The promise of democracy :The people shall rule

The promise of democracy is that the people shall rule. Not the executive, not the legislature, not the judiciary. But democracy is an ideal, not a practical reality, and it depends on institutions to make it function. When those institutions are compromised or nullified, the democratic promise is at risk of being broken.

Bangladesh’s Largest Job Site, UN Migration Agency Partner to Combat Unethical Recruitment Practices

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) is partnering with Bangladesh’s largest online job portal Bdjobs.com Ltd. to provide the latest information to job seekers on overseas employment opportunities and connect them directly with employers. The two agencies on Sunday (11/11) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to create a new online portal that expects to go live within six months.

Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of Amnesty’s highest honor

Amnesty International announced today that it has withdrawn its highest honor, the Ambassador of Conscience Award, from Aung San Suu Kyi, in light of the Myanmar leader’s shameful betrayal of the values she once stood for.

Three challenges

The ill-advised euphoria following Saudi Arabia’s promise to lend at least $6 billion to Pakistan will hardly end the many challenges faced by the country — mostly of our own making. And it will cut no ice with the visiting IMF team that is here to negotiate the terms of a possible loan package. The stock market had welcomed the Saudi promise with a robust rise. But a fast reality check is now needed. Three months after Prime Minister Imran Khan formed the new government, several challenges have continued to emerge.

Suspended for Two Years, IOM Resumes Voluntary Humanitarian Return Flights from Southern Libya

The UN Migration Agency, IOM, resumed its Voluntary Humanitarian Return Programme (VHR) in Libya’s southern city of Sebha yesterday (08/11). VHR provides support to stranded migrants wishing to return to their home countries. In recent months, IOM has been expanding its outreach in the south through multiple field missions to make VHR operations possible.

Number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela reaches three million

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency announced today that the number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide has now reached three million.

Will the Iran sanctions work?

Last month, a flotilla of ships carrying more than 20 million barrels of Iranian oil headed off to China's north-eastern Dalian port in a bid to stave off the impending US sanctions that just came into effect on November 4. According to Russian media, the Iranians were quite confident that the country would be able to sell its oil bypassing the latest round of sanctions. Obviously, a deal has been reached with China because the port of Dalian typically saw shipments of oil between 3 and 4 million barrels a day. So, a jump of this magnitude can only mean one thing.

Access and quality

THAT the State must make available a complete, adequate and integrated system of education is not debated. That everyone who desires to should be admitted to universities or colleges of their choice is not only debatable, it is false! More perverse yet is the proposition that when the State grants students the benefits of free tertiary education, the beneficiaries owe the State no service at all!

Genesis of a mess

How do major messes get created? The genesis of some messes reflects the decisions of elites over a small period of time, eg, the Rwanda genocide. But other messes emerge gradually, with various elite groups adding different, mutually reinforcing, layers of the mess over time to produce an intractable situation.

Bigger constitutional crisis to come?

Musical chairs is a party game but what we see today is a cacophony of voices between supporters of competing political parties egging on two leaders trying to sit in one seat to the derision of the world.

The Forgotten ‘Migrant Caravan’: Historic Launch of Global Movement of Families of the Missing

Each year, the Caravana de Madres de Migrantes Desaparecidos (Caravan of Mothers of Missing Migrants) crosses Mexican territory in search of their children who went missing trying to reach the United States.

The ironic life of African migrants in Paris

In Paris recently I noticed an extraordinary phenomenon unfolding around the Eiffel Tower during a casual afternoon stroll. The sans-papiers—as the undocumented migrants are known in local parlance—vended touristy souvenirs around the Champ de Mars, Place du Trocadéro, and the Palais de Chaillot. They often played hide-and-seek games with the police to avoid detection. Struggling migrants from Africa—or more specifically from countries such as the Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Chad, Mali, Senegal, Eritrea, and Niger—these vendors live a shadow life in Paris and survive in a particular type of parallel underground economy of the city's tourism industry. Curiously, they sell mostly one product: miniature replicas of the Eiffel Tower. Their surreptitious economic footprint wraps around Gustave Eiffel's soaring tower, built in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution.

UAE-Caribbean Renewable Energy Fund projects underway

The first three renewable energy projects under the US$50 million United Arab Emirates-Caribbean Renewable Energy Fund, UAE-CREF, have broken ground in the Bahamas, Barbados and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, MOFAIC, announced today.

The importance of goats in East Africa’s recovery from drought

Conflict, insecurity, political unrest and the search for economic opportunities continue to drive migration in the East and Horn of Africa.

UAE to host Global Future Councils’ 3rd meeting

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and in collaboration with the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Government of the UAE will host the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) third Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils, on 11-12 November in Dubai.