The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child defines child as “a human being below the age of 18 years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier”. Children at birth take on the social and economic status of their parents and are generally subject to abuse if special…
A Deputy Minister for Information, Ama Dokuaa Asiamah Agyei, has noted that the delay in passing the Right to Information Bill, is largely because other equally important Bills are also fighting for attention. She thus explained that, the delay does not mean the Bill is not a priority, and that other bills from different sectors…
At this year’s Paris edition of Nuit des idees (the Night of Ideas), Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie made two remarks that caused a stir. The more widely publicised one was her gentle rebuke of interviewer Caroline Broue’s question as to whether there are bookstores in Nigeria. Adichie replied, “I think it reflects very poorly…
The People’s Tribunal on Economic Crime in South Africa will open its first hearings this Saturday, 3 February, at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. People’s Tribunals have been led by citizens and civil society for over four decades to address human rights abuses and war crimes in many contexts, including Palestine and Indonesia. Importantly, the South…
Mark Ritchie, former Minnesota Secretary of State and former president of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, sent Felix an email about a very interesting interview with Kevin Watkins, the CEO of Save the Children Fund (UK). The interview and commentary was by Russell Hargrave in devex: “Save the Children CEO on a…
When Jaha Dukureh was a week old, she survived female genital mutilation (FGM) in The Gambia. When she was 15 years old, she was forced into marriage and sent to New York to be with her husband. On her wedding night, she was cut again to allow for the consummation of the marriage. The second…