Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

By Farhana Haque Rahman
ROME, Mar 30 2020 (IPS)

As the coronavirus pandemic shifts around the world, now stretching even the developed health services of richer nations to breaking point, here at IPS our dedicated journalists in developing countries are standing strong in giving a voice to the Global South.

This means IPS, with its far-flung network of correspondents and contributors, is committed as ever to reporting from the countries least able to resist this pandemic but which remain beyond the glare of the mainstream media.

It also means continuing our coverage of fundamental issues that have remained at the core of our mission for more than 55 years. Recent articles we have posted, beyond our coronavirus news, include HIV testing in Africa, FGM in Djibouti, impact on the war in Yemen, afforestation efforts in Zimbabwe, women’s rights, human trafficking, agriculture research, food sustainability and the global climate crisis.

This global disaster could tear apart fragile countries already depleted of resources or stable governments to respond. The consequences are not hard to imagine for those caught up in conflict, with humanitarian aid disrupted and peace efforts derailed. Geopolitical tensions are already worsening in some cases, even as there is some hope that states at war or near-war will suddenly find a way to work together in confronting a common enemy. Not knowing when and how the virus will hit worst gives added urgency to our mission at IPS.

Farhana Haque Rahman

Reporting locally and tackling global issues, we remain engaged with international organisations, UN entities, NGOs and civil society in ensuring their opinions and research have a platform in our combined efforts to build a more equitable world. As Prof Muhammad Yunus, Nobel peace laureate, said, IPS reaches areas and people that mostly remain unreached. Our capacity-building work empowers journalists, media organisations and civil society to communicate more effectively.

Local ownership, authenticity and diversity of views are core values of the IPS reporting network. Since its inception in 1964, IPS has believed in the role of information as a precondition for lifting communities out of poverty and marginalisation. Raising the voices and concerns of the poorest creates a climate of understanding, accountability and participation around development, promoting a new international information order between South and North.

More than ever, organisations like IPS are vital in the development of this new participatory system of global governance involving governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental institutions. Effectively tackling the coronavirus pandemic requires reliable and trusted channels of information that translate needs and challenges, achievements and failures to all levels and spheres of our shared global responsibility, shaping and then monitoring the global response.

With a wide network of journalists spread in about 140 countries, we are truly a global media organization and we would like to salute our courageous reporters and contributors across the world who work and look after their families at the same time. We care for your safety. Your well-being is our priority.

IPS also thanks wholeheartedly its readers and donors for their generous support. Quality reporting cannot be sustained without funds. As an organization we have overcome crises before with you by our side. More than ever we need your help and generosity to get through this critical period. The marginalized and voiceless, with all their diverse perspectives, must not be left in silence.

Stay safe with your families.

Farhana Haque Rahman is Senior Vice President, IPS Inter Press Service

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Zimbabwe's Mashonaland East province. Perennial dry conditions have also seen Zimbabwe struggle with annual wild fires that have destroyed large tracts of land and damaged the soil, effectively providing the right conditions for turning parts of the country into mini deserts.Credit: Jeffrey Moyo/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Mar 27 2020 (IPS)

“I have never planted a tree in my life,” laughs Jairos Saunyama, a tobacco farmer, revelling at the absurdity of the question of whether he is involved in the country’s afforestation efforts. Sawunyama is one of thousands of farmers who are blamed by local conservationists for turning the country’s forests into deserts and dust bowls.

Tobacco farmers use firewood to cure their product but this has come at a price for the country’s commitments to such international agreements as the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

• This southern African nation is signatory to the UNCCD. Last September, it sent a delegation to the 14th Conference of Parties to the UNCCD in New Delhi, India, which focused on drought, land tenure, ecosystem restoration, and climate change, among other things.

The country’s challenges with land degradation and desertification are not solely limited to small scale farmers. Wood fuel provides 61 percent of total energy supply, with 96 percent of the country’s rural households dependent on wood for fuel, according to a 2018 country report.

• The report also noted, “land degradation and drought are key drivers of forests and biodiversity loss while climate change leads to increased rainfall variability and in the case of Zimbabwe this often results in severe droughts.”

Perennial dry conditions have also seen Zimbabwe struggle with annual wild fires that have destroyed large tracts of land and damaged the soil, effectively providing the right conditions for turning parts of the country into mini deserts.

• Last year alone, the country recorded more than 1,000 wild fires spreading over 1 million hectares of both arable land and forest cover, according to Zimbabwe’s Environmental Management Agency (EMA).

The UNCCD describes desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variation and human activity. It affects the livelihoods of rural people in drylands, particularly the poor, who depend on livestock, crops, limited water resources and fuel wood.”

The description summarises the dilemma Zimbabwe finds itself in as in recent years the country has experienced an escalation of problems that has given rise to the degradation of the environment.

In addition to the wild fires, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has also identified intensive cultivation and overgrazing as major causes of land degradation and desertification in Zimbabwe.

However, while it has appeared difficult to address these issues because of what FAO says is a “high proportion of the local communities depending on the land for their sustenance,” an ambitious afforestation programme could just be what will help Zimbabwe meet its multilateral obligations to address desertification and deforestation.

As part of the country’s broader efforts to address these challenges, the Sustainable Afforestation Association (SAA), formed by the country’s tobacco merchants in 2013, last year made commitments to plant at least 9 million eucalyptus trees annually after what was seen as the wanton destruction of woodlands by tobacco farmers and wild fires.

• Zimbabwe loses more than 330,000 hectares of forests through forest fires and deforestation annually, according to the Forestry Commission, a government body in charge of policing and protecting the country’s forest resources.

“Zimbabwe’s forest and woodland resources cover 45 percent down from 53 as at 2014 of the country’s total land area. Of the 45 percent, communal areas take 43 percent, resettlement and private land 24 percent and gazetted land including national parks 33 percent. Already this points to major deforestation,” Violet Makoto, the Forestry Commission spokesperson, tells IPS.

SAA says the initiative to plant 9 million eucalyptus trees and other drought-tolerant tree species is an attempt at conservation and “rejuvenating indigenous and commercial forests”.

“We have has selected varieties of eucalyptus which we believe are suitable for a particular area. Factors taken into account include climatic suitability, soils, disease resistance and growth rate,” Andrew Mills, SAA director tells IPS.

While Zimbabwe’s UNCCD focal point could not provide IPS with comment, Zimbabwe has made commitments to achieve land degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030 and also restore 10 percent or up to 4 million hectares of forests.

• According to the UNCCD, LDN is a “state whereby the amount and quality of land resources, necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security, remains stable or increases within specified temporal and spatial scales and ecosystems.”

However, government officials in Zimbabwe concede that achieving this remains a tall order.

“The issue [of land degradation] is beyond the country’s desire to meet obligations under the various multilateral environment agreements but is now a serious national concern. Enforcement of the law needs to be up-scaled if we are to get anywhere,” says Washington Zhakata, a director in the lands, agriculture, water, climate and rural resettlement ministry’s climate change department, tells IPS.

Mills agrees.

“Part of the problem with deforestation is that there has been no serious attempt to combat it. The laws are there, but there has been no real effort to enforce the law,” Mills says.

SAA’s efforts complement the government’s own programmes, which include a national tree planting day each first Saturday of December — a day Saunyama says he has never heard of — as well as conducting “education and awareness raising for LDN for policy makers, legislators, land users and general public” and “linking land degradation neutrality to the country’s developmental, employment creation and poverty reduction strategies”.

But as World Desertification and Drought Day approaches this June, these commitments seem a tough ask as challenges mount against  Zimbabwe’s undertaking to protect the environment.

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The post Zimbabwe’s Afforestation Challenge appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Normally bustling streets in cities across India were mostly deserted as the country observed the shutdown. Credit: UN India

By N Chandra Mohan
NEW DELHI, Mar 27 2020 (IPS)

The exigencies of combatting the coronavirus pandemic on a war-footing — Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a nationwide stay-at-home lockdown for 21 days to break the chain of transmission — has certainly deflected attention from equally pressing challenges confronting India. The nation’s capital witnessed horrific communal violence when the US President was visiting India, triggering international outrage, including from the South. The economy also deserves attention as growth has been decelerating since 2016-17. With the virus shock, the pace of expansion will contract as the economy shuts down and slides into recession.

This trinity of a public health problem, social disharmony and economic slowdown “may not only rupture the soul of India but also diminish our global standing as an economic and democratic power”, wrote former PM Dr Manmohan Singh in The Hindu. Many countries in the South looked up to India as a vibrant democracy with its unique diversity of peoples and cultures. Not any more as many voiced criticism over the riots, which left over 53 dead, mostly Muslims, hundreds of shops, businesses and livelihoods destroyed. Around 1,300 displaced Muslims sought refuge in a prayer ground located in north-east Delhi.

After winning a historic second term in May 2019, the NDA regime has prioritised policies that appeal to its majoritarian support base. The special status of Jammu and Kashmir was scrapped last August, followed by the detention of political leaders and a communications blockade. Farooq and Omar Abdullah were recently released. There are hopes that others will be let out soon. The Delhi violence was a culmination of nationwide protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act passed in Parliament in December. This legislation seeks to provide citizenship to persecuted religious minorities, barring Muslims, from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

The CAA sparked off misgivings among the 200 million Muslims who comprise 14% of the population together with the combination of the intended National Population Register and National Citizens Register, where documents are needed to prove citizenship. This made them uneasy that they would be disenfranchised. Faced with a backlash — that includes resolutions by many states that they will not implement NPR and NCR — the government has shown signs of relenting, even stating that NCR hasn’t been brought up in the union cabinet! Even as it tackles the virus pandemic, it is however unyielding on CAA.

The reemerging religious and sectarian fault lines in India’s polity not surprisingly occasioned scathing reactions from its allies in the South. For instance, Iran has been a steadfast partner, especially since the presidency of the reformist Mohammad Khatami in the 1990s. But after the Delhi riots, Iran’s foreign minister Javad Zarif condemned the
“wave of organized violence against Indian Muslims”. Shortly thereafter, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei strongly stated that “The government of India should confront extremist Hindus and stop the massacre of Muslims in order to prevent India’s isolation from the world of Islam.”

Elsewhere in the South, there were protests in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia, especially in Medan and Jakarta. The CAA has also left Bangladesh and Afghanistan somewhat concerned over its implication that they persecute minorities in their countries! Matters have also not improved with one of the top NDA leaders referring to the immigrant influx from Bangladesh as “termites”! India sought to allay such concerns stating that CAA is only an internal matter. PM Modi was to visit Dhaka on March 17 but that trip was just as well cancelled due to the virus problem. If it had taken place, there would have been demonstrations.

But every crisis is also an opportunity. India’s heft in the South may have diminished, but dealing with the viral contagion provided PM Modi an opening to reach out to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation after a gap of several years. Due to problems with Pakistan, this grouping receded from his priorities in favour of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation. PM Modi’s video conference with SAARC leaders “is a courageous step as it brings this regional institution back into reckoning at a time of calamity” stated Professor Amita Batra of the Jawaharlal Nehru University to IPS.

