Articles by Inter Press Service-IPS
We found 305 results.
Brazil Forging Strategic Alliance with Africa
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 May 2012
The Brazilian government of Dilma Rousseff is taking firm steps towards stronger relations with Africa, such as the creation of a special fund to finance development projects together with multilateral lenders like the World Bank. Ex-President Lula said, “Africa cannot be looked at like it used to be seen, as a simple supplier of minerals and gas…We have to find African partners. We don’t want hegemony; we want strategic alliances.”
→ read full articleCorporations Win Big in Battle Against Investment Regulation
Isolda Agazzi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 May 2012
In a world where governments are increasingly subservient to global finance capital, multinationals are gaining ground in the fight against state regulations that aim to protect the environment, public health or social policies.
→ read full articleAction Plan to End Banishing of “Witches” in Burkina Faso
Brahima Ouédraogo – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 May 2012
It’s called “the bearing of the body” in Burkina Faso: when a death is deemed suspicious and a group of men carry the corpse through the community, believing the deceased will guide them towards the person responsible for the death. The accused – almost always women – are then chased out of their homes. According to the Ministry for Social Action and National Solidarity, some 600 women across the country have fallen victim to this practice. Most have found precarious shelter at one of 11 centres around the country, run by various non-governmental organisations.
→ read full articleWorld Bank Supports Harmful Water Corporations, Report Finds
Johanna Treblin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Apr 2012
Water privatisation has been proven not to help the poor, yet a quarter of all World Bank funding goes directly to corporations and the private sector, bypassing both governments and its own standards and transparency requirements in order to do so, says a new report released Monday [16 Apr 2012].
→ read full articleEuropean Airlines Silence Palestine Protest
Jillian Kestler-D’Amours – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Apr 2012
As 60 percent of the international activists set to land at Ben Gurion airport Sunday [15 Apr 2012] had their plane tickets cancelled, organisers of the ‘Welcome to Palestine’ fly-in campaign condemned what they say is European complicity in Israel’s illegal restrictions on their right to travel freely.
→ read full articleThe Battle over Development-Led Globalisation
Ravi Kanth Deverakonda – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Apr 2012
As UNCTAD attempts to secure a new mandate at its ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, from Apr. 21 to 26 [2012], industrialised countries have voiced their unhappiness with the agency’s policy advice to developing nations. According to trade officials from developing countries, industrialised countries believe that the agency’s advice on finance, environment, food security, intellectual property rights and development clashes with their market-driven liberal agenda.
→ read full articleLiberia’s Government Finding a Way to End FGM
Travis Lupick – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Apr 2012
Now 23 and a student at the University of Liberia, Fatu’s circumcision was part of her initiation into the secretive Sande Society, a pseudo-religious association to which most Liberian women – depending on which tribe and part of the country they are from – are members. The Sande and its male counterpart, the Poro, shape many aspects of culture, tradition, and society as a whole in this West African nation.
→ read full articleWhen Europe Develops, and Israel Destroys
Charlotte Silver – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 Apr 2012
The European Commission has released a document that lists projects it funded that were destroyed or damaged by the Israel Defence Forces between May 2001 and October 2011. The list documents 82 such instances, amounting to a monetary loss of 49.2 million euro, 30 million of which came directly from European aid. British Member of the European Parliament, Chris Davies, released the list following his inquiry, “the most detailed response I have ever received from the European Commission.”
→ read full articleFor a Denuclearised Middle East
Daisaku Ikeda – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 Apr 2012
In recent months, the dispute over the nature and intent of the Iranian nuclear development programme has generated increasing tensions throughout the Middle East region. When I consider all that is at stake here, I am reminded of the words of the British historian Arnold Toynbee, who warned that the perils of the nuclear age constituted a “Gordian knot that has to be untied by patient fingers instead of being cut by the sword.”
→ read full articleWinter of Crisis Killing the Elderly in Portugal
Mario Queiroz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
The General Directorate of Health (DGS) reported that 11,600 people died in February, 1,600 more than in the same month in previous years. Most of the victims were over 75. Public health experts say the record number of deaths is associated with the economic crisis and the draconian cuts in public spending made as a condition for the multi-billion dollar bailout of Portugal in 2011. Free access to public health services, one of the major achievements of the Apr. 25, 1974 “Carnation Revolution” that ushered in democracy after a 48-year dictatorship, is in danger.
