Youth

Anime and manga creators: dream workers pushed to the limit?

Anime is on the rise. Translated manga are flooding into new markets, attracting readers from all over the world. But despite their remarkable popularity and sales, the inner workings of these dream factories are unknown, especially when it comes to the creators and their working [...]Read the full article

The economic odyssey of promising Greek wrestling star Nikoleta Barba

12 February 2024

The economic odyssey of promising Greek wrestling star Nikoleta Barba

Until the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greek athletes had world-class funding, trainers and facilities. This golden age ended when the economic crisis broke out and the Greek government cut funding to sport. What does this mean for promising young athletes like wrestler Nikoleta [...]Read the full article

“Homecoming”: former emigrants struggle to reintegrate in Senegal

1 February 2024

“Homecoming”: former emigrants struggle to reintegrate in Senegal

This photo documentary chronicles the lives of Senegalese migrants who return home after leaving their country in search of a better life.Read the full article

The emptying out of rural areas and the accompanying brain drain are fuelling inequality in the EU's most depopulated regions

29 January 2024

The emptying out of rural areas and the accompanying brain drain are fuelling inequality in the EU’s most depopulated regions

Europe is ageing. Fewer and fewer Europeans are being born, and while younger generations increasingly concentrate in large cities, much of the remaining territory is falling behind in development. Long an existential problem in Eastern Europe, these trends are increasingly fuelling inequality [...]Read the full article

Katsuji Okada, home builder in Japan: “Kawara roofs have endured for centuries, but now they are disappearing”

12 January 2024

Katsuji Okada, home builder in Japan: “Kawara roofs have endured for centuries, but now they are disappearing”

Katsuji Okada has spent a lifetime laying millions of kawara tiles. We spoke with him to learn about the details of this ancestral craft, part of an indigenous architecture that is now on the verge of extinction.Read the full article

The crisis of displaced persons in eastern DR Congo is giving life to new forms of solidarity

24 November 2023

The crisis of displaced persons in eastern DR Congo is giving life to new forms of solidarity

Eastern DR Congo is once again faced with a major influx of people displaced by the war. With authorities failing to respond adequately, the local population has taken matters into their own hands, providing concrete solutions and reinventing political [...]Read the full article

Malawian demographer Eliya Zulu: “Africa's youthful population could drive the continent's socio-economic transformation”

6 November 2023

Malawian demographer Eliya Zulu: “Africa’s youthful population could drive the continent’s socio-economic transformation”

“The question is: can the world ignore Africa? The fact that other regions don’t have youthful populations means that Africa has an opportunity to actually help address labour shortages elsewhere and the rest of the world will have Africa’s young people to go and contribute to development. But [...]Read the full article

Women face increasing pressure in Paraguay, a country deeply rooted in conservative values

26 October 2023

Women face increasing pressure in Paraguay, a country deeply rooted in conservative values

“There are really no favourable expectations. This is going to be above all a time of resistance for women and minority groups.”Read the full article

A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups

13 October 2023

A new era of opportunity is opening up in Iraq with the development of the private sector and the creation of start-ups

Iraq’s private sector has suffered greatly from years of armed conflict. Today, the country’s entrepreneurial landscape is comprised of a mosaic of small and medium-sized enterprises that contribute, to a greater or lesser extent, to the country’s economic [...]Read the full article

Can India, the world's most populous country, provide jobs for its young people?

2 October 2023

Can India, the world’s most populous country, provide jobs for its young people?

