The Human Consciousness Now...Our World in the Midst of Becoming...to What? Observe, contemplate Now.
LONDON, Mar 16 2026 (IPS) - Once again, global oil prices are spiking, driven by the Israeli-US war against Iran. With Iran retaliating by attacking infrastructure and transport hubs and blocking the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, oil supplies from the region are being choked, pushing up prices. The cost of a barrel of Brent crude – the international benchmark for oil prices – stood at US$73 before the conflict but has surged beyond US$100 since. It could go higher still as war continues.
The impacts are already being felt when drivers fill up their petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles. But they go much wider. Bigger household energy bills will likely result, while businesses will pass on their increased costs in the form of higher prices. Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices soaring and sparked a global cost-of-living crisis, and now, as many economies seemed to be recovering, the war in the Gulf has brought another shock. Impacts could be political as well as financial: in numerous countries, the cost-of-living crisis helped drive voters towards right-wing populist and nationalist politicians. Recent years have seen Gen Z-led protests erupt in countries around the world, fuelled in part by young people’s anger at failing economies.
In a world increasingly characterised by conflict and with powerful states tearing up the international rulebook in pursuit of material interests, more oil shocks and big economic and political impacts seem inevitable. Governments typically react with economic policies that fail to protect those with the least, and by meeting political unrest with repression. They should consider another way.
The world will remain vulnerable to oil price shocks only for as long as it stays dependent on oil. The climate crisis compels a rapid move away from fossil fuel dependency to abate the worst impacts of global heating. Increasingly, this should also be seen as a matter of economic and political security.
Some steps have been taken in the right direction. Renewables now provide over 30 per cent of global electricity. Investments in renewables more than double those in fossil fuels. But fossil fuel companies have immense power and are determined not to give it up. That was reflected in the fact that 1,600 fossil fuel lobbyists attended the latest global climate summit, COP30 in Brazil, and succeeded in preventing any new commitment to end fossil fuel extraction. Their power is shown in the lawsuit an oil company brought against Greenpeace, leading to a widely criticised trial in North Dakota, USA, with the campaigning organisation facing a punitive US$345 million damages bill. Their influence was reaffirmed by Donald Trump’s election win, after a campaign in which fossil fuel companies gave US$450 million in donations to Trump and his allies – and they were rewarded by US intervention in Venezuela.
Fossil fuel companies are determined to hold back the tide of renewables for as long as possible, because every day of delay is another day of profit, even though every fraction of a degree of temperature rise means avoidable suffering for millions of people. Delay is the new climate denial.
As the latest State of Civil Society Report points out, civil society’s working to make the difference, urging governments to hasten the transition and calling on global north states to make funding available for global south states to decarbonise and adapt to climate impacts. Civil society is exposing the environmental devastation caused by extraction and the complicity of fossil fuel companies in human rights abuses. Its strategies include advocacy, public campaigning, protests, direct action and, increasingly, litigation.
In 2025, climate litigation scored some big successes. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an unprecedented advisory opinion, ruling that states have a legal duty to prevent environmental harm, which requires them to mitigate emissions and adapt to climate change. This victory originated in civil society: in 2019, student groups from eight countries formed the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change network to persuade their governments to seek an ICJ ruling.
Following extensive civil society engagement, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a similar ruling. The African Court for Human and Peoples’ Rights is set to issue its advisory opinion following a petition brought by the African Climate Platform, a civil society coalition.
These rulings can seem symbolic, but they strengthen national-level efforts to hold states and corporations accountable. These have paid off recently too. In 2025, two South African groups stopped an offshore oil project after a court found its environmental assessments were deeply flawed. More litigation is coming, including in New Zealand, where civil society has filed a lawsuit after the government weakened its emissions reduction plan.
But civil society faces a backlash. Around the world, climate and environmental activists and their allies, Indigenous and land rights defenders, experience severe state and corporate repression.
