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Martin Luther King Jr. rightly identified health inequity as the worst form of social injustice. Credit: bswise

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
WASHINGTON DC, Jan 20 2025 (IPS)

Every year, January 20 is celebrated as Martin Luther King Jr. Day. He was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement who fought for equality and justice, especially for Black people, through peaceful protests and powerful speeches. The day is observed annually on the third Monday of January, close to his birthday on January 15. It is a time to remember his work, reflect on his message of fairness and nonviolence, and engage in acts of service to help others in our communities.

As a global health equity advocate, MLK Day holds special significance for me as a day to remember him as a health equity champion. He rightly identified health inequity as the worst form of social injustice. In his 1966 speech at the Second National Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights, MLK stated, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and inhuman”. I couldn’t agree more.

Globally, health inequities are numerous and mostly preventable. Neglected Tropical Diseases, maternal deaths, and malnutrition vividly reflect the global health injustices MLK foresaw

Growing up in Nigeria as a high school student in the 1980s, I was introduced to MLK through reading editions of Ebony magazine. I remember with nostalgia how I walked to roadside book sellers to buy old copies of the magazine.

These magazines introduced me to Black American social justice debates, including the works of MLK and Thurgood Marshall. It was an opportunity to connect spiritually with Africans in the diaspora – Black Americans – and their struggles. What struck me most as a child was MLK’s nonviolent demand for racial justice.

After high school, I went on to medical school in Nigeria to begin my training as a doctor. By the time I graduated in 1998, it was clear to me that patients’ rights must be respected in healthcare delivery. As health workers, we must prioritize preventive care while providing the care our patients need.

At the time, I did not know the right term for my convictions. Decades into my work in global health, I came to understand the term for my beliefs: health equity. In 2018, I delivered my first TEDx talk titled “Without Health We Have Nothing”. This is why MLK’s assertion that health injustice is the worst form of inequality resonates deeply with me. Healthcare – or its absence – is truly a matter of life and death.

Globally, health inequities are numerous and mostly preventable. Neglected Tropical Diseases, maternal deaths, and malnutrition vividly reflect the global health injustices MLK foresaw.

 

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Want to see a perfect example of diseases that disproportionately affect poor people? Look no further than Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). These diseases affect 1.6 billion people globally, primarily in Africa and Asia. Many people do not realize some, like those mentioned in the Bible, still exist today.

A prime example is leprosy – a slow-growing bacterial infection that affects the skin, nerves, and sometimes the eyes and nose. Surprisingly, in 2024, the U.S. saw a significant rise in leprosy cases, particularly in the southeastern region, with central Florida identified as a hotspot.

Data reveals that approximately 34% of new cases reported between 2015 and 2020 were locally acquired. Without treatment, leprosy causes numb patches and potential deformities. Fortunately, leprosy is completely curable with antibiotics when caught early.

Other NTDs include river blindness, trachoma, and noma. Noma, in particular, is heartbreaking – it predominantly affects children between and six years who are malnourished, live in unhygienic conditions, or have weak immune systems.

Noma starts as a sore in the mouth but can destroy facial tissues, leaving severe deformities if untreated. Proper hygiene, nutrition, and healthcare can prevent noma, but it remains a reality in the poorest parts of the world.

 

Maternal Mortality

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) captures the essence of safe motherhood with its statement: “No woman should die while giving life”. Tragically, for many women in low- and middle-income countries, and even wealthier nations, this isn’t the case.

In Nigeria alone, over 80,000 women die annually during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly afterward. A professor once likened Nigeria’s high maternal mortality to filling a commercial jet with pregnant women every day and letting it crash – a haunting image. This huge injustice should not be allowed to continue.

In contrast, the United States of America has a higher maternal mortality rate compared to other wealthy countries, largely due to the disproportionately high maternal death rate among Black women. Black women are still 2 to 3 times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than White women, regardless of their education level or socioeconomic status.