Dealing with the virus outbreak is also a chance to tackle social disharmony to salvage the growth story. PM Modi must address the sense of alienation among Muslims, assuring them that NPR and NCR will be junked. As Dr Singh noted, every act of sectarian violence is a blemish on Mahatma Gandhi’s India; that social unrest only exacerbates the economic slowdown and complicates efforts to revive growth. So while the country is locked down for 21 days, the rediscovery of a sense of national resolve in fighting the virus must include all sections of the population to address the trinity of challenges. At stake is the idea of India.

(The writer is an economics and business commentator based in New Delhi)

The post India’s Trinity of Challenges appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: UN Population Fund (UNFPA)

By Helge Berger, Kenneth Kang, & Changyong Rhee, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
WASHINGTON DC, Mar 27 2020 (IPS)

The impact of the coronavirus is having a profound and serious impact on the global economy and has sent policymakers looking for ways to respond. China’s experience so far shows that the right policies make a difference in fighting the disease and mitigating its impact—but some of these policies come with difficult economic tradeoffs.

Success in containing the virus comes at the price of slowing economic activity, no matter whether social distancing and reduced mobility are voluntary or enforced.

In China’s case, policymakers implemented strict mobility constraints, both at the national and local level—for example, at the height of the outbreak, many cities enforced strict curfews on their citizens.

But the tradeoff was nowhere as devastating as in Hubei province, which, despite much help from the rest of China, suffered heavily while helping to slow down the spread of the disease across the nation.

This makes it clear that, as the pandemic takes hold across the world, those hit the hardest—within countries but also across countries—will need support to help contain the virus and delay its spread to others.

High costs

The outbreak brought terrible human suffering in China, as it is continuing to do elsewhere, along with significant economic costs. By all indications, China’s slowdown in the first quarter of 2020 will be significant and will leave a deep mark for the year.

What started as a series of sudden stops in economic activity, quickly cascaded through the economy and morphed into a full-blown shock simultaneously impeding supply and demand—as visible in the very weak January-February readings of industrial production and retail sales.

The coronavirus shock is severe even compared to the Great Financial Crisis in 2007–08, as it hit households, businesses, financial institutions, and markets all at the same time—first in China and now globally.

Quick action

Mitigating the impact of this severe shock requires providing support to the most vulnerable. Chinese policymakers have targeted vulnerable households and looked for new ways to reach smaller firms—for example, by waiving social security fees, utility bills, and channeling credit through fintech firms. Other policies can also help.

The authorities quickly arranged subsidized credit to support scaling up the production of health equipment and other critical activities involved in the outbreak response.

Safeguarding financial stability requires assertive and well-communicated action. The past weeks have shown how a health crisis, however temporary, can turn into an economic shock where liquidity shortages and market disruptions can amplify and perpetuate.

In China, the authorities stepped in early to backstop interbank markets and provide financial support to firms under pressure, while letting the renminbi adjust to external pressures.

Among other measures, this included guiding banks to work with borrowers affected by the outbreak; incentivizing banks to lend to smaller firms via special funding from China’s central bank; and providing targeted cuts to reserve requirements for banks.

Larger firms, including state-owned enterprises, enjoyed relatively stable credit access throughout—in large part because China’s large state banks continued to lend generously to them.

Of course, some of the relief tools come with their own problems. For example, allowing a broad range of debtors more time to meet their financial obligations can undermine financial soundness later on if it is not aimed at the problem at hand and time-limited; subsidized credit can be misallocated; and keeping already non-viable firms alive could hold back productivity growth later.

Clearly, wherever possible, using well-targeted instruments is the way to go.

Not over

While there are reassuring signs of economic normalization in China—most larger firms have reported reopening their doors and many local employees are back at their jobs—stark risks remain. This includes new infections rising again as national and international travel resumes.

Even in the absence of another outbreak in China, the ongoing pandemic is creating economic risks. For example, as more countries face outbreaks and global financial markets gyrate, consumers and firms may remain wary, depressing global demand for Chinese goods just as the economy is getting back to work.

Therefore, Chinese policymakers will have to be ready to support growth and financial stability if needed. Given the global nature of the outbreak, many of these efforts will be most effective if coordinated internationally.

IMF Blog is a forum for the views of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff and officials on pressing economic and policy issues of the day. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF and its Executive Board.

The post Coronavirus & Early Lessons from China appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Helge Berger is the IMF's China mission chief, Kenneth Kang is a deputy director in the IMF's Asia & Pacific Department, and Changyong Rhee is director of IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

The post Coronavirus & Early Lessons from China appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Emergency room nurses wear face masks at Second People's Hospital of Shenzhen in China. Credit: Man Yi/ UN News

By Martin Jacques
LONDON, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

During January the onslaught in the Western media, notably the US and the UK, against the Chinese government’s handling of the Covid-19 epidemic, was merciless. The Chinese government stood accused of an inhumane attitude towards its people, secrecy, a cover-up, and an overwhelming concern for its own survival above all other considerations.

The actual evidence was thin bordering at times on the threadbare but this made little difference to the venom and bile of the assault.

Certainly, it seems clear, there was a deliberate attempt to forestall and hinder the necessary timely action in Wuhan, and more widely in Hubei, but with the benefit of hindsight the time lost as a result proved relatively marginal compared with that lost in the West in their belief that it could not possibly happen to them, that China was to blame, and in their failure to learn from China’s experience.

To have used the tragedy of the coronavirus epidemic, with all the deaths, illness and suffering that ensued, as a stick with which to beat the Chinese government – and the Chinese people – was nothing short of a disgrace.

Martin Jacques

When the Chinese needed compassion, support and solidarity, they received ridicule, calumny and barely-concealed racism. One might ask why this was. Western prejudice against China is historically deeply-rooted and continues to influence contemporary Western attitudes.

Over the last few years, however, especially since around 2016, the incidence of China-bashing has become much more common. There has been a growing sense of resentment towards China’s rise, especially and predictably in the US, but elsewhere too, combined with a desire to reassert and restore the old global pecking order and the established economic, political and ethnic hierarchies.

The main subject of China-bashing has been its governing system. The coronavirus epidemic offered, on the surface at least, ideal ground on which to attack China’s governance: it was covering up, it didn’t care, its own survival came first.

How wrong and misconceived these West prejudices proved to be. After initial dithering, hesitation, and wrong-turns, once China grasped the nature and profound dangers that the virus posed for the Chinese people, its approach was nothing short of brilliant, an example and inspiration for all.

For China, we must never forget that it was an entirely new and mysterious challenge. All subsequent countries could learn from China’s experience. China did not even know what the virus was. It had to establish that it was entirely new and work out its genome and its characteristics, which it immediately shared with the world.

And it grasped with remarkable alacrity that the epidemic required the most dramatic measures, including the lockdown not just of Wuhan but all major cities and most of the country, and quarantining the population.

The government understood that life came before the economy. Its extraordinary and decisive leadership met with an equally extraordinary and proactive response from the people: it was a classic case of the government and the people as one.

The results are there for all to see. New cases have been reduced to a trickle. Slowly, step by step, the economy is being rekindled. Bit by bit China is returning to normal. For those wanting to avoid coronavirus, China is fast becoming the safest place on earth.

Indeed, China’s problem is fast becoming visiting foreign tourists suffering from the virus and reintroducing it into their country.

Meanwhile Europe and North America are facing a coronavirus tsunami: Italy is the worst case but others such as Spain, France, Germany and the UK are rapidly following in its slipstream.

Soon the whole of Europe will be engulfed in the epidemic. And America, far from being immune, as President Trump believed, has itself declared a state of emergency to deal with a virus which it dismissed and ignored as a ‘foreign virus’.

The West – and, above all, its people – are destined to pay a huge price for its hubris, its belief that coronavirus was a Chinese problem that could never become a Western problem. Too late, alas, having wasted all the time that China gave them, all the knowledge that China had acquired on how to tackle the virus, Western governments are now faced with a fearful challenge.

Back in January they accused the Chinese government of wasting a fortnight; now it is revealed to the world that Western governments wasted a minimum of two and a half months.

The tide has turned. In the greatest health crisis for one hundred years, China’s governance has risen to the challenge and delivered a mortal blow to coronavirus.

In contrast, Western governance has proven to be blinded by its own hubris, unable to learn from China until far too late, ill-equipped to grasp the kind of radical action that is required of it. Trump is still largely in denial, while the UK government is acting far too late.

I cannot think of any other example which so patently reveals the sheer competence and capacity of Chinese governance and the inferiority and infirmity of Western governance. In their hour of need, the latter has let their peoples down.

Meanwhile the Western criticism of China has fallen almost, but not quite entirely, silent. They have no alternative, as Italy shows, but to learn from China’s draconian measures.

What else can they do? China has succeeded. They have, in truth, nowhere else to turn. Learn from China they must. But for many it is a bitter pill to swallow.

The wheels of history are turning, irresistibly, towards China. And China must respond in humility by offering all the assistance and experience it can offer the West.

 

This story was originally published here

 

Martin Jacques  is a Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and Fudan University, Shanghai. Until recently, he was a Senior Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Studies, Cambridge University, and was previously a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at IDEAS, a centre for diplomacy and grand strategy at the London School of Economics. He was also a Fellow of the Transatlantic Academy, Washington DC.

Martin Jacques is the author of the global best-seller When China Rules the World: the End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order.

 

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Doctor Khalishwayo, a traditional healer in the Shiselweni Region, in southern Eswatini, distributes HIV Self-Test Kits to his clients to get more people to know their status. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

Doctor Khalishwayo is a traditional healer based in Nhlangano, a town in the Shiselweni Region, in southern Eswatini. His clients are people who consult him when they are suffering from different ailments. And he in turn diagnoses them using divine methods.

“But as a traditional healer, there are certain things that I can’t see,” Khalishwayo told IPS, adding, “I can’t tell whether a client is infected with HIV or TB.”

He is one of the eight traditional healers in the region who are distributing HIV Self-Test Kits to their clients to get more people to know their status.

This is an initiative by the NGO, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. Traditional healers were trained on the role they can play in curbing the spread of HIV and TB by encouraging their clients to get an HIV test.

• Eswatini continues to have the highest HIV prevalence in the world.
• TB remains the main AIDS opportunistic disease in the country with the HIV/TB coinfection at 84 percent, according to the 2009 National TB Programme report.

Before the training,Khalishwayo did not encourage his clients to test for HIV because, he said, he felt that it was not his place.

“Besides, traditional healers were not involved in the response against HIV/AIDS,” said Khalishwayo. Each traditional healer received 50 kits to distribute within a period of six months.

Singaphi Mngomezulu, another traditional healer, said they learnt from the training that some people with AIDS-related illnesses and TB may present with symptoms of people who have been “bewitched”.

“Some people come to us with mental illnesses in such that makes one believe that they’re possessed with demons,” said Mngomezulu. “I learnt that AIDS and TB symptoms can affect the brain.”

In the past, he said, he did not have the knowledge and could not advise clients to also seek medical attention.

The involvement of traditional healers is one of the country’s efforts to accelerate the response against HIV/AIDS. 

A few years ago, HIV incidence decreased by almost half – at 44 percent – among the age group of 18 to 49 years. These are results of the 2016/17 2nd Swaziland HIV Incidence Measurement Survey (SHIMS2).

