OP-ED: Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture It!

Nearly 20 years ago, the world came together in Beijing for the Fourth World Conference on Women. There, 189 governments adopted a visionary roadmap for gender equality: the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.

Viral Load Testing Dismally Absent in Africa

As Africa scales up lifesaving antiretroviral therapy for HIV positive people, concerns are rife that the absence of mass routine viral load testing will hamper extending treatment to the millions who need it.

Conflict with Local Communities Hits Mining and Oil Companies Where It Hurts

Conflicts with local communities over mining, oil and gas development are costing companies billions of dollars a year. One corporation alone reported a six billion dollar cost over a two-year period according to the first-ever peer-reviewed study on the cost of conflicts in the extractive sector.

No Silver Lining for Somalia’s Child Labourers

Twelve-year-old Halima Mohamed Ali wakes up every morning at five am, but unlike her peers she does not go to school. Instead, she begins her duties as a nanny for five children, the oldest of whom is just two years younger than she is.

Bagua Massacre – A Test for Justice in Peru

The trial of 52 indigenous people that just got underway for a 2009 massacre near the city of Bagua in northwest Peru will test the judicial system’s independence and ability to impart justice.

Nigeria’s Nightmare Gives New Momentum to IVAWA

Amidst intensifying concern over the fate of more than 200 girls abducted by a radical Islamist group in northern Nigeria, at least 100 representatives of various activist groups Tuesday pressed the U.S. Senate to approve legislation designed to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls and discourage child marriages around the world.

Breaking the Rules

Small underdeveloped countries, unless they suddenly discover oil or gold, are at a distinct disadvantage in the global arena. If they play by the rules, they will remain underdeveloped. Over the last half-century, very few countries have managed to jump from the Third World to the club of richest nations.

Popular Rwandan Rights Group Helps Youth Create Jobs with Popcorn Venture

Twenty-year-old Fabrice Shyaka sells popcorn in brown paper bags five nights a week from his stand in a small alleyway, situated next to a DVD shop blaring loud music, and a supermarket. Here in Kanombe, a suburb in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, he is the only person selling popcorn in the area.

World Bank Finds Huge Hole in Social Safety Nets

Social safety net programmes have expanded, yet 870 million of the world’s poorest people remain uncovered, says a new World Bank report released Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Bangle Industry Strangles Workers at Home

IPS' Zofeen Ebrahim visits a group of home-based workers in Pakistan's Hyderabad who work long hours for little pay and no recognition of the labour they perform.

Pakistan's Bangle Industry Strangles Workers at Home from IPS News - IPSTV on Vimeo.

Trade Misinvoicing Costs African Countries Billions

Misinvoiced trade in five African countries cost their governments billions of dollars in tax revenue and facilitated at least 60.8 billion dollars in illicit financial flows from 2002 to 2011, says a new report by Global Financial Integrity (GFI), a research advocacy organisation here.

South Sudan, Where Livestock Outnumbers People and the Environment Suffers

Twenty-year-old Wani Lo Keji stares at the sky as his herd of cattle drink water from the eastern bank of the Nile River, just opposite South Sudan’s capital, Juba.

Zimbabwe’s Emerging Tobacco Queens

Madeline Murambwi sits behind the wheel of her brand new Toyota Land Cruiser, threading her way through the traffic in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. She's on her way back from the tobacco auction floors where she just pocketed thousands of dollars.

El Salvador’s New Government to Inherit Hot Potato of Gang Truce

When left-wing president-elect Salvador Sánchez Cerén takes office in El Salvador on Jun. 1, he will find big cracks in the truce between street gangs brokered by the outgoing administration, which has brought crime rates down in the past two years.

Migration as a Network for Development

On the eve of a major international conference on migration in Stockholm, a major think tank here is calling on the delegates from more than 150 countries to recognise the importance of migration in forging development policies.

Gender-based Violence Widespread in Zimbabwe

Rutendo Mawere reports from Harare on the link between gender-based violence and HIV and efforts to stop the practice. *with additional reporting by Ish Mafundikwa

Saving West Africa’s Last Intact Tropical Rainforest through Tourism

Jonas Sanhin Touan has big dreams. As he sits under a canopy, he greets the rare tourist to Gouleako, one of the many villages near the entrance of Côte d’Ivoire’s Taï National Park, with a meal.

Industrial Agriculture: Too Big to Succeed

An estimated one billion small farmers scratching out a living growing diverse crops and raising animals in developing countries represent the key to maintaining food production in the face of hotter temperatures and drought, especially in the tropical regions, says Sarah Elton, author of the book, “Consumed: Food for a Finite Planet.”

Mexico’s Climate Laws Ignore Women

The rural communities of San Miguel and Santo Tomás Ajusco, to the south of Mexico City, are preserving 3,000 of their 7,619 hectares of forest in exchange for payment for environmental services. But the inequality in the communities is far from ecological.

Ethiopian Scribes Try to Preserve Dying 4th Century Art

Misganew Andeurgay changes his bamboo-made pen for another, dips it in a tiny pot of viscous liquid and, on a parchment page filled with black script, begins to trace in scarlet-red ink the Amharic word for god. 

Major Report Urges Reform of U.S. Capital Punishment System

Innocent people will be executed in the United States if the country’s capital punishment system is not reformed, warns a new report.