Global Issues

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (IPS) - We have heard it all: When a woman raises her voice, she’s too emotional. When she stands her ground, she’s too difficult. When she leads, she’s too ambitious. If she wears dark suits they whisper ‘why does she always look like a man’. But oh my gosh! if she shows up in a colorful dresses and high heels…. Read the full story, “Gender Discrimination: It’s Time to Flip the Narrative”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, March 10 (IPS) - The ongoing military conflict between Ukraine and Russia—which began February 2022, with no visible signs of ending—has triggered major arms transfers to Europe. Read the full story, “Global Arms Flow Jump Nearly 10 per cent as European Demand Soars due to Transfers to Ukraine”, on globalissues.org →

UNITED NATIONS, March 9 (IPS) - On International Women’s Day (March 8), global leaders and advocates gather around the rallying cry to strengthen justice systems for all women and girls in a time of increasing pushbacks on gender equality. Read the full story, “International Women’s Day 2026 - Justice for Women and Girls Needs Action and Political Will”, on globalissues.org →

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, March 9 (IPS) - Consider what International Women’s Day looked like a few years ago, and what it looks like now: the same date, the same global moment of reflection, but a vastly changed global landscape. Gender rights are facing the most coordinated and wide-ranging attack in decades. Anti-rights forces are dismantling protections secured after generations of struggle, destroying infrastructure built to address gender-based violence and realise reproductive rights and rewriting legal frameworks to roll back rights, with a specific focus on excluding transgender people. This is the result of a deliberate, carefully crafted, handsomely funded and globally coordinated strategy. Read the full story, “International Women’s Day 2026 - A Resistance Stronger than the Backlash”, on globalissues.org →

NEW YORK, March 9 (IPS) - As we observe International Women’s Day (IWD) this year, the global community does so in a time of continuing turbulence, conflicts and uncertainty about the future of our planet. Read the full story, “International Women’s Day 2026 - This Year’s International Women’s Day Calls for Electing a Woman as the next Secretary-General”, on globalissues.org →

NEW YORK, March 9 (IPS) - International Women’s Day 2026 (IWD 2026), which was commemorated March 8, under the theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For ALL Women and Girls“, calls for action to dismantle all barriers to equal justice: discriminatory laws, weak legal protections, and harmful practices and social norms that erode the rights of women and girls. It demands an end to systemic violence and misogyny, including calls for justice for Epstein survivors. Read the full story, “International Women’s Day 2026 - The Gender Architecture of Betrayal: Stop Elite Impunity”, on globalissues.org →

ABUJA, March 9 (IPS) - Abimbola David still remembers being robbed twice in taxis in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. The most recent incident occurred in 2023 when the robbers, who pretended to be passengers, took her belongings while the car was moving. Read the full story, “Nigeria’s Failing Road Transport System Leaves Commuters at the Mercy of Robbers”, on globalissues.org →

A Japanese peace activist is hoping to promote global nuclear disarmament by keeping alive the stories of the atomic bomb survivors through the creation of a mobile museum.Read the full story, “‘No one should be a hibakusha’: Young Japanese activist’s mission to share atomic bomb survivor stories”, on globalissues.org →

Despite some progress made globally, children around the world still face serious and evolving risks of being sold, sexually exploited and abused, the UN independent human rights expert on the sale, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children, Mama Fatima Singhateh, warned on Monday.Read the full story, “New challenges bring increased risks in combating child sexual abuse, exploitation”, on globalissues.org →

Crises in the region on both Afghanistan’s longest borders are undermining the country’s stability, a senior UN official warned the Security Council on Monday as concerns over Middle East crisis grow amid clashes with Pakistan and a worsening humanitarian crisis.Read the full story, “Humanitarian crisis ‘worsening’ in Afghanistan as war erupts in the Middle East”, on globalissues.org →