Norway, Australia and the United States lead this year’s Human Development Index (HDI) rankings, the annual United Nations measure of progress in human well-being, while Niger, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Mozambique are at the bottom. The new HDI figures, launched today in Mexico City by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), combines measures of life expectancy, literacy, school enrolment ...

In Oslo today 127 nations, together with international organisations and civil society representatives wrapped up their 2 day conference on the humanitarian consequences of a nuclear war. Presentation after presentation by organisations, experts and survivors left those delegates present in no doubt that nuclear weapons have no place in global politics or military strategy.  Peter Maurer, President of The R ...

Day 2 of the Oslo civil society forum brought with it much important and new information and ended on a wave of inspiration and joy that will surely carry the delegates back to their countries ready to redouble their efforts to eradicate nuclear weapons. During the day the issues dealt with covered how to go about getting a treaty to ban nuclear weapons and the panellists presented possible precedents and u ...

The first day of the formal part of the ICAN Conference on the humanitarian consequences of the use of nuclear weapons finished today with a relentless flow of extraordinary information about how even a limited nuclear exchange would leave a fraction of humanity surviving and they would probably wish they were dead. According to organisers over 440 participants from 70 countries and all continents of the wo ...

Pressenza is covering the upcoming Oslo conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear weapons between on the 4th and 5th of March and the preceding civil society forum starting on the 1st of March.  As part of our coverage Pressenza invited Alyn Ware, International Representative for the Peace Foundation, and recipient of one of the 2009 Right Livelihood Awards to write about the importance of these even ...