→ read full articleBRICS Bank Could Change the Money Game
Kester Kenn Klomegah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
India’s proposal to set up a bank of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) will top the agenda at the summit of the group in New Delhi Mar 28 2012. “Basically India, China and perhaps Russia are trying to show off their economic clout; they are trying to demonstrate to the west that they can do without them. Above all they need freedom from western financial influence.”
→ read full articleAsian States Are World’s Largest Arms Buyers
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Mar 2012
According to the latest figures released Monday [19 Mar 2012] by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the world’s five largest arms importers in 2007-2011 were all Asian states beating out the traditional frontrunners – the rich, oil-blessed Middle Eastern countries.
→ read full articleEvangelist Sued in U.S. for Inciting Anti-Gay Hatred in Uganda
Charundi Panagoda and Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Mar 2012
The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a federal lawsuit in Massachusetts Wednesday [14 Mar 2012] on behalf of the Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) and against Scott Lively, a right-wing evangelist, for inciting a hatred that has led to increased violence against LGBT persons. He is also the author of “The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party”, a 1995 book that claimed Nazism was created and propagated by homosexuals, and a second book, “Seven Steps to Recruit-Proof Your Child”, a how-to guide for parents to “prevent” their children from becoming homosexual.
→ read full articleBrazil, Emerging South-South Donor
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Mar 2012
The Brazilian government is stepping up South-South aid. It now provides assistance to 65 countries, and its financial aid has grown threefold in the last seven years. “Another difference,” Santoro said, “is that Brazil’s foreign aid does not come with strings attached, and generally promotes projects that put a priority on developing human resources, by means of training of public employees, for example. It is the age-old concept of teaching people to fish rather than giving them fish,” he summed up.
→ read full articleU.N. Chastises Mexico’s Support for Agribusiness
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Mar 2012
The United Nations criticised Mexico’s food policy, a month and a half after President Felipe Calderón launched to great fanfare an alliance of agribusiness for sustainable development, which was welcomed by giant food corporations. At a meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, the U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, spoke out against the financial aid that Mexico will give to large producers at the expense of small farmers. He also criticised trials of genetically modified crops in this country.
→ read full articleSomalia’s Rich Maritime Resources Being Plundered, Report Says
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
27 Feb 2012
With the country’s 3,300-km coastline virtually unprotected, industrial fishing vessels from Europe and Asia have entered the area in large numbers and are plundering Somalia’s rich maritime resources. “Having over-fished their home waters, these sophisticated factory ships are seeking catch in one of the world’s richest remaining fishing zones,” says the report published by the New York-based Global Policy Forum (GPF).
→ read full articleLatin America Seeks to Spread Nuclear-Free Zones
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2012
Latin America and the Caribbean are discussing ways to step up supervision of the use of nuclear materials in the region and contribute to the creation of more nuclear weapons-free zones around the world, on the 45th anniversary of the treaty that banned nuclear arms in the region.
→ read full articleAnti-Drug Vaccines Hold Promise – But Little Profit
Emilio Godoy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Feb 2012
Vaccines against drug addiction appear to be a better strategy than the repressive worldwide “war on drugs”, but first they must overcome resistance from pharmaceutical laboratories and secure financial backing, scientists say.
→ read full article‘Arms Easier to Trade than Bananas’
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Feb 2012
The lack of international regulation in the trade of conventional arms is a “scandal” that must be brought to an end, said a coalition of non-governmental organisations as they heightened their campaign this week for a comprehensive United Nations treaty.
→ read full articleArgentina: Fair Trade Going Strong amid Global Crisis
Marcela Valente – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Feb 2012
With a steady growth in production and exports, fair trade in Argentina is proving that socially and environmentally sustainable practices can be much more than a refuge from external crises.
→ read full articleBrazil: Community Radio Flourishes Online
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
30 Jan 2012
Community radio stations in Brazil are finding the internet and user-friendly information technologies to be valuable allies for their broadcasts, which focus on citizenship, social equity and human rights.
→ read full articleHow the U.S. Manipulates Key U.N. Appointments
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2012
When Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announces his new team of senior officials shortly, his appointments will be based not only on merit but also on demands made by the five big powers – the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia – as well as key donors who sustain U.N. agencies through voluntary contributions.
→ read full articleKenya: Key Lakes Succumb to Human Activities
Peter Kahare – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 Jan 2012
Several years ago, Lakes Kamnarok and Ol Bollosat in Kenya were vibrant water bodies that supported and shaped the ecosystems around them. But today they are shells of their former selves, due to heavy siltation caused by human activities.