Last year in Uganda, authorities arrested 11 activists for protesting against the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. In Peru, police used teargas and non-lethal weapons against people blocking a road to protest against a mine. In Cambodia, five young activists from the Mother Nature environmental group have been in jail since July 2024.
The French government has repeatedly vilified environmental campaigners and deployed police violence against protests, while last year the German government launched an inquiry into public funding of environmental groups and the Dutch parliament adopted a motion condemning Extinction Rebellion and urging the removal of its tax-exempt status.
As the latest oil price shocks reverberate around the global economy, governments should learn the lessons. As economies deteriorate, the temptation will be to say that transition is a luxury, something that can be put off even further. This is the wrong lesson: recent research in the UK suggests that the cost of achieving net zero will be about the same as the cost of another oil price crisis. Economic and political security lies in ending fossil fuel dependency as quickly as possible. To learn the right lessons, governments should stop repressing climate activism and instead listen to and work with civil society.
Andrew Firmin isCIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.
For interviews or more information, please contact research@civicus.org
BANGKOK, Thailand, Mar 16 2026 (IPS) - Access to adequate housing is a foundation of resilient cities. Safe and affordable homes provide stability, allow residents to access essential services, and enhance the capacity for communities to withstand and recover from shocks. Yet housing is often treated as a downstream outcome of urban development or disaster recovery rather than as a strategic investment in resilience.
The Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2026 delivers a stark warning. The region is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and 88 per cent of measurable targets are projected to be missed by 2030 at the current pace. Progress across SDG 11 indicators reflects mixed trends. While some indicators show improvement, disaster losses and infrastructure damage continue to rise.
This widening gap between policy commitments and real-world outcomes exposes a growing resilience deficit in urban systems. Accelerating progress on SDG Target 11.1, which calls for access to adequate, safe and affordable housing and the upgrading of informal settlements, will be critical to reducing urban vulnerability across Asia and the Pacific.
Regional dialogue increasingly reflects this shift toward translating policy commitments into concrete action that reduces urban vulnerability. Discussions at the 13th Asia-Pacific Forum on Sustainable Development in 2026 and statements at the eighty-first session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, held under the theme resilient and sustainable urban development for regional cooperation, highlighted housing affordability, informal settlements and climate-resilient housing as growing policy priorities requiring stronger action at the city level.
Across Asia and the Pacific, around 700 million people, nearly one-third of the region’s urban population, live in informal settlements – many located in hazard-prone areas exposed to flooding, extreme heat, landslides and sea-level rise.
Urban informality reflects deeper structural weaknesses in urban systems, such as gaps in land governance, planning frameworks and service delivery, concentrating climate risks in the same neighbourhoods where housing conditions are most fragile.
Urban vulnerability is shaped by the way cities are built and governed. Unplanned development, weak land-use systems and inadequate housing expose millions of urban residents to climate hazards and disaster risks. In informal settlements, these risks intensify through substandard construction, overcrowding, and limited access to water and sanitation.
Climate change further amplifies these vulnerabilities as flooding, extreme heat, water insecurity, land subsidence and air pollution interact through fragile urban systems.
Evidence also shows that improving housing conditions generates broad development gains. Habitat for Humanity’s research indicates that large-scale upgrading of informal settlements could raise GDP per capita by up to 10 per cent and increase life expectancy by four percent.
Within just one year, housing improvements could prevent more than 20 million illnesses, avert nearly 43 million incidents of gender-based violence, and avoid around 80,000 deaths. These findings highlight that expanding affordable housing and upgrading informal settlements are critical investments in climate adaptation, public health and inclusive development.
A shared but differentiated responsibility
To realign SDG trajectories and move the region closer to a resilient urban future, housing must be understood as a core component of the urban system. Achieving this requires coordinated action across governments, the private sector and civil society.
Governments: From pilot projects to systemic guarantees
Governments must anchor climate-resilient and adequate housing as a national priority, embedding secure tenure, resilient housing and informal settlement upgrading within urban development, climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction strategies. Regulatory frameworks should enable participatory and in-situ upgrading and community-led tenure solutions that allow residents to invest in climate-resilient housing improvements.
