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Wednesday, November 11, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse
Citizenship & Growth: Inclusive Citizenship Laws Tend to Foster Economic Development
The notion of citizenship has evolved over time. Historically, allegiance was typically to an ethnic group or a feudal lord. With the birth of the nation-state in the 19th century came the need to distinguish between those who belonged to the state and those who didn’t, and therefore to create a legal distinction between nationals and foreigners.
Cameroon Crisis “More Alarming Than Ever”
The United Nations must act to prevent further devastation from the escalating crisis in Cameroon, human rights groups said.
Spotlighting the ‘Abilities’ in ‘Disabilities’
The power of sport can help make global sustainable development a reality, and such power transcends cultural, linguistic and even physical barriers.
Internal Displacement “Deserves Visibility”
More people are displaced inside their own countries than ever before, and only higher figures can be expected without urgent long-term action, a new report found.
An Urgent Need to Advance Peace
Let us be blunt: the world is in crisis. Peace, human rights, our planetary ecosystem, and our systems of conflict management and global governance are under enormous strain.
Campaign to Whitewash Saudi Arabia’s Image Does Little for Women in the Kingdom
Amid a high-profile public relations campaign to convince the world just how much the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is modernising – highlighted in last year’s lifting of the ban on women driving – Saudi authorities continue their relentless persecution of women human rights defenders.
US Withdrawal From Iran Nuclear Deal: One Year On
On 8 May last year, US President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States would pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which sets limits on Iran’s nuclear programme to ensure that it cannot produce nuclear weapons.
Leaving No One Behind: Young People’s Participation at UN
Walking down 44th street towards UNICEF House was a poignant moment for me: having sought out resources, gone through strenuous immigration processes and having had my assumptions unraveled with the realities of New York City (NYC). This was it.
Sustainable Development Goals: One of the Greatest Fun Things in the World!?
This year’s annual “SDG Global Festival of Action” was held in Bonn, Germany, from May 2–4, 2019. The festival’s overall aim is to gather campaigners and multiple stakeholders from around the world at one place for interaction with each other; furthermore, it seeks to inspire them to scale up action in support of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set forth in the 2030 Agenda adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
Women, Peace and Security: Let’s Turn Words into Action
To be able to tackle a problem we must first recognize that it exists. When I first spoke at the United Nations Security Council in 2009, I was asked why the issue of sexual violence was even relevant to peace and security. At that time, it was not generally accepted that rape is in fact a weapon of war. Today, that statement is both widely accepted and central to the international community’s understanding of this crucial issue.
Future of Our Planet Requires Deeper Cooperation, Long-term Thinking
For most of the 7 billion people on the planet, global institutions are remote, far removed from their day to day existence. Yet, our global institutions matter.
Opting In: The Value of Vaccines
Since the introduction of vaccines, diseases such as measles and polio were quickly becoming a thing of the past. However, the world’s progress on immunisation is now being threatened.
Are Migrant Workers Humans or Commodities?
The United Nations has estimated a hefty $466 billion as remittances from migrant workers worldwide in 2017—and perhaps even higher last year.
Trump’s Arms Control Gambit: Serious or a Poison Pill?
Smart U.S. leadership is an essential part of the nuclear risk reduction equation. Unfortunately, after more than two years into President Donald Trump’s term in office, his administration has failed to present a credible strategy to reduce the risks posed by the still enormous U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, which comprise more than 90 percent of the world’s nuclear weapons.
Massacre of the Innocents: Whereto from Here?
We have been here before. This blooded precipice is familiar, this looming abyss. What is unfamiliar, what renders the Easter Sunday massacre most vile and truly nightmarish is the total absence of any knowable rationality.
Land Conservation: A Risky Business
In light of land degradation and climate change, the protection of the environment is crucial—but the protection of the very people working tirelessly and with much risk to preserve nature should be just as important.
US Takes Back Signature on Arms Trade Treaty
The United States dropped a political bombshell when President Donald Trump announced his administration would withdraw from the historic Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) which the former Obama administration signed in September 2013.
Muslim Terrorists Heading Towards a Jihadist Hell Hole
The history of terrorism in Sri Lanka reveals a clear pattern. The first to take up arms in the post-Independent era were the misguided Sinhala youth. They were educated youth desperately running in search of a quick solution to establish their classless paradise. Their violence did not take them anywhere.
US & Western Arms in Yemen Conflict Signal Potential War Crime Charges
When US political leaders urged the Trump administration to either reduce or cut off arms supplies to Saudi Arabia – largely as a punishment for its indiscriminate bombings of civilians in the four-year old military conflict in Yemen—President Trump provided a predictable response: “If we don’t sell arms to Saudi Arabia, the Chinese and the Russians will.”
A Treaty to End Corporate Immunity?
When Ecuadorean diplomat Luis Gallegos first proposed a “Binding Treaty on Business and Human Rights,” many countries and environmental activists welcomed the idea with open arms.
Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday Carnage: Quo Vadis?
I returned from attending a three-hour Easter Sunday mass at the Fordham University Church around midnight New York time on April 20, 2019, when my phone rang and a colleague asked me what’s going on in Sri Lanka? I said what is going on? He said there were a series of coordinated terrorist bombings with multiple fatalities and scores of injuries in my native country. For the next four and a half hours I was on the phone trying to piece together what happened, including reaching out to Sri Lanka’s Secretary of Defence Hemasiri Fernando.« 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
