The 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC47) takes place in Geneva from June 21 - July 15. HRC47 will consider issues including systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protesters, sexual orientation and gender identity, violence and discrimination against women and girls, poverty, peaceful assembly and association, and freedom of expression. In June 2020, the Council convened...

• human rights
• asma
• FRN
• Refugee

By Asma Darwish, Head of Advocacy at Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), AAWE member and Head of Communications at FAWCO Refugee Network

Bahrain Polytechnic  

I was in the first batch of students enrolled in Bahrain Polytechnic in 2008. I was so happy to be accepted because the polytechnic was a new concept in Bahrain, and it succeeded in...

• oceans
• climate change
• Responsible consumption
• SDG14

by Meenakshi Advani Rai, ACIW Mumbai

The Ocean Food Chain

Currents are powerful physical forces in the seas responsible for the functioning and sustenance of the ocean food chain. 

Currents redistribute water, heat, nutrients, and oxygen throughout the ocean and directly impact marine ecosystems by inevitably carrying off living organisms that support marine life. With the right nutrients and flow at...

• human rights
• asma
• FRN
• Refugee

By Asma Darwish, Head of Advocacy at Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR), AAWE member and Head of Communications at FAWCO Refugee Network

I was in middle school when my entire family finally came together for the first time: Mom, Dad and all of my sisters and brothers. The story is quite interesting; do you have time? 

Assuming you do,

 by Mary Dobrian, AIWC Cologne

Have you ever witnessed someone being harassed? Most of us have. Maybe it was someone making a “joke” about another person’s race, ethnicity or gender identity, or a classmate being bullied on the playground – or maybe it was something more severe.

Often when we notice harassment we have an impulse to step in...

by Mary Adams, AWC The Hague & Therese Hartwell, FAUSA

The Facts

In June 2018, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a research report with the findings that “women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) endure the highest rate of sexual harassment of any profession outside of the military.” 

In November 2018, seven STEM female...

• Responsible consumption
• sustainable living
• recycling
• SDG9

by Jocelyn Fitzgerald, AILO of Florence

There is more clothing being sold than ever before, which, in turn, results in an ever-growing mountain of discarded clothing. After the oil and gas industries, the textile industry is widely believed to be the most polluting industry on the planet, responsible for 10% of total CO₂ emissions. While buying fewer clothes is the...

by Elizabeth López-Rigaudeau, AWC Zürich

Dear Lisa & Jean-Paul,

Hello. How are you? I hope everything is OK by your side…We are safe from the pandemic at first and now because of the war I hope everything will be restored so we can go back to school. I want to appreciate and I am great full for the never ending...

by Mary Adams, AWC The Hague

Most of us feel like we have been in prison during the pandemic. Teenagers, especially, feel isolated and alone because they are out of school, bored and restless. Has it ever crossed your mind to wonder about the impact of the pandemic on youth in prison? Would you agree that the power of...

• book review
• SDG4

by Carol-Lyn McKelvey, FAUSA, AIWC Cologne

This autobiography/song book by Dolly Parton spans a career of over six decades. Covering her life (from childhood to love to her dad to religion to pets and more) through 175 of her songs, the text reads as if you are having a direct conversation with the legend herself. You don't have to...