A project of the Non-profit International Press Syndicate Group with IDN as the Flagship Agency in partnership with Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC
By Pattama Vilailert
BANGKOK (IDN) — Quality Education and Reduced Inequalities are two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With 3.3 per cent of Thailand’s population categorized as “disabled”, Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University (STOU) has come up with an innovative program to provide a new lease of life to people who would otherwise be left behind in the sphere of higher education. (P22) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI
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By Kalinga Seneviratne
BANGKOK (IDN) — While the massacre of 37 people that included 26 preschool children in a remote north-eastern township of Thailand on October 7 has shocked the nation and exposed the inadequacy of the public mental health system, it is yet to trigger a debate about whether Buddhism could step in to help solve a major social crisis in the majority Buddhist country. (P21) JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | THAI
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Viewpoint by Nandita Bajaj*
ST PAUL, Minnesota (IDN) — As the global population fast approaches 8 billion, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director Dr Natalia Kanem wants us to avoid what she calls “population alarmism.” A fearless advocate for reproductive rights, Dr Kanem, has rightfully noted that reproductive coercion, whether in an effort to limit births or to promote them, is an egregious violation of individual rights.…
By Lisa Vives, Global Information Network
NEW YORK (IDN) — Water stress, withering droughts and devastating floods are hitting African communities, economies and ecosystems hard. Rainfall patterns are disrupted, glaciers are disappearing and key lakes are shrinking.
In South Africa, the extreme rainfall that triggered one of the country’s deadliest disasters of this century was made more intense and more likely because of climate change.…
By Santo D. Banerjee
BANGKOK (IDN) — Ministers and heads of national space agencies endorsed the Jakarta Ministerial Declaration on Space Applications for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific at the close of a high-level meeting co-organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Government of Indonesia.…
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS (IDN) — The late Everett McKinley Dirksen, an American politician. once famously said: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”.
Perhaps that remark may be applicable to the funding of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), where developing nations continue their relentless search for billions of dollars—now rising to trillions—to help achieve these targets by the year 2030. (P20) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF…
By Caroline Mawanga
NEW YORK (IDN) — Defending women’s rights and promoting greater inclusion is a proven strategy for peace and stability, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told a recent Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security, which focussed on Secretary-General António Guterres’s annual report as envisaged with a landmark resolution adopted 22 years ago. (P19) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF…
By Arjun Kumar, Anshula Mehta, Simi Mehta and Kuldeep Singh
NEW DELHI (IDN) — Vision loss and impairment affects more than how people see; it has implications for inequities in employment, healthcare access, and income. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it has been estimated that 80% of vision loss is preventable or treatable. Yet, many populations do not have access to good-quality, affordable eye care.…
Viewpoint by Abebe Haile-Gabriel
The writer is the Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Africa of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It was published in Horn Observer on October 13, ahead of World Food Day on October 16.
ACCRA (IDN) — More than a billion Africans cannot afford a healthy diet. Africa is moving backwards in its efforts to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. This situation is not sustainable.…
By Farai Shawn Matiashe
MUTARE, Zimbabwe (IDN) — Ruth Rugeje, 38, monitors plants of cabbages, a pale green leafy vegetable, grown in empty two-litre bottles in the backyard of her home in Mutapa, a high-density suburb in the central Zimbabwean city of Gweru.
This innovative farmer picked these plastic bottles from the illegal dumping sites in her neighbourhood and reused them in hydroponics. (P18) CHINESE | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI
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