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 Aurora Weiss VIENNA, 31 May 2023 (IDN) — A case that may implicate Croatian bureaucrats came to light in December 2022 when an alert immigration officer at Zambia’s Ndola airport detained eight Croatian citizens on suspicion of child trafficking and falsification of documents. (P05) JAPANESE | PORTUGUESE
By Reinhard Jacobsen BRUSSELS (IDN) — Eritrean refugees are trafficked and enslaved in Libya, where they are tortured, abused and raped by slave traders to force family members to pay ransom for their release. If they escape and make it to the Mediterranean Sea, they risk being intercepted and sent back to Libya or dying at sea.
By Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY (IDN) — Each year on January 26, Australians celebrate “Australia Day”, a national holiday that marks the day Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Sydney Cove in 1788, planted the Union Jack and proclaimed the continent for the British Crown.
Nature-Based Solutions Could Generate 20 million New Jobs By Jaya Ramachandran GENEVA (IDN) — A joint report by three UN organisations says that 20 million jobs could be created by further harnessing the power of nature to address the major challenges facing society, such as climate change, disaster risk and food and water insecurity. According to the report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), investing in policies that support Nature-based Solutions (NbS) would generate significant employment opportunities, particularly in rural areas. (P27) HINDI | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF
By Ravindra Singh Prasad SUVA (IDN) — Every year on May 14 Fiji’s Indian community mark the day when the first shipment of their ancestors came here as indentured labourers to work in British sugarcane plantations established in their Pacific Ocean colony. Girmitiya is how they came to be known over time—the name derived from the term Girmit, a corruption of the English word, agreement.
Viewpoint by Max Berengaut* MARRAKECH (IDN) — Entering Morocco, Sub-Saharan African migrants find themselves at a crossroads. There is the promise of an economic future waiting for them in Europe, but the path to it is perilous. They require either an assurance of asylum status or some familial relationship with a European in order to enter Europe without any problems. Unfortunately, many will have neither, forcing them into dangerous and irregular means of entry into Europe, or at times leading them to stay in Morocco.
Viewpoint by Yossef Ben-Meir The writer is a former Peace Corps Volunteer and president of the High Atlas Foundation. MARRAKECH (IDN) — The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are aspirationally universal, addressing globally relevant issues with earnest objectives. Despite the profound good that they represent, fundamental problems exist with the Goals. They lack prescriptiveness, even to the extent of not explicitly aligning with what we know is indelible to sustainability: local people’s participation. (P09) ARABIC | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SPANISH
By Mahinda Seneviratne* SYDNEY (IDN) — As twilight approaches, Rakesh (not his real name) mounts his bicycle with a large thermal backpack over his narrow shoulders. He lost his regular job at a small suburban restaurant when the family business could not sustain itself during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. With the recent shocking road deaths of three food delivery riders heavily on his mind, Rakesh pedals cautiously into the growing traffic lanes to commence his first home delivery gig.
By Busani Bafana BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe (IDN) — The long-awaited African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)—set to be the world’s biggest free-trade zone by size—which entered into force on January 1, 2021, promises a new era for African trade. An Africa-wide free-trade pact could bolster the region’s income by $450 billion and lift 30 million people out of extreme poverty by 2035, if accompanied by significant policy reforms and trade-facilitation measures, according to the World Bank. When fully operational, the Free Trade area will create a market of 1.2 billion and drive a combined GDP of $2.5 trillion. (P02) GERMAN | JAPANESE TEXT VERSION PDF | SWAHILI
Viewpoint by Anusha Jaura-Sindhwani* Human trafficking is one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with 169 targets endorsed by the international community in 2015. Goal 8.7 aims at “immediate and effective measures to eradicate forced labour, end modern slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour, including recruitment and use of child soldiers, and by 2025 end child labour in all its forms”. Anusha’s Canadian perspective is based on 20 years of experience in the child welfare sector. She is also on the Human Trafficking Committee which looks at prevention and supporting youth at risk of trafficking.