→ read full articleAfghanistan: Catch ’em Young, for Prostitution
Rebecca Murray – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 Jan 2012
Soma was a teenager in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif when her grandfather arranged her marriage to a husband she had never met. Every night Soma’s father-in-law hosted parties, where for 200 dollars visiting men could eat, drink alcohol and watch Soma and her two sister-in-laws dance. The girls would then be forced to sleep with up to four men in one night. Soma said she was regularly injected for her blood, which was then displayed on bed sheets as ‘proof’ to clients she was a virgin.
→ read full articleHaiti: Open for Business – Part 1
Correspondents – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Dec 2011
“Haiti is open for business.” That’s what President Michel “Sweet Micky” Martelly said at a recent ceremony as he and former U.S. president Bill Clinton laid a cornerstone for a giant industrial zone being built in northern Haiti. In a new seven-part series, produced after four months of interviews and the review of dozens of studies, the investigative journalism partnership exposed the challenges, risks and arguably erroneous thinking behind the new park and the gamble of betting Haiti’s development on five-dollar a day wages and “the race to the bottom”.
→ read full articleHaiti: Open for Business – Part 2
Correspondents – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Dec 2011
Ever since being elected earlier this year, Haitian President Michel Martelly and his team have been betting Haiti’s reconstruction on foreign investors.
→ read full articlePalestinian Flag Flies at UN Agency
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Dec 2011
Amidst a sudden downpour of rain here, the Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) on Tuesday [13 Dec 2011], marking Palestine’s admission to the specialised agency. Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, stood solemnly with members of his delegation and other officials as the flag was hoisted alongside the UNESCO banner, while the Palestinian national anthem played.
→ read full articleIndia: Kashmir Clamours for Normalcy
Athar Parvaiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Dec 2011
As armed insurgency in India’s northern Jammu and Kashmir ebbs, the elected state government is keen to hasten a return to normalcy by easing draconian security laws and reopening movie theatres and liquor shops, banned by fundamentalist militant groups.
→ read full articleU.N.’s First Official Report on Gays Notes Widespread Bias
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Dec 2011
In its first-ever official report on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, the United Nations confirms there is widespread discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in “all regions” of the world. In many cases, asserts the 25-page report released Thursday [15 Dec 2011], “even the perception of homosexuality or transgender identity puts people at risk”.
→ read full articleNative Peoples under Siege around the Globe
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Dec 2011
In polished versions of U.S. history, the near-extermination of Native Americans in the United States is an unsightly blemish that continues to be glossed over to this day. Yet the struggles of indigenous peoples are not exclusive to the United States and have grown increasingly complex in modern times.
→ read full articleDraft Climate Deal Dubbed a “Death Sentence for Africa”
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
12 Dec 2011
No one is happy late Friday [9 Dec 2011] at the very contentious U.N. climate talks that went into extra time on Saturday. As the lights flicker on a rainy night here, the partial power failure echoes the failure of the multilateral process, according to civil society and some countries. “If countries agree to the text as it stands, they will be passing a death sentence on Africa,” said Nnnimmo Bassey, chair of Friends of the Earth International and a Nigerian activist.
→ read full articleSouth-South Ties Reshape Aid Paradigm
Miriam Gathigah – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Dec 2011
When the G-8 countries decided that improving Internet access to developing countries should be a priority, scores of leaders from developing world opposed the move. The prevalence of harmful cultural practices such as female genital mutilation and women and girls trekking miles in search of water and firewood seemed far removed from Internet technology. Says Esther Suchia, an activist in Kenya, “This commitment to give developing countries aid to improve access to Internet was taken as an insult.”
→ read full articleBottled Water Companies Target Minorities, but So Do Soda Firms
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Nov 2011
Early in November [2011], the watchdog group Corporate Accountability International (CAI) accused the Swiss transnational Nestle of manipulative marketing. “For the past 30 years, bottled water corporations like Nestle, Pepsi and Coke have helped build a 15 billion dollar U.S. bottled water market by casting doubts on public drinking water systems.” Still, a 2008 investigation by the Environmental Working Group found bottled water to be “chemically indistinguishable from tap water”, the summary of the investigation said.
→ read full articleHimalayan Nations Yet to Break the Ice
Sudeshna Sarkar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Nov 2011
The shrinking and retreating of the Himalayan glaciers – which provide life-giving water to over a billion people – became visible after early 1970. Three decades later, the phenomenon accelerated, resulting in the formation of moraine-dammed glacial lakes which are swelling ominously. There are over 20,000 glacial lakes in the Hindu Kush-Himalayas and a GLOF risk assessment report by ICIMOD in 2010 compiled a list of 179 potentially dangerous ones in China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan. In addition, experts have identified another 25 in Bhutan.
