It will soon be 26 years since the people of Bhopal were enveloped in a poisonous miasmic cloud of gas, which gushed forth from the Union Carbide chemical plant in Bhopal, India. On that night of the 3rd of December, 1984, an estimated 4,000 people lost their lives immediately with a further 300,000 of Bhopal´s [...]

Arguably one of the greatest surprises of the recent World Cup was the achievement of the German football team in securing third place. In the run up to the tournament, the German team had generally been regarded as one of the weakest in their history, lacking the necessary experience as well as the quality and [...]

Despite the expenditure of over US$2.5 trillion in official development assistance (ODA), billions of people continue to live in conditions of the direst poverty. Hunger and inequality stalk their lives as they struggle to survive. As Samir Amin wrote at the turn of the millennium:
“The polarization that is characteristic of modern globalization is phenomenal, without [...]

In the first part of this two part mini-series on domestic abuse in Ireland I looked at the reality of domestic abuse and the scale of the problem in Ireland. In this final part, I will look at what might be done to help support the victims of such abuse.
Domestic Abuse in Ireland
One in three [...]

Abuse of Women in Conflict Zones
It is only in the last couple of decades that the world has focused on the horrific levels of violence perpetrated against women in times of war. Although women and girls have been the victims of sexual violence and other forms of aggression dating back several millennia, their plight has [...]

The first decade of the 21st century has been a difficult one for the UN, as its credibility has taken a serious battering. Incidents such as the international furore provoked by the Volker report on the UN administration of the Iraq sanctions prior to the 2003 invasion, accusations of corruption against the previous UN Secretary [...]

The world is suffering from an increasing burden of mental disorders, which has been further aggravated by a widening “treatment gap”. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that mental health ranks second amongst global illnesses. Furthermore, recent WHO analyses calculate that neuropsychiatric conditions impacted upon some 10% for adults or approximately 450 million people.
Irish-based studies [...]

According to the 2006 Census 15% of the Irish workforce was comprised of non-Irish nationals from 188 different countries. Although this figure has certainly declined since the onset of the current recession, a large percentage still remain.
Migrant workers from the EU and EEA (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland) are entitled to take up employment in [...]

The past few decades have seen a growing awareness among health professionals and policy makers of the role that social and economic factors play in determining good mental health. As the WHO Regional Committee for Europe noted:
Widening disparities in society or economic changes in individuals’ life courses seem to be of particular importance here. Whether [...]

In discussing mental health, we tend to focus on issues such as the distress and suffering of mental health service users as well as the most appropriate manner in which we might respond to their needs. The human rights of mental health service users are also a significant issue and have been assuming a more [...]