by Sarah Irving
-Australia-

For a piece of cloth, the burqa arouses an extraordinary amount of emotion. In France women wearing it have been criminalised, and politicians throughout the Western world seem keen to capitalise on it as an emblem of ‘otherness’. This sheet of dark fabric unites some right-wing patriarchal men and some left-wing feminist women in opposition, whether because it is interpreted as a symbol of women’s oppression or as a tool of terrorists. But, for those who choose to wear the burqa or the niqab, it can confer "a sense of value, control, and security."

by Sarah Irving
-Australia-

“It wasn’t our dream to come and eat at the white man’s table, to work for the white man as a slave,” says Reverend Dr Djiniyini Gondarra, a Yolngu elder. Dr Gondarra is one of the indigenous voices heard in Our Generation, an important new film documenting the impact of the ‘Northern Territory Emergency Response.’ Since 2007 this government initiative has decimated the human rights of the Yolngu and other indigenous Australian peoples, collectively known to most of the world as Aboriginal peoples.

by Sarah Irving
- Australia -

The past few weeks have brought confusion and uncertainty for many of the estimated 40-50,000 West Bank Palestinians who work in illegal Israeli settlements. Are they breaking the law by not giving up their jobs? And if they are, will they actually be punished for it?

In spring 2010, Palestinian Authority (PA) economic minister Hassan Abu Libdeh announced penalties of up to five years in jail or a $14,000 fine for anyone found working in settlements after the start of 2011. The ban was one of a range of economic boycott measures announced by the PA.

by Sarah Irving
-Australia-

Across the West Bank the sound of construction work seems incessant. The grind of diggers and the steady thud of pile drivers reverberate around cities like Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Nablus. The construction boom has been hailed by mainstream commentators like Bloomberg and Reuters, by the Palestinian Authority, and by the Israeli government as the sign of a resurgent West Bank economy.

by Sarah Irving
-UK-

The monsoon floods in Pakistan have killed thousands and affected an estimated twenty million people across several provinces. According to development organizations working in the country, the humanitarian crisis is yet another blow for Pakistan's rural women. With increasing effects of climate change, the longer-term situation can only get worse.

According to the Pakistani government, a fifth of the country has been affected by the flooding due to monsoon rains. The initial death toll of around 1,600 was comparatively low for an international disaster. But on August 3, a week after the monsoon flooding began in earnest, the World Health Organization called the situation “the worst floods on record.” On August 19, the WHO reported that 200 clinics and hospitals had been destroyed and warned that forty years' worth of health developments in Pakistan had been lost. By August 20, twenty million people had felt the impacts of the floods, and millions had lost homes, crops, livestock, and other property.