Reduced Inequalities

Image: F. Armstrong Photography/Shutterstock

Labour Migration and Climate Justice?

Viewpoint by Carol Farbotko, Taukiei Kitara and Olivia Dun

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

HOBART, GRIFFITH, WOLLONGONG, Australia (IDN) — Migration is a potentially adaptive response to climate change. Adaptive migration responses do not involve only permanent movement away from a climate-vulnerable site; temporary migration, when migrants may bring or send back additional funds, new knowledge, upgraded skills and other resources, can help to build resilience among communities in climate-vulnerable areas.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 14 June 2022

Photo: Protest as legal case is heard over halting deportation of asylum seekers, at the Royal Courts of Justice, London. (File photo). Source: Vatican News.

Prince Charles Critical of Planned Deportation of Rwandans

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK | LONDON (IDN) — As the United Kingdom moves ahead with the planned deportation of asylum seekers to the faraway nation of Rwanda, Prince Charles has privately described the plans as “appalling”, according to two media reports. The first flight taking refugees to the East African country is due to leave on June 14.

The UK’s controversial deal to relocate certain asylum seekers thousands of miles away is not for offshore processing but as a permanent destination. It symbolizes the broader policy push that some high-income countries are taking to dump migration management far away from their shores.

: Global Information Network; SUSTAINABILITY; Reduced Inequalities; 13 June 2022

Photo: A caregiver attends to an abandoned toddler with albinism in Goma, North Kivu, DRC, 2007. Credit: UN Photo/Marie Frechon.

Reports Reveal Horrific Attacks Against People with Albinism

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — On Dec. 18, 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming June 13 as International Albinism Awareness Day, designed to protect and preserve the rights of persons with albinism to life, dignity and security, as well as their right not to be subject to torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

: Global Information Network; UN INSIDER; 08 June 2022

Photo: ‘Profiting from pain’: Covid-19 pandemic creates new billionaire every 30 hours, says Oxfam WEF 2022 report. Image source: DNA India

Davos Forum: ‘Profiting from Pain’ amid ‘Inequality Pandemic’

Viewpoint by Sonali Kolhatkar

This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute. Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations.

LOS ANGELES (IDN) — The World Economic Forum (WEF), which took place this year from May 22 through 26 in Davos, Switzerland, brought together elected officials and corporate executives from all over the world to tackle global problems. The annual meeting was delayed, first by two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then by five more months due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 26 May 2022

Ukraine War Constraints UN To Revise Global Growth Estimates

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) — The latest United Nations forecast warns that growth prospects have weakened significantly amid the war in Ukraine, upending the fragile economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, triggering a devastating humanitarian crisis in Europe, increasing food and commodity prices and exacerbating inflationary pressures worldwide.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 18 May 2022

Photo: Fiji Indians have made a significant contribution to the economy of Fiji. Pictured here are some Fiji Indian women with Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama. Source: Stuff, NZ

Fiji: Recognising Sufferings of Indentured Labourers

By Ravindra Singh Prasad

SUVA (IDN) — Every year on May 14 Fiji’s Indian community mark the day when the first shipment of their ancestors came here as indentured labourers to work in British sugarcane plantations established in their Pacific Ocean colony.

Girmitiya is how they came to be known over time—the name derived from the term Girmit, a corruption of the English word, agreement.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 17 May 2022

Economic Gender Equality Falls Short—Despite Investments in Girls’ Education

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — A new study concludes that investments in girls’ education have failed to deliver economic equality for women.

The researchers found that while such investments have delivered many other benefits—including better health outcomes for women and their families—the economic returns are often disappointing.

: Thalif Deen; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 15 May 2022

Image: Migrant logistics centre on the Belarus/Poland border, November 2021 Djordje Kostic/Shutterstock

Double Standards

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

BONN (IDN) — At present, historical analogies are very often used to explain reasons for or against the causes of the war in Ukraine or to describe the horrors of this war with historical arguments. Some of these comparisons are downright perfidious, like equating Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 06 May 2022

“Debt Shaming” Has Dampened Democracy

Viewpoint by India Walton*

BUFFALO, NEW YORK (IDN) — When I ran for mayor of Buffalo, New York, last year, my past-due parking tickets became a major reason for reduced favorability among voters. When Stacy Abrams ran for governor of Georgia in 2018, there was a lot of talk in the mainstream media about how much debt she was in.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 04 May 2022

Photo: Celebrating International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Credit: UN

UN Chief Joins Rwandese to Denounce ‘Deliberate, Systematic’ Use of Genocide

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) — Speaking by video on the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged the world community to choose humanity over hatred; compassion over cruelty; courage over complacency and reconciliation over rage.

If anyone missed the underlying message, the UN chief had quietly linked the horror of the genocide of one million Rwandans to the “sickening violence” now taking place in the Ukraine. While we honour the memory of those who died, he said poignantly, “we must reflect on our failures as an international community”.