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Tuesday, November 10, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Gender
LIECHTENSTEIN: ‘We Have One of the Strictest Abortion Bans in Europe’
CIVICUS discusses struggles for abortion rights in Liechtenstein with Gabriella Alvarez-Hummel, a journalist and reproductive rights activist who works with Fristenlösung für Liechtenstein, an organisation that campaigns for the introduction of a legal time-limit abortion model.
Midwives: The Workforce That Will Determine Maternal and Newborn Survival and Africa’s Future
Tonight, thousands of women across Africa will give birth. Whether they survive to see daylight will largely depend on where they live, how quickly they reach care, and whether the health system around them is ready to respond.
WHO Announces New Ebola Vaccine Guidelines for the DRC
While Uganda announced the end of its Ebola outbreak last week, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) continues to battle its deadliest Ebola outbreak to date. As of September 1st, there have been over 6,000 cases, including over 3,000 deaths, with Ituri standing as the most affected province.
UNICEF Report Underscores Rising Rates of Tech-Facilitated Sexual Abuse Targeting Children
A new report from UNICEF finds that approximately 1 in 5 of all children surveyed reported facing tech-facilitated sexual abuse or exploitation in a single year.
Families in Desperate Search for Victims of the ‘Himalayan Tsunami’ in Nepal
On Sunday afternoon, Mingma Tamang, 29, rushed into the TU Teaching Hospital’s emergency ward, where a rescue team had just brought in an injured person in the Rasuwa flash flood – but she soon left grim-faced.
‘I am one who dies for life, not one who lives for death’ – Kurdish Political Prisoner Pakhshan Azizi
In 2024, Kurdish social worker Pakhshan Azizi was sentenced to death. She remains incarcerated in Evin Prison, Tehran, Iran. This is her story ...
Family Planning and Population Dynamics Are Key to Water Security
This week is World Water Week, the annual conference of governments, business, and civil society on building a water-secure future as global population, climate disruptions, and water demand increase. In Washington, it’s also Water Resources Development Act season, when every two years the US Congress reauthorizes the legilslation that funds US drinking water, wastewater systems, and flood risk management projects.
Lailuma Built Opportunities for Afghan Women – Then She Was Killed
Afghanistan has seen a number of unexplained murders in recent months. One of the latest victims is Lailuma, the wife of well-known local singer Salam Maftoon and a community activist.
UNAIDS Framework Pushes for the Protection and Integration of HIV Care
As the global HIV response shifts toward sustainable, nationally led, and rights-based care, a new UNAIDS framework published this week argues that integration must start with a country's readiness.
How the Taliban Hunt Women in Afghanistan
FIVE years after the Taliban returned to power, Fawzia Koofi, the former Deputy Speaker of the Afghan Parliament, denounces what she describes as “gender apartheid.”
Nairobi Biodiversity Talks Set the Stage for Key COP17 Decisions
Despite record participation in global biodiversity reporting and planning processes, countries remain off track to meet the world's 2030 biodiversity goals, according to discussions that concluded this month at two key meetings under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).
How Global Aid Cuts are Undermining Women-Led Humanitarian Response in Sudan
Women-led and women’s rights organizations (WLOs) in humanitarian settings are collapsing amidst a complicated predicament in which needs are surging and international support is dwindling.
PARAGUAY: ‘Transparency Should Strengthen Democracy, Not Turn Criticism of Those in Power into a Cause for Suspicion’
CIVICUS discusses the challenges posed by Paraguay’s ‘anti-NGO law’ with Hugo González, executive director of the Paraguayan Network of LGBTQ+ Artists (REPAR+), a civil society organisation (CSO) that promotes the rights of LGBTQI+ people, which has joined the constitutional challenge against this law.
African Rights Advocates Coordinate Response to Family Law Backlash
Women's rights advocates, judges and lawyers have launched a coordinated campaign to reform family laws that discriminate against women and girls in Africa.
UN Special Rapporteur Urges the Protection of Children’s Rights Amid Deepening Conflict and Digital Threats
On July 7, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres presented a report from the Special Rapporteur on the sale, sexual exploitation, and sexual abuse of children, Ai Kihara-Hunt, to the General Assembly, underscoring her goals and priorities for the implementation of protection measures for children worldwide.
Obstetric Violence: Syrian Women Speak Out
The abuse 30-year-old Nour Al-Badawi experienced in an Aleppo public hospital while giving birth resulted in her having two major follow-up operations and left her with depression and anxiety.
INDIA: ‘The Cockroach Janta Party Brings Together Everyone Who Has Been Neglected for Years’
CIVICUS discusses India’s Cockroach Janta Party movement with Harshit Singh, a young activist, poet and storyteller who took part in protests in Delhi.
In Taliban-Ruled Afghanistan, One Woman Refuses a Life of Dependence
The Taliban’s rise to power robbed Mehrmaa of her husband, her job and her chance to live freely.
Female Genital Mutilation: Winning the Argument, Losing the Funding
Last August, a one-month-old girl in The Gambia bled to death after being subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice that had been illegal in the country since 2015. FGM is a human rights violation, whatever the appeals to faith or tradition made in its defence, but now the Gambian Supreme Court is being asked to strike the country’s ban down. This is the second attempt in two years to make FGM legal again.
ARMENIA: ‘Anti-LGBTQI+ Discourse Is Increasingly Tied to Anti-democratic Narratives’
CIVICUS discusses disinformation campaigns targeting the LGBTQI+ community in Armenia with Hripsime Kizogyan, Executive Director of Pink Armenia, a community-based organisation that defends the human rights of LGBTQI+ people and advocates for policy change.
From the Foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, Magnolia Athletics Camp Is Helping Girls Stay in School, Pursue Athletics and Escape the Pressures of Harmful Traditional Practices
Before sunrise each morning, 19-year-old Josephine Sembeyo joins dozens of teenage runners leaving Magnolia Athletics Camp for training beneath the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.« Previous Page — Next Page »
Women make up half the world's population, but don't nearly share half of the world's wealth, well-being and opportunity. Two-thirds of the world poor are women, disproportionally exposing women to precarious living conditions, disease and unmitigated natural disasters. The media, meanwhile, remains a male-dominated sector in much of the world, contributing to women's voices lacking a crucial amplifier to put their concerns on political agendas and unleash the development potential of their ingenuity. Rather than then stereotypical victims of local and global forces, women are also organizer, innovators, conservators and community builders. These are some of their stories.
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