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Friday, November 13, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse
Nuclear Nonproliferation Malpractice
The global nuclear nonproliferation system has always relied on responsible leadership from the United States and other global powers. The effort to create, extend, and strengthen the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which was opened for signature 50 years ago on July 1, 1968, has succeeded, albeit imperfectly, because most U.S. presidents have made good faith efforts to back up U.S. legal and political commitments on nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament.
Latin America Begins to Discover Electric Mobility
With 80 percent of the population living in urban areas and a vehicle fleet that is growing at the fastest rate in the world, Latin America has the conditions to begin the transition to electric mobility - but public policies are not, at least for now, up to the task.
UN Launches its Most Ambitious New Development System
I just arrived this morning from Mali – but I wanted to be here personally to thank you for your leadership, engagement and constructive spirit. Allow me to pay a special tribute to the co-facilitators Sabri Boukadoum, Permanent Representative of Algeria, and Ib Petersen, Permanent Representative of Denmark.
Why Israel Dropped Out of the Security Council Race: Not Enough Votes
From the start, it was a closely watched contest pitting Germany, Belgium and Israel against one another for their regional bloc’s two seats in the next term on the United Nations Security Council. Israel has never held a seat on the Council, and as it celebrates its 70-year membership in the UN in 2018, the country was aiming high for the June 8 election.
Food Waste Enough to Feed World’s Hungry Four Times Over
The United Nations is continuing to fight a relentless battle to eradicate extreme hunger – particularly in the world’s poorest nations—by 2030.
Pompeo’s Iran Speech a Prelude to War?
The United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s speech this past Monday targeting Iran may have created a new benchmark for hypocritical, arrogant, and entitled demands by the United States on foreign governments.
Upholding International Law in the Context of International Peace & Security
The Security Council debate last week – on “Upholding International Law within the context of Maintenance of International Peace and Security – took place at a crucial moment when the strengthening and invigorating of collective measures for the maintenance of international peace and security has become an imperative.
Will Climate Change Cause More Migrants than Wars?
Climate change is one of the main drivers of migration and will be increasingly so. It will even have a more significant role in the displacement of people than armed conflicts, which today cause major refugee crises.
White House Should State Opposition to Saudi Threat to Acquire Nuclear Weapons
We are deeply disappointed by the counterproductive response from the Trump administration to the statements from senior Saudi officials threatening to pursue nuclear weapons in violation of their nonproliferation commitments.
Climate Finance: The Paris Agreement’s “Lifeblood”
As negotiators concluded ten days of climate talks in Bonn last week, climate finance was underlined as a key element without which the Paris Agreement’s operational guidelines would be meaningless.
Gaza: Avoiding a Greater Blood Bath
The exit wounds are fist-size. Bone is pulverized into dust. This is the reality for half of the injured patients received in my organization’s clinics since the launch of the Great Return March in Gaza.
20 Water-Stressed Countries Have Most Solar & Wind Potential
Most power generation consumes water, whether to cool steam in thermoelectric plants or power turbines for hydropower. And the global demand for both water and electricity will continue to increase substantially in the coming decades.
Recipe to Save 700,000 Young Children a Year: Clean Water & Decent Toilets
They are the foundations of a happy, healthy childhood: good nutrition, health care which includes immunisations and preventative care as well as treatment for illness, a good education. How many among us would even think to list clean water to drink, a safe place to go to the toilet and the ability to keep hands, bodies and surroundings clean with soap and water?
Time to Get Serious About Peace & Development
Four months ago UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a “red alert”, noting that instead of progressing towards greater peace, the world had moved in reverse towards deepening conflicts and new dangers: “Global anxieties about nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War.
To Sustain Peace: Heed the Warnings & Prevent the Next War
New York and Washington DC may be three hours apart geographically, but in global affairs, they are worlds apart. With the wars in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere unabating, at the UN in New York, terms like ‘conflict prevention’ and ‘sustaining peace’ are back in vogue, with world leaders attending a major summit. Meanwhile in Washington while the talks with North Korea took center stage behind the scenes the drum roll of war against Iran is revving up.
Protecting the Health & Rights of People on the Move
A staggering 258 million people migrated internationally in 2017. While many of these migrants chose to leave their home countries in search of jobs, education, or to reunite with family, many others had no choice but to leave--to escape poverty, violence or a dearth of opportunities for a better life.
Steady Old Hand of Repression Seeks to Strangle New Media in East Africa
In African countries where journalists are targeted with killings and beatings while traditional news outlets have been muzzled by governments and other actors unhappy with criticism, bloggers and social media users have become the new independent media by providing much-needed coverage, commentary and analysis.
African Governments Mark World Press Freedom Day with Crackdown Against Online Journalism
When Uganda in April ordered Internet service providers to shut down all news sites that had not been authorized by the communications regulator (pdf), it was the latest attempt by President Yoweri Museveni’s government to constrict the space for independent media.
Free Media Under Threat Globally
Buoyed on by the likes of United States’ President Donald Trump, a growing number of political leaders are encouraging hostility towards news media and journalists across the globe are finding it harder than ever to do their jobs. This is among the main findings in Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) annual World Press Freedom Index which examines 180 countries and their relationship with the media.
Mounting Debt Threatens UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, 193 countries adopted the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as an overarching policy roadmap through 2030. These goals are predicated on the idea that for a sustainable future, economic growth must go hand-in-hand with social inclusion and protection of the environment.
Press Freedom & Enforced Disappearances: Two Sides of the Same Coin in Sri Lanka
When Sri Lankan journalist Richard de Zoysa was abducted from his home in Colombo on the night of February 18th, 1990, his family knew there would be dark days ahead. The population was still reeling from one of the bloodiest episodes in the island nation’s history – a government counterinsurgency campaign to crush a Marxist rebellion in southern Sri Lanka, which left between 30,000 and 60,000 people dead at the hands of government death squads.« 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