• SHIMS2 also states that the country made significant progress towards achieving the United Nations 90-90-90 target. This is an ambitious call for countries to ensure that, by 2020, 90 percent of people who live with HIV know their status, 90 percent of diagnosed cases receive Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) and 90 percent of those on ART have viral suppression.
• So far, Eswatini has achieved 85-87-92.

Despite this progress, SHIMS2 found that HIV testing is generally low among men compared to women. Moreover, younger women are having sex with older men who infect them and, in turn, they pass on the virus to their peers.

“It is for that reason that we had to target the men because unfortunately don’t like to go to health facilities,” said Muhle Dlamini, the programme manager at Eswatini HIV Programme (SNAP).

Dlamini also said the government had introduced the kits to target hard-to-reach populations including those who are far from testing centres.   

“Men fall under the hard-to-reach category because they don’t visit health facilities,” said Dlamini. 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) head of mission to Eswatini, Dr Bernhard Kerschberger, says it is a good strategy to raise awareness of HIV testing by involving traditional healers. Credit: Mantoe Phakathi/IPS

MSF saw this as a good strategy to also raise awareness among traditional healers, said the head of mission to Eswatini, Dr. Bernhard Kerschberger. The kits though are not exclusively for men, and women were also given them if they want to be tested.

“As MSF we asked the Ministry of Health if we could include traditional healers in distributing the kits to clients who might benefit and they agreed,” said Kerschberger.

Each kit has easy-to-follow instructions and, if a person tests positive, a client is encouraged to visit a health facility for confirmation after which treatment can be initiated.

“There is no official link between the traditional healer and health facility but the kit is used to help in identifying clients who might need to go to the facility for HIV/TB services,” he said.

He said this is a research project that would establish if using traditional healers to reach people who are not accessible through the routine healthcare system is a viable option.

Within a period of six months, he said, a total of 80 kits were distributed and, of these, 14 percent were screened to be HIV-positive cases.

“The most important thing was that traditional healers appreciated that HIV cannot be cured by them and that they have to refer their clients to health facilities,” said Kerschberger.

He said one of the groups that the government utilised to distribute the kits were rural health motivators but men were not receptive because of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS in the communities.

“That’s why we decided to involve the traditional healers because they are trusted by their clients and they approach them from a safe space. However, we discovered that women are almost half the people who see traditional healers,” he said. 

This research could lead to a better working relationship between the Ministry of Health and traditional healers in the response against HIV/AIDS.

 

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About 2,000 Nepalis are among foreign workers quarantined in a camp between streets 1-32 of the Industrial Area near Doha that has been closed off for two weeks.

By Upasana Khadka
KATHMANDU, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

Nepali workers in Qatar who have been quarantined in a camp that has been closed off for two weeks say that aside from concerns about jobs and health, they are now also worried about their families back home.

That anxiety increased after the government announced a weeklong nationwide lockdown starting Tuesday after a second Nepali had tested positive for COVID-19.

“The life of a pardeshi family is that they worry about us and we worry about them,” says a migrant worker in Qatar in a camp between streets 1-32 of the Industrial Area near Doha that has been closed off for two weeks.

Nepali workers in Qatar are critical of the government back home not allowing Nepali workers into the country, and say an alternative would be to let them in with strict testing and monitoring

“The Qatar government has gone out of its way to ensure that we receive timely updates including in languages we understand,” the worker said over the phone. There is a hotline to call if any worker shows any symptoms. A few workers had been taken away in an ambulance for tests after they showed symptoms like fever.

“Luckily, it was seasonal flu and they were sent back after being tested negative. Authorities are on high alert,” the worker said.

None of the Nepali workers in the phone interviews wanted their names revealed. A worker who lives outside the lockdown area complains about not being asked to practice social distancing.

He says: “I have been in duty since 5 am this morning. They take our temperature before and after work, but is this the best that can be done? I have been lucky with my job, but I travel on the company bus and have to interact with other foreign workers at work.”

He finds it absurd that they have to commute in buses when the official announcements require people to only travel with one person per private vehicle.

“Unless it comes from the government to stop, employers will continue to make us work. We don’t have a choice, but I would be much more comfortable if we were allowed to stay home like the rest,” says the worker, who adds that the nature of his work does not always allow him to practice social distancing.

The number of cases in Qatar on Tuesday reached 501, with 33 patients having recovered. Among the recent seven most recent new infections, two are expatriates.

With social media, active public service announcements from the Qatar government, Nepal Embassy and migrant community leaders, efforts are being made to keep workers updated.

As per a recent survey conducted by the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute at the Qatar University, a higher share of Qatari nationals (84%) and white collar expat workers (79%) reported hearing or reading a lot about COVID-19  compared to blue-collar foreign workers (56%).

The major source of information about the pandemic for foreign workers was through Facebook (31%) and word of mouth (23%). For Qataris, television (31%) and Twitter (18%) while for white-collar expats, television (23%) and Facebook (20%) were the major sources of information on COVID-19.

Regarding the economic effect of COVID-19  nearly half of blue-collar workers were very concerned, compared to 36% of white collar expats and 28% of Qataris. The study team suggests the need to provide more accurate information to blue-collar foreign workers to address their high levels of concern.

In terms of precautionary measures, 84% of blue collar workers report regularly washing their hands  66% reported using protective masks while the share using hand sanitisers was lower at 46%.  The survey team emphasised focusing on information dissemination and providing access to precautionary items like hand sanitisers to blue collar workers.

While there has been criticism of governments of destination countries and their crowded living situations that limits social distancing, many Nepalis including those in the quarantined areas of Qatar also give credit to the efforts made by the government there to ensure safety.

Qatar charity recently called for volunteers to help with COVID-19 work, and many Nepalis signed up. “In time like these it is not just up to the government, we have to step up as well, it is our responsibility also,” says another Nepali worker, who is among 17,000 volunteers who have signed up.

Many, however, long to go back to Nepal. “Look, I fully understand that I may be safer here in Qatar than in Nepal,” says one worker in the lockdown area. “But were something to happen to my family back home, would I be happy to be alive? Life would lose its meaning. The longing for family beats any other emotion for me especially during such times.”

Nepali workers in Qatar are critical of the government back home not allowing Nepali workers into the country, and say an alternative would be to let them in with strict testing and monitoring.  Says one: “Our government is supposed to be our guardian, especially during times like this. Qatar has also banned entry of passengers, but nationals are exempted from this restriction.”

Another migrant worker from Argakhanchi says he and his colleagues have been promised their basic salary during the quarantine period, but worries about what to do if the lockdown is prolonged both in Qatar and Nepal.

“The future is so uncertain that I have to plan so many different scenarios,” says the worker. “If I have to go back, will it be to a Nepal that is locked down  or to a Nepal where the disease has spread? I might have to go back to my village, but we Nepalis are strong, it may be difficult for a month or two, but ultimately we will get used to it.”

 

This story was originally published by The Nepali Times

The post Far From Home During a Pandemic appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: United Nations

By Abdul Mohammed
SANA’A, Yemen, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

In every room in Yemen’s Al-Saba’een hospital, patients in critical condition waited on chairs, and still others laid on the bare ground. I saw women and girls sharing beds in pairs, and children laying close together being treated.

This is Sana’a, Yemen’s best-supplied and capital city, on what has become an ordinary day. Coronavirus hasn’t arrived in Yemen yet.

As I watch the destruction that the novel coronavirus is wreaking on wealthy and peaceful countries with developed health systems, I fear for Yemen. If cholera, diphtheria, and malnutrition can overwhelm our war-stricken health system, I can only imagine the devastation that this fast-spreading, uncurable virus could unleash.

The impact of COVID-19 would mirror the impact of the war to date: no one would be safe, but the most vulnerable would bear a disproportionate share of the burden.

Credit: UNOCHA

The world is now getting a glimpse of the reality we have faced in Yemen for the past five years since war here escalated: life-threatening illness, deepening economic pressure, fewer and worse options for parents and caregivers, and a dizzyingly constant change in routine.

Millions now live in overcrowded shelters, without safe water, proper nutrition or proper health care. The basic steps others are taking to curtail the spread of COVID-19 are virtually impossible here. Should it take hold, the results would be unthinkable.

Public health crises don’t just threaten the well-being of the afflicted; their impacts ripple widely across families and societies. I think about Ahmed, a young man from Ibb, who lost his father to cholera, and then was suddenly thrust into the role of sole provider and caregiver for his entire family.

“I am not ready for this,” he shared in desperation. Feeling ill-equipped but required to take on extraordinary responsibilities – and with little time for grief or sentiment – is one that most Yemenis can identify with.

As we mark five years since a US-backed, Saudi-led coalition intervened and escalated the war in our country, we find ourselves defenseless against even basic maladies like diphtheria and cholera. These stone-age pathogens are held at bay in most societies by taking basic public health measures, drinking safe water, and eating nutritious food.

But parties to this on-going fighting since 2015 – have damaged or destroyed more than half of Yemen’s hospitals and other health facilities through bombing and shelling. The fighting has destroyed water and sanitation infrastructure in an already water-poor country, leaving more than two-thirds of the country with only unsafe water to drink.

As a result, Yemen now has the unenviable distinction of having experienced the world’s worst diphtheria outbreak in 30 years and the largest cholera outbreak ever recorded.

Even when it comes to critical patients who can be saved, this protracting war shown no mercy. Tens of thousands of Yemenis with life-threatening but manageable conditions have sought medical treatment abroad.

But the Saudi-led coalition, which has controlled Yemeni airspace on behalf of Yemen’s recognized government, has shut down commercial air traffic in and out of Sana’a. Only this year did the government and coalition consent to allow a long-promised medical air bridge to Cairo. 24 patients have been transported thus far. Tens of thousands have died waiting.

Credit: United Nations

Millions of Yemenis have already been forced from their homes, some of them multiple times to escape violence or pursue scarce opportunities for work. But even basic sanitation and health care in camps for displaced people are often unavailable.

Even with a massive aid response, as the conflict continues, we are fighting a rising tide. It goes without saying that in these cramped quarters, where social distancing is a fanciful notion and suppressed immunity the norm, a single infection would lead to countless deaths. The coronavirus epidemic would write new stories of suffering in Yemen’s already long tale of woe.

The conflict in Yemen must end before it claims any more lives. Yemen’s military and political leaders have shown too often these past five years that they are not willing to make even small compromises for the sake of their country and its people.

And the international community, so far, has failed to muster the resolve to demand the ceasefire and political settlement that can bring the life-saving peace that Yemen’s people demand.

With coronavirus knocking on Yemen’s door, we need humanitarian aid to restore our health systems, tackle the diseases currently ravaging our people, and prevent a new catastrophe. We cannot afford to wait for the next crisis to hits.

The post Coronavirus Worsens Yemen’s Long Tale of Woe appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Abdul Mohammed is a humanitarian worker for Oxfam Yemen

The post Coronavirus Worsens Yemen’s Long Tale of Woe appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Ehtesham Shahid
ABU DHABI, Mar 26 2020 (IPS-Partners)

TRENDS Research & Advisory is organizing its first-ever E-Symposium to discuss the global impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and offer insights on the steps needed to mitigate its negative effects worldwide. This will be the first online symposium of its kind to be organized since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the Gulf and Middle East region.