→ read full articleUnreported Horrors – Male Rape in DR Congo
Moses Seruwagi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Nov 2011
They are men who have lost all pride and self-confidence and who have been left severely traumatised by their experience. At the medical centre in Uganda where they are being treated, they talked candidly about the crimes carried out against them. Male rape has been prevalent as a weapon of war in many conflict zones and also in prison cells. But since these crimes are mostly unreported, also because the focus is on female victims, the extent of the problem is unknown. What is known is that male victims face horrendous problems in recovering.
→ read full articleCan the BRICS Make a Difference At Busan? (Part 1)
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
As shock waves from Greece’s economic crisis emanate across the Eurozone and the Occupy protests in the U.S. grow bolder in their critique of the dominant neoliberal system, it seems clear to many observers that the old hegemonic economic order is fading fast.
→ read full articleCan the BRICS Make a Difference at Busan? (Part 2)
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
While experts are hopeful that blocs of emerging market economies like BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – will play a major role in the upcoming aid effectiveness conference in Busan, South Korea, others fear that the new players do not yet have the fiscal power to make a serious intervention in fora generally dominated by rich donor states.
→ read full articleLandgrabbing in Ethiopia: Legal Lease or Stolen Soil?
Philipp Hedemann – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
By exporting food produced by child labour in Ethiopia, an Indian farm manager hopes to earn millions within three years. “It’s still total wilderness here, but we will soon start growing sugar cane and palm oil and everything will look tidy,” explains Karmjeet Singh Sekhon as he drives in a Toyota 4×4 through the burning bushland on his farm.
→ read full articleUS-Uganda: Award Honours Courageous Gay Rights Activist
Amanda Wilson – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
Frank Mugisha was just a young teenager in Uganda when he came out as gay. He faced bullying and threats, but he says the stories of lesbian, gay, and transgender friends he later met were much worse – some were kicked out of their homes by their families, subjected to sexual violence to “make them straight”, or arrested.
→ read full articleU.S.: Frustrated with Big Banks, More Turn to Cooperatives
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
The number of people flocking to cooperative banks has recently skyrocketed in the U.S., with 650,000 people joining credit unions just since late September. Their rationale: financial cooperatives offer a more secure and socially just alternative to big commercial banks – or a way for the 99 percent to fight the one percent.
→ read full articleBrazilian Winds Fuel Green Job Creation
Alice Marcondes, Tierramérica – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Nov 2011
The term “green jobs”, coined to describe employment that contributes in some way to preserving or restoring the environment, is increasingly entering the vocabulary of companies keen to respond to the social demand for a cleaner economy. Brazil has not been left behind by this trend.
→ read full articleCape Verde Recognised for Political, Economic Leadership
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Oct 2011
When the former president of Cape Verde, Pedro de Verona Rodrigues Pires, was recently awarded the five-million-dollar African Leadership prize, the ex-Portuguese colony that he headed for nearly 10 years was singled out as one of the key African success stories for “good governance”, including multi-party democracy, rule of law and respect for human rights.
→ read full articlePalestine: UNESCO Becomes a New Battleground
A.D.McKenzie – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Oct 2011
Palestine’s bid to become a member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has created a tense atmosphere here, as the United States threatens to cut financing if the application is approved.
→ read full articleAnti-G20 Summit Prepares Its Case
Cléo Fatoorehchi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
31 Oct 2011
Cannes will be under tight police security Oct. 31 to Nov. 4, and the People’s Forum has negotiated permission from local authorities to meet in Nice, 20 miles from Cannes. The Forum will gather countless organisations, from Attac to Oxfam France, from Greenpeace France to Action against Hunger. With their slogan “People first, not Finance!” they are determined to generate strong mobilisation against the G20 and its policy of financial supremacy.
→ read full articleHuman Development from a Cuban Perspective
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
17 Oct 2011
Excluded from the 2010 Human Development Index, Cuba will issue a report of its own, which will reflect the impact of an economic crisis that has lasted for 20-plus years, and will show social and health indicators typical of the developed world.
→ read full articleAfrica: More Dangerous to Be a Woman than a Soldier
Saaleha Bamjee – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
African women who bear the brunt of the continent’s conflicts now demand to play a defining role in peacekeeping.
→ read full articleHomegrown GM Bean Won’t Fight Hunger, Critics Say
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
Critics complain that a genetically modified bean developed in Brazil, resistant to one of the country’s most damaging agricultural pests, was approved without enough debate or guarantees that the crop will not affect human health or the environment.
