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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse
We Can Get the 2030 Agenda Back on Track – With More Empowered, Inclusive, & Equal Partnerships
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, universally adopted in 2015, is a plan to create a better and more sustainable future for all in just 15 years, through 17 Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs). It sounds implausible.
Africa’s Free Trade Area Misses Nigeria
When Africa’s free trade area launches on 7 July, a key player will be missing. However, Victor Adetula, head of research at Nordic Africa Institute (NAI) in Sweden, predicts that Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria, will gradually open up and join the project.
Zero Population Growth vs Population Control
Knowledge is power, but with the caveat that said knowledge is based in fact. Otherwise, it’s misinformation.
Sri Lanka on Security Alert Long After Easter Bombings
Sri Lanka continues to be on a security alert long after the devastation caused by a string of bombings on Easter Sunday this year. Raisa Wickrematunge, Editor of Groundviews, told IPS: “There has been a tightening of security. There are now security checks being carried out outside hotels and shopping malls - either through scanners or bag and body searches”.
Are We Fighting a Losing Battle in the War Against Drugs?
How effective is the global war on drugs? The latest statistics released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are staggering: 35 million people across the globe currently have a substance use disorder, and as of 2017, 585,000 people have died worldwide as a result of drug use.
Paraguay Moves Towards Sustainable Commodities
The statistics are alarming. By 2050, the world will require an estimated 60 percent growth in agricultural production to meet the food demand of a population of close to 9 billion people.
U.S.-backed Kurds to Halt Child Soldier use in Syria
The United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have struck a deal with the United Nations to stop using child soldiers across swathes of eastern Syria under their control and to release all youngsters from their ranks, the U.N. announced Monday.
Unseen and Unsafe: Violence Against Women within Migrant Families
Refugee and migrant women often face inescapable violence in the home. And the potential for intimate forms of violence is exacerbated by humanitarian crises and job insecurity.
US & Iranian Actions Put Nuclear Deal in Jeopardy
Iran’s announcement that it may soon breach the 300-kilogram limit on low-enriched uranium set by the 2015 nuclear deal is an expected but troubling response to the Trump administration’s reckless and ill-conceived pressure campaign to kill the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Is there a Co-Relation Between Human Development & SDGs?
“People are the real wealth of nations,” began the first Human Development Report (HDR). That 1990 report marked a turning point in the global development debate.
We Cannot Save the World from Climate Catastrophe if Largest Emitters of CO2 Don’t Step up Now
SUVA, Fiji, 27 June 2019 (IPS) -- Are the most climate-vulnerable nations of the world right to demand that developed and major economies commit to carbon neutrality by 2050? Should the poorest nations of the world insist that the “haves” put their significant economic and political resources behind aggressive efforts to combat climate change?
Beyond Saudi Arabia: The World Is Failing Journalists
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was deliberately killed at the hands of state actors and journalists around the world are increasingly seeing the same fate, said a United Nations expert.
A Roadmap for Children as Victims, not Terrorists
The feeling in the air at a recent meeting of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was one of compassion and benevolence. The focus was on children as Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs), a subject that everyone at the panel discussion argued is delicate and politically sensitive.
Women’s Rights are Key in Slowing Down Population
The increase in world population by 2 billion in the next 30 years will present a serious global challenge especially if we do not find new paradigms of development thought and renewed global political leadership.
Partnering for Youth in Central Asia
Young people around the world are facing increasingly insurmountable, persistent barriers as they try to achieve their full potential and secure a prosperous future. However, Central Asia and the Asia-Pacific have already begun working to ensure that no one is left behind.
World’s Poorest Nations Weighed Down by Fastest Growing Populations
With a new report projecting a rise in population, specifically in Asia and Africa, the United Nations has warned that continued rapid population growth presents enormous challenges for sustainable development in the world’s 134 developing nations.
‘Born A Refugee, I Dream of a Place Called Home’
I am a refugee, born to a refugee family. I was granted that status on the day I came into this world. I was not aware of what had happened before then. I did not fight any battle, I did not threaten anyone. I did not even choose my own race or ethnicity. I just came to this world to find myself a displaced person.
Put Survivors Front and Centre
Sexual violence is still all too common and continues to threaten peace and security worldwide. How can we do better? Put survivors at the centre.
SDGs, Currently Off-Track, Need Bold Decisive Action
It has been four years since governments agreed on the most ambitious set of international commitments to fight poverty and inequality to date. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), otherwise known as the Global Goals, are ‘a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.’ The goals ambitiously aim to “Leave No One Behind.”
Rising Population Trends Threaten UN’s Development Goals in Asia & Africa
The world’s developing nations, currently fighting an uphill battle in their attempts to implement the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), are facing another stark demographic reality: a rise in world population by 2.0 billion people in the next 30 years: from 7.7 billion to 9.7 billion in 2050.
UN’s Development Goals Remain Largely Elusive
The United Nations, in a new report to be released next month, has warned “there is no escaping the fact that the global landscape for the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has generally deteriorated since 2015, hindering the efforts of governments and other partners”« Previous Page — Next Page »
It was dubbed "The Glass House" by U.S. ambassador James Wadsworth in 1966. Half a century later, the United Nations has gradually expanded its role as agent of peace and protector of the world's vulnerable populations, while simultaneously facing internal pressures to become more inclusive, increase transparency and maintain legitimacy in the post-Cold War political and economic order. Highlighting the local impacts of global policies on economic development, environment, health and human rights, IPS's coverage goes beyond the edicts of the Security Council to illuminate the power struggles, successes and shortcomings of the 193-member institution as it grapples with crises like climate change, armed conflict, poverty and HIV/AIDS.
The Week with IPS
