Canada Takes a Lead Role Funding Reproductive Health, Women’s Rights & Sustainable Development

Canada, which has been described as one of the world’s most progressive countries, has legitimized gay rights, vociferously advocated gender empowerment, offered strong support for abortion rights – and recently became the world’s first major economy to legalize recreational marijuana.

LGBT Violence and Discrimination is “Disastrous”

Transgender and gender-diverse people are facing unprecedented levels of violence and discrimination around the world and states must act to ensure they are not left behind, said a United Nations rights expert.

Trump and Bolsonaro: Alarming Similarities

Observing recent political developments in the United States and Brazil, there are clearly similarities between the phenomena of 'Trumpism' and 'Bolsonarism' that do not seem to be a mere coincidence.

With Poor Human Rights Record, Repatriation Not Possible

Policies that allow for impunity, genocide, and apartheid are “intolerable” and make repatriation of Rohingya refugees impossible, say United Nations investigators.

African Union Makes Moves to Neutralise Africa’s Main Human Rights Body

For many African activists based on the continent, getting to a major human rights summit just underway in The Gambia is likely to have been a challenging exercise. The journey by air from many African countries to the capital, Banjul, for the 63rd Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR), could have been prohibitively expensive, involved transiting through multiple cities and taken days.

An Ounce of Democracy

As the old adage goes: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Nowhere is this more appropriate than when it comes to conflict. Violent conflict causes not only human suffering and destruction but robs entire societies of development and growth.

The Invisible, Hungry Hand

The very people who help put food on our tables often face numerous human rights violations, forcing them go to bed hungry.

Trump’s Counterproductive Decision to “Terminate” the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty

Under the influence of his new National Security Advisor, John Bolton, Trump announced Saturday at a campaign rally that he will “terminate” a key nuclear arms control agreement that helped end the Cold War race–the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in response to a long-running dispute over Russian noncompliance with the treaty.

The UN has promoted peace and justice to every corner of the world,” says the Geneva Centre’s Chairman

In commemoration of the 2018 United Nations Day, observed annually on 24 October, the Chairman of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue HE Dr. Hanif Hassan Ali Al Qassim said that the United Nations Day is an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of this unique organization that has gone beyond maintaining world peace, promoting human rights and social progress.

Did post-Soviet Russians drink themselves to death?

Although initially obscured by The Economist, among others, the sudden and unprecedented increase in Russian adult male mortality during 1992-1994 is no longer denied. Instead, the debate is now over why? Having advocated ‘shock therapy’, a ‘big bang’, ‘sudden’ or rapid post-Soviet transition, Jeffrey Sachs and others have claimed that the sudden collapse in Russian adult male life expectancy was due to a sudden increase in alcohol consumption, playing into popular foreign images of vodka-binging Russian men.

Parliamentarians Promote Youth Investment in Kazakhstan

Parliamentarians from 36 countries met this weekend in Astana, Kazakhstan, to discuss the future of youth in Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. The gathering called “International Conference on Investing on Youth: Leaving No One Behind” took place on the Oct. 19 to 20, and the goal was to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), set by the United Nations, with regards to youth.

Despite Progress, Over 200 Million Women Still Waiting for Modern Contraception

The international community will be commemorating two milestones in the history of population and development next year: the 50th anniversary of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the 25th anniversary of a Programme of Action (PoA) adopted at the1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo.

Time for Global Collaboration to Address Pressing Issues of Sexual & Reproductive Health & Rights

300 Parliamentarians from over 150 nations will meet, in Ottawa, to tackle one of the most serious global challenges facing humanity. The International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the ICPD Program of Action (IPCI), October 22-23, is a forum, for all global regions, to generate collective action on issues of population and development, specifically as they relate to sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The Right to Choose

Reproductive choice can transform the world and our goals towards a sustainable society, a new report says.

Women as Liberia’s Guardians of Peace

Not long ago, images of child soldiers and the nation of Liberia were wedded in the minds of the international community. The country was struggling to end a horrific civil war, but military efforts were going nowhere.

Don’t “Whitewash” Khashoggi’s Murder

In the midst of international outrage over the alleged murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, human rights groups have called for a United Nations investigation into the incident.

Africa Remains Resolute Heading to COP 24

In December 2015, nations of the world took a giant step to combat climate change through the landmark Paris Agreement. But African experts who met in Nairobi, Kenya at last week’s Seventh Conference on Climate Change and Development in Africa (CCDA VII) say the rise of far-right wing and nationalist movements in the West are threatening the collapse of the agreement.

Is There a Remittance Trap?

Workers’ remittances—the money migrants send home to their families—command the attention of economists and policymakers because of their potential to improve the lives of millions of people.

Africa Must Increase Spending on Health Care, Education & Modern Contraception

One of the main challenges which we are facing across Africa today is the imperative to empower its largest ever young population and to provide them with opportunities to realise their full potential.

UN Vote on Palestine a Humiliating Defeat for US & its Envoy

Nikky Haley, the vociferously anti-Palestine US Ambassador to the United Nations, warned member states last year she will “take down names” of those who vote against American interests in the world body—perhaps with the implicit threat of cutting US aid to countries that refuse to play ball with the diplomatically-reckless Trump administration.

Parliamentarians to Assess Population & Development Funding 24 Years After Historic Conference

When international parliamentarians-– both from the developed and developing world— meet in Canada next week, the primary focus would be to assess the implementation of a landmark Programme of Action (PoA) on population and development adopted at a ground breaking UN conference, led by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), held in Cairo back in 1994.