News headlines in February 2019, page 3

ODISHA, India, Feb 21 (IPS) - Failing to understand the Adivasi world view and imposing the dominant development paradigm on Adivasi peoples is affecting their identity and well-being. The mainstream development paradigm has aggravated discontent among Adivasi communities. The reasons are not difficult to recognise—it encourages the siege of native resources, drives competition, is surplus-driven, instils private ownership, and consequently, is affecting the cultural identity of Adivasi peoples.

NEW YORK, Feb 21 (IPS) - Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has reiterated his nation's commitment to a "free and open" Indo-Pacific region and to democracy.

During his meeting with Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Washington Feb 20, Shahid "underscored the importance of his government's reform efforts to (ensure) the vitality of Maldives' democracy," the department's Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino said.

PARAMARIBO, Feb 21 (IPS) - Two of the most prominent women in the Caribbean nation of Suriname are speaking out about developed countries that release large volumes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

GOMA, DR Congo, Feb 21 (IPS) - Justine Masika Bihamba is founder of Synergie des Femmes, a front line women's organization based in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and local partner of Donor Direct Action.

When Felix Tshisekedi, the 55 year old son of the former opposition leaderwon the recent presidential election in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it should have felt like a new dawn for many of us living here.

ROME, Feb 21 (IPS) - Roberto Savio is founder of IPS Inter Press Service and President Emeritus.

I have been a member of the first international party: the Transnational Radical Party, founded in 1956 by Marco Pannella and Emma Bonino. Then in 1988, I was a witness of the large protest, in Berlin West, against the meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, a precursor of the “Battle of Seattle” in 1988, where 40.000 protesters disrupted the annual meeting of the two world’s financial institutions. I was even detained for a day by the police, even if was just a witness: my condition of foreigner made me automatically suspect.

MIAMI, Feb 20 (IPS) - Inaccessible justice and socio-economic inequality act as core components of the United States criminal justice system.

Thousands of individuals are denied their basic human rights and treated as a criminal "underclass" in what appears to be a perfectly "legal" and "just" system.

ROME, Feb 20 (IPS) - Dr. Kakoli Ghosh, Strategic Program on Sustainable Agriculture Management Team, FAO. Ms. Loreta Zdanovaite, Partnerships Officer, Division of Partnerships, FAO

When young people from small towns and villages seek higher education they have to usually migrate to big cities leaving their local communities behind. On completion of their degree from the Universities, they generally prefer staying in cities, in search of a good job and a successful career. Though this is a standard practice, it is also a case of lost opportunities, especially for students who pursue higher education in agriculture. Here is why.

MUNICH, Germany, Feb 20 (IPS) - Dan Smith is Director, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

This year's Munich Security Conference (the MSC), held on 15-17 February raised many questions but didn't have the answer. It was not a happy and certainly not a self-confident gathering. Yet a couple of moments suggested the first new blooms of new ways to think about security might soon poke through the soil.

BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Feb 20 (IPS) - In 1992, replanting her father's ruined coffee farm seemed foolhardy at the time. But in retrospect it was the best business decision that Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, an international development consultant and broadcast journalist, could have made.

MEXICO CITY, Feb 20 (IPS) - "We're in a very difficult situation. There is militarisation at a regional level, and gender-based violence. We are at risk, we cannot silence that," Aura Lolita Chávez, an indigenous woman from Guatemala, complained at a meeting of human rights defenders from Latin America held in the Mexican capital.