Gender Equality

Photo: New WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. Credit: World Trade Organization.

The Choice of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as WTO Head Makes History

Can This 'Grandmother' Save The World Ruled by Gender and Racial Bias?

Viewpoint by Azu Ishiekwene

The writer is the Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Interview magazine based in Abuja, Nigeria.

ABUJA (IDN) — As the World Trade Organization (WTO) formally announced the appointment of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as Director-General on February 15, a Swiss newspaper received her with a disgraceful headline: “This Grandmother will become the boss of the WTO,” with her photograph under the headline.

The headline sparked outrage, forcing the editors to modify their position: “This 66-year-old Nigerian will head WTO.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 19 February 2021

Gender Bias Against Women Career Scientists Upsets UNESCO

By Jaya Ramachandran

PARIS (IDN) — "Even today, in the 21st century, women and girls are being sidelined in science-related fields due to their gender," warns the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

Women need to know that they have a place in science, technology, engineering and mathematics and that they have a right to share in scientific progress, adds the UNESCO chief.

: Jaya Ramachandran; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 14 February 2021

Photo: People fleeing conflict are particularly exposed to the threat of COVID-19. Credit: Giorgos Moutafis/Oxfam

Refugees and Pandemic: An Opportunity to be Seized?

Viewpoint by James Milner*

OTTAWA (IDN) – December 2019 was a time for cautious optimism for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). They were celebrating the results of the first Global Refugee Forum, during which a wide range of states and other actors made pledges to enhance refugee support and share good practices.

Only a year later, on its 70th anniversary, the UNHCR issued a statement saying it was “in no mood to celebrate” given that conditions for refugees were getting markedly worse, not better.

: Phil Harris; OPINION; 10 February 2021

Photo: A scene from The Red Detachment of Women opera, adopted from the earlier 1961 film of the same title. Soldiers of the Women's Detachment performing rifle drill in Act II, from the 1972 National Ballet of China production. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The 1961 Feature Film Continues to Stimulate Chinese Women

On the eve of the Communist Party of China’s centenary in July 2021, the story of the country’s first women’s military brigade in the 1930s continues to find life in popular culture and the imagination of the Chinese people.

Viewpoint by Tings Chak *

HAVANA (IDN) – “Are you a proletarian?” asks the brigade commander. Receiving no response, she clarifies her question: “Do you own land?”

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Gender Equality; 04 February 2021

Photo: Musicians perform at a concert in India, in December 2019, prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: UNICEF/Srikanth Kolari.

Culture Struggling to Survive COVID-19 Impact

By Jaya Ramachadran

PARIS (IDN) – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has urged adequate policies and actions to help the culture sector weather the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout. The sector employs more than 30 million people globally. It has been hit much harder than expected.

: Jaya Ramachandran; UN INSIDER; 01 January 2021

Photo: A World Food Programme (WFP) representative in Bolivia talks to Uru-Murato indigenous women about COVID-19 awareness and healthy nutrition practices. Credit: WFP/Morelia Eróstegui

The Rich-Poor Gulf Widens 5 Years After Adoption of Sustainable Development Goals

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – 2020 will be remembered as a year in which a contagious virus shut down the world, widened the gulf between the rich and the poor, triggered a spike in poverty for the first time in decades, and pushed back the United Nations efforts to create more equitable societies jeopardising the Sustainable Development Goals universally agreed in September 2015.

By early December, the United Nations was warning that a record 235 million people would require humanitarian assistance in 2021, comprising an increase of some 40 per cent on 2020 which is almost entirely a consequence of the pandemic.

: J Nastranis; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 30 December 2020

Peace Prize for Humanitarian Work – Debt Dims Recovery – Better Times for Mental Health Groups

By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network

NEW YORK (IDN) – Mixed news from Africa: the Somali Practitioner of ‘Yogadishu’, Ilwad Elman, is the German Africa Peace Prize Winner for 2020. Ilwad Elman has been helping former child soldiers and rape survivors overcome their trauma. Analysts say that recovery for the African States could be dimmed by debt. and African maternal health groups expect better times for women under Biden as the next US President.

: Africa; 28 December 2020

Photo: UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee, appointed as UN Resident Coordinator in China.

UN Chief Appoints an Eminent Indian National as Resident Coordinator in China

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Siddharth Chatterjee, an eminent Indian national at the world body, as UN "resident coordinator" to China, who has the same rank as an ambassador of a foreign state accredited to that country. The Chinese government' has formally accepted the UN Secretary-General’s selection.

Observers consider this important particularly as Chatterjee is also an Indian Army Special Forces veteran. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the National Defence Academy in India.

: J Nastranis; UN INSIDER; 17 December 2020

Photo: Ambassador Choudhury in a virtual address to the Israeli Knesset.

'If We Are Serious About Peace, We Must Take Women Seriously'

By Ambassador Anwarul K. Chowdhury in New York

The following is the full text of the address by Ambassador Chowdhury at the Knesset of Israel on November 17, 2020, at 14:30 Israel Standard Time. He is former Under-Secretary-General and High Representative of the United Nations and initiator of the precursor decision leading to the UNSCR 1325 as the President of the UN Security Council in March 2000 at the Special Meeting of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality of the Israeli Knesset marking the 20th anniversary of UNSC Resolution 1325 with focus on the challenges, progress made, and way forward in its implementation.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 16 December 2020

Photo: Poster for International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Credit: UN Women

US Policing and Militarism Perpetuate Sexual Violence

Viewpoint by Olivia Pace*

The original version of this article was published on Waging Nonviolence and is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

PORTLAND, Oregon (IDN) – From the forces of policing to the military, these arms of the US state claim to be arbiters of justice and safety in the most superficial way. In reality, not only do these forces fail to create safety or bring justice to survivors of sexual violence. These systems actively perpetuate sexual violence and gendered violence on their own.