The solutions to stopping maternal deaths are not rocket science. Prenatal care must identify high-risk pregnancies, and women need access to proper nutrition to reduce the risks of postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal deaths. With proper planning and preparation, including access to cesarean sections and emergency services, these deaths are preventable. Addressing these gaps would save countless lives.

 

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a double-edged sword – it manifests as undernutrition (not enough nutrients) or overnutrition (eating too much). Both forms can be deadly, especially for children under five. Undernourished children fail to grow properly (wasting) and suffer impaired brain development, leading to stunting.

Globally, 22% of children are stunted, with 90% of cases occurring in Africa and Asia. On the other hand, overnutrition causes obesity, increasing the risk of non-communicable diseases like diabetes.

The solutions are simple: Support mothers to breastfeed exclusively for six months, educate communities on using affordable, local foods to prepare nutritious meals, and invest in school feeding programs. These steps would dramatically reduce malnutrition’s toll.

MLK’s vision for health justice shapes my global health equity journey. On MLK Day, let us reflect on global health injustices and commit to ending them. Identify one health issue you are passionate about and take meaningful action to address it.

MLK was right – health injustice is the worst form of inequality because without health we have nothing.

Happy MLK Day!

Dr. Ifeanyi M. Nsofor, a public-health physician, global health equity advocate and behavioral-science researcher, serves on the Global Fellows Advisory Board at the Atlantic Institute, Oxford, United Kingdom. You can follow him @Ifeanyi Nsofor, MD on LinkedIn

A 30-foot- high monument entitled Turn off the plastics tap by Canadian activist and artist Benjamin von Wong was exhibited at the UN Environment Assembly in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2022. Credit: UNEP/Cyril Villemain

By Simone Galimberti
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan 20 2025 (IPS)

The last few weeks of 2024 were a disappointment for those who strongly believed that planet Earth is in need of bold actions.

First, there were the frustration stemming from what could be defined at minimum as unconvincing outcomes of both COP 16 on Biodiversity and COP 29 on Climate.

Then all hope was resting on a successful conclusion of the 5th and final round of negotiations held in Busan to reduce plastic pollutions, at the Inter-governmental Negotiating Committee INC-5. (25 November -1 December 2024)

Instead also in this case, at the end, it was a letdown because no consensus had emerged on some of the key elements of the negotiations. Yet, flopping this more gloomy and dark view, I am learning that activists for a strong treaty are not giving up.

They are not ready to concede defeat and, rightly so. The fight must go on.

At least at Busan, the gap between the parties involved in the discussions came at the fore, providing clarity on their own desired outcomes, this time, each showing their cards, without hesitancy. On the one hand, a diverse coalition of more progressive nations.

Within it, both members of the Global South and a part of the Global North worked very hard to press for the best possible outcome, a treaty that would also include targets to reduce plastic production, especially the most nefarious type of it.

On the other hand, governments representing strong petro-chemical establishments had the overt mission to trample and block any attempts of reducing plastic production. Their mantras were conveniently focused on recycling and circularity as the best remedy to reduce plastic pollution.

To have a better assessment of INC-5, I approached the Plastic Pollution Coalition, a US civil society organization advocating an ambitious treaty. The group has also pressurized Washington to take a bolder stance in the fight against plastic pollution.

The resulting conversation with members of the Coalition, carried out via e-mails, was also an opportunity to identify the next goalposts for future negotiations and what scenarios might emerge in the months ahead.

They key messages are that, despite the final outcomes of the negotiations were not what many had hoped for, those, who want bold actions towards reducing plastic pollution, should not despair.

First of all, my interest was on assessing the level of disillusionment among activists advocating for a strong and ambitious treaty.