→ read full articleU.S.: “Leaderless” Protest Movement Continues to Snowball
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you – then you win,” a middle-aged man yells into the microphone from a makeshift stage erected at the far end of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Eighty years later, the words of the great Indian freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi have found their way to the U.S. and still resonate as strongly as they did during India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.
→ read full article“Drug Addicts Are Sick, Not Criminals”
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
3 Oct 2011
“The Police Pacification Units-UPPs are not going to fix all of Brazil’s, or Rio de Janeiro’s, problems, but the areas that have been ‘pacified’ today have already seen a decline in the various indicators of crime,” said police Major Eliécer de Oliveira, coordinator of UPP training and teaching in the military police.
→ read full articleU.S.: Battle Escalates Against Genetically Modified Crops
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
3 Oct 2011
Home to a fast-growing network of farmers’ markets, cooperatives and organic farms, but also the breeding ground for mammoth for-profit corporations that now hold patents to over 50 percent of the world’s seeds, the United States is weathering a battle between Big Agro and a ripening movement for food justice and security.
→ read full articleBrazil-Africa: Teaching Diplomacy
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Sep 2011
African countries are increasingly taking up Brazil’s offer of training in the art of diplomacy, seeing it as a partner that could help them set up or improve their own foreign service institutes.
→ read full articleConcrete Impact of Palestine’s U.N. Bid Still Uncertain
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Sep 2011
Despite the frenzy of media attention bestowed upon Palestine’s expected bid for statehood at the United Nations later this month, some doubt the impact it would have on the political complexities of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the humanitarian issues and human rights abuses that many Palestinians face regularly.
→ read full articleBrazil: African Refugees in the Amazon
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Sep 2011
Wilson Nicolas, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was the first African refugee to find his way to Brazil’s Amazon jungle region, and seems to have started a trend.
→ read full articleSouth-South Cooperation Revs Up
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 Aug 2011
Brazil has been using its growing strength to forge ties with other countries in the global south. The Brazilian Cooperation Agency is currently participating in scores of economic projects, mostly in the agricultural sector, in more than 80 developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The projects range across industries from livestock and fisheries to horticulture and food production.
→ read full articleIsrael: Rights Recede Under Opium of Occupation
Pierre Klochendler – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Aug 2011
The nationwide movement for social justice that sent tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets on the weekend was seemingly oblivious to the fact that, concurrently, the Palestinians were officially announcing their bid for U.N.- endorsed recognition of statehood.
→ read full articleClimate Change: Welcome to Bizarro World
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Aug 2011
Canada and the United States are now the centre of Bizarro World. This is where leaders promise to reduce carbon emissions but ensure a new, supersized oil pipeline called Keystone XL is built, guaranteeing further expansion of the Alberta tar sands that produce the world’s most carbon-laden oil.
→ read full articleThe Full Impact of WikiLeaks Will Be Felt a Few Years Down the Road
Clarinha Glock interviewing WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2011
Even before he was hired as spokesman for the WikiLeaks whistleblower web site in July 2010, 49-year-old investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson realised that the new initiative would have the power to bring about transformations simply by informing society, starting in his own country, Iceland.
→ read full articleFrench Ship Carries Freedom Flotilla’s “Dignity” to Gaza
Begoña Astigarraga – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2011
The French vessel Dignité-Al Karama is the only boat from the Freedom Flotilla II actually sailing for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade imposed in 2006. At the same time, six Spanish members of the humanitarian aid mission went on hunger strike in the Greek capital.
→ read full articleWorld Population to Hit Seven Billion by October
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Jul 2011
The United Nations commemorates World Population Day on July 11 against the backdrop of an upcoming landmark event: global population hitting the seven billion mark by late October this year.
→ read full articleSouth Africa: Scientists Find Green Method to Purify Toxic Water
Kristin Palitza – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Jul 2011
South African scientists have developed an environmentally friendly method to clean highly toxic water and convert it into drinkable water. Once available commercially, the method could drastically reduce the negative impact industry has on water pollution worldwide.
→ read full article90 Percent of Petraeus’s Captured ‘Taliban’ Were Civilians
Gareth Porter - Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Jun 2011
In August 2010 Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success. A total of 4,100 Taliban rank and file had been captured and 2,000 had been killed. Those figures were critical to creating a new media narrative hailing the success of SOF. But it turns out that more than 80 percent of those called captured Taliban fighters were released within days of having been picked up, because they were found to have been innocent civilians, according to official U.S. military data.
→ read full articleSlain Writer’s Book Says US-NATO War Served Al-Qaeda Strategy
Gareth Porter – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
Al-Qaeda strategists have been assisting the Taliban fight against U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan because they believe that foreign occupation has been the biggest factor in generating Muslim support for uprisings against their governments, according to the just-published book by Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistani journalist whose body was found in a canal outside Islamabad last week with evidence of having been tortured.
→ read full articleGovernments and Powers-That-Be Fear the Internet
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
The global reach of the internet, and its ability to transmit information in real time and mobilise populations, creates fear among governments and the powerful, says Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
→ read full article“The U.N. Overlooks Native Rights in Developed Countries”
Crystal Lee interviewing Verena Schaelter – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
The United Nations has largely overlooked the plight of indigenous peoples in developed countries, says Crystal Lee of the U.N. Indigenous Youth Caucus, a Native American activist from the Navajo tribe.
→ read full articleUndefeated, Freedom Flotillas Expand
Eva Bartlett – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Flanked by flags of various nations whose citizens have sailed to the Gaza Strip to highlight the all-out siege on Gaza, the memorial’s inscription bears the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago by Israeli commandoes firing onto the Freedom Flotilla, killing nine, injuring over 50, and abducting over 600 civilians in international waters, Gaza’s harbour bustles with people and energy. Undaunted by last year’s massacre, international activists have organised the Freedom Flotilla 2, due to sail in one month’s time with at least 10 boats and over 1,000 activists. Canadian and U.S. boats will join those of Europe, Turkey, and other nations.
→ read full articleTropical Forest Summit Opens
Arsène Séverin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Heads of state from the Amazon, Congo and Borneo-Mekong basins are meeting in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville: leaders hope to reach an accord on sound management of valuable rainforest ecoystems, but civil society actors believe the problems faced by local populations may be ignored.
→ read full articleBrazil: Activists Call for Stronger Action against Violence in Amazon
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Organisations of small farmers and human rights groups are disappointed with the measures announced by the Brazilian government to address the problem of violence in the Amazon jungle region, after four environmental activists were murdered in less than a week.
→ read full articleBrazil: From War on Drugs to Community Policing in Rio
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Four decades after Washington declared its “war on drugs” and began to spread the doctrine south of the U.S. border, the government of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro decided to shift away from that approach towards a strategy focused on community policing. The new focus has already produced results in some of the city’s favelas or shanty towns, which were long off-limits to outsiders, including police.
→ read full articleTime Running Out for Two-State Solution
Mel Frykberg – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Time is of the essence if the implementation of a two-state solution to end the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to succeed. Changing demographics both within Israeli and Palestinian society could render this impossible, with a one-state solution the only feasible outcome. An eventual one-state solution, however, would lead to two possible scenarios. Either Israel would extend the franchise to all Palestinians in the occupied territories, which would lead to the end of Israel’s Jewish character, or Palestinians would be denied the vote and Israel would be officially pronounced an apartheid state.
→ read full articleFears of Depleted Uranium Use in Libya
Peter Custers – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
The pattern of deception to gain legitimacy for war in the eyes of the public by now is familiar. In the middle of March, Western powers led by the U.S., Britain and France initiated actions of war against Muammar Gaddafi’s government of Libya. The start of war was preceded by a publicity offensive in which the Libyan leader was depicted as a madman.
→ read full articleHomophobia in the Caribbean Varies Widely
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2011
While homosexuality is punishable by law in nine Caribbean island nations, gay activism is increasingly taking root in countries like Cuba.
→ read full articleU.N. to Launch International Year of Cooperatives
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2011
When the United Nations commemorates the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) in 2012, the world body will recognise the contributions made by cooperatives to socioeconomic development, including poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. Currently, an estimated 800 million cooperative members are involved in diverse sectors throughout the world economy. And these enterprises sustain around 100 million jobs worldwide.
→ read full articleSunni Monarchies Close Ranks
Barbara Slavin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 May 2011
Reports that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considering some form of membership for two non-Gulf states – Jordan and Morocco – confirm that the conservative Sunni monarchies of the Middle East are closing ranks against Iran, Shiite-led Iraq and the democratic wave sweeping the region.
→ read full articleTranslating Southern Successes into LDC Solutions
Rousbeh Legatis interviewing Josephine Ojiambo, Ambassador of Kenya – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
“In South-South cooperation we are all partners,” Josephine Ojiambo, ambassador of Kenya to the U.N. and president of the U.N. General Assembly High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, said. “SSC specifically shies away from the donor-client relationship.”
