Last Wednesday, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) released its annual State of the World Population report, in which it called family planning a “fundamental human right” and underlined the need for increased investment in and a “rights-based …
U.S. President Obama is no stranger to Southeast Asia having spent parts of his childhood in Indonesia and returning several times to the region as Commander-in-Chief.
And now, fresh off his reelection to the highest office in the land, President Obama will travel to the region next week on a three-country …
“Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must –at that moment– become the center of the universe.” –Elie Wiesel
Human rights abuses including, but not limited to, slavery, genocide, political persecution, and religious discrimination, are imperfect and irreparable stitches in a nation’s …
Chinese construction companies are behind many of the new buildings going up in Yangon
While in Yangon, Myanmar last month, I had a chance to talk with several Myanmarese who naturally asked me where I lived. When I told them I lived in China, what struck me most with …
On October 1, Guy Ryder assumed his elected position as the new Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Ryder replaces Juan Somavía, who held the post since 1999, eighteen months ahead of schedule. The Director-General of the ILO is a key figure in promoting the human right to work …
When I used to report on the United Nations I would saunter down to the department of public information every few days and accumulate unnecessarily thick stacks of documents — there was, in fact, already the internet. Among my reams of paper would be tucked a monthly calendar of “
by Alireza Ahmadian
Editor’s Note:
Alireza Ahmadian is an Iranian-Canadian writer living in London. Mr. Ahmadian holds a history BA from the University of British Columbia and is currently completing his postgraduate studies at the Centre for International Studies and Diplomacy at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
Canada’s decision …
Following the questions of one Haitian-born, Canadian-raised woman, Adopted ID raises questions of identity, and the politics of international adoption.
To a lively soundtrack, which carries the film when the visuals blur, the documentary follows the emotional journey of Judith Craig Morency on her first trip back to Haiti …
A few months ago, few Americans had heard of Pussy Riot, the feminist punk band turned latest icon of the anti-Putin opposition. That’s because the band was known under a different name in the US press: ‘P***y Riot’.
In an amusing …
The International AIDS Conference was held last week in Washington, D.C. This was the first time the conference was hosted by an American city in more than 20 …
Just what is Bill Browder really playing at?
After the high-flying American investment banker was ousted from Russia in 2005, his lawyer Sergey Magnitsky was killed in police custody four years later. It is said that Magnitsky earned his Steve Biko-like death after the lawyer, investigating the authorities’ …
The International AIDS Conference is underway this week in Washington, DC. It is a historic occasion as this is the first time in 22 years the conference has taken place in the United States.
Protests dominated the last U.S.-based conference in San Francisco in 1990 because a law …
The recent tightening of the sanctions regime against the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) as a way to deter the country’s nuclear program continues to be among news headlines. Yet, the US sanction regime against Iran is nothing new and is more than three decades old. In addition to the …
I went back to Haiti, where I lived last year, to reconnect with a country I love and report on how things were progressing. It was amazing to see some of the public parks open instead of covered with tents. But as I followed people moving out of those camps, …
Family planning is a controversial frontier in the maternal health field. Almost everyone can get behind saving mothers and babies from preventable death–be it from hemorrhages, anemia, preeclampsia, or logistical barriers to doctors and health care.
But granting women control of their reproductive choices is as controversial in the developing world …
