Author: Priya Saha

To continue reading please register or login to your OHW+ account.Women are bearing the brunt of caring responsibilities, with almost six out of 10 avoiding applying for promotion because it was too hard to balance work and care. Research from Business in the Community carried out by Ipsos revealed that one in five women (19%) have left a job because of difficulties balancing work with caring responsibilities. Women account for 85% of sole carers for children, and 65% of sole carers for older adults. Its Who Cares? report found that workers from black, Asian, mixed race or other ethnically diverse…

IT IS impossible not to be moved by the outrageousness of warfare, the ugliness of aerial bombardment, the gruesome fears of civilians who are trapped between choices that are not their own. If you assume I am talking about Ukraine, then you are right, but of course, this is not just about Ukraine. In the same week that Russian forces entered Ukraine, the United States launched airstrikes in Somalia, Saudi Arabia bombed Yemen, and Israel struck Syria and Palestinians in Gaza. War is an open sore on humanity’s soul. It draws precious social wealth into destruction: ‘The impact of war…

Special: 2022 Two Sessions Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, takes part in a deliberation with his fellow deputies from the delegation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at the fifth session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) in Beijing, capital of China, March 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Li Tao) Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday stressed ethnic unity and efforts to forge a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation when he joined a deliberation during the annual session of the National People’s Congress,…

Pakistani Hindu activists stage protest against forced religious conversions. — Photo Twitter @zalmayziaHistorically, Sindh has been a tolerant and peaceful, and religiously harmonious place. Sindh’s cultural ethos and acceptance of others have remained strong despite the communal and religious violence that has marked the region since the Partition. Even in turbulent times, Sindh’s pluralistic culture has prevailed in the face of bigotry, brutality and barbarism attributed to foreign invasion. In recent decades, however, religious extremism has been on the rise in Sindh. The sponsored Islamisation process under Gen Zia and the call for Afghan Jihad created an extremist environment based…

“I haven’t had the vaccine yet and I’m not sure if I will,” said Sharna Marie. The 20-year-old from Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city, has a genetic condition that makes her worried about how the jab would affect her.“I’m not sure what’s in it, how it was made so quickly,” she said, explaining that she is a carrier of sickle cell disease, a hereditary blood disorder that largely affects people of African and Caribbean descent.Even after all Covid restrictions in England were lifted last month she said she would not be rushed into a decision. “Maybe I’ll get it in…

Geneva —  U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet is urging the Sri Lankan government to reform its judicial system and put an end to impunity, which encourages human rights violations to proliferate throughout the country. A report is under examination at the U.N. Human Rights Council. Bachelet says she is pleased to see that Sri Lanka has taken certain steps to amend some provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. She says that has resulted in the release of some people who have been detained under the act but says proposed reforms do not go far enough. She…

Even before that, the government had said in a notice no female student can be punished for not wearing a burqa or hijab.    Some institutions in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, however, still force students of all religions to wear burqa, topi or hijab, arguing that the religious attire is part of the uniform.Ad-din Sakina Medical College is one of them. The female students of all religions at the institution in Jashore are required to wear a hijab, a head covering worn by certain Muslim women.The girls have to submit written consent on it during admission.The issue of institutions forcing students to wear…

Animals in nature know no international boundaries and this has come as some sort of a surprise and challenge to experts and forest officials who installed GPS transmitters on Nothern River Terrapin in Indian Sundarbans. In just six weeks after the release, at least three of the ten individuals of the critically endangered Northern River Terrapin ( Batagur baska) have travelled hundreds of kilometers and are now in Bangladesh.Shailendra Singh, director of Turtle Survival Alliance India, who played an important role in the conservation and release of the turtles, said that the animals have traversed hundreds of kilometers and in the case of…

A Catholic priest in Bangladesh is among three faith leaders honored with a special award for their significant efforts in child welfare and protection in the country. Holy Cross Father Liton Hubert Gomes, secretary of the Catholic bishops’ Justice and Peace Commission (ECJP) since 2017, was awarded by World Vision Bangladesh (WVB), the country chapter of the child-focused global Christian charity.Also honored were Muslims Syed Mohammad Osman Gani and Golam Mostafa, who raised awareness in communities about child protection and used their influence to stop child marriages, a major social problem in the Muslim-majority South Asian nation. The awards were presented…

‘The culture of the NHS fundamentally remains systemically racist’ (Picture: Getty/Metro.co.uk)New research which includes powerful testimonies from nurses has revealed ‘shocking and systemic’ levels of racism in the profession. The study, led by Sheffield Hallam University, involved more than 350 Black and ethnic minority nurses, midwives and healthcare staff across the UK sharing their experiences of racism through the pandemic and during their working lives. Researchers found that 77% of healthcare staff who challenged racism said they had not been treated fairly. While 59% said they had experienced racism during their working lives that was so bad it made it…

On February 12, a young man was taking part in a seemingly routine protest by the Aliansi Rakyat Petani (Alliance of People’s Farmers) about five kilometers from his home in Tada village in Central Sulawesi. Farmers and other local residents had been organizing almost daily protests since January 2021, demanding the revocation of the license for PT Trio Kencana, a mining company. But things turned nasty that night. Protesters, angry that the governor had not kept his commitment to speak to them, blocked the provincial road with trucks. The police responded by deploying 15 trucks of their own and water…

A video is being shared on social media claiming it as recent visuals of pro-Hindu activists throwing a Muslim woman out of a bus for wearing a Hijab. This video shows a burqa-clad woman being thrown out from a running bus. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.Claim: Video of pro-Hindu activists pushing a Muslim woman out of a bus for wearing a Hijab.Fact: This video shows an old incident that took place in the Rohitpur area in Keraniganj, Bangladesh. In March 2021, on the Dhaka-Nawabganj Road, a speech-impaired woman was thrown out from a bus for not paying…