World Lags on Clean Energy Goals

It may be the 21^st century but more than three billion people still use fire for cooking and heating. Of those, one billion people have no access to electricity despite a global effort launched at the 2011 Vienna Energy Forum to bring electricity to everyone on the planet.

Who Are the Best ‘Eaters’ and How to Use Eggplants as a Toothbrush

The news is this: Japan is a global model for healthy diets and it currently has the lowest rate of obesity among developed countries--below four per cent. This is on the one hand. On the other, African eggplant gorongo is often used as toothbrush.

Gender Equality Can Save Women’s Lives in Disasters – We must not miss the opportunity to set this right

Later this month, the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) will take place in Mexico. This meeting provides an important opportunity to reboot global progress on embedding gender equality in disaster risk management and redress deadly exclusion.

World Bank fudges on inequality

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – collectively drafted and then officially agreed to, at the highest level, by all Member States of the United Nations in September 2015 – involves specific targets to be achieved mainly by 2030. The Agenda seeks to “leave no-one behind” and claims roots in universal human rights. Thus, addressing inequalities and discrimination is central to the SDGs. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Taking on Inequality is the World Bank’s first annual report tracking progress towards the two key SDGs on poverty and inequality.

African Migrants Bought and Sold Openly in ‘Slave Markets’ in Libya

Hundreds of migrants along North African migration routes are being bought and sold openly in modern day ‘slave markets’ in Libya, survivors have told the United Nations migration agency, which warned that these reports “can be added to a long list of outrages” in the country. The International Criminal Court is now considering investigating.

Equal Rights in Education: The Case of Bahrain, Colombia, Sri Lanka

The role of education in enhancing equality of citizenship rights and diversity within communities affected by inter-communal civil strife will be top on the agenda of a meeting in Geneva on May 12.

Global Climate Policy in an Uncertain State of Flux

Global climate change policy is in a state of flux, with all other countries waiting for the United States to decide whether to leave or remain in the Paris Agreement.

Time to Find ‘Magic Formula’ to Stop Hatreds – Baku Forum

It is time to find that “magic formula” that will encourage people to stop conflicts, the rise of violent extremism and hatreds, and live together in peace, urged a United Nations senior official at the end of a UN-backed conference on intercultural dialogue in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Towards a Global Role for ACP?

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) met this week in Brussels for the 105th Session of its Council of Ministers to discuss the key question of how these 79 countries could play a more effective role for their own citizens and in the international arena.

How to Counter Violent Extremism, Youth Radicalisation – Baku Forum

The integration of migrants in cities, countering the rise of violent extremism, as well as youth radicalisation on the Internet have been some of the key issues discussed at a United Nations forum in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Refugee Journalists, the Challenge of Reporting from Exile

Abdulwahab Tahhan is a journalist and a refugee. From his exile in London, he documents the war that is devastating his homeland of Syria, monitoring airstrikes and assessing civilian casualties for the non-profit Airwars.

Growing Inequality under Global Capitalism

Income and wealth inequality has increased in recent decades, but recognition of the role of economic liberalization and globalization in exacerbating inequality has never been so widespread. The guardians of global capitalism are nervous, yet little has been done to check, let alone reverse the underlying forces.

Reflections on World Press Freedom Day

This year’s theme for the 2017 World Press Freedom Day “Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies” is one of the most important days honouring press freedom.

A Free and Diverse Media is Essential to Protecting Democracy in the 21st Century

Images of protestors flooding the streets – whether in Caracas, Bucharest, Istanbul or Washington DC – send a powerful message to those in power, especially when they are plastered across newspaper front pages.

Repression 2.0: An Updated Global Censorship

Censorship tactics have become more complex, posing new challenges for journalists and non-journalists alike, a new report finds.

‘Fake News’ is not Journalism…

Would you trust your news from any source? How are we able to ensure that ‘fake’(d) news does not overtake the flow of information?

At UN, Rex Tillerson, Top US Diplomat, Delivers Stark Warnings to North Korea

Speaking to the United Nations Security Council at a meeting on North Korea held at the foreign-minister level, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked member countries to join the United States in a strong campaign to enhance pressures on the Kim Jong-un regime, whose rapidly developing nuclear and missile programs have reached dangerous levels.

The UN Needs to Bring Parliamentarians on Board

In pursuit of the Agenda 2030 the UN is playing an increasingly important role. Its Charter was declared in the name of “We, the Peoples.“ Elected representatives, however, who are interested in the affairs of the UN and its entities will discover that there are hardly any arrangements in place that would allow them to be involved.

Marching for a Green and Just Future

People around the world will be banding together to fight one of the world’s most pressing problems: climate change.

Video message by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2017

Video message by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day 2017

World Bank Must Stop Encouraging Harmful Tax Competition

One of the 11 areas that the World Bank’s Doing Business (DB) report includes in ranking a country’s business environment is paying taxes. The background study for DB 2017, Paying Taxes 2016 claims that its emphasis is “on efficient tax compliance and straightforward tax regimes”.