Private sector: From speculative value to resilient value
The private sector can help scale resilient housing solutions by mobilizing blended finance that combines guarantees, concessional capital and private investment. These mechanisms can support incremental home improvements, affordable rental supply and climate-resilient retrofits. Companies can also prioritize locally sourced, low-carbon materials and passive design solutions such as cool roofs, insulation and cross-ventilation suited to tropical cities.
Civil society and academia: From isolated initiatives to knowledge-powered coalitions
Civil society and academic institutions play an essential role in co-producing evidence and solutions with communities. This includes exploring nature-based approaches in informal settlements and ensuring policies reflect lived realities on the ground. They also help hold institutions accountable to SDG 11 and climate justice by tracking progress on Target 11.1 and ensuring policies and investments prioritize the most vulnerable.
Housing will shape the region’s urban resilience
The future of urban resilience in Asia and the Pacific will largely be determined in its informal neighbourhoods. If current trends continue, millions more families will be pushed into precarious and hazard-exposed housing. Aligning housing policy with climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and inclusive urban governance therefore offers one of the most powerful pathways to accelerate SDG 11 and strengthen resilience across the region.
Sanjeevani Singh is Economic Affairs Officer, ESCAP; Enid Madarcos is Associate Director for Urban, Land and Policy, Habitat for Humanity International (Asia-Pacific)
IPS UN Bureau
ABUJA, Nigeria, Mar 16 2026 (IPS) - The Aba Women’s Riots of 1929 remain one of the most powerful demonstrations of Nigerian women’s collective resistance. Thousands of market women, farmers, traders, and mothers mobilized across districts in the then Eastern Nigeria to challenge colonial taxation and the extension of warrant chiefs’ authority over their lives. They organized without formal structures and without institutional support.
And yet, they achieved national disruption and forced policy change. When we contrast that era with the landscape of women’s movements today, the differences reveal both how far we have come and what we may have forgotten.
The Aba Women’s Riots were not only a gendered uprising but also a class struggle rooted in the economic exploitation and social restructuring imposed by colonial capitalism. A socialist point of view helps to reveal how colonial rule reshaped relations of production and imposed new class hierarchies that women directly resisted.
Deborah Eli Yusuf Tinam
The mikiri (also known as women’s meetings or associations) were regular assemblies of married women within a community. These networks coordinated economic activity—such as market regulation, collective labour, and mutual aid—and served as forums for political discussion and mobilisation.
British indirect rule dismantled these structures and replaced them with male warrant chiefs, male tax officials, male-controlled courts, and the exclusion of women from any form of decision-making. This represented a patriarchal restructuring of society, in which the colonial state elevated men—especially those who collaborated as local agents of imperial power.
Colonialism did not simply exploit labour; it re-organized gender relations in ways that made women’s labour easier to extract and less politically defended. Thus, the British colonial rule, contrary to the false claim that it helped “democratise” countries or “liberate” women, imposed a system that elevated patriarchy to new heights, so as to serve its interests.
The Abia Women’s Riot of 1929, also known as the Aba Women’s War, was a major protest by women against British colonial rule in southeastern Nigeria. It took place mainly in Aba and the surrounding areas in present-day Abia State.
The protest began in Oloko near Aba after a woman named Nwanyeruwa was questioned by a colonial agent. She informed other women, and soon thousands of women came together to protest. They marched, sang protest songs, and surrounded native courts and the homes of warrant chiefs. They aimed to stop taxation and remove corrupt leaders.
During the two-month “war” at least 25,000 Igbo women were involved in protests against British officials. Thousands of Igbo women congregated at the Native Administration centers in Calabar and Owerri as well as smaller towns to protest both the warrant chiefs and the taxes on the market women.
