By Yasmine SherifNEW YORK, Oct 5 2024 – We must build a new social contract for education – a contract based on equality, equity, and universal human rights. At the center of our global efforts to ensure education for all, we must put teachers first in everything we do. They are frontlines heroes who deliver every day to educate children, cultivate young talent, and build a strong society....

Farmers, traders and consumers at the Mbare Musika Territorial Market in Harare, Zimbabwe. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS By Isaiah EsipisuHARARE, Oct 4 2024 – African policymakers, local leaders and the private sector have been asked to create an enabling environment that will help African traders and farmer folks build reliable systems for food security and resilience through territorial markets. During...

Credit: CIVICUS By Inés M. PousadelaMONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Oct 4 2024 – The UN Office on Drugs and Crime hailed the recently agreed Cybercrime Convention as a ‘landmark step’ in cooperating to tackle online dangers. But human rights organisations aren’t so sure. Ominously, the resolution that started the process, passed by the UN General Assembly in December 2019, was sponsored by authoritarian...

A recently displaced mother holds her child in a makeshift displacement shelter in Haiti. Credit: UNICEF/Maxime Le Lijour By Oritro KarimUNITED NATIONS, Oct 4 2024 – Over the past few months, the escalation of gang violence and mass displacement in Haiti have been of great concern for humanitarian organizations. Severe levels of armed violence have resulted in significant instability, with...

Illicit financial flows. Credit: IPS By Khalid SaifullahNEW YORK, Oct 4 2024 – The commonly used Bangla phrase for siphoning off money out of the country – “taka pachar” – is rather misleading. Because taka, the Bangladeshi currency, is never taken out of Bangladesh. It’s not useful anywhere else. What goes out is its equivalence in foreign currencies, especially, US dollars. The...

The 2024 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) will take place from Monday, October 21 to Saturday, October 26. By Anna KornyliukKYIV, Ukraine, Oct 4 2024 – Over the coming month, the United States has a window of opportunity to lift a multi-billion-dollar burden from Ukraine, and other countries in financial distress, without costing the US...