Op-Ed

Sudhirendar Sharma Antibiotic resistance is currently the cause for an estimated 700,000 deaths globally, and a business-as-usual scenario may force this figure to swell to 10 million deaths per year by 2050. Read More »

By Yasmine Sherif UNITED NATIONS, Dec 6 2019 (IPS) – Genesis smiles and holds her hand up proudly to answer questions in class. She claps her hands in support of her classmates when they answer the teachers’ questions correctly. “I miss my cousins and aunts in Venezuela, she says.” Her smile fades and her lips tighten. She struggles to hold ... Read More »

By Busani Bafana MILAN, Italy, Dec 4 2019 (IPS) – Global food systems are ripe for transformation if people are to be nourished and the planet sustainable, says Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur of the Right to Food of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Read More »

By Thalif Deen UN, Nov 22 2019 (IPS) – When a coalition of international donors pledged more than $650 million to provide assistance to over 300 million smallholder farmers in developing countries, the primary aim was to help increase agricultural and livestock production besieged by droughts, floods and other natural disasters triggered by climate change– mostly in sub-Saharan Africa and ... Read More »

By Charlotte KingReprint Beijing, China, Nov 21 2019 (IPS) – How Indonesian craftsmanship is undergoing a revival at the world’s first ‘bamboo university’. Read More »

by Ivan Privalko, Bertrand Mâitre, Dorothy Watson and Raffaele Grotti on 21st November 2019 How well children, dependent adults and the elderly are cared for isn’t about national stereotypes—but it does reflect welfare regimes. Read More »

By Thalif Deen UN, Nov 19 2019 (IPS) – The 15-member UN Security Council (UNSC) stands virtually paralyzed in the face of genocide charges against the government of Myanmar where over 730,000 to one million Rohingya Muslims have been forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh since a 2016 crackdown by Myanmar’s military. Read More »

By SherAli Tareen The Background Noise Imran Khan’s ascension as Prime Minister of Pakistan in August 2018 preceded and instigated an avalanche of alarming prognoses issued by a range of motley characters. Their convergence made for an interesting union of otherwise incompatible bedfellows. Read More »

Nairobi, Nov 16 – “Child marriages must end and I am here at the Nairobi Summit to tell the world that it is wrong and must be stopped” Read More »

By Crystal Orderson We need to empower young people to sustain our planet, and let peace and prosperity thrive says UN’s Resident Co-ordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee speaks to IPS on reflections on the ICPD25 Summit. Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 15 2019 (IPS) – Q: At ICPD25 we heard that women and girls are still waiting for the unmet promises to ... Read More »

by Colin Roche on 14th November 2019 @ColinRoche The fossil-fuel industry has been revealed to have invested vast resources in lobbying EU institutions. Greta Thunberg and her fellow school-strikers’ message is resonating across the world—a world that is ready to hear it. Young people and their allies are forcing those in power to face some uncomfortable truths about political inaction ... Read More »

By Joyce Chimbi Nairobi, Kenya, Nov 11 2019 (IPS) – Every day 830 women die while giving life. At least 33,000 girls are forced into child marriage with 11,000 girls undergoing female genital mutilation. These are some of the cruel realities young women face every day. However, there is renewed hope that delegates expected to attend the International Conference on ... Read More »

Sudhirendar Sharma If current happenings are any indication, universities are beset with the challenge of conforming to the political narrative that has swayed public opinion against the idea of freedom of inquiry. Read More »

by Susanne Wixforth and Lukas Hochscheidt on 4th November 2019 The privileging of economic freedoms over social rights by the European Court of Justice could be reversed by a thorough harmonisation of European social law. Read More »

By Dr Jaspal Kaur Sadhu Singh It is difficult to win a debate on ethics when you are pitted against a crowd of tech-acolytes. I was taking the position that a more vital consideration in developing cities are ethical ones rather than the smartness of the technology utilised in the infrastructure and running of facilities or services in cities. The ... Read More »

by José Antonio Ocampo on 6th November 2019 An OECD proposal to reduce transnational tax evasion contains flaws which developing countries must challenge before it is set in stone. Read More »

In recent years, several countries have been drawn to nudges to makes progress on pressing social problems as these do not cost a great deal. Read More »

by Sahana Ghosh on 22 October 2019 • A study suggests that a cocktail of natural and man-made pollutants wafting in the air is tinkering with the rainwater quality in Guwahati, northeast India’s largest metropolis, in the state of Assam. Read More »

Regulation exists to protect workers, public safety, businesses, and investments. But inefficient or inadequate regulation can stifle entrepreneurial activity and business growth and impact the ease of doing business. It takes over 200 hours to complete export border requirements for maritime transport in Cameroon and Côte d’Ivoire. In contrast, it takes only 10 hours in Singapore. Border compliance costs for ... Read More »

by Per Hilmersson on 24th October 2019 The new European Commission’s ‘One In, One Out’ approach to ‘burdensome’ legislation would stymie progress towards safer, healthier workplaces. Read More »

By Hassanal Noor Rahshid The 14th September 2019 attack which had caused significant damage to Saudi based Aramco Oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, was the trigger for much of the recent rise in regional tension at least when it comes to Saudi- Iran relations. Read More »

– Jayant Menon 23 September 2019 If the industrial revolution leads to greater efforts to reskill and reshape the workforce to better adapt to change, then this is exactly what is required, and there is no overdoing it. Read More »

by Lorena Lombardozzi and Neil Warner on 21st October 2019 @floretta_voice A genuinely social Europe must have economic democracy rather than rely only on market mechanisms. Read More »

By Ed Holt Rising populism, anti-media rhetoric from politicians, cyber-harassment of journalists and physical attacks are among the reasons why press freedom in Europe is on the decline, according to the global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Read More »

By Countercurrents Collective An intergovernmental coalition about a new U.S. initiative planned to counter Russia in Europe hosted a presentation on September 12, 2019, in Warsaw. Read More »

Sudhirendar Sharma Trains are rolling libraries of information provided one is willing to relinquish home comforts; is ready for the unexpected; and is alive to searching the unknown. Read More »

By Shayda Naficy and Ebuata Pholip Jakpor Geneva / Lagos, Oct 16 2019 (IPS) – In Geneva this week, a treaty process is underway that promises to usher in a new era for human rights around the globe. The process—the intergovernmental working group on the binding treaty on transnational corporations and human rights—could mean that for the first time, human ... Read More »

By Jonathan Cook If there is an upside to Brexit, it is this: it has made it increasingly hard to present Jeremy Corbyn, contrary to everything the corporate media has been telling us for the past four years, as anything but a political moderate. In truth, he is one of the few moderates left in British – or maybe that ... Read More »

Danielle Nierenberg Good morning from Lake Nona, Florida! Today is World Food Day, a day to celebrate the world’s farmers and focus attention on hunger, nutrition, poverty, and how to change food and agriculture. This year’s theme is “Our Actions Are Our Future: Healthy Diets for A #ZeroHunger World.” Read More »

By IPS World Desk Rome, Oct 14 2019 (IPS) – Globalization and urbanization have had a staggering impact on human history, especially over the last decade. Read More »