This article forms part of an IPS series on the occasion of the World Humanitarian Summit, to take place May 23-24 in Istanbul.

Syrian refugee children learn to survive at a camp in north Lebanon. Credit: Zak Brophy/IPS

GAZA, Palestine, May 18 2016 (IPS) – We don t want charity, we want a long-term solution.

That s what a group of Palestinian refugees who fled the war in Syria and found safety in Gaza told last November.

Today, their sentiment continues to be echoed in Syria and in camps and urban centres hosting refugees across the region.

Ne…

Women with disabilities in Afghanistan protest for their rights. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 2016 (IPS) – Nearly 10 years after UN members adopted a progressive Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), progress implementing the convention has been mixed, even at the UN itself, say disability advocates.

Last week the 165 member states that are party to the met at the UN to review implementation and elect members of the committee of experts with disabilities which provides advice on the convention.

The elections last week brought about two firsts for the committee, including the first deaf sig…

Aug 1 2016 – To observe the World Breastfeeding Week, which is marked around the world from August 1-7 since 1992, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) has declared this year s theme to be Breastfeeding: a key to sustainable development August 1-7.

Breastfeeding is in many ways linked with nutrition and food security, health, development, survival, and the achievement of full educational potential and economic productivity. Breastfeeding is an environmentally sustainable method of feeding compared to other substitutes. Linking breastfeeding with sustainable development is relevant and inclusive, as it enables the breastfeeding movement to connect with many other development issues over the next fifteen years to create greater impact globally.

This year, th…

Erika Guevara Rosas is Americas Director at Amnesty International.

International organisations receiving US funding for health will no longer be able to provide any abortion services or counselling – even with non-US funding – Credit: Patricia Cocq/IPS.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 25 2017 (IPS) – The image of a group of men in suits making decisions about the rights of women is becoming an emblematic sign of the backlash against our human rights, particularly those related to women´s bodily integrity and reproductive and sexual freedoms.

Just two days after the massive demonstrations for equality and against discrimination that took place in cities …

Credit: FAO

ROME, Apr 25 2017 (IPS) – It all happened on the very same day—4 April. That day, indigenous peoples were simultaneously characterised as fundamental allies in the world’s war on hunger and poverty, while being declared as collective victims of a “tsunami” of imprisonments in Australia. See what happened.

Australia must reduce the “astounding” rates of imprisonment for indigenous peoples and step up the fight against racism, on 4 April warned Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, the United Nations .“Traditional indigenous knowledge and the diversity of their food systems can provide solutions for healthy diets, and many areas such as nutrition, c…

Dr Felicity Daly is the Global Research Coordinator for OutRight Action International

Participants at a gay pride celebration in Uganda. Credit: Amy Fallon/IPS

NEW YORK, Jul 10 2017 (IPS) – While there has been progress in researching the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) people and responding to certain emerging health threats in high-income countries elsewhere in the world such research is inadequate and incomplete.

A new report published by , the highlights that wherever research has been conducted, LGBTI people’s health is s…

Tristate Heart and Vascular Centre in Nigeria. Credit: Tristate Heart and Vascular Centre

NEW YORK, Sep 28 2017 (IPS) – In the 2017 World Happiness Report by Gallup, African countries score poorly. Of the 150 countries on the list, the Central African Republic, Tanzania and Burundi rank as the unhappiest countries in the world.

Some of the factors driving unhappiness are the poor state of the continent’s health care systems, the persistence of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and the growth of lifestyle diseases such as hypertension, heart disease and diabetes.

Few African countries make significant investments in the health sector—the median cost of health car…

& of the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), housed at the World Bank, is a global partnership of more than 30 leading organizations.

Credit: Water.org

WASHINTON DC, Dec 18 2017 (IPS) – Without reliable access to water, human beings cannot survive. Yet 3 out of 10 people do not have a safely managed water supply, and 6 out of 10 lack safely managed sanitation. Over 2 billion people drank water that was fecally contaminated in 2015, and the that the annual cost of poor sanitation is in excess of $260 billion annually.

The technologies that can address these shortages are not complicated, but their upfront cost remains unaffordable to many low-income familie…

PARIS, Mar 22 2018 (IPS) – The 2018 Paris Book Fair (Livre Paris) took place against the backdrop of demonstrations in Mayotte that echoed similar protests a year ago in French Guiana, putting the topics of literary activism and popular disaffection high on the agenda at the March 16-19 event.

Writers from France’s overseas regions and departments, which include Mayotte in the Indian Ocean, spoke out about their role and contribution to French literature, highlighting the social and economic conditions in their territories.

Launching an anthology of short stories titled Guyane: Nou gon ké sa (We re fed up), Guyanese authors said they felt compelled to address on-going struggles.