Poverty

Stinting to Survive in the Sahel Region of West Africa

• July 18, 2022

When Kimba Abdou went to a local store a year ago to buy a 100-kilogram bag of millet, a staple grain for Nigeriens, he parted with 20,000 West African francs, known as CFA, or about $31. The last time he checked, the price had gone up by more than 50 percent — with a …

Africa, Humanitarian Aid, Peace and Security, Poverty

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The UN’s Fund for Agricultural Development Has a New Boss. He Faces a Cash Crunch.

Susanne Courtney

• July 12, 2022

With the world facing an unprecedented food crisis, the smallest of the three Rome-based agencies of the United Nations — the International Fund for Agricultural Development — has a new president. Álvaro Lario, its chief financial officer and a Spaniard, was elected as the agency’s seventh president on July 7, starting Oct. 1 for …

Development, Poverty, SDGs, UN Agencies

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Windfall Tax on Covid Profits Could Ease ‘Catastrophic’ Food Crisis, Oxfam Says

Fiona Harvey

• June 28, 2022

Food, fossil fuel and pharmaceutical companies that have enjoyed bumper profits in the Covid-19 pandemic and its aftermath should be hit with a swingeing windfall tax on their excess income, the global head of Oxfam has said. A windfall tax of 90 percent on the excess profits globally would yield about $490 billion that …

Climate Change, Health and Population, Poverty

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Mexico’s President Says the UN Should ‘Wake Up From Its Slumber’ to End Global Poverty

Maurizio Guerrero

• November 9, 2021

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, known as Amlo for his initials, called on the United Nations to “wake up from its slumber” and support the creation of a mechanism to end poverty for 750 million people worldwide. In his first visit to the UN, on Nov. 9, López Obrador said the proposal could …

General Assembly, Latin America, Poverty, Secretary-General, Security Council

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TOPIC: WOMEN

A Surprising Leg Up for Women in War-Torn South Sudan: On the Soccer Field

Ivana Ramirez

• July 12, 2021

In times of extreme adversity, hope and light can come from unexpected places. In South Sudan — haunted by a war for independence, followed by a civil war and continued unrest in its short history — people can point to one major victory: a first-time women’s soccer league. Started just this year, it is …

Africa, Child Soldiers, Gender Violence, Poverty, Women

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As the SDGs Falter, the UN Turns to the Rich and Famous

Barbara Crossette

• July 23, 2019

The Sustainable Development Goals are in trouble. United Nations officials are concerned and say so publicly. Secretary-General António Guterres joined in raising an alarm in mid-July when he introduced the most recent official UN report. “It is abundantly clear that a much deeper, faster and more ambitious response is needed to unleash the social …

Climate Change, Development, Poverty, SDGs

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WORLDVIEWS

Widows Lose Much More Than a Spouse: They Lose Their Dignity

Eleanor Nwadinobi and Meera Khanna

• June 17, 2019

For many women around the world, the death of a spouse is magnified by many losses — of their social status, marital home, land, property, social security, dignity and, sometimes, their children. But men, on the other hand, lose none of their human rights while usually gaining support in starting a new chapter in …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Is It Only Mothers, Not All Women, Who Need Social Safety Nets?

Prakirti Nangia

• April 3, 2019

Social policy in developing countries provides crucial assistance to women, but evidence shows that it is increasingly being limited to women who are mothers. India is a vivid case in point. Associating women with children and families is hardly new in society. What is surprising, however, is how much recent social policy has embraced and …

Gender Violence, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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Where Is the Worst Place for a Child to Be Born?

Kacie Candela

• December 24, 2018

By one measure — the chances of surviving to young adulthood — sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia have the highest rates of child deaths at every stage of childhood. By contrast, the best place to be born this year was Australia or New Zealand, where only two of every 1,000 babies die in their …

Africa, Asia, Health and Population, Poverty

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NIKKI HALEY WATCH

The UN’s Report on Poverty in the US Is Rebuked by Nikki Haley

Maria Luisa Gambale

• June 28, 2018

When Philip Alston decided to focus a report on the United States, in his role as the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, the goal was to spur a larger discussion. However, in the past week there has been a slow-motion volley of criticisms instead, as Nikki Haley, the US …

Human Rights, Nikki Haley Watch, Poverty, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Prisoners’ Human Rights: A Seriously Forgotten Problem in Britain?

Rhona Scullion

• May 1, 2018

NOTTINGHAM, England — Prisoner rights are not a popular topic either in the hallowed halls of the British Parliament or in the public domain in Britain. Aside from the standard “tough on crime” approach that most governments adopt as a go-to populist policy, there is little if any attention paid to people in our …

Human Rights, Poverty, WORLDVIEWS

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TAKE A LOOK

Data Miners See Poverty Gradations; and More Cases of Harassment at the UN

Barbara Crossette

• April 11, 2018

International organizations, governments and a vast army of nongovernmental organizations justifiably welcome the sharp reductions that have been achieved in global poverty in recent decades. Data researchers show, however, that when it comes to defining who are the poorest, poverty is not a monolithic state. Two analysts from the online site Our World in …

Gender Violence, Poverty, Take a Look

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UN Agencies Moving Into Blockchain to Help People in Crisis Settings

Kacie Candela

• February 27, 2018

Blockchain technology emerged alongside Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency powering digital payments through a peer-to-peer system, currency trading and even, in some cases, black-market transactions. Now, some United Nations agencies are using blockchain to provide basic identification to refugees and others in developing countries as well as for specific actions like helping refugees obtain food …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, Poverty, Refugees, UN Agencies

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TOPIC: INDIA

Changing the Minds of Youths to Stop India’s Extreme Bias Against Girls

Ariel Sophia Bardi

• February 26, 2018

HARYANA, India — In 2014, Breakthrough India, an independent human-rights organization, launched a program to tackle gender discrimination throughout 150 schools in Haryana, one of India’s most gender-biased states. A 2011 census showed that Haryana, a primarily agricultural state bordering Delhi in northern India, had the worst child-sex ratio in the country, with only …

Gender Violence, Human Rights, India, Poverty

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TAKE A LOOK

Trump Team Wants to Slash Funds for Global Women’s Health by Half

Barbara Crossette

• February 18, 2018

There has yet to be a decision in United States Congress on what funds for global women’s health, if any, will survive in the current 2018 national budget, a decision that is nearly six months overdue. But Donald Trump and his vice president, Mike Pence, a hard-line social conservative who is playing a larger …