Opinion by Ines M Pousadela, Andrew Firmin (london / montevideo, uruguay) Tuesday, December 24, 2024 Inter Press Service LONDON / MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Dec 24 (IPS) – It’s been a tumultuous year, and a tough one for struggles for human rights. Civil society’s work to seek social justice and hold the powerful …
GIL 
Environmental Defenders Still under Siege — Global Issues
Crerdit: Orlando Sierra/AFP via Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, October 18, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Oct 18 (IPS) – Juan López was gunned down on 14 September. An environmental activist, community leader and member of the Municipal Committee in Defence of the Commons and …
A New Repressive Tool in Disguise? — Global Issues
Credit: CIVICUS Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, October 04, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Oct 04 (IPS) – The UN Office on Drugs and Crime hailed the recently agreed Cybercrime Convention as a ‘landmark step’ in cooperating to tackle online dangers. But human rights organisations aren’t so …
Venezuela Struggles to Hold on to Hope — Global Issues
Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Monday, August 19, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Aug 19 (IPS) – There was an unusual sense of hope going into Venezuela’s 28 July presidential election. Democracy seemed on the horizon. María Corina Machado, the opposition’s rallying figure, had inspired a rare level …
Civil Society Scores LGBTQI+ Rights Victory in Dominica — Global Issues
Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Monday, May 06, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 06 (IPS) – On 22 April, Dominica’s High Court struck down two sections of the country’s Sexual Offences Act that criminalised consensual same-sex relations, finding them unconstitutional. This made Dominica the sixth country in …
Senegals Democracy Passes Crucial Test — Global Issues
Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, April 05, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Apr 05 (IPS) – The fact that Senegal’s election took place on 24 March was in itself a triumph for civil society. That an opposition candidate, campaigning on an anti-establishment and anti-corruption agenda, emerged from …
Guatemala’s Chance for a New Beginning — Global Issues
Credit: Emmanuel Andres/AFP via Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Thursday, January 18, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan 18 (IPS) – Guatemala’s new president, Bernardo Arévalo, was expected to be sworn in on 14 January at 2pm –the 14th at 14:00, as people repeated in anticipation …
Iran, Back to the Grim Normal — Global Issues
Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Tuesday, January 16, 2024 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jan 16 (IPS) – Iran’s time of public rebellion has ended. The protesters marching, chanting and dancing under the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ banner have long stopped. And shifting regional dynamics may play to the regime’s …
Reconciliation Back to Square One? — Global Issues
Credit: Jenny Evans/Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Monday, November 20, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Nov 20 (IPS) – Australia had the chance to take a step forward in redressing the exclusion of its Indigenous people – and chose not to. In a referendum held in …
Unpalatable Choices in Election Plagued with Uncertainty — Global Issues
Credit: Tomás Cuesta/Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, November 03, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Nov 03 (IPS) – For many of Argentina’s voters the choice in the 19 November presidential runoff is between the lesser of two evils: Sergio Massa, economy minister of a government …
Mauritius Begins to Correct a Historic Wrong Towards LGBTQI+ People — Global Issues
Credit: Collectif Arc-en-Ciel/Facebook Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, October 27, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Oct 27 (IPS) – In response to lawsuits brought by LGBTQI+ activists, the Mauritius Supreme Court has issued two landmark judgments striking down the criminalisation of consensual sex between adult men as …
Resistance Against the Odds — Global Issues
Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Tuesday, September 26, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Sep 26 (IPS) – Maryam al-Khawaja’s journey home ended before it had begun: British Airways staff stopped her boarding her flight at the request of Bahraini immigration authorities. Maryam was no regular passenger: her father …
The End of a Dictatorship and the Beginning of Another? — Global Issues
Credit: AFP via Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Wednesday, September 13, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Sep 13 (IPS) – On 26 August, Gabon went through the motions of an election. Official results were announced four days later, in the middle of the night, with the …
Guatemala Clings to Democratic Promise — Global Issues
Credit: Silvia Rodríguez/AFP via Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Wednesday, July 05, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Jul 05 (IPS) – When Guatemalans went to the polls on 25 June, distrust and disillusionment were rife. First place in the presidential contest was claimed by none of …
New Constitution in the Hands of the Far Right — Global Issues
Credit: Martín Bernetti/AFP via Getty Images Opinion by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Friday, May 19, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, May 19 (IPS) – On 7 May, Chileans went to the polls to choose a Constitutional Council that will produce a new constitution to replace the one bequeathed by …
Peru’s Democracy at a Crossroads — Global Issues
by Ines M Pousadela (montevideo, uruguay) Thursday, February 02, 2023 Inter Press Service MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Feb 02 (IPS) – On 25 January, roughly six weeks after being sworn in following her predecessor’s removal, Peruvian president Dina Boluarte finally recognised that elections were the only way out of political crisis. Elections were …
