Children Help Take Care of Havana Bay

On a piece of paper, Jennifer Rivas draws a beach, with little girls carrying bags of trash and signs that say “Let’s take care of the environment.” The 10-year-old is part of an educational programme, Friends of the Bay, that involves 322 schools in the Cuban capital.

French Town Makes Environment Everyone’s Business

Christina E. is a mother of three who lives in an apartment building in an upscale neighbourhood in Paris. As someone who prepares meals daily, she wishes she had a place besides her household garbage bin where she could put biodegradable waste.

When the Health System Is Taken Ill

Leaning on her daughter’s arm in the post-operative ward of a hospital in Srinagar, capital of the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, Raja Begam views the anti-infection pill she is being offered with a large dose of suspicion.

U.N. GA Cold Shoulders International Day Against Homophobia

The 193-member U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), in its supreme wisdom, has declared over 100 commemorative "days" dedicated to peacekeepers, refugees, children, migrants, girl children, rural women and indigenous people, among others.

Gay Parents in Cuba Demand Legal Right to Adopt

Many lesbians and gays in Cuba find different ways of achieving their dream of becoming mothers and fathers and forming families. But this is complicated in a country where neither civil unions nor adoption by non-heterosexual persons are legally recognised.

Workers Strike in Support of Turkey Protests

Thousands of public sector workers in Turkey are on a two-day strike in support of anti-government demonstrations.

Despite Peace Talks, Forced Displacement Still Climbing in Colombia

Drugs and arms traffickers are muscling in on Colombia's Pacific coastal region, forcibly displacing local people, according to a new report by the Consultancy for Human Rights and Displacement (CODHES).

Japan Seeks to Remake Asia-Africa Relationship

Acutely aware of China’s strong presence in resource-rich Africa, Japan, the world’s third largest economy, is beefing up its relations with the continent. Participants at a high-level donor conference hosted by Japan this week stressed the need for closer engagement, not through the traditional grants and assistance loans that have hitherto defined the relationship, but rather through trade and investment led by the Japanese private sector.

Historic Arms Trade Treaty Signed at U.N.

The United Nations witnessed a historic moment Monday with the signing of the Arms Trade Treaty, first adopted in April by the General Assembly, and the first time the 85-billion-dollar international arms trade has been regulated by a global set of standards.

Q&A: “The State Does Not Lose Sovereignty If It Respects Indigenous Rights”

"There is a belief that consent is about saying yes or no, about who wins," observed James Anaya, the United Nations special rapporteur on indigenous rights. But consultation with indigenous peoples is a matter of “creating open processes where they can voice their opinions and influence decisions, and where there is the necessary will to seek consensus.”

Good Health Lies Just Across the Border

Muzaffar Shah, a shopkeeper from Kabul, sits in a hospital waiting room, desperate for news. He has travelled nearly 300 km to get to the Khyber Teaching Hospital in Peshawar, capital of northern Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, where his wife is now in intensive care.

U.N. Can Help Devalue Nukes as Geopolitical Currency

When the 193-member U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) holds is first-ever high-level meeting on nuclear disarmament next September, there is little or no hope that any of the nuclear powers will make a firm commitment to gradually phase out or abandon their lethal arsenals.

Walmart, Gap Seek Separate Safety Standards for Bangladesh Factories

Top U.S. companies are now in negotiations to agree on new safety standards for their clothing-producing contractors in Bangladesh, a month after a garment factory’s collapse in Dhaka killed more than 1,100 workers.

Reactions to Gay Marriage Contradict French, Portuguese Stereotypes

The heated reaction to the legalisation of same-sex marriage has run counter to the widespread image of France as the cradle of the modern republic and equal rights since the 1789 revolution. In contrast, Portugal with its reputation for prudishness, has shown itself to be much more open and tolerant.

Kazakhstan’s Green Zone on Slippery Slope

A group of flashmobbers took to the slopes in southeastern Kazakhstan on a crisp March morning this year to spell out a heartfelt SOS with their bodies.

Five Native American “Champions” Call for Change

It’s Sarah Schilling’s usual manner of greeting when she meets other members of her tribe: “Aanii Sarah Schilling n'diznakaas, which translates to ‘Hello, Sarah is my name’ in English,” she said.

Religious Intolerance Taints Award for Indonesian President

Standing in front of the two-metre concrete wall, barbed wire and corrugated iron fence that surrounds his mosque, Muhammad Iqbal says he feels like a second-class citizen in his own country.

Mexico’s Desaparecidos: Unspoken, Unseen, Unknown

The last time Enrique Rangel heard his brother Héctor's voice was on the night of Nov. 10, 2009, when he called and said “they’re coming, they already stopped me and asked for money, and I already paid, but they’re coming.”

Sex Educators Struggle to Break Taboos

Liberian journalist Mae Azango says she spent a year living “like a bat, going from tree to tree” with her daughter in order to escape religious fanatics who were threatening to kill her for exposing the practice of female genital mutilation in her home country last year.

U.N. Panel Projects a Poverty-Free World by 2030

A U.N.-commissioned high-level panel of eminent persons, led by three world leaders, has moved the goal posts for the halving of extreme poverty and hunger: from the current 2015 deadline to a new targeted date of 2030.

Afghan Media Brace for Financial Drought

As Afghanistan prepares for the 2014 withdrawal of foreign forces that have occupied this country for over a decade, investors are already beginning to bid a hasty retreat amid rumours that “chaos” and civil war will replace NATO’s boots on the ground late next year.