Using the traditional practice of censoring men through all-night song and dance ridicule (often called “sitting on a man”), the women chanted and danced, and in some locations forced warrant chiefs to resign their positions.
The women also attacked European-owned stores and Barclays Bank and broke into prisons and released prisoners. They also attacked Native Courts run by colonial officials, burning many of them to the ground. Colonial Police and troops were called in. They fired into the crowds that had gathered at Calabar and Owerri, killing more than 50 women and wounding over 50 others. During the two-month “war” at least 25,000 Igbo women were involved in protests against British officials.
Amid the chaos stood Adiaha Adam Udo Udoma, who seized the British officer’s rifle, and in a moment, etched into legend, broke it across a fearless act became a lasting symbol of defiance by the end of the uprising at least 50 women, including Udo Odoma were killed and many more were wounded still the movement endured but the British colonial authority responded with force, and many women were killed and injured.
Despite this, the protest was successful. The colonial government stopped plans to tax women and removed some warrant chiefs. The Abia Women’s Riot remains an important event in Nigerian history. It shows the courage, unity, and strength of women in the fight against injustice and colonial oppression.
One of the first challenges the Aba women faced—one that is no longer as present today—was the complete absence of political recognition. Women at the time were excluded from formal governance; they were not seen as political actors and did not vote (men acquired voting rights earlier than women, although also under restrictions). Their mobilisation first had to assert their political personhood before demanding anything else.
Today, Nigerian women still face underrepresentation, but they are at least acknowledged participants in political discourse. Policies, ministries, gender desks, and advocacy platforms exist, even if imperfectly, and women can push for reforms through both formal and grassroots channels.
Another challenge that women in 1929 had to navigate was communication across vast distances without literacy or technology. They relied on networks, songs, messengers, and market alliances to coordinate action. Today’s organisers benefit from social media, digital advocacy, and rapid mobilisation tools that reduce logistical barriers and amplify voices far beyond local communities.
There are enduring lessons in the way the Aba women mobilised. Their movement was deeply community-rooted; they were not elites speaking on behalf of the masses—they were the masses. Their power came from collective legitimacy, a shared grievance, and a clear strategy that everyone understood.
They also practiced what was essentially feminist organising: solidarity across clans, a refusal to centre individual leaders, and a commitment to nonviolence—until they faced violent repression by colonial forces. Modern movements sometimes struggle with fragmentation, internal rivalry, and the pressure to elevate individual faces rather than collective goals.
In many ways, today’s women’s movements also struggle under the weight of constant “activist trainings”, frameworks, and Western-influenced bourgeois toolkits that can dilute the very agency they are meant to strengthen.
Activism has gradually become “professionalized,” and while capacity-building has its place, it can unintentionally create dependence on external validation before women feel confident enough to act. The Aba women did not wait for workshops on movement-building, advocacy strategy, or leadership; they mobilised because the urgency of their lived experience demanded it. Their power was organic, instinctive, and rooted in shared realities.
When modern movements become overly shaped by imported bourgeois methodologies, they risk losing that raw, community-driven energy that once made women’s uprisings so transformative.
Unlike in 1929, contemporary advocacy now leans heavily on digital spaces, which can distance organisers from rural women whose realities mirror those of the 1929 protesters more than those of urban inhabitants. For example, NGO debates on gender equality frequently centre urban issues—career mobility, political appointments, digital violence—while rural women still grapple with land rights, market taxation, displacement, and insecure livelihoods.
Earlier movements would likely have pushed for deeper integration of rural women’s priorities, since their strength came from women who understood each other’s economic struggles firsthand. Another gap is sustainability. Many modern protests surge in moments of crisis but lose momentum afterwards.
The Aba women maintained long-term pressure because their grievances were tied to everyday survival; they did not have the luxury of moving on. Their consistency and clarity offer a model for building movements that do not fade once headlines end.
Ultimately, if modern women’s movements in Nigeria are to reclaim their power, they must return to the grassroots, where realities are raw, urgent, and unfiltered. Rural women, who often carry the heaviest burdens, should not be an afterthought; they should be the starting point.
