Inter Press Service

• Climate Resilient Indigenous Crops Underutilised even as Climate Change Threatens to Cripple Food Systems March 27, 2023
  Elizabeth Njoroge recounts her poverty-stricken upbringing in Ting’ang’a village in the Central part of Kenya, growing up on a diet heavy on Amaranth and pumpkin. The 45-year-old speaks about the shame of neighbours finding out the frequency with which her family consumed foods associated with poor and extremely food-insecure households. “Terere (Amaranth) grew just like […]
  Joyce Chimbi
• Africa’s Dark Road to Democracy March 27, 2023
  The dark road to democracy began with the manner in which the Kenyan Presidential election of August 2022 was handled. Today, the Church in Kenya is calling for dialogue between the ruling regime and the opposition. The issue here is not about dialogue, but the legitimacy of the President William Ruto. The situation in Kenya […]
  Gabriel Odima
• Chile Steps Up Controls to Curb Immigration March 27, 2023
  The Chilean government tightened controls on the northern border to curtail the influx of migrants, especially Venezuelans, along a 1,030-km stretch of border with Bolivia and Peru. Some 600 military personnel joined the police force to reinforce control, initially for a period of three months. Left-wing President Gabriel Boric, in office for a year, visited […]
  Orlando Milesi
• Pressure from the Taliban has Contributed to Rise in Underage Marriages in Afghanistan March 24, 2023
  The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons.
  Anonymous
• Artisanal Miners Face Onerous Obstacles to Become Legal March 24, 2023
  Greed, poverty, irresponsible legal mining giants which exploited and then abandoned South Africa’s mines, together with the government’s failure to enforce regulations on the mining giants to rehabilitate mines before closing them, have created fertile ground for a thriving illegal artisanal mining sector called Zama Zama, many of them run by criminal syndicates. South Africa’s […]
  Fawzia Moodley
• Iraq in 2023: Challenges & Prospects for Peace & Human Security March 24, 2023
  Over the past two decades Iraq has been affected by several waves of intense conflict and violence. The 2003 invasion of Iraq by a multinational coalition led by the United States and United Kingdom toppled the Ba’athist regime of Saddam Hussein. It also ushered in years of chaos and civil war, as a variety of […]
  Shivan Fazil and Alaa Tartir
• Beatriz v. El Salvador Case Could Set Precedent on Abortion in Latin America March 24, 2023
  An open hearing in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the Beatriz v. El Salvador case is raising hopes that this country and other Latin American nations might overturn or at least mitigate the severe laws that criminalize abortion. That will happen if the Inter-American Court rules that El Salvador violated the right to […]
  Edgardo Ayala
• Turkish Writer Pinar Selek Faces Her Fifth Life Sentence March 23, 2023
  The woman we’re meeting in a house on the outskirts of Biarritz -800 kilometres southwest of Paris- is a university professor, the author of several books and hundreds of articles, and a well-known human rights activist. According to Turkish courts, she also planted a bomb that killed seven people and injured more than 120 in […]
  Karlos Zurutuza
• Burkina Faso Home to Almost Half of Closed Schools in Central & West Africa March 23, 2023
  Over a million children in Burkina Faso are currently affected by school closures with 6,134 academic institutions shut as of February 2023, an increase of over 40 per cent since the end of the last school year. Nearly one out of four schools country-wide are now out of service due to rampant insecurity and violence, […]
  Marine Olivesi
• Bhutan’s Long-Serving Political Prisoners Should be Released March 23, 2023
  Elaine Pearson is Asia director at Human Rights Watch
  Elaine Pearson
• Cash Transfers, Poverty Alleviation Assists with Mental Health – Study March 23, 2023
  Poverty alleviation policies, especially cash transfers, will not only improve the poor condition of the beneficiaries but can also play a role in strengthening the psychological health of people as well as improve the mental health of those living in poverty in low- and middle-income countries (LMICS), including Africa, a new study has said. An […]
  Francis Kokutse
• If We Value Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Then We Must Fight for Climate Justice March 23, 2023
  Human life is sacred and every individual deserves an equal chance in life. We have a common desire, we all want to lead a free, fulfilling existence, with dignity, where our basic needs are met, with opportunities to advance and equal treatment under the law. These are fundamental human rights, protected by international law, which […]
  Jotham Napat and Patricia Scotland
• Black Sea Grain Initiative: Russia Reluctantly Agrees to a Two-Month Extension March 22, 2023
  Given the complex interplay between geopolitics and financial markets, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 sent shockwaves across the global economy. Admittedly, the implications both within and between countries have varied. However, there were some common denominators, including higher commodity prices. Price disruptions were particularly severe for ‘soft’ agricultural commodities. During peacetime, Russia and […]
  Alexander Kozul-Wright
• Why Gender Transformative Leadership is Key to Ending TB– for Good March 22, 2023
  Despite being both curable and preventable, the TB pandemic is a global health crisis and a leading cause of death worldwide. COVID-19 brought into sharp focus how women bear the brunt of pandemics. In 2021, over three million women and girls fell ill with TB, resulting in 450,000 needless deaths. As women leaders in global […]
  Nyuma Mbewe and Swati Krishna
• Kenyan Entrepreneur Using Organic Microbes to Unlock Hidden Nutrients in Dairy Feeds March 22, 2023
  Using naturally occurring microbes, a Kenyan entrepreneur has developed a molasses-based supplement that pre-ferments animal feeds to unlock all the necessary nutrients that would otherwise find a way out of the animal through cow dung, and dairy farmers have fallen in love with the product. According to Henry Ambwere, the Nakuru-based entrepreneur who developed the […]
  Isaiah Esipisu
• BRAC International Signs MoU with Rwanda to Empower People in Extreme Poverty March 21, 2023
  Last week, BRAC International signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Rwanda under the Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) to support efforts to empower people in extreme poverty to develop sustainable livelihoods and break the poverty trap long term. This is part of the Government’s broader efforts to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030. “I am delighted […]
  Joyce Chimbi
• One Year into the Ukraine War, Massive Influx of Russians into Georgia Has Consequences for Locals March 21, 2023
  Since the war in Ukraine started in February last year, at least 1.5 million Russian citizens have crossed the Russia-Georgia border, official data states. However, as of today, it needs to be clarified how many of them stayed in the country, but walking the streets of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, the presence of Russian nationals […]
  IPS Correspondent
• The ‘Vampiric’ Draining and Poisoning of Lifeblood: Water March 21, 2023
  Shockingly, the human suicidal war on Nature not only continues unabated but is also set to become even more virulent. Just to start with, please be reminded that groundwater accounts for 99% of all liquid freshwater on Earth, according to the 2022 UN World Water Development Report. And that groundwater already provides half of the […]
  Baher Kamal
• Venezuela Makes Timid Headway in Solar Energy March 21, 2023
  The installation of solar panels in a remote village in ​​the Andes highlands in late February marked a second incursion by the Venezuelan government into the field of solar energy, previously uncharted territory in this country that for a century was a leading global oil producer. The governor of the Andean state of Mérida, Jehyson […]
  Humberto Marquez
• Keep Moving … March 20, 2023
  Only forty-five days into our new Strategic Plan 2023-2026, Education Cannot Wait secured 55 percent of its total requirement for the coming four years, reaching $826 million at #HLFC2023. This is a significant milestone for education in emergencies and protracted crises, and ECW will continue to pursue fund-raising year-round in the coming four years. The […]
  Yasmine Sherif