To be held on March 31, 2020, at 7 pm UAE time, the E-Symposium – Confronting the Challenges of COVID-19: A New Global Outlook – will provide a unique and innovative online platform for international experts covering medical, geostrategic and economic perspectives.

Panelists will offer insights on the factors behind the emergence of the crisis and will also include a special perspective on how China coped with the initial outbreak of the pandemic and adopted measures and solutions that could offer valuable lessons for other countries.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Ali, the Director General of TRENDS Research & Advisory lauded the Center and its staff for their contributions under these exceptional circumstances. “Harnessing modern technology to hold this E-Symposium will feed into the Center’s ambitious goals of strengthening scientific research and providing policy and decision-makers in the region and around the world,” he said.

The Director General said that ideas and recommendations are needed to deal with the challenge of Covid-19, which has become an existential threat to humanity. Dr. Muhammad Al-Ali expressed his confidence that this international E-Symposium, the first of its kind in the Middle East, will come up with recommendations that enhance the current regional and international efforts to curb the rapid spread of this pandemic.

“The pandemic has so far claimed the lives of more than 12,000 people and infected more than 300,000, in addition to having a calamitous economic and strategic impact on the entire world. Nearly 600 million people in around 22 countries are under forced social quarantine and 400 million under curfew,” he said.

Dr. Mohamed Al-Ali said that think-tanks and research institutes should play their role in supporting governments and countries in today’s circumstances so that we collectively stop this human tragedy by providing workable ideas, recommendations, and solutions.

With the COVID-19 crisis representing a historical milestone for the global community, this symposium performs a critical function in helping its participants identify the continuities and changes expected in the months and years to come.

The E-Symposium will be live-streamed via TRENDS YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmaxK85OoRz8E1YaWHo6FQQ

The post TRENDS E-Symposium to Address Post-Corona Globalization Challenges appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Experts from around the world to discuss factors behind the crisis and the steps needed to mitigate its negative effects worldwide

The post TRENDS E-Symposium to Address Post-Corona Globalization Challenges appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By UNCCD Press Release
Mar 26 2020 (IPS-Partners)

The international community is developing policy measures and actions to help the people most vulnerable to drought to take early action to avoid loss of life, and the heavy and growing losses of livelihoods and damage to property and ecosystems following droughts.

The Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought (IWG) that is leading this initiative is convening for the first time on 26 March through virtual meetings involving four task teams. The outcomes of the initiative could become effective as early as 2022.

The importance of early warning followed by early action for the most vulnerable people and ecosystems as well as the need for preparedness to respond fast, cannot be over-emphasized.

The IWG’s virtual meeting is taking place after the Group’s first face-to-face meeting, scheduled for 25-27 March in Brussels, Belgium, was suspended following the outbreak and global spread the corona virus, COVID-19.

“Over 70 countries worldwide are affected by drought, and the droughts are spreading to new areas, recurring more often and lasting longer, sometimes stretching over a few years or even decades in some regions. The impacts of these new drought patterns on people, property, infrastructure and ecosystems are unprecedented and are a growing concern for both developed and developing countries,” says Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which is facilitating the work of the IWG.

“Half of the global land is projected to be drylands and may be more prone to drought by 2050. The increase in drought disasters is a wake-up call to this threat, especially because some avoidable impacts occur due to late action, and at worst, inaction. The possibility created by the IWG to share experiences and learn from the best examples of mitigating drought is a big step forward,” he adds.

Millions of people are dealing with the prospect of drought at the moment.

In just a few months (April), in a situation reminiscent of the 2015 to 2017 drought, a record 45 million people in Southern Africa may be food insecure, partly due to drought. The World Food Programme needed 489 million United States dollars by February 2020 to help the 8.3 million people that were already food insecure in the region, but had yet to raise half of the required sum.

Droughts destroy food that could feed 81 million people – a population the size of Germany – every day, for a year, according to a recent World Bank report. Drought is also one of the most cited reasons by young people leaving their homes in search of better lives elsewhere, including those migrating to Europe, according to a recent survey of migration patterns in Morocco.

“I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this new inter-governmental initiative. Its value goes beyond the immediate outcomes of saving lives, livestock, rangelands and livelihoods in case of drought. It will improve security in some of the world’s most fragile areas,” Jarso Ibrahim Gollole, a pastoralist and natural resource advisor with Mercycorps in Kenya says about the results expected from the IWG.

“The conflicts that arise among communities living across borders – but also within borders – as they compete, in times of drought, over few and shrinking pastures would be minimized. Also, the influx of communities from neighboring countries seeking to take advantage of the government services set aside for affected communities in Kenya, where drought responses are better, even if they are not perfect, would decrease. A collective approach to managing drought is far better than what we have today,” he added.

Drought and drought impacts are also addressed under the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction processes of the United Nations. But the policy focus on drought is only one among many other disasters, that are more noticeable and get stronger policy actions, especially due to the dramatic nature of their arrival.

Droughts, by contrast, set in slowly and wreak havoc on some of the world’s poorest populations. By focusing only on drought, the IWG is expected to develop concrete, feasible and appropriate global options to address its socio-economic impacts effectively.

“Another world is possible. Drought resilience for countries at varying levels of economic development is possible. Witness the resilience of Ethiopia’s Tigray region to the 2014-2016 drought, the famous water harvesting scheme in Brazil’s north-east region, the Australian drought trust fund that helps farmers and the drought management approach of United States where a Presidential decree is issued early. How drought is managed must change fundamentally,” Thiaw said.

“Drought knows no boundaries, political or sectoral. It is a connector. The work of the IWG can bring much-needed coordination among stakeholders at all levels and rally affected countries to act and work together,” says Daniel Tsegai, the UNCCD’s drought expert in charge of the IWG process.

“Interest in the work of the IWG is already high. Governments, international and non-governmental organizations and other actors have sent close to 100 submissions for consideration. The submissions deal with issues such as collaboration among institutions, the barriers and challenges to drought response and recovery, the opportunities and measures for action as well as the lessons learned from successful cases,” he said.

The IWG was established in September 2019 following intense negotiations by governments during the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Its outcomes, which include recommendations for action, will be presented to policy makers at the 15th COP session in Fall 2021.

Notes to Editors
See the FAQ for background information about the Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought. For more information about the IWG meetings and processes, contact Daniel Tsegai, dtsegai@unccd.int or visit https://www.unccd.int/news-events/call-experts-intergovernmental-working-group-drought

Fact Sheet
Attached is a list of potential interviewees.

1. Mr. Daniel Tsegai
Programme Officer
UNCCD secretariat
E-mail: dtsegai@unccd.int
2. Dr. Caroline King-Okumu
International Development Opportunities Manager
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
E-mail: carkin@ceh.ac.uk
3. Mr. Jarso Ibrahim Gollole
Natural Resource Advisor and Pastoralist
MercyCorps, Kenya
E-mail: jgollole@mercycorps.com

For media-related questions contact: wwischnewski@unccd.int

The post A Positive Policy Turn for People Most Vulnerable To Drought Worldwide appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Nazihah Muhamad Noor and Jomo Kwame Sundaram
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

By the third week of March 2020, the number of Covid-19 deaths in Italy had overtaken the number of deaths in China. Authorities all over the world are restricting the movements of their populations as part of efforts to control the spread of Covid-19.

For the time being, more and more governments are benchmarking their responses on the very worst outbreaks in Wuhan and northern Italy. But lockdowns inevitably have adverse economic impacts, especially for businesses, particularly small ones heavily reliant on continuous turnover. Are there other ways to bring the virus under control without lockdowns?

Nazihah Muhamad Noor

South Korean lessons?
The Republic of Korea, or South Korea, is one of a handful of mainly East Asian economies that have dramatically reduced the number of Covid-19 cases as well as related deaths. On 29 February 2020, the country saw 909 newly confirmed cases.

By 25 March, the number of newly confirmed cases fell to 100. It has gone from having the second highest rate of infection globally to eighth place, behind China, Italy, United States, Spain, Germany, Iran and France, all with varying rates of testing.

For now, South Korea has checked the spread of infections. It has managed to slow the spread of Covid-19 without imposing lockdowns, even in its most infected city, Daegu. How have they responded differently to the crisis?

Korean style pandemic management
The key to South Korea’s response has been mass testing. South Korea has done the most Covid-19 tests by country, with over 300,000 tests as of 20 March 2020, or over 6,000 per million inhabitants. Germany, in second place, had done 167,000 by 15 March 2020, or 2,000 per million.

The infected who show no symptoms (i.e., the asymptomatic) or only have mild symptoms are more likely to transmit the virus to others. As such undetected cases are more likely to spread infection, mass testing has checked the spread of the virus by identifying and breaking its chains of transmission.

The median incubation period, between infection and symptoms first appearing, is about five days, during which time asymptomatic individuals may unknowingly infect others. Mass testing detects infections early, so that individuals can self-isolate and get treatment instead of infecting others.

South Korea had built up its testing capabilities following the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak in 2015. It was thus prepared with test kits and facilities for rapid development, approval and deployment in case of future outbreaks.

After South Korea confirmed its first case of Covid-19 on 20 January 2020, hundreds of testing facilities, ranging from drive-through kiosks to hospitals and local clinics, quickly became available across the country.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Trace, test, treat
The tests are mainly free for those whom medical professionals suspect need to be tested, e.g., if they recently returned from China, or even ‘secondary contacts’ of a person known to be infected or to belong to an at-risk group, the tests are free of charge.

Others who do not belong to these categories, but wish to be tested, are charged 160,000 Korean won (about US$130), but reimbursed if the result is positive, with any treatment needed paid for by the government.

Another legacy of the MERS outbreak is that the government has the legal authority to collect mobile phone, credit card and other data from those who test positive for contact tracing efforts. China, too, has made use of artificial intelligence and big data to improve contact tracing and manage priority populations.

Although this has sparked debates over privacy concerns, South Korea’s pro-active testing and contact tracing methods have also been praised by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is encouraging other countries to apply lessons learned in South Korea, China and elsewhere in East Asia.

Path not taken
Although South Koreans are banned from entry into more than 80 countries around the world, its authorities have only restricted incoming travellers from China’s Hubei province, where Wuhan is, and Japan, due to bilateral political tensions.

Special procedures require visitors from China and Iran to use smartphone applications to monitor for symptoms such as fever. As Europe has become the new pandemic epicentre, all visitors from Europe are now being tested for Covid-19, with those staying long term quarantined first.

The Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) continue to urge people to practice social distancing and personal hygiene. Mass gatherings are discouraged, and employers encouraged to allow employees to work remotely. But no lockdown has been imposed, and South Korea has not imposed nationwide restrictions on movements of people within its borders.

Learning the right lessons
Besides South Korea, the WHO has also praised China for its Covid-19 response, which has rapidly reduced new cases, besides helping other countries with their efforts. More and more countries are restricting freedom of movement through lockdowns, citing China’s response in Wuhan.

However, Bruce Aylward, who led the WHO fact-finding mission to China, notes, “The majority of the response in China, in 30 provinces, was about case finding, contact tracing, and suspension of public gatherings—all common measures used anywhere in the world to manage [infectious] diseases.

