South Asia Citizens Web

In 2017 India slipped 21 places to 108 on the Global Gender Gap index maintained by World Economic Forum – much behind China and Bangladesh. India has been seeing a declining participation of women in the economy and low wages.

The New Trade Union Initiative expresses its deep anguish at the huge loss of life at the National Thermal Power Corporation Limited’s power plant in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and strongly condemns the criminal negligence on the part of NTPC, BHEL and the Governments of India and Uttar Pradesh.

The 285 Turkish nationals, who are teachers associated with the Pak-Turk schools and their families, have been facing deportation to Turkey since November 2016. The 285 now live in fear of raids carried out by the Pakistani police and intelligence services in Pakistan. Should they be deported to Turkey, they are at high risk of arbitrary arrest, judicial harassment, and detention upon arrival. Such detention may be accompanied by torture and other forms of ill-treatment.

Noam! There’s a whole lot of things that I want to talk to you about, but let me start with this. It appears as if the world is retribalizing. We are going back to our primal tribal loyalties – to religion, to nationalism. You see this just about everywhere. You see this with Brexit, the rise of the ultra-right in Europe, with Donald Trump in United States. And here in Pakistan you have bloodletting with Sunnis killing Shias, and everybody going after the Ahmadis and the Christians and the Hindus. And in India – that seems to be a country that has just gone mad with their protection of the cow. What’s going on? There was once a time of the European Enlightenment and I know that you admire John Stuart Mill very much. Have we given up on the advances that humans made in those times? What’s going on?

NEW YORK (25 October 2017) – The world must fight back against a growing threat to women’s rights fuelled by rising fundamentalism and extremism, a UN human rights expert has told the the Third Committee, 30th meeting - General Assembly in New York.