Declining Marriage and Increasing Cohabitation By Joseph Chamie Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

Declining Marriage and Increasing Cohabitation By Joseph Chamie PORTLAND, USA, Sep 22 2026 (IPS) - Marriage is declining in many countries, with fewer people marrying and many postponing marriage until later in life. At the same time, increasing numbers of men and women are choosing cohabitation instead of marriage. Various social, economic, and legal factors have contributed to this shift from marriage to cohabitation. Moreover, cohabitation is increasingly not simply a prelude to marriage but, in many cases, an alternative to it. Although its prevalence varies considerably across regions and countries, cohabitation among unmarried couples has continued to rise in many parts of the world. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/declining-marriage-and-increasing-cohabitation/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

Family Law Reforms Are Needed to Advance Gender Equality By Oritro Karim Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. - (+++...)

Family Law Reforms Are Needed to Advance Gender Equality By Oritro Karim UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22 2026 (IPS) - On September 16, at the lead-up to the 81st UN General Assembly, Equality in Family Law (GCEFL), Equality Now, TrustLaw, and the World Bank Group convened in New York City for the event titled The Gender Equality Dividend: Investing in Women’s Economic Prosperity Through Family Law Reform. Hosted by APCO, the event introduced new data on barriers to family law reform and highlighted strategies to help the international community maximize women’s economic participation. Bringing together experts in legal reform and economic development, the event marked the launch of a landmark joint brief by the World Bank Group and Equality Now, titled Unlocking Women’s Economic Rights through Family Law Reform: Lessons from Case Studies across Five Regions. Drawing upon data collected from Chile, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, and Nepal, the brief examines the legal, social, and economic barriers that hinder gender equality, economic growth, and sustainable development. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/family-law-reforms-are-needed-to-advance-gender-equality/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. - The Gender Equality Dividend: Investing in Women’s Economic Prosperity Through Family Law Reform Join the Global Campaign for Equality in Family Law (GCEFL), Equality Now, TrustLaw, and the World Bank Group for a conversation on the sidelines of UNGA on one of the most under-resourced, highest-leverage investments in global development: gender equality legal reform. https://ungaguide.com/events/the-gender-equality-dividend-investing-in-womens-economic-prosperity-through-family-law-reform/ Publicación: Unlocking Women’s Economic Rights through Family Law Reform: Lessons from Case Studies across Five Regions https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/c0954283-cf5b-47e0-bd81-a8e29d735e84 This Policy Brief draws on case studies from Chile, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, and Nepal to show the impact of family law on women’s economic opportunities, finding that family law reforms are key to expanding women’s access to property and economic decision making, yet progress is constrained by discriminatory social, religious, and cultural norms, while women’s rights groups are pivotal in advancing reforms, but patriarchal and religious barriers impede effective implementation, and calls for sustained global partnerships and international support to promote legal equality within families, highlighting its importance for achieving gender equality and inclusive economic growth.

United Nations Least Developed Country Category – Curse or Boon? By Anis Chowdhury Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

United Nations Least Developed Country Category – Curse or Boon? By Anis Chowdhury SYDNEY, Sep 21 2026 (IPS) - The UN General Assembly will soon vote – most likely favourably – on Bangladesh’s request to postpone the country’s graduation from the UN’s Least Developed Country (LDC) category, currently scheduled for November this year. The request for a 3-year extension was endorsed by the ECOSOC following the recommendation of the UN’s Committee for Development Policy (CDP). It is highly likely that the extension will also be justifiably granted to Nepal and Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao, PDR) – the two other countries scheduled to graduate with Bangladesh, given the fast deteriorating global economic situation and recent natural disaster in Nepal. In fact, the same argument for an extension may be admissible to all prospective graduating countries, such as Solomon Islands (2027), Cambodia (2029) and Senegal (2029). https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/united-nations-least-developed-country-category-curse-or-boon/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

Sudan: Blood on Foreign Powers’ Hands By Andrew Firmin Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

Sudan: Blood on Foreign Powers’ Hands By Andrew Firmin LONDON, Sep 21 2026 (IPS) - Sudan’s civil war grinds on. It’s close to three and a half years since the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia began their battle for supremacy, and the two forces and their allies continue to slaughter civilians with impunity. As a recent UN report makes clear, the killing is enabled by numerous foreign powers that continue to supply weapons, personnel and logistical support. They have made a civil conflict their proxy war, and their self-interest is sustaining the killing. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/sudan-blood-on-foreign-powers-hands/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

The Connection Between Urbanization and Poverty: How Cities Can Reduce Poverty – Or Deepen It By Shuli Wong Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

The Connection Between Urbanization and Poverty: How Cities Can Reduce Poverty – Or Deepen It By Shuli Wong UNITED NATIONS, Sep 18 2026 (IPS) - Urbanization can help concentrate jobs, services, and investments; however, it can also concentrate unaffordable housing, insecure employment, and unequal exposure to contamination and environmental threats. A recent report from the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, argues that the difference is not urbanization itself, but how cities are planned, governed, and financed. Elena Díaz Galán’s report, Cities and Poverty, issued earlier in July and examines social exclusion and the structural drivers of poverty in cities. In it, Galán looks at how land use, housing infrastructure, public services, and participation can either exacerbate or mitigate poverty. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/the-connection-between-urbanization-and-poverty-how-cities-can-reduce-poverty-or-deepen-it/?utm_source=email_marketing&utm_admin=146128&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Forty_Years_of_the_Right_to_Development_When_Growth_Excludes_Is_It_Still_Development_Floods_Hunger_a Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

What Isn’t Named Isn’t Protected and being Named Isn’t Enough By Bayarsaikhan Namsrai, Gregoria Jimenez Amaya, Isabel Davila Pereira and Stephen Basele Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

What Isn’t Named Isn’t Protected and being Named Isn’t Enough By Bayarsaikhan Namsrai, Gregoria Jimenez Amaya, Isabel Davila Pereira and Stephen Basele ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia, Sep 23 2026 (IPS) - Rightsholders came to Ulaanbaatar from across the world, carrying declarations, demands and years of experience defending the lands on which their communities depend. Indigenous Peoples, local communities, Afro-descendant Peoples, women and youth were equally clear about what they needed from COP17. But being in the room is not the same as having power in the room. In a year when the International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists and the three Rio Conventions were supposed to create momentum for rights, recognition and implementation, the negotiations showed how quickly those gains can be diluted when the people concerned are not able to shape the language that governs their lands. https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/what-isnt-named-isnt-protected-and-being-named-isnt-enough/ Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

US Visas for Ruthless Autocrats to Address UN – but not for Palestinian Leaders By Thalif Deen Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -

US Visas for Ruthless Autocrats to Address UN – but not for Palestinian Leaders By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 2026 (IPS) - When Yasser Arafat was denied a US visa for his second visit to New York to address the United Nations back in 1988, the General Assembly defied the United States by temporarily moving the UN’s highest policymaking body to Geneva—perhaps for the first time in UN history—providing a less hostile political environment and a platform for the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). Arafat, who first addressed the UN in 1974, took a swipe at Washington when he prefaced his statement in Geneva by remarking, “It never occurred to me that my second meeting with this honorable Assembly, since 1974, would take place in the hospitable city of Geneva.” https://www.ipsnews.net/2026/09/us-visas-for-ruthless-autocrats-to-address-un-but-not-for-palestinian-leaders/ Copyright © 2026 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. -