Women’s unpaid work: Time to take concrete action

(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - In 1995, during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, the UNDP Human Development report stated that women's unaccounted work would amount to USD 3 trillion annually if monetised. Since then women's unpaid and care work has become a much discussed topic around the globe led by rights and development organisations. Recognition of women's unpaid and care work has been included in Goal 5 of the SDGs as a target to be achieved by 2030. However, there is little concrete evidence on how states are going about achieving this target.

Rohingya – A people not wanted anywhere

(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - According to media reports, the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) took back 31 stranded Rohingyas from the no-man's land in the India-Bangladesh border near Brahmanbaria after a five-day impasse, which ensued after a BSF attempt to push them into Bangladesh was met with stiff resistance from the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB). Since the beginning of the year, no less than 1,300 Rohingya Muslims crossed the border into Bangladesh from India, where many of them had been living for years. (The Daily Star, January 20, 2019) Before this, on January 3, 2019, India deported a family of five Rohingyas, and last year, seven Rohingya Muslims were deported to Myanmar by the Indian government despite appeals from the United Nations not to do so. In recent times, Saudi Arabia also deported undocumented Rohingya migrants who had gone there with illegally obtained travel documents.

What The Mountain Taught the Mouse

(Tricontinental) - In June 1931, the Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci wrote a letter to Giulia Schucht, who lived in Moscow and with whom he had two children. One of the children – Delio – had taken an interest in literature, with a particular fascination for fantasy literature. This gave Gramsci, locked in a fascist prison, the opportunity to recall a story from his village on the island of Sardinia.

The story of a floating people

(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - 14 Bede families have set up their oval-shaped makeshift tents on private land in Natun Torki, a village in Kalkini Upazila of Madaripur district. A branch of the Arialkha river flows on the west of Natun Torki. The area is well-known in Barishal for Torki Bandar, a narrow but flowing river on the west. The Bede huts are just on the outskirts of the crowded Natun Torki market.

Child murder up by a quarter

(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - As many as 418 children were murdered in the country last year, up by 23.30 percent from the previous year, says a report by Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum. In 2017, at least 339 children were killed, mentions the report titled “State of Child Rights in Bangladesh 2018” unveiled in the capital's Dhaka Reporters Unity yesterday.

Combatting Systematic Misogyny

(The Daily Star, Bangladesh) - The past decade has seen progress being made for movements to support equality. The #MeToo and Time's Up movements helped start conversations within the general public worldwide on the topics of sexual harassment and misogyny.

HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, General Secretary of World Council of Churches and Executive Director of the Geneva Centre address the UN Secretary-General regarding situation of Asia Bibi

(Geneva Centre) - In a letter to the UN Secretary-General António Guterres signed by HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan, the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches Reverend Dr Olav Fykse Tveit and the Executive Director of the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue Ambassador Idriss Jazairy, the co-signatories appealed to the UN Secretary-General to contribute to the peaceful resolution of the matter concerning the Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi.

Aligning climate plans for a greater impact

Bangladesh has a long tradition of national development planning under the aegis of the General Economics Division (GED) of the Planning Commission, through the seven Five Year Plans prepared since we became an independent country. Recently, there have been a number of additional types of planning which will need to be well-aligned if we wish to achieve our goal of becoming a climate-resilient country by 2030. Some of these require examination and we need to discuss ways to ensure their mutual alignment going forward.

As anti-Bashir protests continue, Sudan revokes credentials of foreign press

Sudanese authorities yesterday revoked the credentials of at least six journalists working for international news outlets, including Qatar-based broadcaster Al-Jazeera, according to news reports. The outlets have been covering demonstrations against President Omar al-Bashir. Bashir is due to travel to Qatar today for his first international trip since the protests began in December, according to reports.

Bangladesh to see 3rd fastest rise of the rich

Bangladesh will see the third quickest growth in the number of high net-worth individuals in the world in the next five years, according to a new report of New York-based research firm Wealth-X.

‘Frustrated’ UN chief criticises Myanmar

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday criticized as "too slow" Myanmar's efforts to allow the return of Rohingya Muslim refugees, describing the lack of progress as a source of "enormous frustration."

Rohingya crisis: Issues and challenges that have emerged

To date, much has been written and said about the Rohingya crisis. The regime in Naypyidaw has literally flouted all international laws and evaded pressures from the international community. Myanmar is now accusing Bangladesh for the delay in repatriation and at the same time plotting more atrocities against Rohingyas in Rakhine state. Last week, the Rakhine state government issued notice further blocking the United Nations and other aid agencies from travelling to five townships affected by the conflict. Sadly, many believed that the agreement for repatriation signed back in November 2017 will take care of this human tragedy.

Bangladesh has the answer to polythene menace

Polythene bags are everywhere – literally – and the world is not sure how to deal with them. Shopping bags made from polythene have become ubiquitous, showing up everywhere from the summit of Mount Everest to the deep ocean floors to polar ice caps.

Bloomberg sees PH as Asia’s turnaround story in 2019

The new year as a season of possibility is looking better and better for the Philippines. Better than the SWS surveys that said that most Filipinos are looking at 2019 with optimism, and that more Filipinos rate themselves as poor, is Bloomberg’s upbeat report on the Philippine economy.

Syria’s Kurds: The new frontline in confronting Iran and Turkey

US President Donald J Trump's threat to devastate Turkey's economy if Turkish troops attack Syrian Kurds allied with the United States in the wake of the announced withdrawal of American forces potentially serves his broader goal of letting regional forces fight for common goals like countering Iranian influence in Syria.