Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, Sep 15 2010 (IPS) – A grouping of six civil society organisations (CSOs) has called on the South African government to ratify the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
They say South Africa s stated commitment to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 is not good enough, because the targets are not legally binding. If South Africa signed the ICESCR, however, it s government could be held accountable.
The ICESCR is an important mechanism to intensify efforts to reduce poverty and social inequality, said South African Human Rights Commissioner Anthea van der Burg.
South Africa is one of only a handful of countries in the world that have not ratified the ICESCR, a United Nations hum…
Ansel Herz
LEOGANE, Nov 7 2010 (IPS) – Standing on a raised piece of pavement across from the makeshift home where she has lived for the past 10 months, Violet Nicola threw up her hands.
A boy receives treatment for cholera at the hospital in L Estere, Haiti, as his family watches over him. Credit: UN Photo/Sophia Paris
Our houses are broken again. I ve lost my things. They don t do anything fo…
Omer Redi
ADDIS ABABA, Dec 13 2010 (IPS) – Nigist Abebe has grown in confidence over five years on the job. Today she is one of 34,000 rural health extension workers at the heart of Ethiopia s primary health care strategy.
Five years ago, Nigist Abebe had difficulities winning the trust of mothers in her door-to-door services Credit: Omer Redi Ahmed
One of her most important functions in Dengo Furda Kebele, the vil…
Patricia Grogg
HAVANA, Jan 25 2011 (IPS) – The trial of staff at the Havana Psychiatric Hospital for the deaths of 26 patients who died of cold and neglect revealed a dark chapter in an institution that was once a shining symbol of Cuba s much lauded health care system, and drew reactions of shock and criticism.
Cuba s main newspaper, Granma, broke the silence Monday surrounding the case, which occurred just over a year ago. The paper reported that prosecutors are seeking prison terms of six to 14 years for an unspecified number of administrators and staff, who were on trial from Jan. 17 to 22.
They were charged with abandonment and neglect of minors, disabled and ill people, and with embezzlement.
The sentences are expected to be handed down in the next few d…
Analysis by Suvendrini Kakuchi
TOKYO, Mar 31 2011 (IPS) – As authorities struggle to control dangerous radioactive material spilling from the quake ravaged Fukushima nuclear power reactors, a more difficult question has begun to unsettle Japan: is the country s post-war prosperity as invincible as was believed till now?
The picture emerging today is a sobering one and consumes us, says Yoshiaki Kawata, a researcher in disaster management at Kansai University. The devastation is a harsh reminder of the vulnerability of our economic and technological might we had worked so hard to create.
The Mar. 11 earthquake and tsunami that turned vast stretches of once thriving Tohoku into muddy wastelands and spewed radioactive material contaminating residential and farming area…
Isolda Agazzi
GENEVA, Apr 28 2011 (IPS) – The fifth conference of the 173 parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, Apr. 25-29, could bring to 22 the total number of internationally agreed forbidden pollutants. Alternatives to DDT one of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) used in the fight against malaria are gaining popularity, but its complete ban is not on the agenda.
POPs in recycled and new products. Credit: Isolda Agazzi/IPS
POPs are the worst substances man has ever created. They give toxic legacy to future …
Julio Godoy
BERLIN, Jun 2 2011 (IPS) – The decision by the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power by 2022 will increase efficiency in the use of energy, boost investment and accelerate technical progress in renewable energy sources, and promote international energy cooperation, according to numerous experts.
These factors are indispensable for Germany, the leading industrial powerhouse in Europe, to substitute the present share of nuclear energy of some 23 percent of the country s total consumption of electricity and to guarantee a steady supply of alternative energy, the experts say.
The German government announced Monday that all nuclear power plants operating in the country would be shuttered by 2022. The seven nuclear power plants…
Denis Foynes
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2011 (IPS) – I have never seen anything like it. Many mothers have lost three or four children. It s a tragedy out here, Austin Kennan, regional director for the Horn of Africa for Concern Worldwide, told IPS from within the crisis zone.
A Somali woman holds a malnourished child, waiting for medical assistance from the African Union Mission in Soma…
Thalif Deen
STOCKHOLM, Aug 23 2011 (IPS) – The rapid growth of urban population described as one of the world s major demographic trends has triggered an explosion of mega cities in Asia, Latin America and Africa, causing a breakdown in basic services, including water supplies and sanitation facilities.
And by 2050, about 70 percent of the world s population will live in urban areas causing horrendous problems, predicts a new 80-page study released here by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The current world population of over 6 billion is expected to reach a historic high of 7 billion by the end of October, according to figures released by the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA), which also estimates a figure of 9.1 billion for 2050.
As city infrastructure cannot keep p…
BELGRADE, Jan 19 2012 (IPS) – According to an old Serbian fairy tale, God tells a poor man who enters a gold mine that no matter what he chooses to do inside, he ll be sorry when he leaves. If he takes some gold, he ll be sorry for not taking more; if he doesn t, he ll be sorry for not taking any at all.
Modern Serbia now finds itself in a similar situation to the hero of that ancient tale.
Experts have revealed that parts of South-eastern Serbia lie on two billion tons of oil shale that could be processed into oil worth roughly 60 billion dollars in the next decade.
Further, the introduction and implementation of sufficient technology to turn the crude into derivates could reap between 120 and 180 billion dollars, according to studies by several domestic and intern…