UN embroiled in private security controversy
Private Security Forces in Afghanistan, like those hired by the UN. Photo credit: US Public Affairs photo library/US Air Force
A Global Policy Forum report released last month concludes the United Nations has increased its use of Private Military Security Companies (PMSCs) since 2006 and demands more oversight from the UN.
Experts agree that the system lacks regulation, but for some, the true problem is that use of these companies is condoned at all.
According to the report by Global Policy Forum [...]
Acting against HIV/AIDS: Theater takes on deadly epidemic
Theater allows allows community members to learn about HIV/AIDS and engage in discussion. Photo credit: Marianna Houston/International Theater and Literacy Project
Theater is one of the oldest forms of entertainment for human civilizations. Plays are a means to not only tell stories, but also to explore cultural conflicts and values. Since the discovery of HIV/AIDS, dramatic productions have emerged as educational tools to discuss the impact of the epidemic as well as prevention methods. Theater as a strategy for reducing [...]
OECD presents gender inequality index at UN Women
Members from UNWomen and OECD discuss the OECD's new gender equality index. From the Right: Somali Cerise, Gender Project Coordinator at OECD Development Centre, Saraswathi Menon, Director of Policy at UN Women, Michele Bachelet, Executive Director at UN Women, and Carlos Alvarez, Deputy Director at OECD Development Centre. Photo credit: Katrin Wittig
“Gender equality must become a lived reality.” The spirit engendered by this quote by Michele Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, is omnipresent within the UN Women website [...]
Least Developed Countries struggle for gender equality
In an interview with MediaGlobal Bureau Chief Nosh Nalavala, Ambassador Lazarous Kaoambwe, Permanent Mission of Zambia voices his thoughts on gender parity in primary education and its long-term negative effects
MG: Often at different for a in the United Nations, the gender dimension of education in post-conflict African countries and LDCs are discussed. Of the countries that have an unbalanced ratio of primary enrollment among boys to primary enrollment among girls, 18 are African countries and 16 are LDCs. This [...]
Reducing property crime, not gang violence, key to development in El Salvador
Buses in El Salvador are often plagued by extortion and property crime. Photo credit: Lon&Queta
The United Nations General Assembly held a thematic debate last month to mark the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. The debate, “Drugs and Crime as a Threat to Development,” called for a rethinking of current international policies on drugs and crime in the context of sustainable development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
To be sure, transnational crime, including the [...]
Rwanda asks journalists to help fight human trafficking
On 20 June, Rwanda’s Media High Council issued a statement urging journalists to help fight human trafficking in the region. The Council’s mission is to promote “freedom, responsibility, and professionalism of the media.” The Council affirmed the belief that writing about human trafficking can help spread awareness of the practice.
Rwandan children receiving a lesson in school. Photo credit: Carrie Antal/USAID
The Council’s statement came two days after the International Office on Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Office on Drugs [...]
Shipping tolerance
The Ship of Tolerance, an installation by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov in the 2012 Havana Biennial. Photo credit: Jenia Fridlyand & artists
The Havana Biennial, initiated in 1990 as a counterweight to the Venice and other prestigious biennials in the West, initially showcased contemporary art from the Caribbean. Overtime, in addition to tracing the region’s artistic evolution, it expanded to include art from around the world, with a particular focus on developing countries. The 11th edition of the Havana Biennial [...]
Girls, backed by the UN, take a stand against child marriage
Girl Up members hand out advocacy cards for people to send to their Members of Congress, urging them to support legislation to prevent child marriage in developing countries.
One-third of girls in developing countries marry before they reach their eighteenth birthday, sometimes as young as 7. The practice breaches most countries’ domestic legislation, and more importantly, violates the nearly universally ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Harboring no fairytale illusions of white gowns and Prince Charming often [...]
Save her a seat
Women make up 69 of Afghanistan's 249 parliamentary members. Photo credit: UN Photo/Eric Kanalstein
Revolutions in the Middle East are prompting the rewriting of constitutions. When policymakers are drawing up a new set of rules, they’re often adding mandatory parliamentary spots open for women.
It’s what Drude Dahlerup, professor of political science at Sweden’s Stockholm University and expert on gender quotas, calls the “fast track” to getting women in seats of political power, and she says it’s becoming increasingly difficult to [...]
UN plan to protect journalists delayed
The Knotted Gun Sculpture by Swedish artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd on display in the UN Visitor's Plaza. Photo credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
The United Nations Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and Issue of Impunity failed to be endorsed by UNESCO’s International Program for the Development of Communication Council (IPDC) last month due to a block by Pakistan, India, Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba.
The UN Plan, created during the Inter-Agency Meeting on The Safety of Journalists and the Issue [...]
Winner of the 2011 Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation/United Nations Correspondents Association Award
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presents the Award to Nosh Nalavala,International Bureau Chief of MediaGlobal/UNEARTH NewsUNEARTH News
Reporting the human dimensions of climate change in the developing world
THE GLOBAL MEDIA COMPACT: MediaGlobal in Partnership with the United Nations
In a bid to increase awareness of the challenges facing the world’s poorest countries, the United Nations has partnered with MediaGlobal to assist newspaper editors, broadcasters, and owners of media companies in advancing human development by featuring stories that raise international awareness of issues of poverty, disease, and hunger in the most vulnerable countries.
The Global Media Compact aims to assist newspaper editors, broadcasters, and owners of media companies in advancing human development by featuring stories that raise international awareness of issues of poverty, disease, and hunger in the most vulnerable countries in Africa. READ MORE
Socialize
Recent Comments