“Job creation in manufacturing is a key challenge for the Indian economy, if it is to absorb the large number of new entrants to the labour market, enable the transfer of labour from agriculture to other sectors, and so improve living conditions, while making growth sustainable by encouraging [...]Read the full article

In south-eastern Turkey, the life-changing trauma of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes have cast a long shadow over the new school year

29 September 2023

In south-eastern Turkey, the life-changing trauma of the Turkey-Syria earthquakes have cast a long shadow over the new school year

According to the United Nations Population Fund, 2.5 million children in Turkey are in need of humanitarian assistance and psychosocial support following the devastating earthquakes that killed more than 50,000 people across the Turkey-Syria border this [...]Read the full article

A much-needed holistic approach to HIV and AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean is being held back by stigma and insufficient resources

20 September 2023

A much-needed holistic approach to HIV and AIDS in Latin America and the Caribbean is being held back by stigma and insufficient resources

Despite medical breakthroughs, the stigma attached to HIV remains firmly entrenched in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the impact on those affected is devastating. Structural and economic inequalities are also hindering access to effective [...]Read the full article

Are our education systems helping to create emancipated human beings or simply preparing human resources?

7 August 2023

Are our education systems helping to create emancipated human beings or simply preparing human resources?

Against a backdrop of globalisation and fierce competition between economies, with automation, digitalisation and artificial intelligence for the masses moving ahead at full speed, which approach to education (without falling into dichotomies) is best suited to respond to these [...]Read the full article

Helena Silvestre: “Occupation enables us to take part in the birth of a neighbourhood and think about new ways of living together”

10 July 2023

Helena Silvestre: “Occupation enables us to take part in the birth of a neighbourhood and think about new ways of living together”

“Maybe it’s not the right to the city that we need. […] the city represents a form of accumulation that feeds on the extraction of everything around it: the favelas, the occupations and the countryside.”Read the full article

Thanks to an age-dependent minimum wage, young Dutch workers are both over the hill and barely keeping their heads above water

3 July 2023

Thanks to an age-dependent minimum wage, young Dutch workers are both over the hill and barely keeping their heads above water

The Dutch system flies in the face of a key principle under international labour standards: that of equal pay for equal work. “If you have more skills or qualifications or expertise, you should be better remunerated. But not just because you are [...]Read the full article

Around the world, cities are seeing the benefits of creating more space for children to play

12 June 2023

Around the world, cities are seeing the benefits of creating more space for children to play

“The first five years of a child’s life is so important, because that’s when 80 per cent of the brain develops. The environment where they grew up, the type of human interaction and stimulations they have…can grow strong foundations for their wellbeing and future [...]Read the full article

Bogotá's Indigenous street children are the face of Colombia's unrelenting cycle of violence

10 May 2023

Bogotá’s Indigenous street children are the face of Colombia’s unrelenting cycle of violence

Forcibly displaced by the armed conflict, Indigenous children are forced to grow up early living on the streets of Bogotá.Read the full article

Quick commerce is making slow progress towards decent work in the Netherlands

31 March 2023

Quick commerce is making slow progress towards decent work in the Netherlands

Online grocery delivery businesses in the Netherlands have been accused of “trying to find paths toward profitability that essentially lead over the backs of workers” but delivery riders and their trade unions are fighting back.Read the full article

What impact will artificial intelligence have on education?

3 March 2023

What impact will artificial intelligence have on education?

The growing popularity of artificial intelligence software, capable of generating images, sound and even text in a matter of seconds, is opening up a debate on technological transformation: are our education systems ready for a world where AI is [...]Read the full article

24 February 2023

Schools, a target of war

Globally, over 33 million children living in areas affected by armed conflict are unable to go to school.Read the full article

French MP, Rachel Keke: “From the Paris chambermaid strike, I learned the power of collective struggle”

1 February 2023

French MP, Rachel Keke: “From the Paris chambermaid strike, I learned the power of collective struggle”

Former housekeeper Rachel Keke entered politics following a successful battle to defend the labour rights of chambermaids in the hotel industry. Now a deputy in the French National Assembly, Keke continues to fight for the rights of essential [...]Read the full article

The cultural genocide committed against the Yenish people in Switzerland is a crime that remains unpunished

27 January 2023

The cultural genocide committed against the Yenish people in Switzerland is a crime that remains unpunished

From 1926 to 1972, Pro Juventute, a private foundation, forcibly separated 600 Yenish children from their parents with the backing of the Swiss government. Fifty years later, this community of Travellers still suffers from the impact of this racist policy while those responsible have yet to [...]Read the full article

