Archives

31.03.2007 As the ice caps melt, the polar bear has become the poster child for climate change, but species in the tropics may actually be just as much at risk.

30.03.2007 A refugees advocacy group is urging the UN to focus the reform of its security work on the protection of civilians from conflict and violence.

30.03.2007 Zimbabwe's powerful religious elites have stepped in where African leaders failed to act this week, reprimanding the country's leadership for its oppressive tactics and warning that only "a new people-driven Constitution" can avert a mass uprising.

30.03.2007 World leaders agreed more than 100 years ago on a process to settle international disputes like the one causing sabres to rattle in London and Tehran this week, says the Transnational Foundation. Why don't they use it?

30.03.2007 An appeals court has rejected a plan to use treated waste water to make artificial snow for a ski resort in the San Francisco Peaks, which are sacred to 13 indigenous nations in the southwestern United States.

30.03.2007 The Lao military is using the excuse of a long-concluded war to continue attacks on a destitute population of Hmong jungle-dwellers, says a new human rights report.

30.03.2007 Universities in Afghanistan, China, India, Nepal, and Pakistan have come together to promote sustainable mountain development through teaching, research, training, knowledge networking, and policy advocacy.
From: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development

30.03.2007 Despite billions of dollars of U.S. assistance, large swaths of Colombia face violence, drug trafficking, poverty, and human suffering on a massive scale. Only Sudan has more displaced people. It's time for a new plan for Colombia -- one that focuses on human, rather than military, needs.

29.03.2007 Workers is Gaza are challenging the official Palestinian labor unions -- which are widely considered ineffective and politically motivated -- by forming their own labor committees. And their bosses are listening.

29.03.2007 Attempting to crush a rebel movement, the Central African Republic's army has been burning civilian houses in violation of humanitarian law, charges a refugee support group. Approximately 250,000 Central Africans have been displaced in successive waves of violence since 2003.

29.03.2007 After teaching elementary school for ten weeks in a small village in rural Ecuador, I came away from the experience with a lot more than the standard shock at the poverty and conditions in the developing world. Instead, I was surprised by how little is really needed to change those conditions.

29.03.2007 Calling on the Indian government to take immediate action to combat climate change, Greenpeace activists beamed huge slides Wednesday night onto the cooling tower of a power plant that supplies electricity to the capital New Delhi.
From: Greenpeace India

29.03.2007 Citizens of the Indian capital New Delhi and non-governmental organizations have appealed to the government to stop cutting thousands of trees lining the roads of the city to make way for more lanes and a High-Capacity Bus Service Corridor.
From: Youthreach India, Toxics Link

29.03.2007 Latin America expert Elisabeth Jay Friedman looks at the credentials of the region's new left-leaning governments on the rights of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

29.03.2007 The STRIVE Act, recently introduced in the U.S. Congress, fails to protect the fundamental human rights of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning group warned recently.

29.03.2007 As instability worsens in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, Mercy Corps has expanded its commitment to families in need. One critical component of its programs in Darfur is access to clean water.

28.03.2007 At its 50th birthday, mainstream media has lauded the European Union for its efforts to promote peace. But is Europe really that committed to forging a lasting global peace, or does it only seem that way in relation to the United States' bellicosity?

28.03.2007 A picture is worth 1,000 data points. A new set of maps shows how countries are handling the world’s greatest development challenges, like stopping AIDS, educating children, and turning poverty around.

28.03.2007 Australian David Hicks has been the first Guantanamo detainee to face trial, some five years after his capture. A report released just before Hicks' trial reiterates concerns that the U.S. government-sponsored "military commissions" will not meet international standards of justice.

28.03.2007 The leader of Zimbabwe's opposition was arrested Wednesday as the country's president prepared to attend a regional summit meeting that will address Zimbabwe's crisis. Human rights lawyers have not yet been able to access the detainees.