The Human Impact

Helen Pankhurst, a member of charity WaterAid’s board of trustees, spoke at a World Toilet Day event at London’s Anthologist restaurant.

The “1 in 3 women event” marked the day by drawing attention to the fact that there are 1.25 billion women in the world who have nowhere safe to go to the toilet.

Globally, 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation.

Picture shows WaterAid trustee Helen Pankhurst at London’s Anthologist restaurant on Nov. 19, 2012. HANDOUT/WaterAid/Neil Wissink

Peter Knoope, director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague, was part of a panel discussion on race politics, Islamophobia and extremisms of the far right and left at “Reporting on International Security and Terrorism” in Istanbul.

Discussions are hosted by international security experts and attended by 25 journalists from around the world.

Sponsors of the seminar include Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Stanley Foundation, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator, Istanbul Policy Center and Sabanci University.

Rolf Mowatt-Larsson, currently a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, served more than three years as director of intelligence and counter-intelligence at the U.S. Department of Energy and for 23 years as a Central Intelligence Agency officer in various posts.

He delivered a presentation about preventing nuclear terrorism at the three-day “Reporting on International Security and Terrorism” seminar in Istanbul hosted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Discussions are hosted by international security experts and attended by 25 journalists from around the world.

Hugh Pope, a policy expert on Turkey and Cyprus spoke with AlertNet after delivering a presentation at a conference in Istanbul.

The three-day “Reporting on International Security and Terrorism” seminar examines the role of the news media and how journalists can avoid being exploited by terrorists to help them achieve their goals

Picture Credit: A Turkish soldier speaks with Syrian refugees who are trying to cross the border fence from the northern Syrian town of Ras al-Ain into Turkey after gunfire were heard in Ras al-Ain, as seen from the Turkish border town of Ceylanpinar, Sanliurfa province November 19, 2012. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Abdullah Anas spoke with AlertNet after a panel discussion titled “The Death of Global Jihadism, a Disparate al Qaeda?” at the “Reporting on International Security and Terrorism” seminar in Istanbul.

Panel discussions at the event are hosted by international security experts and attended by 25 journalists from around the world.

Sponsors of the seminar include Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Stanley Foundation, Gerda Henkel Stiftung, Stiftung Mercator, Istanbul Policy Center and Sabanci University.

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Andy Carvin, social media strategist at National Public Radio (NPR), was part of a panel discussion on authoritarianism and social media at “Reporting on International Security and Terrorism” in Istanbul.

The seminar examined the role of the media and how journalists can avoid being exploited.

Fewer than half of 23 drinking water and sanitation projects funded with development aid from the European Union (EU) in six Sub-Saharan countries have met the needs of beneficiaries, and 19 are at risk of failure without ongoing financial support, according to an auditors’ report.

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) assessed the projects to see if the European Commission has managed aid for drinking water and basic sanitation in a manner that would lead to effective and sustainable results.

In only four of the projects were fees for services set at a level to cover running costs, the audit report said, adding that unless future aid, or subsidies from national or local governments are made available, their sustainability is at risk.

A new iPhone app offers workplace tips for strippers to help them protect themselves against financial exploitation, abuse and a lack of safety.

The “Dancers Information” application and a related website were conceived by researchers after findings from a study of the erotic-dance industry in England and Wales showed that current regulations of nightclubs in the sexual entertainment sector do not automatically address issues of employment status, welfare and security.

Researchers at the University of Leeds surveyed more than 300 women dancers about their working conditions in two separate sets of interviews beginning in 2010-2011, after a new law regulating the sex entertainment industry was introduced in England and Wales in 2009. It was not clear how the law would be implemented, and how it would affect up to 10,000 dancers who researchers said perform in clubs on peak weekend nights.

As I listen to the girls’ stories, coaxed out with hot tears, I struggle to find an answer to this question: what makes a man rape a young girl?

Mercy Chidi, who runs Tumani Girls Rescue Centre in the Kenyan town of Meru, has several theories. She has dealt with over 240 rape cases since she opened the centre in 2006, including cases involving girls as young as three.

“We have had several girls who have been sexually abused by their immediate relatives, like a grandfather, an uncle, because they believe they are going to get cured of HIV,” she said.

At seven years old, Khady Koita’s childhood was torn apart when she was pinned down and attacked by two women wielding a razor blade. The violence inflicted on her that day would change her life forever.

Last week the global campaign to end female genital mutilation (FGM) took a major step forward when a draft resolution on eliminating the practice was submitted to the United Nations General Assembly.

“FGM is horrific, brutal, degrading and indefensible,” said Koita, a leading figure in the campaign against FGM. “My big hope is that one day no girl will have to go through what I have been through.”