Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 11 2008 (IPS) – The world #39s 2.2 billion children are under siege battling poverty, hunger, military conscription, sexual abuse, labour exploitation and HIV/AIDS, according to the United Nations.
The world body estimates that over 600 million children live in absolute poverty worldwide; about 218 million suffer the worst forms of child labour; over 2.5 million are infected with HIV/AIDS; and more than 250,000 to 300,000 are forcibly pressed into military service as soldiers.
The U.N. children #39s agency UNICEF says that nearly half the estimated 3.6 million people killed in military conflicts since 1990 were children.
Despite continuing efforts by governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and humanitarian organisati…
Greeks citizens protesting against the public spending cuts that have accompanied the austerity package. Credit: Bego Astigarraga/IPS
ATHENS, Oct 10 2012 (IPS) – Like a person on life support whose vital functions are failing, the Greek economy is slowly but surely shutting down as radiation from the so-called ‘austerity plan’ erodes public institutions.
When German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived here on Tuesday morning for an economic assessment of the debt-ravaged country, she did not see the things that, for thousands, have become commonplace: cancer patients dying outside clinics, unable to access the treatment they need, or kindergart…
A typical image of the kind of subdivisions that epitomise urban sprawl, Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Credit: “Rio Rancho Sprawl” by Riverrat303 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rio_Rancho_Sprawl.jpeg#/media/File:Rio_Rancho_Sprawl.jpeg
NEW YORK, Mar 19 2015 (IPS) – There s little argument about the basic …
In peacetime Sri Lanka, women still bear a heavy load in looking for jobs and tending to their families. Credit: Adithya Alles/IPS
COLOMBO, May 5 2015 (IPS) – When Rosy Senanayake, Sri Lanka’s minister of state for child affairs, addressed the U.N. Commission on Population and Development (CPD) in New York last month, she articulated both the successes and shortcomings of gender equality in a country which prided itself electing the world’s first female head of government: Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike in July 1960.
After surviving a…
The writer is Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)
The Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report will be launched on Wednesday, 22 March 2023, 11:00-12:00 hours (Bangkok time, UTC+7), at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Thailand, and Online via Zoom.
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 20 2023 (IPS) – As we reach the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it is an opportune moment to reflect on the Asia-Pacific region’s progress and accelerate efforts to achieve our goals.
This year’s Asia-Pacific SDG Progress Report published by ESCAP features pace-leaders of the r…