Oppressed people in India have helped build the country into one of the largest sugar producers. But with that has come the bitter taste of labor-law violations and an endless loop of debt. Sanket Jain reports from the sugarcane fields of western Maharashtra.
As many as 89 Kenyan domestic workers have been killed in Saudi Arabia over the past two years. That's why former domestic workers warn others about traveling to the Gulf countries to work under the Kafala system. But change may be on the horizon with government officials discussing ways to mitigate migrant worker abuse and exploitation. Shadrack Omuka reports from Kenya.
Setareh Sadeghi, an Esfahan, Iran-based scholar and teacher, provides Max Blumenthal with a complex view of Iran’s protests against the country’s morality police and the death of Mahsa Amini.
India witnessed the hottest March in 122 years. With temperatures several times crossing 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) in northern India, heat waves amplified the existing divisions between the poor and well-off, reports Sanket Jain.
In March 2020, India’s health ministry tasked 1 million Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) with COVID-19 duty in rural areas. This, in a country where 65 percent of its 1.38 billion people live outside cities. Suddenly, ASHAs’ workload increased exponentially. Yet, they remain underpaid and now suffer stress-related chronic ailments, reports Sanket Jain.
Securing women’s rights was used to justify the U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan. However, the Biden administration’s irresponsible pull-out in tandem with the swift, untroubled Taliban return speaks volumes about Washington’s lack of interest to secure respect for human rights and improve women’s lives.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019
