Q&A: “We Have Linked Machismo and Femicide in the Public Mind in Chile”

More than 500 Chilean women have been killed by their partners, ex-partners or strangers since 2001. This year alone, there have been 52 "femicides", economist Gloria Maira said on Wednesday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

RIGHTS-FRANCE: Domestic Violence – Everybody’s Business

Several people are gathered outside a window, staring wide-eyed at a scene within. They watch as a man brutally beats a woman, pounding her face with his fists, kicking her. No one says anything, until an onlooker screams agonisingly: "stop".

GENDER: For U.S., Lessons in CEDAW From San Francisco

In 1998, San Francisco stepped up and joined the world.

DEVELOPMENT: Lights Out – World’s Poor Remain in the Dark

With the flip of a switch, a light comes on or an electric toothbrush revs to power. If service is cut, either for repairs or because of a natural cause, there will most likely be much fuss about how quickly power is restored - to people who live in the developed world.

PERU: Parties Thwart Public Demand for Women in Politics

Women already make up 44 percent of the active members of the country's parties, but Peruvians want to see more women in political posts. Party structures and a lack of funding for women candidates, however, conspire to hinder and even obliterate women's participation in public decision-making bodies.

GUATEMALA: A Tax Code by and for the Oligarchs?

Taxation and government spending are the targets of a new report on Guatemala that argues the government is failing in its fiscal commitments to food, health and education.

DEVELOPMENT: “Water Gap” to Widen Dramatically by 2030

A balanced approach of demand- and supply-side measures are needed to meet a growing "water gap" in which global water demand will be 40 percent more than supply by 2030, says a new report from the 2030 Water Resources Group.

WATER: Poor Sanitation Killing Liberia’s Young

Nineteen-year-old Beauty Phillips clutches her emaciated baby tightly to her chest. At seven months, Inga suffers from malnutrition.

ZAMBIA: Putting Waste to Work

When Obed Mumba first came to the Zambian copper mining town of Ndola in search of work, it was still known reverently as "Ku kalale" - the land of the white man. In the decades since, he has witnessed his Kabushi township outgrow the limited dreams of its planners.

Q&A: Glass Half-full 15 Years After ICPD – Part 2

Fifteen years after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), the glass is half full, according to Purnima Mane, deputy executive director of the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA). And not much better for the U.N. Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW) after 30 years.

Q&A: ‘MDGs Don’t Recognise Role of Human Rights in Poverty Fight’

As the number of people living in poverty swell to over two billion, Amnesty International Secretary-General Irene Khan makes a strong argument for human rights to be made central to development and eradication of poverty.

PERU: Fighting Hunger with Native Crops

As if he were showing off a treasure, Dionicio Sarmiento holds up his seed potatoes with a smile. "Look how nice they are, all ready to plant. It'll be a good harvest," says the peasant farmer from Huancavelica, Peru's poorest province, where most of the population depends on subsistence farming.

GENDER-AFRICA: Some Progress Amidst Continuing Challenges

The Beijing Platform for Action in 1995 set out an agenda to address gender equality in priority areas, including poverty, education, and health care. It also committed governments to address violence against women, equitable access to economic resources and decision-making power.

POLITICS: U.N. in Final Push for 2015 Development Goals

A special U.N. summit of world leaders, scheduled to take place next year, is expected to make "a final push" to help reach the world body's widely-touted development goals by the targeted date of 2015.

CLIMATE CHANGE: The Danish Example

Whether a new internationally binding treaty to reduce greenhouse gases and forestall climate change will be signed next month remains to be seen. What is clear though, is that if there is a place in the world that deserves to be the stage where this treaty ought to be signed, it is the Danish capital of Copenhagen.

RIGHTS-LAOS: How Women Cope With Disability – Part 1

Before 2002, Chanhpheng Sivila held training workshops for the many Lao disabled women and men at her own house.

Q&A: Maternal Mortality Rates ‘One of the Saddest Cases’ in Asia

Nearly 15 years after a landmark international conference to advance the rights and freedoms of women, the picture in the Asia-Pacific region is mixed, says a leading women’s rights advocate and senior United Nations official.

AFRICA: Growing Use of Cellphones for Family Planning

The growth of cellphone use, particularly in the developing world, is providing health experts with a new channel of communication to provide family planning information.

Q&A: Recognise the Benefits of Slowing Population Growth

Family planning: key to reducing child mortality and improving maternal health; a way to put less strain on the environment; and a smaller population makes the challenge of providing adequate education and health services that little bit easier.

Q&A: Impact of Crisis in Latin America Less Severe than in the Past

Thanks to effective social policies and measures that have strengthened the economy, most of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean have managed to weather the impact of the global recession, although poverty has risen slightly for the first time since 2002.

HEALTH: Strategy to Cut Vaccine Price Paying Off

The price of a major combination vaccine called the 'pentavalent' has fallen considerably over the past year, bringing the cost per dose below three dollars - a decrease of almost 50 cents, according to data released Wednesday by an alliance of public and private partners who have worked to bring down vaccine prices in the developing world.