“Plastic pollutes throughout its existence, and a strong globally binding treaty is critical for a healthy future for humanity. While we are disappointed with the outcome of INC-5—little to no progress on the treaty text—we remain hopeful and are very inspired by the growing collaboration and efforts of a majority of ambitious countries” said Dianna Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO of the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

The commitment from the members of the Coalition is not diminished but rather it is growing ad with it also a sense of optimism.

“The fight is far from over. Talks will resume in 2025, and Plastic Pollution Coalition and allies continue to call on the US government to adopt a stronger position in the treaty negotiations” said Jen Fela, Vice President, Programs and Communications at the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

“The work won’t be easy. While necessary to protect the planet and human health, there will likely be even less support for a strong and legally binding global treaty by the incoming US administration”.

“The good news is that the talks in Busan demonstrated that more and more countries are willing to be bold and tell the world to get on board with what UN Environment Programme Executive Director Inger Andersen called a ‘once-in-a-planet opportunity’ for a treaty that will end the plastics age once and for all”, Fela further stressed.

But what next? Balancing realism with ambition, what activists should aim in the next negotiations?

“We will keep pushing for a treaty that caps plastic production and prioritizes health, centers frontline and fence-line communities, acknowledges the rights of Indigenous Peoples and rights holders, restricts problematic plastic products and chemicals of concern, and supports non-toxic reuse systems”, Cohen, the Co-Founder and CEO of the Coalition told me.

“We are proud to stand with our incredible community of allies and continue our work toward a more just, equitable, regenerative world free of plastic pollution and its toxic impacts”,

Indeed, signs of hope are not misplaced”.

“Despite Member States being unable to reach a deal at INC-5, there was promising ambition and growing collaboration among the majority of countries, and we’re hopeful for the additional round of talks at INC-5.2 next year”, she further added.

“Ultimately, a delay is better than settling for a weak agreement that fails to meaningfully address the problem now, and the silver lining is that in the meantime, we can gain even more support for a strong treaty that cuts plastic pollution”.

Moreover, it is important to remember that despite there was no agreement, a new consensus is emerging.

“Despite pressure from a handful of petrostates, the majority of countries are rallying together for a strong treaty, with more than 100 countries backing Panama’s proposal to reduce plastic production, 95 supporting legally binding targets to regulate harmful chemicals, and over 120 nations calling for a treaty with robust implementation measures” reads a summary of INC-5 published by the Coalition.

A new coalition got cemented in Busan with countries like Panama and Rwanda working with European nations and others in the so called High Ambition Coalition to end Plastic Pollution.

I also wanted to better understand the key elements that can either make a future treaty at least acceptable for those advocating for plastic reductions and which are the “red lines” for them.

“Signs of a weak Plastics Treaty include voluntary measures to address plastic pollution, failure to commit to a significant global reduction in the total production of plastics, failing to identify and cease production of “chemicals of concern” known to harm frontline communities—a major environmental justice issue, a focus on recycling plastic as a solution, and omitting a full and strong range of actions that address plastic pollution throughout its endless toxic existence—from the extraction of its fossil fuel ingredients through plastic and plastic chemical production, shipping, use, and disposal” explained Erica Cirino, Communication Manager at the Coalition.

“The key is a mandated and significant reduction in plastic and plastic chemical production”.

“Signs of a strong treaty include mandatory caps on plastic and plastic chemical production, identification and further regulation of especially hazardous chemicals of concern, and including a full and strong range of actions that work to end plastic pollution throughout its endless toxic existence, starting with the extraction of its fossil fuel ingredients through plastic and plastic chemical production, shipping, use, and disposal” she further said.

“A binding commitment that reduces especially “problematic” plastic products and chemicals of concern would not be acceptable without a cap in overall production. All plastics pollute, and all plastic production must be reduced”, Cirino further explained.

The point raised by Cirino is one of the most contentious. “Those of special concern must especially be eliminated and regulated, but taking action to mitigate their harm should only be expedited—and not stand in place of mitigating harm of all plastics”.