→ read full articleEgypt’s Moves Raising Anxiety in Washington
Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
With U.S. lawmakers threatening this week to cut aid to Pakistan over its alleged harbouring of the late Osama bin Laden, concern is growing steadily here over the future of ties with another key predominantly Muslim ally heavily dependent on U.S. aid: Egypt. The most recent action was Egypt’s mediation of the reconciliation agreement signed Wednesday [4 May 2011] in Cairo by the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, an agreement that has been strongly denounced by leading lawmakers, as well as by the administration of President Barack Obama itself.
→ read full articleCuba: Month-Long Offensive against Homophobia
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
LGBT social networks and experts with Cuba’s National Sex Education Centre (CENESEX) announced Tuesday [3 May 2011] that events surrounding the Day Against Homophobia will last a month this year in this Caribbean island nation.
→ read full articleChild Victims Have ‘Leading Role’ in Creating a Nonviolent Society
Marcela Valente – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
Interview with a U.N. Expert on Violence against Children. Appointed to the gigantic task of building international understanding of violence against children and adolescents, 58-year-old Portuguese lawyer Marta Santos Pais is based in New York and works with a small staff of only seven people.
→ read full articleFukushima, Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO’s Role
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have thrown into relief contradictions in the role played by the World Health Organisation, which civil society organisations have spent years pointing out.
→ read full articleIsrael Awaits Palestinian ‘Tsunami’
Pierre Klochendler – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
The “tsunami” will occur at the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September 2011. Then, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will seek endorsement of statehood. Over 110 nations have already recognised Palestine. At least 30 more are expected to back the initiative. U.N. membership requires a Security Council recommendation plus a General Assembly approval by two-thirds, or 128 countries. With recognition of statehood, occupation – not of “disputed” territories”, but of a “U.N. member-state” – will thus be denounced in an unprecedentedly consensual manner.
→ read full articleIndia: Fukushima Won’t Stop World’s Largest Nuclear Facility
Ranjit Devraj – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
While the Fukushima tragedy has not deterred India from going ahead with building the world’s largest nuclear power facility at Jaitapur on the western coast, the government has announced a tighter safety regime for its ambitious nuclear power programme.
→ read full articleA Fair Wind for Clean Energy in Central America
Danilo Valladares – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
Soaring international prices for oil and gas are driving the expansion of renewable energies in Central America, a region that has plenty of untapped potential for producing hydroelectricity, wind power and geothermal energy.
→ read full articleBRICS to Show Its Weight at WTO
Marwaan Macan-Markar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has, not surprisingly, been singled out as a venue to demonstrate the collective strength of the informal coalition of major emerging economies across three continents – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS nations. All member countries but Russia are members of the Geneva-based WTO.
→ read full articleMartelly-Clinton Seal Deal for Next Wave of Disaster Capitalism in Haiti
Kanya D’Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
Miles from his island nation’s earthquake-ravaged capital city Port-au-Prince, Haitian president elect Michel Martelly exchanged warm handshakes and heartfelt promises with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington Wednesday, just prior to the formal announcement of the pop star’s victory in the highly-contested Mar. 20 election.
→ read full articleCuba: The “Other” Revolutions
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
YES to sexual diversity! NO to transgenics! LONG LIVE @! In stark contrast to the political apathy of many of their contemporaries, some sectors of Cuban youth are radically re-writing the standard slogans, opting for active participation and fomenting “new revolutions within the Revolution.”
→ read full articlePhilippines: Pulling Children Out of the Tunnel of Hard Labour
Kara Santos – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Apr 2011
At the tender age of 10, Rodel Morozco was working in a goldmine and crawling inside tunnels, until one day he fell 200 feet underground because his father had blasted the tunnel with dynamite.
→ read full articleBahrain: U.S. Keeps Quiet over Repression
Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Apr 2011
If President Barack Obama wanted to place Washington “on the right side of history” during the ongoing “Arab Spring”, his reaction to recent events in Bahrain will likely make that far more difficult, according to a growing number of analysts and commentators here.
→ read full articleClimate Change: Developing Countries Step In Where Richer Nations Fear to Tread
Marwaan Macan-Markar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
Led by countries like Indonesia, 48 developing nations are rolling out a range of pledges to voluntarily cut their respective emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2020, the year climate scientists say the earth’s rising temperature should peak by if an environmental catastrophe is to be avoided.
→ read full articleColombia: Court Documents Reveal Chiquita Paid for Security
Jim Lobe and Aprille Muscara – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
Contrary to claims by Chiquita Brands International that its payments to Colombian paramilitary and guerrilla groups over more than a decade were extorted, internal company documents released here Thursday [7 Apr 2011] strongly suggest that the transactions provided specific benefits to the banana giant.
