Leading Towards a Better World?

President Barak Obama's speech at the seventy first session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2016 carries great significance. This is not only because it was his last speech at the UN as the US president, but also for its content and message. While his speech has implications for the world today, some are probably more relevant for his own country. Emphasising that the world “must go forward, and not backward”, he spent a great deal of time highlighting the need for global integration and its benefits. He said that billions of people are now enjoying better lives, and the number of people living in extreme poverty has been reduced from about 40 percent to below 10 percent in the last 25 years, thanks to integration of the global economy. Reference to the contribution of immigrants to the US was another notable point of Obama's speech, as he stated, “Today, a nation ringed by walls would only imprison itself.”

Behind Closed Doors

The availability of cheap labour and low levels of educational/ economic opportunity, to say nothing of the insufficiency of jobs and the surfeit of both poverty and people, make it one of Pakistan’s unsurprising realities that any household that can afford to employ domestic staff does so. ‘Afford’ is a relative term — those who live in posh mansions might require a small army to keep the place in order; their more modestly placed middle-income compatriots also generally have the luxury of employing someone to help out.

The Real-Life Tale of a Domestic Worker

Snow White is from Karen State, Myanmar. Her father died when she was 11, leaving her responsible for the care of her mother and younger siblings. Lacking opportunity and education in her hometown, Snow White joined a group of friends hoping to be smuggled into Thailand to find work as domestic workers, setting off a harrowing journey that nearly left her dead. Watch our story to find out how Snow White’s story unfolds.

Community Conversations in Ethiopia Prevents Exploitative Migration

Five years ago, when Meliya Gumi’s two daughters, Gifty* and Chaltu,* aged 16 and 18, migrated to Dubai and Qatar respectively, as domestic workers, everyone thought they were moving towards a better future. As a widowed mother of eight with little resources, living in the village of Haro Kunta in the Oromia region of Ethiopia, Gumi had a difficult time making ends meet.

War Drums Louder than Ever

Today, the world is celebrating the International Day of Peace. It is inaugurated by ringing the United Nations Peace Bell at the UN Headquarters. An inscription on its side reads, “Long live absolute world peace”. Unfortunately, however, 34 years since its inception, we now live in a world absolutely opposed to that vision — a world that is anything but peaceful.

Pakistan Warming

Amidst all the turmoil, climate change is rapidly surfacing as an issue that eclipses all others in terms of its severity and sheer scale of impact. As part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to reduce global warming, Pakistan was among 175 nations that resolved to mitigate the effects of climate change by becoming signatory to the historic Paris Agreement in April this year.

Stories of Hope from a Cameroon Refugee Camp

To the world they are known as “refugees”. Nameless, faceless, all the same. But each of them have a different story to tell, of their lives, who they lost, and how they got here. Fleeing from the devastating conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR), today they are rebuilding their lives, one day at a time, in a camp in Cameroon. UN Women supports economic and social rehabilitation to some 6,250 vulnerable women and survivors of sexual and gender-based violence there. These are some of their stories.

China Takes Its Place on the International Stage

China hosted the 11th G20 summit from September 4-5, 2016 at Hangzhou for the first time since the group formally started holding summits when the world economy slipped into deep recession in 2008. The theme for the summit was “Towards an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy”. China also invited leaders of eight developing countries and chiefs of international organisations to participate at the conference.

Accurate Data

Like many, I remember the warnings of parents and teachers to never count your chickens before they’ve hatched, and to never keep all your eggs in one basket.

Has the Notion of ‘Justice for Victims’ Lost Its Singularity?

In the whirlwind of activity that attended the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva this week, Sri Lanka was put on inquiry regarding the non-consultative nature of its ongoing transitional justice and constitutional reform process.

From Where I Stand: Nahimana Fainesi

“This is my second time living in communal camps, second time running away from civil war to protect myself. What made me leave [Burundi] was the problem of random people invading others’ homes, attacking those without husbands. They would enter with knives. Before they kill you, they would first rape you. When I saw those attacks, and people dying, I left with my one-year-old son. I didn’t have the chance to get all my children because it was a case of everyone for themselves, running for their lives.

Refugees Flee Political Violence in Burundi

A year after political violence erupted in Burundi, nearly 300 000 people have fled to neighboring Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.

In Host Country Lebanon, Refugee and Rural Women Build Entrepreneurship, Cohesion and Future

“When we were forced to leave our country, I never thought that a community in Lebanon would accept and treat me as an active member, the way I have been at the Kfeir Women’s Working Group,” says Hiba Kamal, an 18-year-old refugee from Syria who travelled to Lebanon with her family five years ago fleeing instability in her own country.

The Asian Stage for the American Show

The Americans had their eye on Asia since Commodore Perry opened Japan in 1853, but now they have their heart set on this distant continent. It's clear as daylight that a quiet showdown is imminent, if not already at work. The United States signed a 10-year defense framework agreement with India last month. Japan is trying to reel in Russia. The purpose is to build a bulwark against China, and isolate it in its own backyard.

Catch ’em Young

According to Unesco’s Global Education Monitoring Report [GEMR] 2016 released recently, only two-thirds of children worldwide would have completed primary schooling by 2030, the deadline set by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.