Global Issues

KABUL, September 10 (IPS) - Many wonder why men in Afghanistan do not protest when women’s rights are trampled upon. In reality, many are rebelling behind the scenes, for instance, by helping their daughters get an education. Read the full story, “Afghan Men Quietly Resist Taliban Ban on Girls’ Education”, on globalissues.org →

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, September 10 (IPS) - During summer months there is a certain news drought. Nevertheless, this year social media has been crowded with news from wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, while customary tales about grisly murders have not been neglected. In Sweden it is election year and summer reporting has been supplemented by a debate about “hate speech against ethnic groups”. If individual tragedies connected with murders upset people, many seem to be indifferent to the fact that entire population groups are targeted by politicians. Swedish social media is overloaded with outcries about “Muslim” immigration and concerns about Sweden becoming “Islamized” and in danger of being transformed into a new Afghanistan. Read the full story, “A Spectre is Haunting Europe — the Spectre of Ultra-Nationalism”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, September 10 (IPS) - First, it was the mass deportations of undocumented aliens, then a crackdown on liberal-minded academics from prestigious US Universities, and now, restrictions on foreign journalists based in the US. Read the full story, “US Plans to Restrict Foreign Journalists Trigger Rising Protests”, on globalissues.org →

KUALA LUMPUR & JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 10 (IPS) - “As parliamentarians, we should understand that behind every demographic indicator is a human story,” Kamikawa Yoko, MP Japan and Chair of AFPPD, reminded lawmakers in her opening address to the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians on Population and Development (AFPPD) annual conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Read the full story, “Lawmakers Need to Grapple With the ‘Human Story’ of the Aged, Youth, Women and Girls when Making Policy”, on globalissues.org →

Independent human rights investigators voiced deep concern over growing risks to both civilians and South Sudan’s political transition following their latest fact-finding mission to the world’s youngest nation – their 14th in a decade. Read the full story, “Human cost of violence in South Sudan ‘continues to grow’”, on globalissues.org →

On the heels of reported Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and the capture of another key port by the militants on Yemen’s Red Sea coast – including the seizure of eight UN vehicles from a key aid hub there – the Security Council is meeting on Thursday at 3pm in New York to discuss the latest developments.Read the full story, “Security Council LIVE: Fresh attacks prompt emergency meeting on Yemen”, on globalissues.org →

Twenty-five years ago, the heinous terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 against the United States claimed thousands of lives and represented “an assault on humanity itself”, the UN chief said on Thursday.Read the full story, “‘An assault on humanity itself’: Guterres pays tribute to 9/11 victims, survivors and first responders”, on globalissues.org →

The head of the UN's climate body has warned that treating global warming as a partisan issue is dangerously out of step with reality, as he set out a stark account of the economic toll climate change is already inflicting on Europe.Read the full story, “UN climate chief warns political division is undermining fight against ‘economic security emergency’”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, September 9 (IPS) - Two months after devastating twin earthquakes struck northern and central Venezuela on June 24, the humanitarian community has been on the frontlines, delivering lifesaving aid and focusing efforts on sustainable paths for rehabilitation. Read the full story, “UN and Partners Work to Stabilize Health and WASH Systems in Venezuela Following Deadly Earthquakes”, on globalissues.org →

BRUSSELS, Belgium / MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, September 9 (IPS) - When the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) ended in New York in July, it took two recorded votes for states to pass a ministerial declaration that, until recently, would have been adopted without controversy. Uruguay, speaking for the Group of 77 developing countries plus China, pushed through the deletion of a reference to the agreement reached at the COP28 climate summit. Israel forced a vote on a paragraph about self-determination for people under occupation. Russia dissociated itself from the passage on peace and security. The wrangling revealed the extent to which the consensus that in 2015 saw all 193 UN states agree the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – a common blueprint to end poverty, tackle climate change and build accountable institutions by 2030 – has been eroded. Read the full story, “Development Goals Falter as Civil Society Is Shut Out”, on globalissues.org →