The Week with IPS 6/8

	‘Legal Friends’ Fight Gender Violence in Rural India Stella Paul Mamta Bai, 36, distinctly remembers the first time the police came to her village: it was December 2014 and her neighbour, Purva Bai, had just been beaten unconscious by her alcoholic husband, prompting Mamta to make a distress call to the nearest station. Once in the neighborhood, policemen ... MORE > >
	Thirsty in Nicaragua, the Country Where ‘Agua’ Is Part of Its Name José Adán Silva Nicaragua, the Central American country with the most abundant water sources, and where water – “agua” in Spanish – is even part of its name, is suffering one of its worst water crises in half a century, fuelled by climate change, deforestation and erosion. María Esther González is one of many ... MORE > >
	Zimbabwean Women Weave Their Own Beautiful Future Busani Bafana Seventy-seven-year-old Grace Ngwenya has an eye for detail. You will never catch her squinting as she effortlessly weaves ilala palm fronds into beautiful baskets. 3Her actions are swift and methodical as she twirls, straightens and tugs the long strands into a fine stitch. Periodically she ... MORE > >
	Ceuta, An Enclave For Migrating Birds Not Humans Andrea Pettrachin A few kilometres before the border between the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and Morocco, a sign informs passers-by that this outpost of Spain on African soil stands in a privileged position for those who wish to observe the annual migration of birds across the Strait of Gibraltar, their shortest route ... MORE > >
	Native Communities in Mexico Demand to be Consulted on Wind Farms Emilio Godoy “It hurts us that our land is affected, and the environmental impacts are not even measured. Wind farm projects affect streams and hurt the flora,” said Zapotec Indian Isabel Jiménez, who is taking part in the struggle against the installation of a wind park in southern Mexico. The 42-year-old ... MORE > >
	The Neglected Street Vendors of India Neeta Lal For the past nine years, 27-year-old Jignesh has been hawking bed sheets on the bustling pavements of Janpath, a major throughway in India’s capital, New Delhi, as kamikaze traffic swirls around him. Illiterate and jobless, the young street vendor migrated from the western Indian state of ... MORE > >
	Despite Setbacks, Global Sanitation Makes Progress, Says Fund Thalif Deen When the United Nations hosted a panel discussion last year urging its partners to “break their silence” on open defecation, Singapore’s deputy permanent representative Mark Neo was outspoken in his characterisation: “Open defecation is a euphemism. What we are talking about is shitting in the ... MORE > >
	Jamaican Gov't Sees IMF Successes but No Benefits for the Poor Zadie Neufville For Jamaicans like Roxan Brown, the Caribbean nation's International Monetary Fund (IMF) successes don’t mean a thing. Seven consecutive tests have been passed but still, the mother of two can’t find work and relies instead on the kindness of friends and family. The 32-year-old has been in ... MORE > >
	Growing Mobilisation Against Introduction of Fracking in Spain Inés Benítez Thousands of people in Spain have organised to protest the introduction of “fracking” – a controversial technique that involves pumping water, chemicals and sand at high pressure into shale rock to release gas and oil. “We are all different kinds of people, local inhabitants, who love our land ... MORE > >
	Garment Sweatshops in Argentina an Open Secret Fabiana Frayssinet The death of two Bolivian boys in a fire and the mistreatment and sexual abuse of a young Bolivian woman put the problem of slave-like labour conditions in clandestine sweatshops back in the headlines in Argentina. The state, the textile and fashion industries, and consumers mutually blame each ... MORE > >
	Australia’s ‘Stolen Generations’ Not a Closed Chapter Silvia Boarini Every year since 1998, Australia has marked ‘National Sorry Day’ on May 26, a day to remember the tens of thousands of indigenous children who, between the 1890s and 1970s, were forcibly removed from their communities by government authorities and placed into the care of white families or ... MORE > >
	Latin America’s Relative Success in Fighting Hunger Marianela Jarroud The Latin American and Caribbean region is the first in the world to reach the two global targets for reducing hunger. Nevertheless, more than 34 million people still go hungry. “This is the region that best understood the problem of hunger, and it’s the region that has put the greatest emphasis ... MORE > >