Voluntary initiatives give hope to refugees on the Greek island of Samos

13 January 2023

Voluntary initiatives give hope to refugees on the Greek island of Samos

According to the organisations working to protect migrants, the closed camp is like a “prison” and is detrimental to their mental health. Initiatives have emerged on the island to help take the asylum seekers’ minds off these difficulties and give them fresh hope in their search for a new [...]Read the full article

Equatorial Guinea does not respect the right to education for deaf children

23 December 2022

Equatorial Guinea does not respect the right to education for deaf children

According to experts, deaf children should be exposed to sign language as early as possible. In addition to ensuring access to education, it also helps to prevent the development of various types of mental illness.Read the full article

The future of education: are the real needs of students being neglected in favour of grades and test scores?

14 December 2022

The future of education: are the real needs of students being neglected in favour of grades and test scores?

In recent decades schools around the world have become increasingly obsessed with grades, competitiveness and measurable and comparable results, while other important aspects of the education of our future citizens are being [...]Read the full article

Thirty years on, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still without a shared history

30 November 2022

Thirty years on, Bosnia and Herzegovina is still without a shared history

“Each group exaggerates the crimes it has suffered, and minimises the crimes committed by its members or institutions. There is not even a consensus on what to call the war in Bosnia: civil war, war of aggression, war of religions.”Read the full article

Tackling youth unemployment – and stemming the brain drain – is an urgent task for the Arab world

18 November 2022

Tackling youth unemployment – and stemming the brain drain – is an urgent task for the Arab world

Economic and political conditions, combined with the effects of the pandemic, are placing the labour market out of reach for millions of young people in the Arab world.Read the full article

What impact has the war had on Ukraine's child-focused workers?

21 October 2022

What impact has the war had on Ukraine’s child-focused workers?

“Nobody has been preparing to provide services to people who are running from war. Everybody is working with trauma now, but it’s hard to have those skills.”Read the full article

After one month of protests, Iranian women are still leading the charge to freedom

17 October 2022

After one month of protests, Iranian women are still leading the charge to freedom

The economic situation has grown worse with the pandemic and the restrictions on women’s rights have been tightened since Ebrahim Raisi became president in 2021. Poorer and with very limited opportunities, Iran’s women are calling for equal rights, and their demands and grievances are resonating [...]Read the full article

Precarious work, exploitation and poverty: the ordeal of young workers in Italy

12 October 2022

Precarious work, exploitation and poverty: the ordeal of young workers in Italy

For most young Italians, working without protection or union rights, the job market, far from being a means of emancipation or personal fulfilment, is a jungle where the employer is king.Read the full article

Despite one year of Taliban rule, Afghan women haven't stopped fighting for equality

10 October 2022

Despite one year of Taliban rule, Afghan women haven’t stopped fighting for equality

“Women are staging street protests, holding press conferences, organising activities, some are refusing to wear a hijab that fully covers their bodies and faces, while girls are attending schools secretly.”Read the full article

In a Mauritanian refugee camp, young people are being guided from illiteracy to online training

19 September 2022

In a Mauritanian refugee camp, young people are being guided from illiteracy to online training

While refugee children are consistently less likely to go to school than others, in Mbera, Mauritania, the percentage of pupils in primary and secondary school is particularly low. But even in this context, ICT and online training are opening new [...]Read the full article

Education as a bulwark against the mafia in Palermo

14 September 2022

Education as a bulwark against the mafia in Palermo

Thirty years after the killings of anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, Sicilian civil society is still working hard to keep saying “no” to the mafia.Read the full article

Thousands of children in Syria are being forced out of school and into hazardous work

29 August 2022

Thousands of children in Syria are being forced out of school and into hazardous work

An entire generation of children in Syria has been forced out of school at an early age and into a war-torn labour market. Many are having to do work that involves very hard labour or puts their life at risk.Read the full article

19 August 2022