Would it be still acceptable, in case there will be no breakthrough at all in the next round of negotiations, the most progressive nations, say the members of The High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, would come up with their own, alternative binding agreement, even if not a fully-fledged global treaty as we are envisioning now?

Could this “extreme” and until now unimaginable ‘last” option make sense even if plastic polluters would continue with their “business as usual approach”?

“It’s certainly not an ideal solution, as plastic pollution is a global issue perpetuated by a global set of governments; investors; and industrial players, activities and infrastructure. That said, it potentially would be better than nothing if more progressive nations were to devise their own binding agreement, so long as it focused on curbing plastic pollution”, Cirino shared.

“The main issue is, many of the biggest plastic producers in the world (namely, the US and China) are absent from the high-ambition talks for now. It’s crucial that levels of plastic production drop globally. It would be all for naught if some countries reduce production, only for other nations to increase it”.

Meanwhile having some countries going “solo” carries risks and these they are crystal clear.

Indeed, there are palpable concerns in places like Europe on this regard.

There, the plastic lobbying is worried that a decline of plastic production in Europe means that other nations like China are taking advantage by ramping up their production.

We are in a conundrum. At this moment, I can’t imagine how the petro states will change their key negotiating positions. “If passed, hopefully an agreement among progressive nations would push other nations to also reduce their plastic production or, such an agreement may not help at all” concluded Cirino.

Simone Galimberti writes about the SDGs, youth-centered policy-making and a stronger and better United Nations.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Salma Mahmoud Ali walks through her salt ponds. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

By Kizito Makoye
PEMBA, Tanzania , Jan 20 2025 (IPS)

As the cool morning breeze sweeps across the Indian Ocean beach in Tanzania’s Pemba archipelago, Salma Mahmoud Ali begins her day. With her brightly coloured Kikoi cinched tightly around her waist and a dark blue scarf framing her face, she walks barefoot toward her salt ponds. The humid air hangs, but Ali wades through ankle-deep water with courage.

Armed with a shovel, rake and pick, she methodically drags sparkling crystals under the rising sun. Each stroke pulls salt from the brine—a hard process born of necessity.

“It’s a tough job,” says Ali, a 31-year-old mother of three. “The heat is too much—no matter how much water you drink, the thirst won’t go away. But it’s how I feed my family and send my children to school.”

For Ali and dozens of female artisanal salt farmers in Pemba, salt production is both their livelihood and their struggle. In this deeply patriarchal Muslim community, the gleaming piles of white salt represent survival—a craft demanding patience, precision and grit.

Hamida Mohamed prepares a projector to train salt farmers on climate resilience. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

 

Hamida Mohamed talks to salt farmers. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

On Pemba Island, where farms yield 2,000 tons of salt annually, prosperity feels like a mirage. Experts believe output could triple with better tools, but resources remain scarce. Families and cooperatives divide the land, with an average of four owners per plot, leaving wealth unevenly distributed. Farm owners collect the bulk of the earnings, while the workers—who toil under the weight of every harvest—are left to scrape by, their paychecks barely carrying them through the season.

Most families rely on coarse, untreated salt, with only one in four affording iodized varieties. “It’s our life,” said Halima Hamoud Heri, a laborer, kneeling under the blazing sun. “Hard, but it keeps us going.”

Gruelling Craft

Salt farming has always tested endurance, but climate change conspires against the women who depend on it. Rising temperatures accelerate evaporation, often causing salt to crumble before it can be harvested. Unpredictable rainfall—once a seasonal certainty—now arrives without warning, flooding the ponds and washing away weeks of labor back into the sea.

“We used to know when the dry season would start and end,” says Khadija Rashid, who has worked the ponds for 10 years. “Now the rain surprises us. Sometimes it’s too hot, and the salt dries too fast. Other times, the rain ruins everything before we can collect it.”