→ read full articleBRICS to Promote More Inclusive Global Partnership
Gordon Ross – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
At the upcoming Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit, to be held on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan Apr. 14, discussion will focus not only on deepening economic ties among members, but will also likely touch on global political events, including the crisis in the Middle East and North Africa. But China insists the club has no political agenda.
→ read full articleWho Controls the Nuclear Control Agencies?
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
As Japan struggles to confront a nuclear disaster that could be the worst in history, it seems clear that any discussion about the safety of nuclear energy should address the independence of regulatory agencies.
→ read full articleAfrican Union at a Loss over Libya
Thandi Winston – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
Before the Mar. 17 resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya was passed, the African Union was conspicuous by its silence on the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi which began a month ago… But in a statement released Mar. 20, the day after international military action began, the ad-hoc High Level AU Panel on Libya said it opposed any foreign military intervention in Libya.
→ read full articleAfrican NGOs Oppose Human Rights Clause in EPAs
Isolda Agazzi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
Part of the delay in the finalisation of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) is due to the so-called non-execution clause that gives the EU the power to take steps against its African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trading partners if they violate human rights, democracy and good governance principles.
→ read full article‘Women Are Shackled During Childbirth’
Mehru Jaffer – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Mar 2011
Interview with Fabrizia Falcione, UN Women – Female Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel are often denied legal representation and medical care while being housed in squalid conditions that can include sharing cells with rodents.
→ read full articleJapan: Whaling Policy in Choppy Waters
Suvendrini Kakuchi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Mar 2011
After years of stiff resistance, the Japanese government has announced a temporary halt to its controversial research whaling programme in the Antarctic Ocean, a decision that will finally stir the debate to promote sustainable fishing, say conservationists here.
→ read full articlePatriarchy and Fundamentalism Two Sides of the Same Coin
Cléo Fatoorehchi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Feb 2011
While “fundamentalism” has become something of a buzzword in the past few years, particularly in the West in connection with Islam, it in fact exists in every region and religion, and has a set of common characteristics, say activists who have studied the question for years.
→ read full articleDoes it Matter if the Torturer Is Right-Handed or Left-Handed?
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Feb 2011
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, once made the highly-debatable distinction between “friendly” right-wing “authoritarian” regimes (which were mostly U.S. and Western allies) and “unfriendly” left-wing “totalitarian” dictatorships (which the U.S. abhorred). Kirkpatrick’s distinction between user-friendly right-wing regimes and unfriendly left-wing dictators prompted a response from her ideological foe at that time, former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who shot back: “It seems to me that if you’re on the rack (and being tortured), it doesn’t make any difference if your torturer is right handed or left-handed.”
→ read full articleAfrica: Food Versus Biofuels Debate Continues
Mantoe Phakathi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Dec 2010
“We’re going to Cancún no better off than we were in Copenhagen,” said Thuli Makama, the director of Friends of the Earth Swaziland, as she prepared to leave for the climate negotiations in Mexico. She feels industrialised countries are promoting the production and use of biofuels to fulfill their energy needs, but this will leave more people in the developing world without food. “We face the danger of growing food for the machines instead of our stomachs,” Makama told IPS. Swaziland faces serious shortages of food, with 170,000 of its million-strong population in need of food aid this year.
→ read full articleThe Roof Is Now the Field
Eva Bartlett – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Dec 2010
“We grow on our roof because we are farmers but have no land now,” says Moatassan Hamad, 21, from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip.
→ read full articleUN: Defining Terrorism
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 Nov 2010
The UN remains unable to draw a distinction between “freedom fighters” and “state sponsored terrorism”…. terrorism has become a political epithet designed to place enemies beyond the pale as opposed to a technical term the purpose of which is to define certain criminal acts that violate the laws of war and for which the perpetrators can be held accountable. “Thus, in the Middle East, it has reached the point where Palestinian or Arab armed activities that target Israeli military personnel are characterised as terrorist acts, while Israeli armed activities that deliberately target civilians are characterised as legitimate acts of self- defence,” he said.
→ read full articleLaos: For Cluster Bomb Survivors, War Far From Over
Irwin Loy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Nov 2010
Eighteen-year-old Phongsavath Manithong rubbed his eyes with the back of his arms as he described how his life changed forever. He was not even born yet when U.S. military pilots dropped millions of tiny explosives onto Laos. But almost four decades after war ended for this South-east Asian nation, it is people like him who still suffer.
→ read full article