“The lockdowns people are referring to…was concentrated in Wuhan and two or three other cities…that got out of control in the beginning…the key learning from China is…all about the speed. The faster you can find the cases, isolate the cases, and track their close contacts, the more successful you’re going to be.”

China and South Korea are now primed to detect and respond rapidly, which may make all the difference in preventing a new wave of infections. This is not to say that lockdowns are ineffective; we will soon know whether such measures in countries like Italy will succeed.

The South Korean and Chinese experiences suggest that resources should be concentrated on rapid and early detection, isolation and contact tracing, protecting the most vulnerable, and treating the infected, regardless of means, instead of mainly relying on strict lockdown measures.

Nazihah Noor has a Masters of Public Health and a BSc in Biomedical Science (Global Health) from Imperial College London. The authors are both associated with Khazanah Research Institute, but do not implicate KRI with the views expressed here.

The post East Asian Lessons for Controlling Covid-19 appeared first on Inter Press Service.

HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal

By HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan, Mar 26 2020 (IPS)

Humankind has outlived multiple pandemics in the course of world history. The kingdoms and states of Central and Western Europe abolished the institution of serfdom once it had become clear that medieval rule in the aftermath of devastating pestilence would founder without ending the dependency and servitude that characterized the Dark Ages. The vulnerability of entire nations to the risk of total collapse in the absence of widespread access to the most basic healthcare in the Spanish Flu spurred governments to build the public health systems that have made the progress and development of the last hundred years possible. If the past is prologue, then continuity and survival command that we change.

We have more often than not banded together in the face of all kinds of threats. In all its ramifications, COVID-19 threatens to push our social, political and economic structures to the brink. Disease, recession and fright can rapidly overwhelm states and societies. Each coming day will bring increasing challenges that can only be met by caring for the sick, minimizing the impact of shutdowns on lives and livelihoods, securing the delivery of adequate water, food and energy supplies, and racing for a cure. Success – as in an asymmetric conflict – rests on resilience. To contain the socio-political and socio-economic fallout from the crisis, policymaking efforts should center on human dignity and welfare as the bedrock of national and international security.

The most vulnerable members of society in some parts of our world are those on the front lines of the crisis: the doctors, nurses, care-givers, pharmacists, sanitation workers, farmers, supermarket cashiers and truck drivers whose courage, sacrifice and dedication will see us through the next 12 to 18 months of expected lockdowns. In the absence of state support, what will happen to the hundreds of thousands of people who have already been laid off, while millions more face looming hardship as the numbers of layoffs grow? Some will continue to ignore the vulnerable and marginalized, those who have least access to humanitarian assistance, while others will continue to exploit them. The calls for social distancing have grown louder and more frequent over the last couple of days, and as we begin to separate from one other we must remember our humanitarian duty to each another.

Security, far from being individual, is collective and global. The current crisis calls for transcendent thinking between politicians on both sides of the aisle. Grey areas in politics in which zero-sum games and the perverse logic of mutually assured destruction proliferate will not protect and promote human dignity and welfare. Conservatives and reformers must now move beyond the tournaments and arm-twisting of politics. The logic of mutually assured survival cannot accept grey areas. If conflict resolution transcends political beliefs, nationality, ethnicity, gender, and religion, then human dignity and welfare is the benchmark of the humanitarian commitment to life.

Reliable brokers in the management of this crisis and other crises do exist as in the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières. Corporate social responsibility requires developing a public platform of health facts so that people-to-people conversations and consultations can be promoted through civil society, the media and educational institutions. We cannot cherry-pick energy and climate change without talking about health or education and human dignity. Migrants and refugees must be an integral part of the national response for halting the spread of the novel coronavirus. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia reports that 55 million people, in West Asia region, require some sort of humanitarian assistance and that the vulnerability of displaced women and girls is especially heightened in a pandemic. Post-conflict insecurity – whether in countries ravaged by war or across the urban centers and countrysides of advanced economies overwhelmed by disease – can only be addressed in the careful terrain mapping of humanitarian access. Yemen, Syria, Gaza and Libya are frighteningly vulnerable to the onslaught of epidemics – what will peace uncover there when the wars end?

Regional insecurity is heightened in the absence of cooperation, but the multilateral system is not at a loss in facing an existential crisis. European solidarity has been sharply damaged by the onset of widespread disease although China is performing through the swift and effective action that has come to the aid of the people and government of Italy. Multilateralism today can only be revisited with a focus on the interdisciplinary priorities of the twenty-first century that include addressing the need for a Law of Peace. We draw humanitarian concessions from the law of war in times of conflict, but have no recourse to legal instruments that can secure the dignity and welfare of all in times of peace.

The current crisis is as much a global health crisis as it is a crisis of the globalization that has come to undermine the foundations of modern society with its rampant inequality and rising injustice and which threatens the very survival of our species with climate change. The planet that we share with other organisms is fragile and prone to crises. A resolution to our predicament will take nothing short of extending the ethic of human solidarity beyond the contours of our immediate response to the outbreak of COVID-19. Real success lies not in the taming of a pathogen or in re-discovering the value of compassion, respect and generosity, but in institutionalizing these values in the days, weeks and months ahead.

 

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By PRESS RELEASE
Mar 25 2020 (IPS-Partners)

A global approach is the only way to fight COVID-19, the UN says as it launches humanitarian response plan

• UN humanitarian chief warns that failing to help vulnerable countries fight the coronavirus now could place millions at risk and leave the virus free to circle back around the globe.
• UN launches US$2 billion global humanitarian response to fight COVID-19 across South America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
• Governments urged to commit to fully supporting the global humanitarian response plan, while sustaining funding to existing humanitarian appeals.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today [Wednesday, 25 March] launched a $2 billion coordinated global humanitarian response plan to fight COVID-19 in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries in a bid to protect millions of people and stop the virus from circling back around the globe.

COVID-19 has killed more than 16,000 people worldwide and there are nearly 400,000 reported cases. It has a foothold across the globe and is now reaching countries that were already facing humanitarian crisis because of conflict, natural disasters and climate change.

The response plan will be implemented by UN agencies, with international NGOs and NGO consortia playing a direct role in the response. It will:

• deliver essential laboratory equipment to test for the virus, and medical supplies to treat people;
• install handwashing stations in camps and settlements;
• launch public information campaigns on how to protect yourself and others from the virus; and
• establish airbridges and hubs across Africa, Asia and Latin America to move humanitarian workers and supplies to where they are needed most.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said:

“COVID-19 is menacing the whole of humanity – and so the whole of humanity must fight back. Individual country responses are not going to be enough.

“We must come to the aid of the ultra-vulnerable – millions upon millions of people who are least able to protect themselves. This is a matter of basic human solidarity. It is also crucial for combating the virus. This is the moment to step up for the vulnerable.”

Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock said:

“COVID-19 has already upended life in some of the world’s wealthiest countries. It is now reaching places where people live in warzones, cannot easily access clean water and soap, and have no hope of a hospital bed if they fall critically ill.

“To leave the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries to their fate would be both cruel and unwise. If we leave coronavirus to spread freely in these places, we would be placing millions at high risk, whole regions will be tipped into chaos and the virus will have the opportunity to circle back around the globe.

“Countries battling the pandemic at home are rightly prioritizing people living in their own communities. But the hard truth is they will be failing to protect their own people if they do not act now to help the poorest countries protect themselves.

“Our priority is to help these countries prepare and continue helping the millions who rely on humanitarian assistance from the UN to survive. Properly funded, our global response effort will equip humanitarian organizations with the tools to fight the virus, save lives, and help contain the spread of COVID-19 worldwide.”

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said:

“The virus is now spreading in countries with weak health systems, including some which are already facing humanitarian crises. These countries need our support – out of solidarity but also to protect us all and help suppress this pandemic. At the same time, we must not fight the pandemic at the expense of the other humanitarian health emergencies.”

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore said:

“Children are the hidden victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns and school closures are affecting their education, mental health and access to basic health services. The risks of exploitation and abuse are higher than ever, for boys and girls alike. For children on the move or living through conflicts, the consequences will be unlike any we have ever seen. We must not let them down.”

At the virtual launch of the COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan, the UN Secretary-General was joined via video link by Mr. Lowcock, Dr Tedros and Ms. Fore.

Together they called on UN Member States to commit to stemming the impact of COVID-19 in vulnerable countries and containing the virus globally by giving the strongest possible support to the plan, while also sustaining core support to existing humanitarian appeals that help the more than 100 million people who already rely on humanitarian assistance from the UN just to survive.

Member States were warned that any diversion of funding from existing humanitarian operations would create an environment in which cholera, measles and meningitis can thrive, in which even more children become malnourished, and in which extremists can take control – an environment that would be the perfect breeding ground for the coronavirus.

To kick-start the response plan, Mr. Lowcock released an additional $60 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). This brings CERF’s support to humanitarian action in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to $75 million. In addition, country-based pooled funds have allocated more than $3 million so far.

This new CERF allocation – one of the largest ever made – will support: WFP to ensure the continuity of supply chains and transport of aid workers and relief goods; WHO to contain the spread of the pandemic; and other agencies to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to those most affected by the pandemic, including women and girls, refugees and internally displaced people. Support will include efforts around food security, physical and mental health, water and sanitation, nutrition and protection.

Notes to editors

1. The COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan will be coordinated by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
2. It brings together requirements from the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), International Organization for Migration (IOM), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UN-Habitat, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Food Programme (WFP).

For further details, please contact:
OCHA New York: Zoe Paxton, + 1 917 297 1542, paxton@un.org
OCHA Geneva: Jens Laerke, +41 79 472 9750, laerke@un.org

The post COVID-19 Global Humanitarian Response Plan appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Felix Dodds and Michael Strauss
NEW YORK, Mar 25 2020 (IPS)

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the planet and the governments of both wealthy and poorer nations overwhelmed by the demands of managing a response, the scheduling of this year’s critical UN Climate Summit is suddenly in doubt.

COP26 (formally, the 26th annual Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change) is planned for Glasgow, Scotland (UK) from 9-20 November. It will be the culmination of five years of negotiations since the historic 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

More than 100 presidents and prime ministers are expected to present their nations’ plans for carrying out the sweeping environmental, economic and energy changes necessary to keep the Earth’s warming to survivable levels.

In all, over 30,000 government delegates, intergovernmental officials and stakeholder representatives are preparing to attend.

The agenda of COP26 is deep and urgent. Besides reporting how they plan to reduce oil, coal and gas production and increase renewable energy to limit global temperature rise to below 2°C (and preferably 1.5°C), governments must agree how to calculate whether each is fulfilling its pledges, what steps to take to deal with those which haven’t, and whether the total reductions agreed to are sufficient to avoid catastrophic climate impacts (so far they’re not).

National leaders will be looking for positive grand visions to pull their people out of pandemic- induced despair. A new American President might be eager to reassert a proactive international role for the US

At Glasgow, governments must also fulfill the  commitment of the $100 billion a year they promised to help developing countries.  Those funds are to cope with the devastating impacts of sea level rise, intense storms, extended droughts, erratic cold and heat waves that have already begun to disproportionately affect poorer nations – and to help shift those nations’ energy production to renewables.