Salma Mahmoud Ali and fellow salt farmers inspect harvested salt. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

 

Salt farms are affected by high evaporation, temperature and erratic rains. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

For families like Ali’s, whose alternative livelihoods like fishing and farming have also been battered by erratic weather, salt production is a lifeline. It is work that demands accuracy and perseverance, and it leaves its mark on those who perform it. The sun cracks skin and the salt cuts into hands.

“By the time you carry the seawater, clear the mud, and harvest the salt, you’re so tired you can barely stand,” says Ali. “But you still have to do it again tomorrow.”

A Fragile Ecosystem

Standing at the edge of a salt farm in Pemba, Batuli Yahya, a field marine scientist from the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of Dar es Salaam, gestured toward the silvery expanse.

“Salt production depends on delicate environmental conditions,” she says. “But those conditions are changing faster than ever due to climate pressures.”

The salt ponds, once reliable sources of livelihood for coastal communities, are increasingly at risk as rising sea levels, erratic rainfall, and intensifying heat disrupt their fragile balance.

“Sea level rise causes seawater to spill over into areas where salinity levels are meticulously controlled,” Yahya explains. “It’s a growing threat that turns productive farms into unusable pools.”

The challenges don’t end there. Rainfall patterns have become more unpredictable, she said, with sudden downpours diluting the brine or destroying salt pans altogether.

“Too much rain at the wrong time can ruin months of preparation,” Yahya notes. “And when it’s coupled with longer dry spells, it creates a cycle that’s hard to manage.”

Higher temperatures are also exacerbating the situation.

Pemba male and female salt farmers gather in a hut. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

 

Female salt farmers plant mangrove trees along the coast to protect their farms from sea rise. Credit: Kizito Shigela/IPS

“Evaporation is critical to the salt production process, but extreme heat pushes salinity levels beyond what the ecosystem can handle,” Yahya says. “The microorganisms that play a key role in salt crystallization struggle to survive in such conditions.”

For many coastal communities, the implications are severe. “This is not just an environmental issue,” says Ali.

The challenges extend beyond weather. The reliance on manual labor to carry seawater to the ponds, clear mud, and harvest salt leaves many women exhausted and prone to injuries. The physical toll is compounded by the economic pressure to produce enough salt to sustain their families.

Finding Solutions

Amid challenges, Pemba’s salt farmers find strength in unity. Through local women’s associations, they adopt innovations to protect their work and improve production. One such breakthrough has been the introduction of solar drying covers—transparent sheets that shield ponds from sudden downpours while concentrating heat to speed up evaporation. “Before, if the rain came, we lost everything,” says Heri, demonstrating how she spreads the covers over her pond. “Now, we can save our salt, even during the wet season.”

The association also promotes knowledge-sharing among the women. Techniques to harden soil, efficiently distribute seawater, and package salt for market are taught collectively.

“Working alone, I would have given up,” says Ali. “But together, we find solutions. If one of us learns something new, she teaches the rest of us.”

Empowerment Through Enterprise

The women’s collective efforts improve livelihoods. Salt once sold in unmarked bags at local markets now reaches buyers in shops across Tanzania.

“I used to sell just enough to buy rice for the day,” says Ali. “Now I sell in bulk, and I’ve now saved Tanzanian shillings 455,000 (USD 187.)”

With the additional income, Ali has been able to feed her family and send children to school. “My daughter tells me she wants to be like me,” she says. “But maybe with a little less sunburn.”

The success has begun shifting perceptions in their community. Men who once dismissed salt farming as “boring work” now recognize its value, and some even assist with heavier tasks.

“We’re not just salt farmers anymore,” says Rashid. “We’re businesswomen.”

Hope Amid Challenges

Despite their progress, barriers remain. Access to financing is limited, and tools like solar covers and pumps are still too expensive for many women. Climate change continues to push them to innovate faster.

“We need more support,” says Ali. “Better tools, more training, and access to loans,”

Still, the women soldier on. Ali drags the day’s harvest into piles while pausing to wipe her brow.

