Obama-Duterte Mix-up: Dopey Human-Rights Dispute Should Not Have Happened

First Read Having expounded on the “rule of law” in my previous column (“Rule of law: The principle Duterte has not trampled on,” Manila Times, September 6, 2016), I feel bound to also do the same on the subject of “human rights,” especially because the issue has driven a wedge in Philippine –American relations, and has momentarily unhinged Philippine standing in the United Nations.

Australia’s Shame

Many of the far-right political parties in Europe that are riding a wave of misguided anti-refugee sentiment are inclined to view Australia as a role model. They look across the sea and fawn upon a nation whose navy turns back rickety vessels overflowing with desperate asylum-seekers. They see a nation that has decreed that no one who reaches its shores by boat will ever find refuge in a country whose national anthem declares: “For those who’ve come across the seas/ We’ve boundless plains to share.”

Making Peacekeeping Work

Tomorrow, London will host a day of talks dedicated to United Nations Peacekeeping and how to make it work better. The UK has invited ministers and representatives from over 70 countries and international organisations to participate in these discussions. We are delighted that Bangladesh has agreed to act as one of the co-hosts alongside the UK; we recognise the country's enormous contribution to the cause of peacekeeping operations, with upwards of 7,200 personnel deployed across the world on UN missions.

Where Is the Law?

A Confession: I’m tired of hearing about women’s empowerment in Pakistan when the government is breaking all its promises made to Pakistani women on the topic of safety and security from gender-based violence. While debates rage about the Panama Papers, the situation in Karachi, CPEC, and the state of affairs in IHK, the issue of ‘honour’ killings has been swept under the rug. All the feel-good news about women entrepreneurs and girls’ education drives pales in comparison to the image of women’s bodies in funeral shrouds that appear on our newspaper pages with depressing regularity.

What Duterte Should Tell Obama

First of all, Mr. President, please dispel any misimpressions from media that I plan to lecture Your Excellency on rights abuses against African-Americans killed by police in your country.

UN’s “hollow” Ring for SDGs Worldwide

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday spoke in Colombo under the auspices of the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Relations and Strategic Studies (LKIIRSS) on the topic of “Sustaining Peace and Achieving Sustainable Development Goals.” He referred to the many Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the UN, but clearly went off track to compare what happened in Sri Lanka with what happened in Rwanda –which raised some eye-brows and asked the Government to reduce its military strength in the North ; something he would dare not ask the West to do in West Asia.

A Farmer’s Eid

EID-UL-AZHA is coming up soon. Most people are busy considering what sacrificial animal to buy and what delicacies to prepare on the big day. Gada Hussain, a 22-year-old farmer in upper Sindh, is anxiously wondering whether he’ll get to spend the day with his family like everyone else. Normally, he misses all the special holidays.

The Future Generations are Losing their Entitlement

The world is demographically lopsided more than ever before: old people are concentrated in the rich countries, and the rest of the world is crowded with the young. Whoever said that the young shall inherit the earth must think again. As nations get more affluent, their populations also get more aged. In an increasingly prosperous world, the future generations are losing entitlement.

Advocating Kashmir

PAKISTAN is soliciting world support for its stance on the current situation in Kashmir. Pakistan’s stance is superior to India’s in terms of law, human rights and the wishes of the majority in the occupied Valley of Kashmir — which happens also to be the majority in India-held Kashmir. The enduring but as yet unexercised right of self-determination of the people of the whole of the former Jammu and Kashmir through a plebiscite is based on resolutions of the UN Security Council.

Cross-country Differences in Income Inequality – Where do South Asian Countries Stand?

In recent years, there has been a growing interest among general people, researchers and policymakers in income inequality, its causes, and its effects. The most popular index of income inequality is the 'Gini index', which measures the inequality among levels of income of the people of any country. A Gini coefficient of zero means perfect equality, where everyone has the same income, and a Gini coefficient of 1 (or 100 percent) expresses maximum inequality.

Online learning

THE rapid evolution of the internet has revealed avenues of learning that are challenging the traditional norms of education. Instructional content, previously restricted to the classroom, is now being broadcast at lightning speeds to anywhere from bustling metropolises to rural suburbs. Information that was inaccessible is suddenly present, organised and ready for consumption by anyone who is yearning to learn.

Bangladesh: Saving our girls

Stabbed by her stalker at the entrance to her school, Suraiya Akter Risha, a student of Willes Little Flower School, Dhaka, succumbed to her injuries last Sunday. The murder adds to a long list of female victims of stalking and other forms of sexual harassment that have been going on unabated in the country for a long time.

Minorities’ seats

PAKISTAN’S bicameral legislature is dominated by feudals and capitalists, with the political parties that represent the working class too weak to reach the legislature. Religious minorities, although also disenfranchised, are unfortunately shy of joining the political struggles of the working class. A few among them attempt to stoke the same sectarianism that makes minorities vulnerable for their own political and economic gains.

Waiting for a Medal at the Olympics

Bangladesh, once again, returned empty-handed from the Olympics this year, retaining its title of the “most populous country of never having won an Olympic medal”. At the beginning of the Rio Olympics, Bangladesh was one of 75 countries with no Olympic medals.

Of victims and victimhood

THE cruel murder of an 84-year-old Catholic priest in France by two Muslim youths, who slit the fragile man’s throat during a morning mass he was conducting in his serene church, left me numb for days.