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Wednesday, July 24, 2024
News and Views from the Global South
Education
Can Scientific Freedom Deliver Development for Africa?
Scientific research has led to social and economic gains worldwide, but the scientists who make it happen face significant challenges.
New Child Marriages, Cohabitation With a Child Law in Sierra Leone Lauded
“A person shall not contract marriage with a child,” Sierra Leone’s landmark Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2024 says, outlawing, in no uncertain terms, child marriage, giving consent to and attempted child marriage, officiating, attending and promoting child marriage, and use of force or ill-treatment of a child.
AFGHANISTAN: ‘The Doha Meeting Has Raised Concerns the UN Is Indirectly Legitimising the Taliban’
CIVICUS discusses the exclusion of women from international talks on Afghanistan currently being held in Qatar with Sima Samar, former chairperson of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). The AIHRC is the Afghan national institution devoted to the promotion, protection and monitoring of human rights. Its status is now a matter of contention: on returning to power, the Taliban decreed its dissolution, but the AIHRC refuses to abide by the decision due to the illegitimate nature of the Taliban regime.
Justice, not Impunity, for Sexually Assaulted Indigenous Girls in Peru
The main fear facing women leaders who have denounced the systematic rape of girls from the Awajún indigenous people in the northeastern Peruvian department of Amazonas is that, despite the media coverage and sanctions announced by the authorities, it will all come to nothing.
Investing in Teachers, School Leaders Key in Keeping Girls in School UN-African Union Study Finds
Investing in teachers and school leaders in Africa is the most important factor in promoting educational opportunities for girls, keeping them in school and ending child marriage, ultimately reducing gender inequality through education.
Education Cannot Wait Interviews The Sunday Times Chief Foreign Correspondent, Best-Selling Author and ECW Global Champion, Christina Lamb
Christina Lamb is Chief Foreign Correspondent at The Sunday Times and one of Britain’s leading foreign journalists as well as a bestselling author. She has been awarded Foreign Correspondent of the Year six times as well as Europe’s top war reporting prize, the Prix Bayeux, and was recently given the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award by the British Society of Editors and the Outstanding Impact Award by Amnesty International.
Special Report: Exposing Afghanistan’s Pervasive, Methodical System of Gender Oppression
The UN Special Rapporteur’s annual report on human rights in Afghanistan lays bare the alarming phenomenon of an institutionalized system of discrimination, segregation, disrespect for human dignity and exclusion of women and girls. In the new report, Richard Bennett, the UN’s Special Rapporteur, provides an intersectional analysis of the establishment and enforcement of this institutionalized system of unparalleled gender oppression. It paints a picture of a worsening situation for women and girls.
Today, We Stand in Solidarity with Refugees Worldwide, Today, We Stand for Human Rights
On World Refugee Day, we must stand in solidarity with the 120 million forcibly displaced people – including 43 million refugees worldwide – who have lost their homes and their human rights as the result of persecution and conflict.
Peoples’ Climate Vote Shows Global Support for Stronger Climate Action
The global public opinion research on climate change reveals that 80 percent, or four out of five, of people globally want their governments to take stronger action to tackle the climate crisis.
Conflict Deprives Children of Education in Northern Syrian IDP Camps
Twelve-year-old Walid Al-Hussein, displaced from the city of Kafranbel to a camp for internally displaced people (IDP) in northern Idlib on the border with Turkey, has given up his dream of becoming a lawyer. "The distance of schools from our home (in the camp) made me leave education and give up my dream and my mother's dream of becoming a lawyer who defends the rights of the oppressed," Al-Hussein told IPS.
Stand Up and Speak Out to End Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan
For 1,000 days girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary school education. We must now stand up and speak out together for the girls and women of Afghanistan with a clarion call to the de facto authorities and world leaders to end the ban on girls’ secondary education in Afghanistan.
Education Cannot Wait’s #AfghanGirlsVoices Campaign Highlights Real-Life Testimonies of Hope, Courage and Resilience by Afghan Girls Denied Their Right to Education
Today, people across the globe mark a tragic milestone for human rights, children’s rights and girls' rights: 1,000 days since girls were banned from attending secondary school in Afghanistan. To commemorate and reflect on this unacceptable milestone, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), as global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises within the United Nations, is launching the second phase of its compelling #AfghanGirlsVoices campaign.
