News headlines in July 2017

GENEVA, Switzerland, Jul 31 (IPS) - It is believed that millions are currently victims of trafficking in persons around the world. It is almost impossible to think about each one of those numbers as individual human beings and it can feel like an insurmountable problem. But it isn't. And on this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons we must believe that not only can we make a dent but that we can make significant inroads into eliminating it.

ROME/DHAKA, Jul 31 (IPS) - Water is precious, fragile, and dangerous. It can sustain or destroy.

NEW DELHI, Jul 31 (IPS) - The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 (or RPD Act) is laudable in its intent and procedural detail, but mostly silent on disabilities among the elderly. Indeed, for this reason alone, it is arguable that its overarching goal—"The appropriate Government shall ensure that the persons with disabilities enjoy the right to equality, life with dignity and respect for his or her integrity equally with others" —is mere rhetoric, if not a pipe dream.

DHAKA, Jul 31 (IPS) - Life for Bangladesh's rural people, particularly in its remote north, is still miserable. Seasonal flooding, river erosion, and the low quality of rural infrastructure and lack of connectivity have made things harder for poor northerners.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 (IPS) - The United States is lagging far behind its Western allies – and perhaps most of the key developing countries – in refusing to act decisively to end a longstanding health and environmental hazard: the use of mercury in dentistry.

ROME, Jul 28 (IPS) - Up to 80 per cent of Nigerian migrant women and girls arriving on Europe's shores in Italy could potentially be sex trafficking victims, spotlighting the horrific levels of abuse and violence migrants face along their arduous journeys for a better future, according to a UN study.

ROME, Jul 28 (IPS) - Access to justice is often out of reach for migrant workers in South-east Asia, the United Nations labour agency reported in a study that shows that non-governmental organisations are assisting more often than government officials or trade unions.

ROME, Jul 28 (IPS) - It is happening now. Millions of humans are forced to flee armed conflicts, climate change, inequalities, and extreme poverty. They fall easy prey to traffickers lurking anyone who can be subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labour and even sell their skin and organs.

ROME, Jul 28 (IPS) - They borrow huge amounts of money. They sell all their modest properties. They suffer brutalities on the hands of their own countries "security" forces to prevent them from fleeing wars, droughts, floods, lack of food, extreme poverty.

DHAKA, Jul 28 (IPS) - In the wake of recent water-related disasters in Bangladesh, including water-logging and floods that displaced thousands of families, a high-level consultation in the capital Dhaka on valuing water will look at ways to optimize water use and solutions to water-related problems facing South Asia.