Governments must decide what role private business and the financial sector play in contributing climate funding. And they must approve the so-called ‘Paris Rulebook’ on implementation guidelines for zero emissions and climate resilience by 2050.

Progress on all of these issues is lagging far behind schedule.

Last year’s COP25, in Madrid, was expected to agree on a formula to resolve key issues. Instead it became the longest COP conference ever, failed to resolve virtually any issue, and passing them on to an already pressured COP26.

Meanwhile, the pace of the climate crisis continues to accelerate, with another year of record temperatures, catastrophic hurricanes, and unanticipated rapidly melting glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland. And the public demand for action to meet the urgency escalated as well, led by a resurgent environmental youth movement inspired by Greta Thunberg.

 

The argument for a November meeting

So it would seem more necessary than ever to follow through with the November COP26 schedule.

For a world already decades behind the optimal carbon-reduction calendars suggested by environmentalists in the 1990s, the risks of further delay are huge.  We may already be on the verge of irreversible feedback loops like runaway deforestation in the Amazon, unstoppable desertification in China and the Sahel, massive shifts in thermal ocean currents that moderate the winters in Europe, and decalcification that could crash the populations of the world’s sea life.

With major fossil fuel corporations digging in to avoid action, taking the pressure off governments is an opening to fatal procrastination. As the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has calculated and Ms. Thunberg has tirelessly pointed out, the world only has eight years left in its allowable ‘carbon budget’ if it continues to emit about 42 gigatons of CO2 every year. So drastic reductions are necessary. Now.

 

The argument for postponing COP26

And yet. The world faces a sudden major pandemic that will impact all countries and affect all citizens. Millions will likely become ill and thousands will likely die. The focus of all countries is on containing the COVID 19 virus – as it should be.

Governments everywhere are enacting policies that would never have been imagined. Financial markets are crashing. The US Treasury Department has suggested a potential 20 percent unemployment rate.

Massive restrictions on public movement are being imposed and trillions of dollars in financial stimulus and subsidies are being spent. Public and private scientific expertise is being marshaled to solve medical emergencies.

The responses to the pandemic will impact the negotiations on climate. With only seven weeks to go before a key two week preparatory meeting in Bonn, virtually all flights to Europe are cancelled. It may be only be a matter of weeks before Bonn itself is postponed, or at best conducted virtually – which is a far more cumbersome process.

A second preparatory meeting, which could be expanded to take on the added work load, is planned in early October.  But it is scheduled to meet in Italy. Is it realistic that the Italian government will be sufficiently back to normal in order to host such a session by October?

In this context, it will be extraordinarily difficult for governments to assign the necessary political or economic resources to achieve a successful climate meeting this November.

​Even before the pandemic, it was already going to require exquisite timing, energy and finesse to achieve any degree of success in Glasgow. Besides the pre-negotiation failures, the willful climate obstructionism and catastrophic incompetence of the US government under Donald Trump, plus the self-imposed chaos of Boris Johnson’s Brexit in the UK, have left two of the world’s necessary climate nations nearly immobilized.

The only positive-case political scenario for a November COP would call for Democrats to sweep the US presidency and Senate on November 3 (one day before it becomes official that Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement) and barely a week before the November 9 opening at Glasgow.

Even if that were to happen, Trump would still be in office until January and his policy would prevail. (Indeed, one could visualize a defeated Trump spitefully trying to wreak havoc through obstructionist interventions by his negotiating team.)

And even if everything went well, because of the lack of prepared agreements, the most that could be hoped for from a November COP  is another seemingly ambitious and robust, but in reality a very amorphous Conference declaration on principles and promises.

 

How to postpone but increase momentum

Many respected voices currently arguing against a postponement are understandably concerned that any delay will take the pressure off governments to keep building on their commitments. It’s a valid fear.

The answer is to not take the pressure off governments. Yes, postpone the meeting, but instead of a full COP in November in Glasgow, the parties can schedule an additional special high-level Preparatory Meeting, on those same days in November, in Bonn where the UNFCCC is housed.

Such a special Preparatory-Meeting could resume negotiations working through the backlog of unfinished business from COP25 and the cancelled meetings in 2020. It would still be energized by any positive results from the US elections.

The full COP26 in Glasgow can then be rescheduled in 2021. While it might be possible to schedule it for Spring of 2021, the more realistic and likely option would be to simply move the current sequence of 2020 meetings “June in Bonn. October Rome” to the same calendar in 2021.

When COP26 does then meet in November 2021 the world will presumably have emerged from the coronavirus crisis. Economies will be re-starting, so Finance Ministries will be able to visualize budgets that address climate needs.

National leaders will be looking for positive grand visions to pull their people out of pandemic- induced despair. A new American President might be eager to reassert a proactive international role for the US.

As for the legitimate urgency of climate action, the pandemic might actually have bought the world a little time. The extreme economic slowdown currently projected would mean lower emissions this year of CO2. The carbon clock might be slightly pushed back.

It might also turn out that the concerted international action that eventually succeeds in defeating the pandemic – and the widely respected leadership by the UN’s WHO – provides a model for global cooperation for taking the unprecedented steps necessary to defeat climate change. Governments and individuals may realize that indeed we can successfully take extensive multilateral action when a crisis calls for it.

We’re all living in unprecedented times, and nations and people are sailing through uncharted waters. While it’s by no means certain that the optimistic scenarios above can guarantee success, they’d seem to provide the greatest hope for it.

Nations are now facing two immense and urgent crises. One must and can be dealt with immediately. The second also requires extensive financial resources and exceptional political will, but needs time to produce them.

It is time to re-schedule COP26 to 2021.

 

Felix Dodds has been a policy consultant to United Nations agencies, national governments and stakeholders for 30 years. He was Chair of the UN Conference on Sustainable Societies Responsible Citizens (2011). He was the co-director of the Water and Climate Coalition at the UNFCCC (2007 to 2012) and Co-director of the University of North Carolina’s Nexus Conferences on Climate-Water-Energy-Food (2014 and 2018).

He is the author or editor of 20 books on the environment and intergovernmental negotiations. In 2019 he was a candidate for Executive Director the United Nations Environment Programme.

 

Michael Strauss is Executive Director of Earth Media, a political and media consultancy that advises UN agencies, NGOs and governments on international environmental, development, and social issues. He served as the UN’s Media Coordinator for NGOs, Trade Unions, and Business organizations at the UN Summits on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (2002) and Rio de Janeiro (2012).

The post Is It Time to Postpone the 2020 Climate Summit? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Amnesty International expressed their concern, in light of the United Nations Secretary General’s remarks, about the situation in Yemen, South Sudan, and Syria. A ceasefire would, at least to a limited extent, give countries in conflict a little more room to put aggressive efforts into preparing for the potentially devastating impact of the virus. This dated picture shows a photo of the sprawling settlement of Yida, South Sudan border. Credit: Jared Ferrie/IPS

By Samira Sadeque
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 25 2020 (IPS)

Conflict experts are concerned the the global ceasefire called for by the United Nations amid the coronavirus outbreak may not work and could lead to a rise in violence.

Coronavirus or COVID-19 continues spreading, having passed 400,000 cases globally and claiming more than 17,000 deaths. Countries around the world are putting in measures to ensure they can contain the disease. Many countries such as Canada, United States, and Kenya have closed their borders to non-citizens and/or non-essential travels.

On Monday, the U.N. secretary general António Guterres appealed for a global ceasefire.

“This is crucial,” he said, “to help create corridors for life-saving aid, to open precious windows for diplomacy, to bring hope to places among the most vulnerable to COVID-19.”

• Last week, the U.N. Refugee Agency and the U.N. Migration Agency, the International Organisation of Migration or IOM, announced that they are “suspending resettlement departures for refugees.” 
• This was especially of urgency as the disease continues to spread with people in transit, and would thus risk refugees in transit, according to the spokesperson’s office. 

Guterres further called attention to the fact that “the most vulnerable — women and children, people with disabilities, the marginalised and the displaced — pay the highest price” in times of armed conflict, combined with a global health crisis.

Experts have noted this concern as well. 

Joanne Mariner, senior crisis response adviser at Amnesty International, says they’re monitoring the gender aspect of the pandemic and how it can disproportionately affect women and girls. 

“Female-headed households, for example, often make up a sizeable proportion of refugee communities, and may be particularly hard hit,” she told IPS. “Many women, including migrant domestic workers, face the possibility of being unprotected caregivers; they also may be at higher risk of losing their jobs.”

It’s thus crucial to encourage countries from further advancing any form of oppression upon others. But what would this kind of ceasefire mean for the countries ravaged by war and conflict as they deal with threats of coronavirus?  

Professor Clionadh Raleigh, executive director of Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) says there are layers to this issue. 

“The ceasefire is a great initiative and while I certainly hope it works, the data suggests otherwise,” she told IPS. “I also expect that mob violence and xenophobia will rise.”

She pointed out that there are some armed groups who are capitalising on this opportunity, such as the Islamic State hoping to profit out of it. 

“There are…other indications that some groups will try to deal with this through unorthodox means (like kidnapping doctors),” she said. 

Meanwhile, Amnesty International expressed their concern, in light of the Secretary General’s remarks, about the situation in Yemen, South Sudan, and Syria. A ceasefire would, at least to a limited extent, give countries in conflict a little more room to put aggressive efforts into preparing for the potentially devastating impact of the virus.

“Displaced persons, fleeing conflict, often live in crowded and unsanitary camps, in which social distancing is very difficult if not impossible, and which clean water may be in short supply,” Mariner of Amnesty, told IPS.

Furthermore, many of these countries caught in conflict have healthcare systems that require a lot of improvement. 

“The health care infrastructure in countries facing armed conflict is often extremely weak, particularly when, as in Syria, hospitals have been bombed and doctors killed,” says Amnesty’s Mariner.

Meanwhile, there are different types of conflict that can arise as a result of the pandemic itself, according to a report by ACLED launched last week. 

“Governments may also rely on alternative forces to impose restrictions, and in doing so, increase the use of repressive violence,” reads a part of the report, which also includes other kinds of violence or conflict such as gang violence arising out of the financial instability that the world is witnessing. 

“If income from these means is reduced, it is possible that crime and looting will increase in areas of Central and South America,” says the report. 

To halt a conflict or enforce a ceasefire can be a complicated process, so it’s only a matter of time to see if it will be enforced. However, as per the experts’ analyses, global leaders will likely need to also combat how to address the violence that is arising out of coronavirus.

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Credit: WHO/ F. Tanggol.

By External Source
Mar 25 2020 (IPS)

Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV pose a significant burden on South Africa’s health system. There’s a close relationship between the two. About 60% of TB patients are also HIV-positive. The novel coronavirus (Sars-CoV-2) is likely to be of particular concern for communities with high rates of TB and HIV.

Sars-CoV-2 and its resulting disease (COVID-19) haven’t been fully researched and understood yet. But speculation based on the behaviour of other viruses and chronic illnesses raises concerns that HIV and TB patients may have a higher risk of developing severe disease. Emily Wong answers some questions.

 

Are people with TB more susceptible to infection with SARS-COV-2?

