The Week WithIS

	Anti-Torture Law Helps Pay Off Chile’s Debt to Human Rights Orlando Milesi After 26 years of democratic governments, Chile has finally passed a law that defines torture as a criminal act, but which is still not sufficient to guarantee that the abuses will never again happen, according to human rights experts. On Nov. 11, President Michelle Bachelet enacted a law that ... MORE > >
	Fiscal Austerity Has Been Blocking Economic Recovery Jomo Kwame Sundaram Instead of concerted and sustained efforts for a strong, sustained economic recovery to overcome protracted stagnation, the near policy consensus on fiscal austerity in the G7 and the G20 OECD countries, except for the US and Japan, has dragged down economic recovery in developing ... MORE > >
	India Steps Up Citizen Activism to Protect Women Neeta Lal Last month, Delhi Police launched a unique initiative to check spiralling crimes against women in the city, also known dubiously as the "rape capital" of India. It formed a squad of plainclothes officers called "police mitras" (friends of the police) -- comprising farmers, homemakers and former ... MORE > >
	The End of a Cycle ? Roberto Savio Is the demise of Renzi really a local affair? There is no doubt that a referendum on a constitutional change can be a matter of confidence in him, having personalized the issue to a point that it became basically a vote on the young Prime Minister. But if you look at the sociology of the vote, you ... MORE > >
	Climate-Resistant Beans Could Save Millions Ida Karlsson A global food watchdog works around the clock to preserve crop biodiversity, with a seed bank deep in the Colombian countryside holding the largest collection of beans and cassava in the world and storing crops that could avert devastating problems. 3Plants are the vital elements in our ... MORE > >
	Nicaraguan Women Push for Access to Land, Not Just on Paper José Adán Silva A group of women farmers who organised to fight a centuries-old monopoly over land ownership by men are seeking plots of land to farm in order to contribute to the food security of their families and of the population at large. Matilde Rocha, vice president of the Federation of Nicaraguan Women ... MORE > >
	Soil: Keeping Nutrients in Food and Carbon in the Ground Lyndal Rowlands Healthy soil not only makes food more nutritious it also helps keep carbon out of the atmosphere by storing it underground. Yet around the world over 500 million hectares of soil has become degraded - leading to the loss of valuable nutrients as well as the release of carbon, speeding up the ... MORE > >
	Leave No One Behind: The Right to Development Rose Delaney As Human Rights Day approaches Dec. 10, it offers a moment to pause and look back at the roots of the global development process as a platform for stepping forward. On this day 30 years ago, the international community made a commitment to eliminate all obstacles to equality and ... MORE > >
	Rethinking trade policy and protectionism in the Trump era Martin Khor What kind of trade policy will the United States have under President Donald Trump? This is a hot issue, as Trump has made unorthodox pronouncements on trade issues during and after the election campaign. If he acts on even some of the positions he took, it will create a sea change in trade policy ... MORE > >
	Trump Needs Lessons in Geopolitics : Musharraf David White US President-elect Donald Trump has shown he has much to learn about South Asia, Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview with IPS. But he counted on Trump having an open mind. Pervez MusharrafMusharraf was commenting on statements made by Trump in a radio talk show ... MORE > >
	New Effort to Assist People Displaced by Conflict in the Borno Region in Nigeria IKEA Foundation As hundreds of thousands flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria to seek safety from intensifying conflict between Boko Haram and the Nigerian military, the IKEA Foundation has given Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) €1 million to provide lifesaving medical assistance. The conflict in ... MORE > >