News headlines in January 2023, page 19

BULAWAYO, Jan 06 (IPS) - Escalating conflict and climate change threaten the implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI), an ambitious land restoration project across Africa.

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan 06 (IPS) - The UN Democracy Fund, also known as UNDEF, is an interesting tool but it is too small and lacking resources to mark a difference.

How can the UN do a better job at promoting democracy? This is a key question that high-ranking policy makers at the UN should ask themselves.

JOHANNESBURG, Jan 06 (IPS) - Many Ghanian Members of Parliament (MPs) champion adolescent reproductive health rights to stop the practice of child marriage, which is prevalent in some areas of the country even though the country’s Constitution and Children’s Act outlaw it, Dr Rashid Pelpuo (MP) told IPS in an exclusive interview.

Plans by the Biden administration to expand restrictions on people seeking refuge in the United States are “not in line with refugee law standards”, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. 

World food prices declined for the ninth consecutive month in December, though many commodities are still at record highs, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported on Friday. 

The heads of many of the world’s biggest social media platforms were urged on Friday to change their business models and become more accountable in the battle against rising hate speech online.

Hundreds of political prisoners in Myanmar were granted amnesty this week, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said Friday, but thousands more remain incarcerated.

The trial of Belarusian rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski is “simply politically motivated” and he should be released, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday.

The decision by Zambia to abolish the death penalty is “a historic milestone’, the UN team in the country said on Friday in a statement. 

Flexible working hours can advance economies and businesses while helping employees and families achieve a better work-life balance, according to a new report launched by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on Friday.