Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

Inter Press Service | News and Views from the Global South

From Sanctioning Iran to War? Haider A. Khan With the recent military moves announced uncharacteristically by the White House first, the world is witnessing with grim fascination what could turn out to be the early moves towards a war against Iran. How plausible is this scenario and what is likely to happen geopolitically if and when the US ... MORE > >

US Withdrawal From Iran Nuclear Deal: One Year On Dan Smith On 8 May last year, US President Donald J. Trump announced that the United States would pull out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which sets limits on Iran’s nuclear programme to ensure that it cannot produce nuclear weapons. Despite the US withdrawal, the JCPOA remains in ... MORE > >

Neoliberal Reforms Strengthening Monopoly Power and Abuses Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury Over the last four decades, growing concentration of market power in the hands of oligopolies, if not monopolies, has been greatly enabled by ostensibly neo-liberal reforms, worsening wealth concentration and gross inequalities in the world. Jomo Kwame SundaramThe ‘counter-revolution’ against ... MORE > >

Loss of Biodiversity Puts Current and Future Generations at Risk A. D. McKenzie An alarming report about the massive loss of biodiversity around the world warns that future generations will be at risk if urgent action isn’t taken to protect the more than one million species of plants and animals threatened with extinction. Such extinction could happen “within decades” and ... MORE > >

The Ethiopian City Lost in the Shadow of South Sudan's War James Jeffrey Right up against the border with South Sudan, the western Gambella region of Ethiopia has become a watchword for trouble and no-go areas as its neighbour’s troubles have spilled over. But now there may be reason for optimism on either side of the border. The brown waters of the Baro River ... MORE > >

UN Chief’s Reprehensible Bankrolling of Violence in Burundi Paula Donovan Last week the Washington Post published a scathing critique by the executive director of Human Rights Watch, titled “Why the U.N. Chief’s Silence on Human Rights is Deeply Troubling.” Kenneth Roth argued that Secretary-General António Guterres “is becoming defined by his silence on human ... MORE > >

West Africa's Fine Line Between Cultural Norms and Child Trafficking Issa Sikiti da Silva On a bus in Cotonou, Benin’s commercial capital, four Nigerian girls aged between 15 and 16 sit closely together as they are about to embark on the last part of their journey to Mali, where they are told that their new husbands, whom they never have met, await them. They started off from their ... MORE > >

Women, Peace and Security: Let’s Turn Words into Action Dr. Denis Mukwege To be able to tackle a problem we must first recognize that it exists. When I first spoke at the United Nations Security Council in 2009, I was asked why the issue of sexual violence was even relevant to peace and security. At that time, it was not generally accepted that rape is in fact a weapon ... MORE > >

Sierra Leone’s Journalists Demand Justice for “Murdered” Colleague and Call for Law Reform Lahai J. Samboma Ibrahim Samura, erstwhile editor and publisher of New Age, an independent Freetown newspaper, was beaten up with “heavy-duty metal chains and sticks” during Sierra Leone's presidential run-off election in March 2018—in front of the police and army. He died from his injuries three months later. But ... MORE > >

Future of Our Planet Requires Deeper Cooperation, Long-term Thinking Liu Zhenmin For most of the 7 billion people on the planet, global institutions are remote, far removed from their day to day existence. Yet, our global institutions matter. They shape the global systems – such as international trade rules – that will enable the more than 3 billion poor people worldwide, ... MORE > >