Afghanistan. We don’t hear as much about it in the news these days. But from what we do hear, the structures and freedoms for women and girls built up before the withdrawal are being disassembled. The restrictions now on women are heartbreaking. Forced child marriages have increased, education is being denied. Women are banned from gyms and public parks. They must wear veils in public. Women are not allowed to use public transport unless they are in the company of male relative designated as a mahram. And there are no protections for women who suffer from violence

The Philippines today are commemorating the loss of more than 7000 people as a result of Typhoon Haiyan 10 years ago. Since then, huge storms around the world have only grown more frequent and severe. A number of scientists attribute this to climate change. The Philippines is one of the countries where climate change is a huge issue. Plastics in the ocean, air pollution from people burning fuels and deforestation - these are all huge issues. 0.5 million plastics escaped into the ocean last year. I can’t even begin to imagine the scale of this.

Vietnam is a country visited by many tourists. It’s also known for the war it fought with America decades ago. In recent yers, it has made great progress on the economic front. Yet under the surface, numerous women and children are being trafficked for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour. Most are transported to nearby Asian countries where they lives lives of misery. The Vietnamese government has made some progress in improving the legal framework to prevent human trafficking, there is still much to be done.

Malaysia. A country I’ve visited several times, including a 3 week work stint. A country I’ve very much enjoyed visiting. But beyond what visitors see, it’s a country oscillating between democratic institutions and authoritarian practices. One area which illustrates this is the difficulties facing free speech. Malaysia was 119 in World Press Freedom Index in 2021 according to Reporters Without Borders. The Malaysian authorities are increasingly using criminal investigations to harass journalists, protest leaders, and various other critics of the government, Recent cases have targeted people for organizing public protests, reporting on allegations of police abuse, drawing cartoons, and posting an ironic Spotify playlist.

Greenland. We regularly hear about ice in places such as Antarctica melting. And, of course, it is evidence of the climate change emergency and very alarming . But something that brought it home to me even more was when I learned that there had been rain on the central ice sheet in Greenland landed for the first time ever in August 2021. The first time EVER! I personally struggle with imagining the numbers associated with melting ice, but I find the idea of this first ever rain easy to picture and incredibly dismaying.

Bosniak, Serb, Croat

Ethnic divisions

Fabric fraying

Stretched, stressed,

Some pieces deliberately snipped.

Sri Lanka. A country steeped in economic crisis. One of the causes of this is that it imports $3 billion more than it exports. There is also the legacy of the long civil war, the pandemic and a series of bomb attacks that have hugely impacted its tourism. What is interesting to me as well is that after it being in the news when it was at the height of the crisis a year ago (shortages of basics, power cuts,50% inflation and political protests), there is little about this country in the news now. The press - and we - has moved on. Yes, things are better now, but the situation is still dire. And people there are still struggling.

Zimbabwe is a country once known as the jewel of Africa. A country now mired in economic failure and mass oppression. This is the legacy of Robert Mugabe, who was finally toppled in 2017 after 37 years as leader. There were promises from the new President Mnangagwa of ‘a new Zimbabwe’ but in fact repression has increased and the economy continues to sink. And along the way, millions of lives are made more and more miserable.

Argentina is a country with a troubled past. Years ago, it was renowned for its high inflation. In the early 1990s it reached an annual average of around 2600%. Today, although not hitting such overwhelming heights, it is still among the highest levels of inflation in the world at a comparatively modest but still crippling 98.4%. Countries such as the UK and the US have experienced higher than usual rates of inflation recently, but theirs is merely a fraction of that being experienced by Argentinians. How do the poorest manage, how can wages even begin to offset such high rates? I suppose some would say ‘they’re used to it’. But should they be?

Laos. The most heavily bombed country per capita in history. Between 1964 and 1973 around 2.5 million tons of ordnance was dropped. More than 50,000 people have been killed, 98% of them civilians. Almost half of these were children. And while this may seem a problem of the past, unexploded bombs are still a very real threat. 30% of those bombs did not explode and there are still many hidden and lying in wait. One NGO alone has cleared 62,000 explosives since 2012. It’s a shameful legacy.

We hear a lot about deforestation in the Amazon. This, of course, is a huge issue, especially considering the size of its rainforests. But there are other countries where deforestation is taking place at an alarming rate. Ghana has one of the highest rates of deforestation in the world. Competing interests such a mining, cocoa farming and illegal logging are the main culprits. Deforestation isn’t a simple issue. There are livelihoods that depend on these cleared areas. But we know that forests absorb emissions from the air and are therefore critical to climate change. We need to address how we can balance these competing needs for these spaces in a better way so that we can preserve the remaining forests

It all begins with an idea.

The place of women

Mexico has always been close to my heart.