News headlines in April 2019, page 9

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 05 (IPS) - The Republic of China (Taiwan) was ingloriously expelled from the United Nations-- and ousted from its highly-prized permanent seat in the UN Security Council (UNSC)-- about 48 years ago.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 04 (IPS) - This article is part of a series on the current state of civil society organisations (CSOs), which will be the focus of International Civil Society Week (ICSW), sponsored by CIVICUS, and scheduled to take place in Belgrade, April 8-12.

Faced with an uneven battle against right wing nationalist governments, repressive regimes and extremist groups, scores of civil society organizations (CSOs) are gearing themselves to fight back.

MAJURO, Apr 04 (IPS) - It's a Friday morning and Dr. Ken Jetton, the only doctor who treats leprosy in Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, is seeing a patient recently cured of the disease.

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 04 (IPS) - Marcos Orellana is the environment and human rights director at Human Rights Watch.

While residents across Prince Rupert, British Columbia are once again able to get safe drinking water from their taps, the boil-water advisory lifted there in late January should not be forgotten. Canada is a freshwater-rich country, but the time for complacency on essential water issues has long passed. Most people living in Canada have access to safe water. But drinking water advisories in the country about unsafe water have been concentrated in First Nation communities.

RÍO DE JANEIRO, Apr 04 (IPS) - Several initiatives are seeking to strengthen the fight against femicides in Latin America, a region which, despite growing popular mobilisation and pioneering legislation against gender-based murders, still has the world's worst rates in what has been described as a "silent genocide," says U.N. Women.

WASHINGTON DC, Apr 04 (IPS) - RAKHI KUMAR is a senior managing director and head of ESG Investments and Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors.*

Across the investment industry, asset owners and asset managers push to enhance gender diversity at all leadership levels

BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 04 (IPS) - Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.

Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are living in a time of booming prosperity, yet many are getting left behind. Basic needs, such as the freedom for all from hunger and poverty, ill-health and gender-based discrimination, and equal opportunity for all are elusive. Economic, social and planetary well-being has a price tag. Calculations by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) show that it is mostly affordable for the region.

STOCKHOLM, Apr 03 (IPS) - Dr Diego Lopes da Silva is a Researcher with the Arms and Military Expenditure Programme at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) & Dr Nan Tian is a Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.

In January 2019 Venezuela's opposition-led National Assembly swore in congressman Juan Guaidó as the country's interim president. Guaidó's claim to power is a severe blow against the already weakened government of Nicolás Maduro, whose re-election as president in May 2018 was widely rejected by the international community and deemed illegitimate by over 50 foreign governments.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Apr 03 (IPS) - Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Asia and the Pacific's phenomenal development has been a story of rapid urbanization. As centres of innovation, entrepreneurship and opportunity, cities have drawn talent from across our region and driven economic growth which has transformed our societies.

STOCKHOLM, Apr 03 (IPS) - It's been called the most important election in decades. The coming elections to the European Parliament will take place in May, and some believe it will be a springboard for the parties on the far right. But what would the consequences of that be for the labour markets in the European Union's member states?