Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 12 2008 (IPS) – After nearly 30 years of intense campaigning against female genital mutilation (FGM), the United Nations says that several countries, including Canada, Belgium, Spain and Italy, have passed legislation criminalising the practice, prevalent mostly among immigrant communities.
There is a greater understanding of the practice as a violation of human rights, as well as its harmful health impacts, says a new U.N. report to be discussed at the upcoming two-week session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), scheduled to take place Feb. 25 through Mar. 7.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated between 100 and 140 million girls and women have undergone some form of FGM in more than 28 countries, mostly in Af…
Pilirani Semu-Banda
LILONGWE, Apr 29 2009 (IPS) – An influential women rights organisation in Malawi, Women in Law in Southern Africa-Malawi (WILSA-Malawi), is suing the government of Malawi for preventing women from accessing safe abortion.
Malawian law prohibits abortion Section 149 of the country s penal code says any person who administers abortion shall be liable to imprisonment for 14 years, while Section 150 indicates that any woman who solicits abortion is liable to seven years imprisonment.
But WILSA-Malawi s executive director, Seodi White, calls the existing laws nonsensical because they infringe on women s rights. She says they force women to seek back-street abortions from traditional healers and illegal clinics thereby putting their lives in danger.
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Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Feb 10 2011 (IPS) – Activists hope that a popular agitation against the setting up of a factory to manufacture asbestos products in the eastern Bihar state will result in a nationwide ban on the large-scale import into this country of the deadly mineral fibre.
Rally against an asbestos plant in Muzzaffarpur, Bihar. Credit: Ban Asbestos Network of India
Following six months of agitation against the setting up of the factory in the Chainpur-Bishunpur area of Bi…
Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Jul 27 2011 (IPS) – On the road between the Kenyan and Somali border lie the dead bodies of children who have succumbed to the famine and the hardships of making the journey from their drought-stricken villages to Kenya.
A child from drought-stricken southern Somalia who survived the long journey to an aid camp in the Somali capital Moga…
A child at a lead-contaminated site. Credit: Blacksmith Institute
UXBRIDGE, Canada, May 9 2013 (IPS) – Toxic waste sites in 31 countries are damaging the brains of nearly 800,000 children and impairing the health of millions of people in the developing world, two new studies have found.
Toxins and pollutants in the environment are major sources of illness and reduced lifespans globally. The impacts on health in some countries are on par with malaria, said Kevin Chatham-Stephens, a pediatric environmental health fellow at the at Mount Sinai.”We have found lots of nasty sites out there but we don’t have the money to clean them up.” — Bret Ericson of the Bla…
7 Countries, 7 Stories – A Global Approach to Reproductive Health and Family Planning
The eight islands that comprise Turtle Islands, Sierra Leone, are remote and practically untouched by modern civilisation. Credit: Joan Erakit/IPS
MATTRU JONG, Sierra Leone, Aug 26 2014 (IPS) – Emmanuel is a male midwife.
At the age of 26, he lives and works on one of eight islands off the southwest peninsular of Sierra Leone, an hour by speedboat from Mattru Jong, the capital of Bonthe District.
On a particularly hot Wednesday morning, IPS joins , (UNFPA) and Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Health to go and visit a population on one of the Turtle Islands that is pr…
Plastic bags and bottles comprise a major part of the rubbish that clogs this delicate mountain ecosystem when scores of Hindu devotees flock to the Amarnath cave in Kashmir to worship a representation of the god Shiva. Credit: Athar Parvaiz/IPS
ROME, May 31 2018 (IPS) – On June 5th, World Environment Day will be hosted in India under the banner of “Beat Plastic Pollution,” aiming to raise awareness and civic engagement alongside c…
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres believes “our solidarity based on the human rights and human dignity of all highlights the crucial role of religious leaders in our communities and beyond”. He cited previous public health crises, including HIV/AIDS and Ebola, noting how spiritual leadership had been a positive benefit in terms of community values, attitudes and actions.
Religious leaders. Credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
NEW YORK, Jul 22 2021 (IPS) – The UN High Level Political Forum (HLPF) came to a conclusion on July 15th. Another HLPF, another series of declaration, and commitments and concerns articulated by governments.
All of which are…