News headlines in March 2020, page 10

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 06 (IPS) - It's a rainy February morning in New York, but inside the walls of her room, it might as well be summer -- bright and warm, much in contrast to the drizzles reluctantly crawling on the window panes of Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne's office overlooking Manhattan.

HARARE, Mar 05 (IPS) - Women are the face of HIV in Africa, yet four of every 10 persons living with HIV in East and Southern Africa are men. Despite higher rates of HIV infection among women, more men living with HIV are dying.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 05 (IPS) - "Slave labour is not declining; it has taken on new forms and is growing; it expanded to new sectors where it did not previously exist," said Ivanete da Silva Sousa, an activist in the fight against modern-day slavery in northern Brazil.

ROME, Mar 05 (IPS) - The narrative surrounding women's rights in 2020 carries much hope and possibility. A new decade is ushering in important anniversaries and milestones: 25 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, 110 years since the birth of International Women's Day and the 10-year countdown to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

AMSTERDAM, the Netherlands, Mar 05 (IPS) - Gender inequality - like the climate emergency - is not inevitable, but is kept in place by the poor choices too many cis men make on a daily basis. And it is not just womxn who are hurt and trapped by this patriarchal problem, but girls and non-binary people too, as well as many boys and men.

SYDNEY, Australia, Mar 05 (IPS) - For 13-year-old Karen Semens, growing up on Pohnpei, one of the four main island states in the Federated States of Micronesia, which comprises of more than 600 islands in the western Pacific Ocean, the main challenge is being a girl.

"In our culture, girls don't have the same rights and opportunities nor do they get credit and recognition for their achievements as boys do. This prevents us from speaking our minds. For example in family meetings, only men make the decisions. I would like all girls to be treated as equals and have a say in decision making," the 8th grade pupil from the Ohmine Public Elementary school in Pohnpei, tells IPS.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 05 (IPS) - For International Women's Day, IPS United Nations is featuring female permanent representatives who to share about their work, inspiration and challenges in an otherwise male-dominated field. This is the first in the series. Ambassador Mona Juul started her role as the Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations in January 2019, and is also the president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). 

SYDNEY and KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 04 (IPS) - As the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 threatens a global pandemic, major stock markets around the world have suffered their worst performance since the 2008 financial crush.

NEW YORK, Mar 04 (IPS) - Brazilian journalist Patrícia Campos Mello made her career reporting from conflict zones around the world -- but lately, the greatest threats to her security are coming from closer to home.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 04 (IPS) - Twenty-five years after the historic Beijing women's conference in China – a milestone in advancing equal rights – violence against women and girls is not only common, but widely accepted, a new UN report revealed.