And while international support has played a role in pushing gender issues forward, movements should not be dependent on it. The Women’s War of 1929 illustrates how colonial capitalism relied on patriarchy to function, and how women’s oppression was foundational to the colonial economy.
Too many actions today feel cosmetic—grand displays without the heat of real rage or the conviction to disrupt the system in a meaningful way. To move beyond this, organising must be bold, provocative, and grounded in lived experience. Only then can women’s movements break free from inherited templates and reclaim the fearless, self-determined spirit that once defined women’s resistance in this country.
This is the way to place themselves at the forefront of the struggle to dismantle capitalism and patriarchy and establish an egalitarian socialist society.
Deborah Eli Yusuf Tinam, is a development worker, political commentator, and political economy and history enthusiast working at the intersection of peacebuilding, gender equality, youth development and governance. She holds a Master’s degree in International Affairs and Strategic Studies from the Nigerian Defence Academy and has a background in Journalism from Ahmadu Bello University. She is the Vice President of the Young Urban Women Movement Nigeria, a member of RevolutionNow and previously served as the North Central Coordinator of the Take it Back Movement Nigeria.
IPS UN Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2026 (IPS) - During a solidarity visit to Lebanon, the UN chief announced a flash appeal of USD 308.3 million to support humanitarian operations there in the wake of escalated fighting.
The humanitarian appeal is intended to reach the more than 816,000 people within Lebanon that have been displaced due to the most recent fighting in the Middle East region. Nearly two weeks since the United States, Israel and Iran engaged in a military offensive, this has brought about a new wave of displacement and civilian casualties impacting the entire region.
The appeal comes at a time of increased fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports that at least 634 people have been killed and more than 1500 have been injured since the start of the fighting on March 2. The number of displaced people is expected to rise as Israeli evacuation orders force people, including up to 300,000 children, to flee to safety. The fighting reached further escalation on Thursday, Israeli forces launched missiles parts of the southern suburbs and the Bashoura neighborhood in Beirut.
On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres began a solidarity visit to Lebanon, coming straight from Ankara, Türkiye. He met with Lebanese leadership, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and President Joseph Aoun, to discuss the current situation. He has called for all parties to end the hostilities and for negotiations that would respect Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Guterres commended the work of UN agencies and humanitarian partners in delivering essential needs and to local communities supporting those impacted.
“These efforts are saving lives. But they need a big boost of support,” Guterres said on Friday. “The Flash Appeal we launch today will sustain and expand life‑saving assistance over the next three months – including food, clean water, health care, education, protection, and other vital services. Its success depends on swift, flexible funding – and on ensuring that humanitarian workers can safely reach those most in need.”
According to UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, since March 12 the UN and its humanitarian partners have distributed 632,000 hot meals and 18,000 ready-to-eat meals, and have provided more than 2000 liters of bottled water and over 1700 cubic meters of clean water.
Additional funding from the UN system has also been mobilized to support Lebanon. Earlier this week, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher announced that USD 15 million would be mobilized from the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF), along with a reserve allocation from the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund.
Fletcher warned the UN Security Council that humanitarian workers’ ability to reach people was “tightening by the day”, as they must navigate within active conflict zones and key transport routes are blocked due to debris, making it more difficult to reach affected communities.
IPS UN Bureau Report
AL-AZRAQ, SYRIA, Mar 13 2026 (IPS) - In the Al-Azraq camp in northern Syria, 10-year-old Abeer Al-Qaddour sits, browsing a colourful book with intense focus and curiosity. Nearby stands a bus, elegantly inscribed with the words ‘The Cultural Bus’.
Around the vehicle, dozens of children have gathered with visible joy, engaging in collective drawing activities for the very first time. Not far from the children, elderly residents sit quietly, exploring books on agriculture, politics, and literature – many of whom are holding such resources in their hands for the first time in years.
With a radiant smile, Abeer shares her experience.
