That education is a universal right is a principle enshrined in both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and, for a large part, in the psyche of humanity. Therefore, the idea that one would be barred from higher education based on one’s religious convictions becomes absurd at best. This is the absurd reality that the […]
I’ve made a recent move to San Francisco, California, and a few days ago, I found myself wandering around The Mission, a neighborhood that is undergoing rapid gentrification. Apart from the somewhat small but popular Dolores Park (pictured left), there isn’t a lot of green space in the area, in contrast with many other (generally […]
Two weeks ago the European Union announced that it intends to provide $14.5 million in emergency food aid to North Korea. According to the statement released by the EU, after visiting North Korea in June, monitors judged the situation to be: “Increasingly desperate and extreme measures are being taken by the hard-hit North Koreans, including […]
By Atef Said I got on a plane to Cairo on February 4, ten days after Egyptians took to the streets in a popular revolution that eventually led to the ouster of notorious dictator Hosni Mubarak. I had mixed emotions when leaving for Egypt: anxiety about the family I was leaving behind and about my […]
Reactions to the so-called twitterspat between Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Rwandan Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo and British journalist Ian Birrell that I posted on Monday is still in full swing online. The reactions I posted then pretty much summed up general opinion about the incident with most people siding with Birrell. And while I am […]
It was supposed to be the final stage of a nearly decade long peace process. It was supposed to finally put to rest the civil war that tore the country apart in the 1990s. It was supposed to be the start to a new chapter in Cote d’Ivoire’s history, one not marked by geographic and […]
Once a year, as mandated by the Constitution, the President of the United States gives an address to Congress updating them on the state of the union. Over time, much ceremony and tradition has been attached to the State of the Union and every year it is broadcast on television, radio, and internet with […]
Haiti’s former “President for Life” Jean-Claude Duvalier made a surprising return to Haiti on Sunday after 25 years in exile. He stated that he hoped to take part in the “rebirth” of the nation, and aging friends said they had begged him to come back and visit. But a simple Duvalierist reunion in the luxurious […]
On my personal blog, I posted a piece about my interactions with exploitation and violations of workers rights in Haiti. To see the full post go to: http://developmentandpolitics.blogspot.com/2010/12/some-musings-on-workers-rights-and.html Sometimes when the day, the week, the month, has been long, I take a stroll to some kind of stress release, to see friends or sneak into […]
Low-resource countries often carry the heaviest disease burden and maintain the smallest health workforce. The deadly cholera epidemic in Haiti is only the most recent example of how the time for ‘task shifting’ has arrived. By Allyn Gaestel for ISN Insights http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/ISN-Insights/Detail?lng=en&ots627=fce62fe0-528d-4884-9cdf-283c282cf0b2&id=124470&contextid734=124470&contextid735=124469&tabid=124469
Jafar Panahi, a celebrated Iranian filmmaker accused of organizing demonstrations against the government and various other crimes, delivered an impassioned defense in court last month. Panahi was imprisoned in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison from March 1 to May 25 of this year. Panahi is the director of several internationally acclaimed films, including “The White Balloon,” […]
by Elizabeth Samson On November 10, 2010, the United Nations took an important step towards committing itself to female empowerment with the election of 41 member states to the board of a new agency—the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. Known as UN Women, the new body brings four organizations that […]
I recently published a piece for PlusNews about the Tuberculosis epidemic that has long been endemic in Haiti and could worsen with the living situations of over a million Haitians still living in tents ten months after the January 12 earthquake. As with most issues in post-quake Haiti, the earthquake merely brought to light and […]
Sex workers internationally face incredible stigma, dehumanization and criminalization from politicians, health workers, police officers, the media and the general population. In fact most people seem uncomfortable with the idea of sex work, and struggle to understand how anyone could “do such a thing”. The language regularly used to describe sex work manifests this disregard […]
Earlier this week I reported on the devastating cholera epidemic currently racing through the Haitian countryside for The Atlantic. The numbers have now climbed to 442 registered deaths and 6,742 hospitalizations, but my reporting from the Artibonite and Central plateau regions is still timely. “Cholera arrived in Haiti this month with a vengeance. Since the […]