If you have something to say...
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If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
The Blog
Exploitation in the food industry is alive and well. That's according to the latest grim report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which studied the experiences of some of the migrant workers (almost invisibly) toiling in our fields, factories and restaurants.
As we head towards one more tacky but popular Eurovision final, will a spotlight also be shone onto the serious human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, this year's host?
We talk a lot about hidden carers, but the truth is they weren't hidden. They were right there. They probably don't call themselves carers, they're just looking after Uncle John.
At a women's shelter I saw some of the consequences of Afghanistan's ingrained patriarchy. I talked to a teenage girl married off to a 70-year-old man who then suffered sustained beatings at the hands of the man's family. I also heard from a young widow who explained how she'd escaped her father-in-law who wanted to force her into marriage after her first husband had died.
I've long thought that the editors of our international media (and the British media is a particular culprit) needs to start noticing Africa. Not just the coups and the food crises and the droughts, but also the positive stories, the African success stories that are putting, for example, Ghana amid the fast growing nations in the world.
As representatives of the World Health Organization Member States arrive in Geneva this week for the 65th World Health Assembly, I feel a cautious optimism about the future, and the future health of Africa. With two female heads of state in Africa - Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia and Joyce Banda in Malawi - women's health and gender equality are no longer marginalised, they have become central to a nation's potential for development and prosperity. National level attention to women's health and opportunity has become the standard against which our collective progress is judged.
Next Tuesday, The Journalism Foundation will host a gala event to benefit the Foundation's work supporting free and ethical journalism around the world.
I was born the month that parliament voted equal pay for women. Even now the Equality and Human Rights Act (EHRC) estimates that my daughters may earn £361,000 less than men over their working life. But there is hope for my granddaughters.
Even for the non football fans amongst us, it would have been hard to not get caught up in the drama that unfolded on our screens over the weekend as Manchester City clinched the Premiership title from their neighbours by the narrowest of margins. So dramatic were those last few moments, the sense of elation and despair of the fans and players was almost palpable. In its finest hour, football really can make you feel like you are part of something big.
HIV/Aids is no longer the death sentence it once was. But while millions of HIV positive people lead healthy and productive lives, we still have nine million people who still cannot access treatment. We also have a long way to go on preventing new infections.
On Wednesday frombabieswithlove.org went live and I can't help but reflect that starting my social enterprise has been rather like motherhood!
Each day millions of children wake up with an empty belly and a head aching with hunger. Many will eat just one unappetising meal whilst some will have nothing at all.
"I didn't know anything about sex, contraception or relationships when I left school, there was never anyone to ask who could explain properly to me in sign language. I didn't know how many sexual partners were 'normal'. When I left school and left home, I was raped by a man."
In times of global recession and austerity, everyone naturally becomes increasingly aware of how money is spent and where it comes from.
This week in Egypt, in a joint statement medics and human rights organisations condemned the actions of the Freedom and Justice Party -the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in raising a convoy providing mobile female genital mutilation services and vaginal inspections.
We keep saying that UK Plc should help its economic prospects by exporting our goods and services and investing in places with a pent-up demand for quality. One such place, which has been impossible to access for many years but is now increasingly open to us, is the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