“I love reading stories and scientific books. We do not have a public library in this area, and I do not have the money to buy books. That is why I was so happy when the mobile library visited this forgotten camp, where I have been living with my family for over five years.”
The young girl adds, “We used to feel that the tent was a symbol of our isolation. However, after the Cultural Bus visited our camp, we felt as though we were finally a part of the homeland again and that culture is reaching us, just as it reaches any city or neighbourhood.”
Across the streets of Syrian cities and their surrounding villages, the brightly coloured bus draws attention wherever it passes. It is neither a school bus nor an ordinary means of transportation – it is the now beloved Cultural Bus. This initiative, launched by the Syrian Ministry of Culture, carries a diverse collection of books, novels, and short stories catering to both children and adults. It travels through rural regions and displacement camps that suffer from a severe shortage of library services due to limited resources and their distance from the city centres where such facilities are typically located.
Displaced children choose their favourite stories inside the cultural bus in the Al-Azraq camp in northern Syria. Credit: Sonia Al Ali/IPS
Promoting a Culture of Reading in Forgotten Areas
The Cultural Bus embarked on its maiden voyage early this year, acting as a mobile library. At every stop it makes, it transforms the location into a small festival, spreading joy in the hearts of the children. Beyond the immediate excitement, the initiative seeks to make reading a sustainable habit rather than a fleeting encounter, aiming to breathe life back into the cultural landscape of these communities.
Mohammad Murad, the Project Manager of the Cultural Bus, reflects on the initiative’s core mission.
“Throughout 14 years of war in Syria, schools were destroyed, and an entire generation of children was stripped of their right to education. This is why the Cultural Bus is so committed to reconnecting Syrian children with books, fostering a passion for reading, and introducing them to Syria’s rich cultural heritage. It is a vital opportunity for them to explore their country’s historical sites and traditional crafts – such as glassblowing and soap making – all under our guiding mission: ‘Culture… Awareness… Reconstruction.'”
Murad emphasises that the Ministry of Culture launched this mobile initiative in response to a society that is deeply yearning for high-quality cultural engagement. As the first project of its kind in Syria, it features two fully equipped buses: one tailored for children and the other for adults. To date, its journey has spanned 39 regions, covering rural Damascus, Deir ez-Zor, Lattakia, Tartus, and Baniyas, and reaching as far as Quneitra, Aleppo, and Idlib, offering a comprehensive suite of cultural activities.
Each bus houses a mobile library with thousands of books, novels, and stories curated for all ages. Onboard is a dedicated team of volunteer writers and poets who breathe life into the local cultural scene through diverse activities that blend entertainment with education.
Murad explains, “We host interactive sessions for children, including collaborative reading, writing and drawing workshops, traditional ‘Hakawati’ storytelling, and various cultural competitions. These are organised in coordination with local NGOs, schools, and volunteer teams to ensure our schedule reaches the maximum number of villages and towns possible.”
He further notes that this initiative is not a fleeting event but a pillar of a sustainable cultural policy. It seeks to establish culture as a universal right and restore the status of knowledge as the foundation for rebuilding both the individual and Syrian society.
Achieving Cultural Justice
The Cultural Bus strives to reach every corner of Syria, promoting culture as a public right, not a privilege.
Salwa Al-Asaad (33), a project supervisor, shares the driving force behind their work.
“Our goal is to deliver culture to every Syrian, wherever they are across all provinces. We go to the children instead of waiting for them to find distant libraries or cultural centres. We have received invitations from remote villages that haven’t witnessed a single cultural activity in years.”
Salwa highlights that the project’s strength lies in its community-centric approach. Destinations are chosen based on the specific needs of the local population. In war-torn areas, the team organises art therapy activities to help children express their emotions. In cities with limited cultural outlets, the bus hosts poetry evenings and musical performances to revitalise the local atmosphere.
