Confronting Violence Against Women - What Has Worked Well and Why
Violence against women and girls is a virulent form of abuse and discrimination that transcends race, class and national identity. It takes many forms and may be physical, sexual, psychological and economic, but all are usually interrelated as they trigger complex feedback effects. Other specific types of violence, such as trafficking in women and girls, often occurs across national boundaries. It is estimated that annually up to 2 million people, many of who are from the 150 and more countries constituting the global South, are trafficked into prostitution, forced labour, slavery or servitude. By threatening the safety, freedom and autonomy of women and girls, gender-based violence violates women's human rights and prevents their full participation in society and from fulfilling their potential as human beings.
Educate Girls, Eradicate Poverty - A Mutually Reinforcing Goal
There is no question that educating girls is a prerequisite for eradicating poverty. Education empowers and transforms women. It allows them to break the traditional cycle of exclusion that keeps them at home and disengaged from decision making. Education, especially higher education, can prepare women to take on roles of responsibility in government, business and civil society. Women make ideal leaders: numerous studies have demonstrated that they tend to allocate resources more wisely than men. For example, women spend a larger percentage of their income on food and education for their children. Thus, strengthening the economic and political role of women directly benefits the next generation. To provide an excellent university education for women is to make long-term investment in their and their children's futures.
An Invisible Life
An Invisible Life was created by Allan Markman and Conor Hughes. Allan Markman, the art director, is Senior Designer with the Graphic Design Unit/United Nations Department of Public Information. Conor Huges, the artist is a content designer with the United Nations Department of General Assembly and Conference Management. He graduated in Cartooning from the School of Visual Arts, New York.
A Story of Violence
Let us call her Magda. The name is invented, but the story is real. She was born in Lesotho 35 years ago. Her life exemplifies the burden of physical, sexual, and psychological violence against women.
Invisible in the Media
Back in the eighteenth century, the Anglo Irish philosopher George Berkeley summarized his theory of immaterialism in the following dictum: to be is to be perceived. It is safe to assume that the gender problematic was the furthest consideration from the good bishop's mind when he came up with this insight, but his philosophical epiphany aptly describes the plight of women worldwide when it comes to media coverage: they are either absent from the news, and so cannot be perceived since they are not there, or they are included within certain narrow parameters that limit a full perception of their societal contribution. This state of affairs varies globally, but in general women and girls are seldom featured in journalism as narrators of their own experience or as authoritative sources on any given topic. In addition, whenever they are featured, it is in stereotypical roles.
When Things Fall Apart
Liberia shows the way to deal with gender-based violence by establishing special courts and laws to try rapists and through empowering women and girls.
Is Africa Ready?
The evidence for climate change is overwhelming. It has been reconfirmed by successive international studies and reports over the last two decades. Catastrophic climate change, which will threaten our entire ecosystem as we know it, is possible, though not yet probable. It is likely to happen if we do not change course and continue to ignore the evidence before our eyes: escalating temperatures will cause a big rise in sea level and the release of methane from the tundra will take us towards a tipping point where living creatures are unable to adapt to the changes fast enough.
Livelihoods In Peril: Indigenous Peoples and their Rights
Inuit hunters in northern Greenland are treading carefully on increasingly thinning ice, while at the same time the key marine species they depend on -- seals, walrus, narwhals and polar bears -- are moving away from the areas in which they are traditionally hunted, as they in turn respond to changes in local ecosystems. In the high ranges of the Himalaya, Sherpa, Tamang, Kiranti, Dolpali and other indigenous groups are witnessing the melting of glaciers; the same is true in other mountain regions of the world such as the Peruvian Andes, where the indigenous Quechua report that they are worried when they look at the receding glaciers on their mountain peaks.
Will Climate Change Impact the Right to Health and Development?
Never before in human history has the world had such a wealth of knowledge, skills and resources invested in keeping its communities well. Why, then, is global health heading into a perfect storm? A human rights-based approach -- framed in terms of the right to the highest attainable standard of health, and the right to the basic determinants of health such as clean water and food, shelter, education, health services and equality -- is the most promising. Through this lens, the circumstances of those most at risk can be holistically addressed.
Will There Be Climate Migrants en Masse?
While some countries are historically responsible for climate change, should the global community take up responsibility for climate migrants, even if they do not cross international borders? Should there be immigration concessions for climate migrants when they need to or have to cross borders? These are important questions that arise at a time of 
global climate change.
The Pattern of Response to HIV/AIDS and Climate Change – A Commentary
Almost three decades into the HIV/AIDS pandemic, there is still widespread stigma, denial and government inaction. There are reports of rising rates of infection in the Western industrialized nations and concerns about the possibility of explosive epidemics in the Asian block; yet sub-Saharan Africa, with less than 15 per cent of the world's population, remains at the epicentre of the epidemic, with over 70 per cent of the infections worldwide.
Financial Innovations and Carbon Markets
A Modest Extension of the Kyoto Protocol Can End the Impasse Between Industrial and Developing Nations
Beyond Carbon Markets
The headlines generated by the carbon trading mechanisms at the heart of the Kyoto Protocol, most notably the Clean Development Mechanism, tell a story of a scheme in trouble. But why has it caused such controversy?
Biotechnology – A Solution to Hunger?
World hunger and food insecurity is a recurring problem in most parts of the developing world. Among the many potential biotechnologies that are available, and the different ways in which they can be applied, genetic modification (GM) of crops demands particular attention. Genetically modified crops possessing genes from different species, could possibly relieve global food shortages.
Human Security, Climate Change and Women
The Impact of climate change on women and men is not the same. Women are increasingly more vulnerable, mainly because they represent the majority of the world's poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources.