Some 4.4 million girls are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) this year, the UN Secretary-General warned on Tuesday 6th February 2024, appealing for action to stamp out this “egregious violation of fundamental human rights” and give greater voice to survivors. “Even one mutilation is one too many,” António Guterres said in his message […]
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 2024 (IPS) – The world’s rich are getting progressively richer while the world’s poor continue to be increasingly poorer. In a new report released January 15, Oxfam says the wealth of the world’s five richest men has doubled since 2020 –even as five billion people were made poorer in a “decade of […]
By Reginas Ndayiragije, Petra Meier and Stef Vandeginste Since 2005, Burundi has set quotas to ensure that the country’s three ethnic groups (Hutu, Tutsi and Twa), as well as women, are represented in its parliament, central government and municipal administrations. Its constitution states that women should make up at least 30% of these institutions. The […]
Several thousand people marched in Nairobi on Saturday 28, january 2024 to protest against femicide in Kenya where over a dozen women have been killed this month in cases that shocked the nation. The campaigners took to the streets of the capital holding placards that read “Being a woman should not be a death sentence”, […]
In just a matter of years, Africa has become the “global epicentre of terrorism”, with groups such as Da’esh, Al-Qaida and their affiliates exploiting local conflicts and fragilities to serve their own ends, the UN Secretary-General said on Wednesday, calling for violent extremism to be rooted out. Speaking at a meeting in New York on […]
This article first appeared in Forbes. “The world needs to look to mothers and to women in order to find peace, to emerge from the spiral of violence and hatred, and once more see things with genuinely human eyes and hearts,” said Pope Francis in his new year address on 1 January, World Peace Day. As Israel […]
Mafa community in Borno state, Northern Nigeria was among many towns that suffered attacks from the dreaded Boko Haram terrorists which killed many, plunged others into terrible conditions and hardship and forced to thousands to flee. Today, a lot has changed for the small town and that includes the presence of a popular first female […]
Global unemployment is expected to rise this year, with growing inequality and stagnant productivity also a cause for concern on the economic horizon, the UN labour agency ILO said on Wednesday January 10, 2024. Just over five per cent of the world’s workforce is without a job, according to the International Labour Organization’s World Employment and Social […]
In September 2017, Spotlight Initiative was launched as a global partnership to eliminate all forms of VAWG. Backed by a financial investment of EUR 500 million, the Initiative has operated in five regions (Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific), responding to all forms of VAWG. In line with the 2030 Agenda, the […]
The Traditional Chiefs and Elders of Zwedru, Grand Gedeh County in Eastern Liberia have partnered with Spotlight Initiative in their quest to eradicate female genital mutilation (FGM) in the region. Chief Wilfred Garh, a member of the National Traditional Council of Chiefs and Elders of Liberia, and Ma Rebecca Yaoh, a respected Head of the […]
