 1970, world conditions have worsened greatly across three critically interrelated global dimensions that portend a disastrous future for life on planet Earth.

Earth Day is a Time to Reflect on What It Means to Invest in Our Planet

Around the world, Earth Day 2022 is being celebrated.  The theme this year is “Invest in Our Planet”. To mark the day, activities such as planting trees, protests, marches, cleaning up litter, and conferences will be held to highlight the importance of investing and taking care of our planet.

Europe Sweeps Away More Refugees, Asylum Seekers – Part II: Hungary, Poland

Part I of this two-part series focused on the cases of the United Kingdom and Greece. This article will deal with how Hungary has been criminalising organisations that provide humanitarian assistance to migrants, and how Poland 'arbitrarily’ detains thousands of asylum seekers.

Women in Argentina Cultivate Dignity in Cooperative Vegetable Garden

The space consists of just 300 square meters full of green where there is an agro-ecological vegetable garden and nursery, which are the work and dream of 14 women. Behind it can be seen the imposing silhouettes of the high rises that are a symbol of the most modern and sought-after part of Argentina's capital city.

Europe Sweeps Away More Refugees, Asylum Seekers – Part I: UK, Greece

In what looks pretty much like an ‘operation clean sweep’ aiming at getting rid of more and more migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by shipping them far away, the process of ‘externalisation’ of millions of victims of wars, poverty, climate crisis and political persecution, is now growing fast

The Suicidal War on Nature Continues Unabated – International Mother Earth Day

The gloomy picture is drawn from indisputable scientific conclusions and should be already known by everybody, in particular by decision-makers, whether they are politicians… or rather not.

The Myth of Development by Privatisation

Oxfam’s report ‘Inequality Kills 2022’ and its India supplement (hereafter referred to as the report) revealed some shocking facts about the growing gap between the rich and poor. India, which has the third highest number of billionaires in the world, endured one of the longest-lasting COVID-induced lockdowns in 2020. Yet, the same year, the top 10 percent of India held close to 45 percent of the country’s total national wealth.

High Cost of Debt is Crippling Developing Nations: How can we Bridge the Finance Divide?

As the world is rocked by a confluence of crises, the global economic outlook for 2022 is becoming ever more uncertain and fragile. Prospects for sustainable development for all and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 are bleak, particularly for developing countries.

War in Ukraine & Rise in Arms Spending Undermine Development Aid to the World’s Poor

The unprecedented flow of arms to Ukraine, and the rising miliary spending by European nations to strengthen their defenses, are threatening to undermine development aid to the world’s poorer nations.

Unintended Pregnancy Rates Highest in Africa: a Look at the Complex Reasons

The United Nations Population Fund recently released the 2022 State of World Population report. It highlights that almost half of all pregnancies between 2015 and 2019 were unintended. That amounts to roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies each year.

Food Systems Should Deliver Benefits in terms of Climate, Health and Society

Which country do you think best recognises the potential for changes to food systems to reduce emissions? Presumably a developed country, where agriculture is predominantly intensive, heavily subsidised and fuelled by fertilisers and irrigation, and where high consumption of animal proteins is the norm?

Connecting the Dots for the Transforming Education Summit

Look around the world at this very moment. Whether we look at it in stark numbers and statistics, whether we look at it as a generational loss of basic human rights, including the right to an education, or whether we look inwardly and feel the unspeakable human suffering and devastation taking place, we all agree: we are at a historically low point in our collective humanity.

School Meal Programs Getting Back on Track in Central America, Despite Hurdles

A group of preschool students enthusiastically planted cucumbers and other vegetables in their small school garden in southern El Salvador, a sign that school feeding programs are being revived as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Twilight for the 1951 Refugee Convention

Twilight for the 1951 Refugee Convention is becoming a 21st century reality for an increasing number of countries worldwide.

Worrying Insights from UN’s First-Ever Assessment of Water Security in Africa

When it comes to water security – a reliable, good supply of safe water – just 29 African countries have made some progress over the past three to five years. Twenty-five have made none.

Wake-Up Call as Millions of Africa’s Children at Risk of Missing Out on Education – Report

Marisol Ntalami is one of 747,161 candidates who sat for the national Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education in 2020. “I come from a pastoral community. My father has five wives and many children. I am the only girl in the family to have completed primary school and now secondary school. My mother fought very hard for me to stay in school. I am a first-year university student studying actuarial science,” she tells IPS.