1,000 Days—Afghan Girls’ Voices Campaign Enters Second Phase
The global community is marking a tragic milestone for human rights, children's rights, and girls' rights, as it has been 1,000 days since girls were banned from attending secondary school in Afghanistan. The ban has wiped out decades’ worth of education and development gains, as approximately 80 percent of school-aged Afghan girls and young women are out of school.
Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light
Few will disagree with the nearly universal concern that we – the human family – are once more faced with an era of darkness. An era whose burdens are mainly carried on the tiny shoulders of crises-affected children and adolescents, their teachers and families, all left furthest behind.
Let’s play!
For the first time ever, we will commemorate the joy of playing with an International Day of Play“ on June 11, 2024. On their website, the UN state that this „marks a significant milestone in efforts to preserve, promote, and prioritize playing so that all people, especially children, can reap the rewards and thrive to their full potential“. But why ist playing so important?
Education Cannot Wait Interviews Bruno Maes, UNICEF Representative to Haiti
Bruno Maes is the UNICEF Representative in Haiti. He officially took office in August 2020. A Belgian national, Mr. Maes previously served as UNICEF Representative in Madagascar from 2007 to 2012, in Chad from 2012 to 2015, and recently in Egypt from September 2015 to 2020.
Education Cannot Wait’s #ShareTheirVoices Global Advocacy Campaign Launched by ECW Executive Director Yasmine Sherif in Lead Up to United Nations Summit of the Future
In the lead up to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ Summit of the Future, taking place on 22-23 September 2024, Education Cannot Wait is supporting the global #ActNow Campaign with an urgent call to increase funding for the +226 million crisis-impacted children worldwide urgently in need of an education through ECW’s global #ShareTheirVoices campaign.
Panama’s Elections: Has Impunity Prevailed?
Regional experts called it Panama’s most important election since the 1989 US invasion that deposed de facto president General Manuel Noriega. Panamanians went to the polls amid high inflation and unemployment, with a stagnating economy. Endemic corruption was also high on their long list of concerns, along with access to water, education and a collapsing social security system.
From Dorms to Demonstrations
The campus protests that have spread to universities in every part of the United States are not about the war between Israel and Hamas, despite the heated rhetoric around this topic. Most of the students who are protesting know little about the conflict, its history and its ramifications for international politics.
Educating the Mind Without Educating the Heart is No Education at All
The words above, by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, serve as a reminder that we still have a long way to go to in educating ourselves. In doing so, we will naturally ensure that the young generation can access an inclusive quality education and use their knowledge to build a world of justice, equity, peace and security.
Working to Keep Náhuat, the Language of the Pipil People, from Vanishing in El Salvador
A group of children participating in an immersion program in Náhuat, the language of the Pipil people and the only remaining pre-Hispanic language in El Salvador, are the last hope that the language will not die out.Next Page »
While more than 1 billion children worldwide go to school, the statistic belies the stark reality that many of the world’s children learn – untrained teachers, makeshift facilities and substandard sanitation. Those ‘lucky’ enough to be enrolled in schools are often hungry – and in these circumstances, this most basic human right to education is flawed.
Then there are the estimated 75 million children living protracted crises – war, famine, disasters. Many other social and cultural interfaces impact children: gender inequities, child and early marriages, child labour, and disability.
All these circumstances were present before the COVID-19 pandemic – where protocols to prevent the spread of the disease, including lockdowns in many countries, further exacerbated the situation. UNICEF says the pandemic caused such widespread disruptions that digital learning should become an essential service – which means connecting every child and young person – some 3.5 billion – to world-class digital solutions by 2030.
Through compelling storytelling and hard-hitting opinion writing, IPS tell the story of education – highlighting the issues and successes of the many organizations like UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait that specialize in this field.
The Week with IPS
NEXT STOP - SDGs
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
Tracking global progress towards a sustainable world
