By A. D. McKenzie PARIS(IPS) — The Oscar-winning film 12 Years a Slave opened many people’s eyes to the barbarity of slavery and fuelled some discussion about that period in world history. But the film is just one of the many initiatives to “break the silence” around the 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade […]

By Khaled Alashqar GAZA CITY (IPS) — “When the [Israeli] shelling started, I gathered up my family and headed for what I though was a safe place, like a school, but then that became overcrowded and lacked sanitation, so we ended up in the grounds of the hospital.” Islam Abu Sheira from Beit Hanoun, a […]

By Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Pakistan (IPS) —Between government efforts to wipe out insurgents from Pakistan’s northern, mountainous regions, and the Taliban’s own campaign to exercise power over the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the real victims of this conflict are often invisible.Walking among the rubble of their old homes, or sitting outside makeshift shelters in […]

By Khaled Alashqar GAZA CITY (IPS) — “My child became blind and lost the ability to speak, his dad died and his three brothers are seriously wounded. He still has not been told about the loss of his dad,” says the mother of 7-year-old Mohamad Badran.Mohamad is in hospital for treatment after being seriously injured […]

By Catherine Wilson SYDNEY (IPS) — Suicide rates in the Pacific Islands are some of the highest in the world and have reached up to 30 per 100,000 in countries such as Samoa, Guam and Micronesia, double the global average, with youth rates even higher.On International Youth Day, which this year focuses on ‘Youth and […]

By Chau Ngo UNITED NATIONS (IPS) —As the ambulance stopped in Iraq’s northern city of Kirkuk, people rushed in to help. They unloaded six children, from several months to 11 years old, all injured allegedly by an air attack in the neighboring town of Tuz Khurmatu.“The situation in Iraq is grave,” said Tirana Hassan, senior […]

By Analysis by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — As the civil war in Syria continues into its fourth year, the Western nations sitting on the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) have unsuccessfully tried to condemn the killings of civilians, impose punitive sanctions and accuse the Syrian government of war crimes — in four vetoed and […]

By Marianela Jarroud  SANTIAGO (IPS) —In Latin America, young people are the main link in the chain of poverty leading from one generation to the next. Civil society groups, academics and young people themselves say it is imperative to strengthen the connection between education today and decent employment tomorrow.“The region’s youth is a subject in […]

By Nqabomzi Bikitsha  JOHANNESBURG  (IPS) — Every year, three million newborn babies and almost 6.6 million children under five die globally, but if the rest of the world looked towards the examples of two of Africa’s least-developed countries (LDCs), Rwanda and Ethiopia, they would perhaps be able to save these children.At the 2014 Partners’ Forum […]

By Fabiola Ortiz RIO DE JANEIRO (IPS) — The FIFA World Cup being played in Brazil has sounded a warning for organizations fighting exploitation of children and adolescents, during an event that has attracted 3.7 million tourists to the 12 host cities.As well as revenue, business and employment opportunities, the football World Cup also increases […]