Despite the logistical hurdles of navigating difficult terrain and the ongoing challenges of funding, Salwa Al-Asaad remains undeterred. The overwhelming public response provides her and her colleagues with the fuel to keep moving forward. Expansion plans are already in motion, aiming to launch additional buses to cover even more territories.
“These initiatives do more than just promote literacy; they sow seeds of hope and ignite creativity among children and adolescents,” Al-Asaad explains. “Our goal is also to breathe life back into damaged cultural centres through tailored programmes that respect the unique social and educational fabric of each community.”
The importance of the Cultural Bus becomes even more striking when viewed against the backdrop of Syria’s educational crisis. UNICEF estimates prior to the political transition indicate that over 7,000 schools sustained damage or destruction. Many others were repurposed as shelters, leading to severe overcrowding in the remaining facilities.
The statistics paint a sobering picture: more than 2.4 million children are currently out of school, and another million are at high risk of dropping out. In this context, cultural and educational initiatives like the mobile library are not just supplementary – they are a critical lifeline for a generation at risk of being lost.
The Cultural Bus continues its journey, redrawing the cultural map of Syria.
It is a map in constant motion, carrying a ray of hope every time its doors swing open. This bus does not merely transport passengers from one point to another; it transports knowledge itself – from silent libraries to bustling town squares and from city centres to the most secluded villages.
In doing so, it painstakingly mends the broken bond between the Syrian people and the world of books.
IPS UN Bureau Report
MOSCOW, Mar 13 2026 (IPS) - Professor Jude Osakwe—a Nigerian scholar at the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) and Continental Chairman of the Nigerians in Diaspora Organisation Africa (NIDOAF)—has reiterated the absolute truth over Reparations for Africa, noting that African governments have consistently expressed only ’emotional solidarity’ over Reparations instead of tackling and addressing, with seriousness, this pertinent issue within the context of diplomacy.
He strongly believes that despite sharp political and cultural diversity influencing developments, African leaders can still adopt a collective strategy in pursuit of advantageous aspirations for sustaining continental sovereignty. The concept of Pan-Africanism is noticeably fragmented while grassroot movements lack strategic coordination.
Here are excerpts from the interview:
How well do African people represent the continent on Reparations and Pan-Africanism?
Professor Jude Osakwe: Honestly, inadequately, but not without effort. Representation is fragmented. The loudest voices on reparations often come from the Caribbean and African-American communities, while continental Africans, remain largely sidelined in that global conversation.
Pan-Africanism as an ideology is more spoken about than practiced. There is emotional solidarity, but very little structural unity. The honest reality is that African governments have not made reparations a serious diplomatic priority, and grassroots movements lack the coordination to pressure them to do so.
Does the diaspora media landscape affect how these topics are viewed in a Western light?
Professor Osakwe: Absolutely.
Western media frames Pan-Africanism as either nostalgic romanticism or a political threat, and frames reparations as a Black American issue, effectively erasing the continental African dimension entirely. As an African in the diaspora, you are constantly navigating between your own lived framework and a media environment that either misrepresents or ignores your perspective.
This creates a psychological burden, you must actively resist the dominant narrative just to maintain an accurate self-understanding. African diaspora media exists, but it remains underfunded and underreached compared to mainstream outlets, which means the Western framing dominates public discourse by default.
What are the measures for upholding African identity in the diaspora, and diaspora contributions amid geopolitical shifts?
Professor Osakwe: Key measures:
• Intentional cultural transmission, language, history, and values must be actively taught, not assumed• Building diaspora institutions that are African-led, not just African-themed
• Political engagement both in host countries and in countries of origin
• Economic networking through platforms like NIDO that connect diaspora professionals to continental development
On geopolitical contributions: The current moment, with Africa renegotiating relationships with Western powers, China, Russia, and Gulf states, is actually an opportunity for the diaspora. Diaspora Africans sitting inside Western governments, universities, and financial institutions carry real leverage.