From the Chinese experience, we have seen that people with chronic lung disease are more likely to have increased severity of COVID-19. On that basis, we are concerned that people with undiagnosed active TB, or people currently undergoing treatment for TB, may have increased risk of developing more severe COVID-19 disease if they become infected with SARS-COV-2

SARS-COV-2’s primary target is the lungs where it causes inflammation in the delicate tissues that usually allow oxygen to transfer into blood. In mild cases, COVID-19 can just cause a cough, but in severe cases the lungs can fill with inflammation and fluid making it very difficult for them to provide adequate oxygen to the rest of the body. In people who are otherwise healthy, most cases of COVID-19 are mild or moderate.

At this time, I’m not aware of any data that directly address whether TB makes people more susceptible to COVID-19. But from the Chinese experience, we have seen that people with chronic lung disease are more likely to have increased severity of COVID-19. On that basis, we are concerned that people with undiagnosed active TB, or people currently undergoing treatment for TB, may have increased risk of developing more severe COVID-19 disease if they become infected with SARS-COV-2.

There is also increasing recognition that post-TB chronic lung disease can be an important long-term consequence of TB. We are concerned that this could also affect COVID-19 severity. After TB, people can get bronchiectasis – chronic damage to the airways of the lung. This can predispose them to other lung infections. Another lung condition – chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – can be caused by tobacco use or by the changes left in the lung after TB.

Even though there’s no data about the effect of post-TB lung disease on COVID-19 at this point, we are concerned that people who have had TB in the past – and have been left with some lung damage – may have a more difficult and severe time with COVID-19.

 

What about people infected with HIV?

There is also very little data to guide us here. But we know that in general HIV infection has profound effects on lung health and immunity. This is why HIV infection increases susceptibility to both Mycobacterium Tuberculosis (Mtb) – the bacterium that causes TB – infection and TB disease. We are therefore concerned that HIV infection may also affect SARS-COV-2 infection and COVID-19 severity.

But most experts think that people who are on antiretroviral therapy and whose viral loads are suppressed will probably have a better time with COVID-19 than people who aren’t. It is very important that people keep taking their HIV medications throughout any disruptions caused by the current COVID-19 epidemic.

 

What will the impact of the SARS-COV-2 epidemic be on TB and HIV services in South Africa?

This is a major concern. Even countries with better resourced national health systems have rapidly become overwhelmed as the COVID-19 epidemic hits.

South Africa has the world’s largest antiretroviral programme. Huge progress has been made. Even in KwaZulu-Natal, the epicentre of the HIV epidemic in South Africa, new HIV infection rates have been dropping. This is because of tremendous efforts to test people and to put people on antiretroviral treatment in a sustained way. Other factors have included national programmes like voluntary medical male circumcision.

The country has also started to see a decline in TB rates. We think this is related to improvements in the HIV treatment coverage. This is good news. But it’s the result of massive public health programmes that have taken a huge amount of time and effort to set up and optimise. And they’re still challenged by shortages of human and system resources.

We are very concerned about the impact that COVID-19 epidemic could have on HIV and TB services.

Thought is already going into how to try to maintain these critical HIV and TB services. In light of an impending health crisis, attention is on how to maintain sustained access to HIV and TB care. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the South African HIV Clinicians Society are trying to address this. For example, they are urging the health system to make six months of antiretrovirals available to people to save them from having to visit their clinics every month.

 

Are there extra precautions that individuals with TB and TB/HIV can take?

It’s very important that people ensure a supply of their HIV and TB medications and take them regularly.

At this point all South Africans should be heeding the call made by the President to focus on the basic hygiene interventions such as frequent hand-washing as well as implementing social distancing to the maximum extent. That means avoiding contact with groups of people outside of households, and staying home strictly.

All of these measures are extremely important, whether someone is personally at higher risk of severe infection, or for people who may not personally be at risk of more severe disease but may have a family member who’s older or HIV-positive or a neighbour who falls into any of those categories.

At this point the national recommendations apply to everyone. All South Africans need to take them very, very seriously because millions of people are immuno-supressed due to HIV or have some lung compromise due to prior TB infection.

 

Will any of the research on vaccines in South Africa be useful in the search for a COVID-19 vaccine?

The fact that South Africa has robust vaccine trial infrastructure for both TB and HIV is undoubtedly to its advantage when it comes to thinking about COVID-19 vaccine development. There are already candidate COVID-19 vaccines in human testing.

The company Moderna in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the US have started clinical trials of an mRNA vaccine candidate. Other candidates are also under development.

When these are ready for larger scale human testing, the global scientific community will almost certainly use existing vaccine trial networks to do this testing. Because of both HIV and TB research efforts to date, South Africa is very well represented.

Emily Wong, Faculty Member, Africa Health Research Institute, University of KwaZulu-Natal

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Credit: Religions for Peace/RfP2020

By Prof. Azza Karam
NEW YORK, Mar 25 2020 (IPS)

I was able to take office as the secretary general to the largest global interfaith organization – Religions for Peace – with interreligious councils (IRCs) composed of senior-most religious leaders representing their religious institutions, in 90 countries, and 6 regional IRCs, a week before we had to ask all employees to work from home, in compliance with New York State law.

As a person who feels functional with direct and open communication, where I can get a sense of the person (or persons) I am talking with, having to take leadership over an office of people I can no longer be with, feels a little like trying to run with legs tied together. It can be done, but it is tough.

And this is now the new normal, not only in the US, but everywhere in the world. For the first time in recorded human history, coming together – even within and among nuclear families – is a dangerous option, literally done at the risk of health and lives.

Thanks to more and more governmental regulations designed to ‘flatten the curve’ of a deadly and racing rate of Covid-19 infections, ‘social distancing’ is identified as the only viable option until a vaccine can be developed and given. Social distancing literally means not being in the presence of one another.

In the last decade, several functionaries around the world were learning to communicate via many electronic means, which enabled us to ‘see’ each other, while being thousands of miles apart.

Some institutions were trying to move to reducing carbon footprint from travel, by hosting more and more meetings/conferences/presentations on-line.

Prof. Azza Karam. Credit: United Nations

But this was occasionally done. And it bears mention that when this was done, the sense was invariably colored by some dissatisfaction for those of us who appreciate actually being in the same space with those whom we can see and speak with.

Most theories of communication insist that nothing can replace being together and seeing one another face-to-face – even corridor talk can often make the difference between a peace deal and a continuing war.

This hampering of our ability to be in the presence of one another on a regular basis will definitely contribute to changing the world forever.

As businesses, finance, all levels of education, civic action, religious services, governance, intergovernmental affairs – almost every profession including even many forms of health care – now moves irrevocably to almost total and complete reliance on virtual communication, our words will matter more than ever.

What we say, the words we choose and use, and how we use them, will matter even more than they already did. And they already matter plenty, as increasing norms around “email etiquette” also testify for instance.

Use of words by political and religious leaders in particular, already make a big difference to the perception of impact and capacity. Some politicians are under heavy criticism for how they are reacting to the Covid-19 crises. Few are praised.

Credit: Religions for Peace/RfP2020

These perceptions are not only based on the laws and regulations being put in place (and when or how these happen). A great deal of value is also placed on the words used.

Words have an impact on human consciousness, something scientists have long studied, and many researchers and health services are committed to. Articulation and eloquence have long defined culture.

And ‘having a way with words’ is a way of either praising special capacity – or bemoaning ‘spin’. Words, and how they are used, is a large part of what many bemoan as ‘fake news’.

So, we know that words matter. Now that we move into virtual communication for everything from trade to learning, from industry to worship, words will matter more than ever.

It is time to learn how to speak with mercy, how to raise interest and make deals with words, how to speak truth to power, heal wounds, raise alerts, voice concerns, convince and impact, even how to show deep love, all with words.

Faith – in anything, from a government and political leader, to a policy, to public advocacy, to all manner of relationships – will have to be elucidated and demonstrated through the word. Never before, have words mattered to so many at all times.

Time to pay attention, therefore, to how we use the word. Time to listen, and to learn, from some of those who come from the oldest professions of using and understanding and translating the word.

Faith leaders themselves are learning to communicate to their communities and congregations, manage worship, very differently – but still very much rooted in the word.

This is why Religions for Peace has issued a call to all faith leaders from all traditions, ages, regions, and identities, to raise their voice in prayers for and with one another, and to share narratives and stories of love in times of Covid.

For it is time for the kind words to overflow to express love and realise healing for this earth and for one another. As we gaze upon this world, we recognize we have to contribute to new beginnings for all life. And in the beginning was the word.

And regardless of where we stand or what mission we serve, the word now has to be love/mercy/compassion/dignity for all life. This is the change we must realise to survive, and in Maya Angelou’s words, to thrive.

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Excerpt:

Prof. Azza Karam is Secretary General, Religions for Peace International

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Getting the measure of water in a southern Indian village. Credit: Stella Paul/IPS.

By Daud Khan
ROME, Mar 24 2020 (IPS)

Most developing countries have good policies, programmes and projects in place. Many of these have been prepared with assistance from development partners or international financing institutions such as the World Bank, the regional development banks, the UN agencies or bilateral aid agencies.

Most of these are of high quality and have gone through intensive review and quality control.  The major challenge is to effectively implement these policies, programmes and projects. Unfortunately this does not often happen and leads to huge lost opportunities. This is particularly the case in the poorest countries, many of which are conflict affected. 

To improve things, there are three major problems which need to be addressed: Political Will, Technical Efficiency and, what I call, Last Mile Issues. 

Little is likely to improve unless there is Political Will at the highest levels of Government to raise incomes across the board, and not just for the few who have political power; address poverty and improve food and nutrition security. 

Very often at international meetings and conferences it is often the delegates from the poorest countries that stay in the most expensive hotels, wear the most expensive clothes, and are driven to the meeting in the most expensive cars. Surely some “shaming” would be in order
 
The principal reason why this does not happen is capture of political and economic power by small groups of people, who then misappropriate funds meant for projects and programmes, or put in place policies which directly benefit them.  Very often the money thus stolen is transferred to banks in developed countries.  

Can anything be done in such a situation?  Possibly very little. But there may be a few actions by the international community that might help. 

More openness on the part of banks in developed countries about large deposits from developing countries – known for their lack of transparency – might help. 

Another could be to better link international processes, such as prosecutions at the International Criminal Court, with financial sanctions such as blocking of bank accounts of those under trial or sentenced.

Yet another, which would be effective, but politically difficult, is to “name and shame” the worst offenders in international fora such as at the United Nations. Very often at international meetings and conferences it is often the delegates from the poorest countries that stay in the most expensive hotels, wear the most expensive clothes, and are driven to the meeting in the most expensive cars. Surely some “shaming” would be in order. 

The next set of problems relate to Technical Efficiency.  Getting projects and programmes implemented requires effective and transparent management; good monitoring systems; and an accountability system that holds people responsible for reaching well-defined milestones.

These relatively simple and well understood management practices are spelt out in most project and programme documents. Usually ample financial provisions are made for these actions and for associated ICT systems.

However, in practice, getting effective implementation is very difficult.  Good implementation means constantly making decisions, frequent mid-course corrections, and, above all, taking risks which range from financial to reputational to operational.  

