Guinea's Returnee Migrants Harness the Strength of Unity; Fighting the World’s Largest Criminal Industry: Modern Slavery; and more

Did a Backlash Against Trump Trigger Historic Highs for US Women in Politics? Thalif Deen The dramatic increase in women legislators voted into office last November and the historic high of women candidates for the 2020 presidential elections have visibly changed the male-dominated political landscape in the US. The reasons for the transformation include a growing new political ... MORE > >

How One Kenyan Teacher is Lifting His Students Out of Poverty With Science Busani Bafana Keriko Mixed Day Secondary School in Nakuru County, situated in a remote, semi-arid part of Kenya’s Rift Valley, could pass for an ordinary secondary school in any part of Africa. But ordinary it is not. Maths and physical science teacher Peter Tabichi’s love for science is changing the lives of ... MORE > >

UN’s Plan to Offshore Back-Office Jobs is Probably a Waste of Money Ian Richards A million plan to move 750 back office jobs from the UN’s main duty stations to four new centralized service centres in Budapest, Montreal, Nairobi and Shenzhen, could end up being a waste of money. Called the global service delivery model, this holdover from (former UN Secretary-General) ... MORE > >

VIDEO: Water for All - World Water Day 2019 IPS World Desk Water is a precondition for human existence, and for the sustainability of our planet. It is entwined with almost everything human, from climate change and global economy to gender issues and human rights. Worldwide, 100 million families are stuck in a cycle of poverty and disease, because they ... MORE > >

Climate Change Also Affects Mental Health in Mexico Emilio Godoy Minerva Montes lost her home on Holbox Island in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma hit the Yucatan Peninsula in southeastern Mexico. Rebuilding her home was quicker and easier than overcoming the psychological aftermath of the catastrophe. "They activated the evacuation alarm, I didn't know what to do, ... MORE > >

Belt and Road Initiative vs Washington Consensus Jomo Kwame Sundaram With the Washington Consensus from the 1980s being challenged, President Donald Trump withdrawing the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and China pursuing its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), most notably with its own initiatives such as the multilateral Asian Infrastructure ... MORE > >

Guinea's Returnee Migrants Harness the Strength of Unity IPS Correspondent Elhadj Mohamed Diallo was a prisoner in Libya between October and November 2017, but he was not helpless. Far from his home in Guinea he understood the power of an organised union. He mobilised other detainees around him to maintain order in the prison and to demand better conditions while in ... MORE > >

Climate Change: a Threat to Agriculture & UN’s Goal to Eradicate Hunger Thalif Deen The United Nations has vowed to eradicate extreme hunger and malnutrition on a self-imposed deadline of 2030. But it is facing a harsh realty where human-induced climate change – including flash floods, droughts, heatwaves, typhoons and landslides-- is increasingly threatening agriculture, which ... MORE > >

Fighting the World’s Largest Criminal Industry: Modern Slavery Tharanga Yakupitiyage Modern slavery and human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal industries and one of the biggest human rights crises today, United Nations and government officials said. During an event as part of the annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), government officials, UN human ... MORE > >

Q&A: Caribbean Losing Momentum on Climate Change and Concerted Action is Needed Alison Kentish In 2015, the Caribbean was “the region that could” on the climate change scene. Countries rallied under the ‘1.5 to Stay Alive’ banner, in the face of an existential threat. The now former Sustainable Development Minister of Saint Lucia Dr. James Fletcher emerged as a climate change champion at the ... MORE > >

Climate Strike: Hundreds of Thousands Unite for the Planet’s Future Maged Srour Friday, Mar. 15 saw hundreds of thousands of young people across the world take to the streets to join the climate strike. “We are demonstrating today for our planet and for our future. This is the place where we and those who come after us will live,” Jennifer, a 16-year-old girl from Rome, the ... MORE > >

Scholar Questions ‘Techie’ Approach to Dealing with Climate Change Jewel Fraser Trinidad and Tobago unveiled its monitoring, reporting and verification system in mid-March with a flourish, with government authorities underscoring the launch of the Monitoring, Reporting, Verification as a milestone in that country’s efforts to reduce its emissions in line with its commitments ... MORE > >