The question is whether that leverage gets used collectively or dissipates individually. Remittances already outpace foreign aid to many African countries. What’s needed now is moving beyond remittances to strategic investment, policy advocacy, and knowledge transfer, turning the diaspora from a financial lifeline into a genuine development partner.
Kester Kenn Klomegah focuses on current geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development-related questions in Africa with external countries. Most of his well-resourced articles are reprinted in several reputable foreign media.
IPS UN Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 2026 (IPS) - Across the world, women remain vastly under-represented in political leadership, with the most powerful decisions still overwhelmingly made by men. In 2026, only 28 countries are led by a woman Head of State or Government, while 101 countries have never had a woman leader, according to the latest data released by Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UN Women.
When women are shut out of political leadership, decisions that shape peace, security, and economic priorities are made without half of the world’s experience at the table. The new global data reveals stagnation, and in some cases regression, in women’s political leadership, particularly in executive government.
Key findings from the data released by IPU and UN Women include:
o Women hold just 22.4 per cent of cabinet minister positions globally, down from 23.3 per cent in 2024, marking a reversal after years of gradual progress.o Fourteen countries have achieved gender parity in cabinets, demonstrating that equal representation is possible, yet eight countries still have no women ministers at all.
o Women hold 27.5 per cent of parliamentary seats worldwide, up slightly from 27.2 per cent in 2025. The increase of just 0.3 percentage points marks the second consecutive year of the slowest growth recorded since 2017, highlighting how slowly women are advancing in political decision-making power.
o Women are also losing ground in parliamentary leadership. As of January 2026, 54 women serve as Speakers of Parliament globally, representing 19.9 per cent of all Speakers. This represents a nearly four-percentage-point decline from the previous year and the first drop in women Speakers in 21 years.
o Women in politics face rising hostility and intimidation from the public, both online and offline. Seventy-six per cent of women parliamentarians surveyed report experiencing intimidation by the public, compared with 68 per cent of men – a trend that deters women from seeking office and slows progress toward equal political power.
o Even when women reach leadership positions, they are often concentrated in a narrow range of portfolios traditionally linked to social sectors.
o Women lead 90 per cent of gender-equality ministries and 73 per cent of ministries responsible for family and children’s affairs, reinforcing long-standing gender stereotypes in political leadership. Men continue to lead almost exclusively ministries like defense, home affairs, justice, economic affairs, governance, health, and education.
“At a time of growing global instability, escalating conflicts and a visible backlash against women’s rights, shutting women out of political leadership weakens societies’ ability to respond to the challenges they face,” said UN Women Executive Director Sima Bahous.
“Women bring perspectives and experience that are essential for making better decisions, preventing conflict and building lasting peace. When women are fully involved in political leadership, countries are more stable, policies work better for people, and societies are better prepared to face the crises shaping our world today.”
“Parity is a moral imperative, because women have an equal right to shape the decisions that govern their lives. But it is also the smart thing to do. Institutions make better decisions when they reflect the societies they serve. They are better able to identify bias, design fairer responses, and earn public trust when women from all backgrounds are present, and influential, at every level,” said IPU President Tulia Ackson.
“The IPU has constantly proven that well-designed quotas and strong political will are essential to speed up change and ensure that women’s voices are heard in democratic decision-making. At the same time, men and women must work together as equal partners to transform political culture, challenge stereotypes, and build inclusive parliaments that reflect the people they represent,” said IPU Secretary General Martin Chungong.
Despite the slow pace of change, women around the world continue to push boundaries and assert their place in political life. Removing structural barriers, including discriminatory laws, violence against women in politics, and unequal access to resources, as well as challenging negative social norms, will be critical to ensuring women’s equal political leadership in the years ahead.
This year’s 70th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women – (which is scheduled to conclude March 19) the United Nations’ highest-level intergovernmental body that sets global standards for women’s rights and gender equality – is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reverse the rollback of women’s rights.
The future of democracy will be stronger, fairer, and more resilient when women are equally represented in decision-making at all levels.
IPS UN Bureau