PERU: Indigenous Groups Challenge Private Investment Decree

More than 5,000 indigenous and peasant communities in Peru launched a petition drive this week with the aim of getting President Alan García’s decree promoting private investment in communally owned land declared unconstitutional.

Q&A: "But They Never Killed My Spirit"

On Sep. 7 last year, as she walked to her home, parliamentary candidate Flora Igoki Terah was attacked and tortured by a gang of five men. Terah's case is one of several case studies highlighted in Amnesty International's 2008 report on the state of the world's human rights, released on May 28.

Q&A: 'Development Aid Is No Panacea'

Celine Tan is a Lecturer in Law at the University of Birmingham. Her doctoral research has focussed on development financing, in particular its impact on global governance and international relations.

DEVELOPMENT: Japan's More Is Not Enough

Japan is receiving kudos for what UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro has called the country's "strong commitment to Africa's development."

DEVELOPMENT: Japan Makes a New Push Towards Africa

African leaders are seeking an increase in official development assistance (ODA) and a boost to trade and investment.

TANZANIA: Running Water Remains a Pipe Dream for Many

Juma Membe is a doorstep salesman with a commodity no one in his poor Dar es Salaam neighbourhood can refuse. Every inch of space in his handcart is occupied with canary yellow jerry cans of safe drinking water ready for home delivery.

Q&A: "We Are Certainly Making Progress, But It's Slow"

When it comes to getting water supplies in Dar es Salaam, it's too expensive to be poor.

DEVELOPMENT: Faith-based Groups Fight for a Better World

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that nearly 30 to 70 percent of the sprawling health infrastructure in the African continent is owned or run by faith-based organisations.

TRADE: NGO Keeping An Eye on Malawi’s New Best Friend, China

China continues to grow its presence in Africa, having just roped in the small southern African country of Malawi as another one of many trading partners on the continent. But some Malawians have adopted a cautious attitude towards their government’s new ally.

RIGHTS: Despite Landmark Treaty, Children Still Under Siege

The U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which came into force in September 1990, has been described as a landmark treaty ensuring the human rights of the world's 2.2 billion children.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Suffer the Little Children

Located high in the Drakensburg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, Sterkspruit is a picturesque rural area that includes several tribal villages. In the midst of this natural beauty, however, a tragedy has been unfolding over recent months.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Calls for Peace Echo at Children's Forum

In a fittingly solemn gesture of peace and renewal, children and adults belonging to different faiths offered flowers and prayers, Monday, for the thousands of people who became the first ever victims of a nuclear bombing in this city 63 years ago.

DEVELOPMENT: Poverty Thrives Amid Unprecedented Prosperity

Global poverty is thriving - rather ironically - amidst one of the most prosperous times in human history.

TRADE-AFRICA: ‘‘Build Regional Markets to Prevent Hunger’’

Regional trade agreements could not only serve to protect farmers in developing countries but could also be used for the swift distribution of food aid from neighbouring countries in times of famine.

Q&A: Lack of Food Is a "Persistent Myth"

The current food crisis has revived the myth that the world doesn't produce enough food for its six billion people, according to Michel Pimbert, author of a new study that highlights local production as a potential solution.

BURMA: Did Cyclone Nargis Kill 300,000 People?

Three weeks after Cyclone Nargis crashed through Burma’s populous Irrawaddy Delta, the country’s military regime has been more forthcoming about the number of buffaloes and chickens that perished than on human casualties.

TRADE: France Seeks Greater Flexibility with Africa

France, the forthcoming holder of the European Union's rotating presidency, has asked that the bloc display greater flexibility in talks aimed at reaching free trade accords with Africa.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Security Requires New Approach to Water

The ongoing food crisis, characterised by growing shortages and rising prices of staple commodities, has far reaching implications for the world's scarce water resources, says a new study released here.

KENYA: Teenage Mothers Denied Education

At 17, Julia Metito* (*not her real name) should be in her final year in secondary school in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but three years ago she had to leave school to give birth and then nurse a child. Today, she finds herself in Class Seven with 13-year-olds. 13,000 girls leave school every year in Kenya due to pregnancy, according to research released at the beginning of May by the Centre for the Study of Adolescence, a non-governmental organisation that works on reproductive health, gender and social policy for teenagers.

TRADE-INDIA: 'WTO Market Access Proposal Unacceptable'

India has raised strong objections to the draft negotiating document on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) on trade in industrial products, released Monday by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

VIETNAM: Infant Abandonment Worse Than Adoption Fraud?

While Vietnam has stopped its adoption agreement with the United States in reaction to an embassy report alleging corruption, baby selling and forced relinquishment by birth mothers, the question of abandoned children remains unaddressed.