Most development projects and programmes are implemented by salaried public employees.  For many of them working as a project or programme manager is only one step in a long career which tends to be highly competitive – not so much in terms of rank or salary, but in terms of getting prestigious assignments. 

In such an environment reputation is critical and officers tend to be highly risk averse. Far better to miss a project milestone than break a bureaucratic rule, or take action against a non-performing but politically connected team member. 

Solutions?  Well it is difficult but there are a few. One is subcontract the entire work to a private company.  At times this works well, especially in large infrastructure projects where performance and milestones are relatively easy to define; and where foreign funding and companies are involved, which make them less subject to political interference.

In other cases it may be possible to bring in managers from the private sector but often bureaucrats tend to obstruct, or at times even actively sabotage, their work.   A relatively recent innovation is to set up “Delivery Units” – a small dedicated group of highly-skilled people assigned to help a set of projects of programmes achieve their objectives.

Their focus is on data-led decision making and they typically report directly to senior management, proposing solutions to untangle barriers. Staff for these units is usually recruited from among mid-career professionals working in the private sector on a contract basis.

These units work best when reporting to a strong senior management team which has decision making powers and is above bureaucratic infighting.  

Last, but by no means least, are the “Last Mile Issues”.  This refers to the challenge of making the connection between the lowest levels of project or programmes activities, and the individual households and communities who are the final targets of development work.

Thus a Government irrigation project may take water down to village level but then the water needs to get to individual fields. This requires famers to invest in local water conveyance and control systems, and create and manage water distribution schedules.

Similarly, a credit programme may enhance the supply of funds to the local bank branch, which may be a district or commune level. But then potential borrowers will need to be informed and, if they are unfamiliar with banking procedures, provided help to complete the necessary paperwork and chose the financing package best suited to their needs.  

There have been many attempts to address such last mile issues.  These include efforts by NGOs to build community organizations; efforts by Governments to extend the outreach of public institutions and initiatives; and, most recently, efforts by the corporate sector, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. 

All three approaches have had their success and failures. Their impact could be improved if NGOs, governments and the corporate sector talked more to each other about learning from these successes and failures and to seek synergies. 

Government programmes would certainly benefit from the social capital built up by NGOs and the management systems of the corporate sector.  NGOs would be more accountable if a greater proportion of their funding was channelled through Government and if they conducted the audits and financial and effectives reviews that are commonplace in large companies.

Similarly, the corporate sector’s CSR efforts would be more leveraged if they were to draw on Government staff, buildings and other facilities already existing in the areas where they work and on the community organizations developed by the NGOs.  

 

Daud Khan is a retired UN staff who lives partly in Rome and partly in Pakistan. He has degrees in economics from the LSE and Oxford – where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from the Imperial College of Science and Technology.

 

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ICPD awareness-raising campaigns in rural Tadjourah and Ali Sabieh in Djibouti, organised by the Parliamentary Group of Population and Development (PGPD). Courtesy: PGPD.

By Mantoe Phakathi
MBABANE, Mar 24 2020 (IPS)

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is still widely practised in the African country of Djibouti. Despite efforts by the government and development agencies to curb this practice, culture, tradition and religion continue to slow down progress.

According to Hassan Omar Mohamed, a Member of Parliament from the Djibouti House of Assembly, FGM is a deeply-rooted practice that has stood the test of time.

• The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) describes FGM as a practice that involves altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons.  It is internationally recognised as a human rights violation.
• Globally, it is estimated that 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM. UNFPA states that, although FGM is declining in the majority of countries where it is prevalent, most of these are also experiencing a high rate of population growth – meaning that the number of girls who undergo FGM will continue to grow if efforts are not significantly scaled up.

Latest data from UNFPA and UNICEF reveal that 78 percent of women and girls in Djibouti are still subjected to FGM. 

In November, United Nations member states gathered in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to renew a promise made 25 years ago to end harmful practices against women and girls including FGM.

It is for that reason that the Government of Djibouti has intensified awareness-raising efforts, which has resulted in reduced FGM cases, although the practice continues.

“Education and training are the means which facilitate the change of behaviour,” said Omar Mohamed, adding that the change of attitude will lead to the total abandonment of the practice.

Djibouti participated at the Nairobi Summit and made resolutions following the 25th International Conference on Population Development (ICPD25) commitments in fulfilling Goal 5 of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG 5 calls upon countries to achieve gender equality and women empowerment by 2030.

As a result, in 2019 Djibouti created the Parliamentary Group of Population and Development (PGPD) – an eight-member formation of four men and an equal number of women MPs – to which Omar Mohamed is the president.

Its objective is to contribute to the promotion and protection of the fundamental rights of populations; promote access to education, health, family planning and to encourage the full implementation of the programme of action of the ICPD.

Besides, in February, the PGPD organised an interregional conference on the follow-up of the ICPD25 that brought together parliamentarians from African and Arab countries.

“It was an opportunity for parliamentarians to interact and cooperate with their colleagues on issues related to the engagement of the Nairobi Summit,” he said. They discussed family planning and violence against women and girls and developed a roadmap for implementing ICPD25 commitments.

Moreover, the Government of Djibouti has adopted, signed and ratified the following international instruments that contribute to the eradication of FGM.  These include:

•  The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women;
•  The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women; and,
• The Additional Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women (Maputo Protocol).
• To harmonise international commitments on ICPD the Government of Djibouti developed a five-year National Strategy for the Abandonment of FGM.

“The main objective of this strategy was to promote the total abandonment of FGM by respecting physical integrity and promoting the health of women and girls,” said Omar Mohamed.

UNFPA has also supported several ICPD activities in Djibouti, including updating the Sexual and Reproductive Health Essential Package Protocol to include FGM and established a mobile anti-FGM brigade.

The government also has strengthened its domestic law to protect women and prohibit any physical violation.

Omar Mohamed noted that considering that ICPD issues are part of the SDGs which are interlinked, there is a great commitment to meet the targets by 2030.

However, socio-economic challenges that slow down progress which include massive unemployment, inequality and the rise of extremism remain a stumbling block.

“To counter all the challenges that arise, economic and institutional reforms are needed to support and respect the SDGs and the commitments made within the framework of the ICPD process,” he said.

The government has produced a national strategy to respond to the socio-economic challenges that hinder the country’s progress towards achieving the SDGs.   

Related Articles

• India and Japan’s MPs Act Quickly to Implement Sexual and Reproductive Health Plans after ICPD25
• Asian & Arab Parliamentarians to Move Forward on Reproductive Health & Gender Empowerment

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On March 2020, over 330 students, women champions, government officials, NGO members and community members from around Kampot and Kep gathered in an effort to plant 3,000 mangroves and conserve Cambodia’s coastline. The local activity took place as part of a larger mangrove planting and marine exhibition under Action Aid’s 100,000 Mangroves campaign, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the project ‘Strengthening Climate Information and Early Warning Systems in Cambodia’. The campaign aims to plan 100,000 mangroves in eight community fisheries by May 2020, and raise awareness of the importance of marine ecosystems. Credit: ManuthButh/UNDP Cambodia

By Claudia Ituarte-Lima
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, Mar 24 2020 (IPS)

We are living in a critical time. As we face existential environmental challenges from climate crises to the mass extinction of species, it is difficult sometimes to see solutions and new ideas. This is why we all need to celebrate and give visibility to creative and courageous efforts of people and organizations striving towards a healthy planet for all.

I write today about the key role played by National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) in the Global South in our collective fight against climate change. The time has come to empower NHRIs.

Their unique position mandated by law yet independent from the government can make an urgent needed bridge between legal and policy advances, and ground-up efforts such as youth and women movements, thereby contributing to the enjoyment of the right to a healthy environment.

I have recently had the chance of learning real-world success stories by brave NHRIs working in some of the most challenging contexts. While being a member of the facilitators’ team of a series of webinars* for technical staff and decision-makers working in NHRIs and prior face-to-face interaction with them, it became crystal clear that strengthening the skills and capacities of NHRIs can contribute positive outcomes for both human rights and the environment.

In Mongolia, for instance, the NHRI with the support of civil society organizations and environmental researchers has recently developed a draft law for safeguarding the rights of environmental defenders.

The NHRIs have also intervened in a variety of sectoral issues from pesticides and agriculture in Costa Rica, to mining in South Africa and the connections between coal mining and transportation in Mongolia. The Morocco NHRI has prompted other African NHRIs and civil society organizations to actively participate in international climate negotiations.

Business and human rights was a key issue raised by our NHRIs colleagues.

Nazia, 38, proudly shows off her home-grown tomatoes in Nadirabad village, Pakistan. She participated in kitchen gardening training offered under the joint UNDP-EU Refugee Affected and Host Areas (RAHA) Programme in Pakistan. Credit: UNDP Pakistan

The significant legal, institutional and financial obstacles that national duty bearers face to investigate transnational corporations and their responsibilities concerning their impacts to a safe climate has not proved insurmountable for NHRIs.

The Philippine’s NHRI has a mandate to promote human rights which, creatively interpreted, allowed it to investigate the climate change and human rights nexus beyond its national borders.

The systemic nature of climate change justified a national inquiry rather than a field visit. Because climate change is an existential issue not only to Filipino people but globally, the Philippines national inquiry on climate change turned into an inquiry with strong global dimensions.

It included public hearings in the Philippines, New York and London, virtual hearings and expert advice from the former UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and environment, academics from different parts of the world and the Asia-Pacific regional network of NHRIs.

A major comparative advantage presented by the NHRIs is their unique position in working hand in hand with right holders in addressing environmental – human rights gaps facing the most vulnerable populations.

Costa Rica NHRI has found, for instance, that women, girls, men and boys and elder living in coastal areas become especially vulnerable to climate change because their access to clean drinking water and fish become scarce.

The South African NHRI together with food sovereignty civil society organizations has developed a draft climate charter, to be presented to the parliament, with a more holistic approach to the current climate policy.

In recent years, the awareness of the linkages between human rights and climate change has greatly increased. The legal recognition of the right to a healthy environment in more than 150 countries, together with judicial decisions, and academic studies on the safe climate dimension of this right has grown rapidly. NHRIs can be instrumental in translating them into results and action, including under difficult circumstances.

Their role in advising duty bearers, working together with right-holders helps to understand and act upon systemic environmental challenges. Their synergies with environmental human rights defenders can also contribute to more effective investigation and advocacy, not least in the context of informal and unregulated business activities where it is especially difficult to collect data and hold businesses accountable.

Time has come for the international community to do more to support NHRIs in the Global South, a key player often overlooked in climate and biodiversity talks, debates and funding. Due to the intrinsic connections between human rights and environment, the NHRIs need to be further supported to perform their innovative roles in safeguarding life-support systems at various jurisdictional scales, including advocating for the global recognition of the right to a healthy environment by the United Nations.

* The series was organized by the Global Alliance for National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), UNDP, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and UN Environment. A final report with key messages from the webinar series is available on the UNDP website.

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Excerpt:

Claudia Ituarte-Lima, Stockholm University, Sweden and University of British Columbia, Canada

 

Claudia Ituarte-Lima is researcher on international environmental law at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and affiliated senior researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. She is currently a visiting researcher at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability, University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD from the University College London and a MPhil from the University of Cambridge.

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