Bangladesh Draws Pakistan’s Garment Makers

Faced with serious political instability and a deteriorating industrial climate, Pakistan’s garment exporters are turning to Bangladesh, a territory which splintered away after a bloody war of independence in 1971.

Women Hung Out to Dry in Global Labour Market

Amid policy battles over food production, energy resources and economic decline, one untapped natural resource that is guaranteed to boost production on a global scale has been stubbornly overlooked – the power of women in the labour force.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Women Challenge Monopoly on “Men’s Jobs”

From a small office inside a public school on the eastern side of the Rio Ozama in the capital Santo Domingo, a programme operated by a local NGO, Ce-Mujer, has been leading a quiet revolution to empower women in the workplace for the last 13 years.

Global Gold Rush Brings Heightened Scrutiny

Bolstered by gold prices hovering above 1,800 dollars an ounce and a global economy slowly recovering, exploration activity for the precious metal in 2010 once again rebounded. Yet, with this surge comes the attendant scrutiny by activists, investors, and the media into the industry's human rights and environmental records abroad.

NEPAL: No Brakes on Sex Trafficking

While a Nepalese campaign to stop human trafficking gains recognition by the White House and Hollywood, Nepal continues to be a prime source for sex trafficking, thanks to unsettled conditions created by a protracted political crisis.

Namibia Wants to Conclude Talks and Sign EPAs

European Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht made a pit-stop in Windhoek to appease concerns over a troublesome economic partnership agreement (EPA) ahead of the Africa-European Union summit in South Africa.

INDIA: ‘Women Make Good Business Sense’

Harish Hande believes that involving women in design, manufacture and sales pays dividends in any business, but especially in those making products that women ultimately use.

U.S. Residents Poorer, Earning Less, and Less Insured in 2010

According to data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau, 2.6 million more people slipped into poverty in 2010, placing the number of U.S. residents living below the poverty line at 15.1 percent.

Companies Vow to Shun Child Labour in Uzbekistan

With Fashion Week under way in New York, Milan and London, more than 60 apparel companies from the United States and Europe this week publicly pledged to not knowingly buy cotton that has been harvested by children forced to labour in the cotton fields of Uzbekistan.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Suspended Exports Dent Scrap Metal Dealers’ Prospects

Between now and 2012, the Côte d'Ivoire government plans to establish a scrap metal processing industry that will supply finished products to domestic and regional markets. It is unwelcome news for the country's existing scrap dealers.

JAMAICA: Women Coffee Farmers Seize a Plastic Lifeline

Jamaica's Blue Mountains are coffee country. Here, up among the clouds, farmers produce one of the world's most exclusive brands of boutique coffees.

SRI LANKA: Catching Itself Young

When Sri Lanka extended the age of retirement for government workers from 55 to 57 years it defied criticism that the island’s public sector was overstaffed and needed serious downsizing.

Q&A: “People With Disabilities Want Work”

More than one billion people worldwide live with disabilities, some 15 percent of the world's population.

Donors Fund Forced Labour in Vietnam

A leading international human rights group has accused the United States government, the World Bank and other international donors of indirectly funding forced labour in Vietnam’s drug rehabilitation centres.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Nepali Women Sow a Secure Future

Learning a lesson from crop failures attributed to climate change, Nepal’s women farmers are discarding imported hybrid seeds and husbanding hardier local varieties in cooperative seed banks.

TRINIDAD: State of Emergency in More Ways Than One

Ancel Roget believes he knows why the Trinidad and Tobago government imposed a State of Emergency (SOE) on Aug. 21 and used its majority in the Parliament to extend it for another three months.

MAURITANIA: Fresh Attempt at Irrigated Agriculture

In a bid to reduce food insecurity, the Mauritanian government is turning to several new approaches to agriculture, including expanded irrigation schemes, popularising new crops and harnessing the energy of recent graduates.

COLOMBIA: Microcredit Growing Steadily at 15 Percent a Year

The more than 1.2 million microenterprises operating in Colombia are responsible for around 50 percent of all employment. And many of these small businesses owe their existence to the microfinance system, according to a report by Visión Económica, a local business research group.

IRAQ: Trafficked to Baghdad’s Green Zone

Ukrainian and Bulgarian workers are currently camped out on a construction site of half-built luxury villas in Baghdad’s elite "Green Zone" – a vast security enclave housing government offices, embassies and international NGOs - demanding their salaries before being shipped back home.

Mexican Fisherwomen Organise Against Climate Change

Every night, Adlemi Marrufo goes out to catch bait crabs used to fish for octopus in this small seaside town and others along Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, as part of a women's cooperative that is working to adapt to and fight climate change.

PORTUGAL: Young Professionals Flee Crisis – to Former Colonies

Thousands of young people from Portugal are joining an emigration flow that never trickled to a stop but is turning into an exodus now due to the severe economic crisis plaguing this southern European country. And the main destinations of those looking for a better future abroad are former colonies, especially Brazil.