The crowd-funded NGO Librii is ready to open the first web-connected libraries in Africa, where members can print books and training manuals. [The Guardian] UNICEF: as many as 100,000 children forced to work in Philippines illegal sex trade. [CNN] After just fifteen minutes of talks about strengthening an Afghan women’s rights law, traditionalists stop the [...]
Tag Archives: Africa
Armed Resistance in the Niger Delta: SHELL CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!
“I fish every day to feed my children. I fished all weekend but there are no fish, so I can’t raise my children… So I’ll drop this net and pick up the knife… so that they remember us in this bush where we live and where they drill our oil” These were the words of [...]
The World’s First Fairtrade Smartphone
In light of the recent collapse of a Bangladeshi clothing factory, which killed over one thousand people, the debate surrounding fairtrade products has returned to the spotlight. We’ve heard of organic food, ethically traded coffee, conflict-free diamonds and clothes that have been produced under humane and fair conditions. Now a Dutch-based company is trying to [...]
UN Intervention Brigade must consider more aggressive strategy against DRC rebels
A new UN task-force has been set up to replace MONUSCO and tackle the DRC’s many armed rebel groups, but without addressing the geo-political realities on the ground, it too may just prove ineffective. The new UN Security Council Resolution 2098, passed at the end of March this year, heralded the creation of a new [...]
Signs of the NY Times: Myanmar hangs in the balance. Syrian refugees. African self-reliance. The end of Fayyadism.
Op-Ed contributor Aung Zaw, founding editor of the Irrawaddy Publishing Group, is warning his home country of Myanmar that a precious opportunity may soon be lost. The two-year old democracy is struggling for its acceptance in the greater community of nations, yet recent examples of religious and racial discrimination and violence, along with government in-fighting, [...]
Women & Rape in Somalia: One Filmmaker’s Stance Against Sexual Violence
Somalia might no longer be thought of as a failed state: perhaps, today, we can instead refer to it as a fragile democracy. The presidential election of September 2012 heralded the troubled nation’s first, if awkward, steps towards a free democratic vote in several decades. Somalis in and around Mogadishu rejoiced as a new government [...]
UK and US Governments Turn Blind Eye to Forced Evictions in Ethiopia
Aid agencies warn that a new dam project, and land confiscations for plantations, point toward a social and ecological ‘catastrophe’ in the Ethiopian Lower Omo Valley. Over half a million tribal people in both Ethiopia and Kenya face the total destruction of their way of life as a result of large scale infrastructure and agriculture projects. A [...]
Press Review: UNICEF forced to abandon Syrian refugee camps & Extreme weather harder to predict
The president of Refugees International assesses the situation at refugee camps on the Turkish border to Syria. [Huffington Post] Simple geolocation technology helps nonprofits reduce infant and maternal mortality. [The Guardian] Extreme weather caused by global warming is getting harder to predict. [The Guardian] After receiving less than 20% of the funds it requested, UNICEF [...]
Enough is Enough: Clean up your mess, Shell!
The activity of oil giant Shell in the Niger Delta recently came under international scrutiny as damages were awarded to a local farmer after an oil spill cover-up. Fairplanet demands action on the company’s legal obligation to duty of care. Dear Shell, We are aware of the fact that you, like most other major multinationals, [...]
HOPES OF PEACE BUILT ON SAND: solid infrastructure development essential to Sudan’s future
Darfur desperately needs help, but not just to repair damage from the horrific 2003 conflict that killed 300,000, destroyed hundreds of villages, and drove 2 million people to refugee camps. Instead Darfur must also overcome the marginalisation and underdevelopment that fueled the conflict in the first place. This weekend, delegates from donor countries and financial [...]
South Sudan must do more to protect civilians in Jonglei, UN says
The Government of South Sudan must do more to protect communities at risk of attacks, and bring the guilty to justice, says the UN peacekeeping mission in the country as it releases its findings from an investigation into the killing of at least 85 cattle herders in Jonglei state. “It is of the utmost importance [...]
Press Review: Mobile technology transforms Africa’s rural farms & Crop insurance stabilizes Kenyan farms
Mobile technology transforms farming in rural Africa. [Washington Post] The Obama administration’s role in funding and arming the Honduran police forces accused of human rights violations. [The Guardian] A new crop insurance program in Kenya that helps poor farmers overcome losses from drought and heavy rains hopes to stabilize incomes and make farming more attractive [...]