“I hope the situation will improve and we will succeed even more,” she says.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Note: This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

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Excerpt:

For female artisanal salt farmers in Pemba, salt production is both their livelihood and their struggle. In this deeply patriarchal Muslim community, the gleaming piles of white salt represent survival—a craft demanding patience, precision and grit. However, rising sea levels put their enterprise at risk.

Homes with large, south-facing windows harness the winter sunlight, naturally warming interior spaces throughout the day. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

By Umar Manzoor Shah
SRINAGAR, India, Jan 20 2025 (IPS)

India’s average temperature has risen by 0.7°C since 1901, bringing more frequent and intense heat waves, erratic rainfall patterns, and a marked decline in monsoon consistency since the 1950s.

With projections suggesting a 2°C global temperature increase, India faces the risk of even greater instability in summer monsoon patterns. Extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and cyclones are already becoming more common, placing the country as the seventh most affected globally by climate change-related weather events in 2019.

In Kashmir, the impacts are just as stark; the average maximum temperature in Srinagar rose by 1.05°C between 1980–1999 and 2000–2019, and the winter of 2023–2024 was the driest on record, marking the hottest winter in 18 years.

With climate change reshaping the region, the importance of climate-resilient architecture has become crucial.

In this photo essay, IPS explores the ingenious climate-responsive architecture of Kashmir, developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries, which showcases how traditional techniques created structures capable of withstanding the region’s extreme weather patterns.

 

Deodar wood, locally sourced and resistant to cold and moisture, is the backbone of Kashmir’s climate-resilient architecture. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Double-glazed windows trap warmth indoors while letting sunlight in, making them a modern staple in Kashmir’s evolving architecture. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Older homes in Srinagar’s downtown demonstrate the success of traditional design, staying warm and cozy even in mid-winter. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Thick layers of mud plaster cover many homes, trapping warmth inside and blocking the winter cold from entering. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Using stone or concrete, modern designs absorb daytime heat and release it gradually at night, enhancing comfort. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Verandas and balconies, or Deodis, act as barriers against the cold, helping maintain warmth inside. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

 

Hakim Sameer Hamdani, senior architect and project coordinator with the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. Hamdani is the author of Syncretic Traditions of Islamic Religious Architecture of Kashmir. Credit: Umar Manzoor Shah/IPS

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Marine life photographed on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) survey of deep-sea habitats. Credit: NOAA

By Nancy Karigithu and Pascal Lamy
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17 2025 (IPS)

Deep-sea mining may not be on the official agenda next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos (January 20-24), but restoring public trust in international cooperation is.

Perhaps the most significant commitment African and European leaders can make here to restore trust in their ability to solve complicated problems, and one that safeguards our planet’s health and interconnected ocean, is to call for a pause on deep-sea mining in international waters.

As co-chairs of the Africa-Europe Strategy Group on Ocean Governance, an initiative of the European Commission, in partnership with the African Union Commission, and facilitated by the Africa-Europe Foundation, we have already begun discussing how both continents could benefit from greater collaboration in fisheries management, marine pollution, and habitat protection, especially in the face of climate change.

Now, with Global North mining corporations pushing the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to approve commercial deep-sea mining in 2025 with no agreed regulations and no environmental safeguards, we must urgently turn our attention and global influence to the ocean floor.

Already, permits have been granted to prospect for potato-sized polymetallic nodules that contain elements like cobalt and nickel. Unfortunately, the mining process amounts to dragging bulldozers across the seafloor thousands of meters below the surface and vacuuming the nodules back up to ships where they are cleaned with high-pressure hoses, leaving vast clouds of silt in their wakes.

Scientists have increasingly been sounding the alarm about the potential impacts of the operations on fragile marine habitats, with the likelihood that deep-sea mining could irreversibly destroy species and ecosystems.

Once thought to be nearly devoid of life, and contrary to the traditional knowledge of indigenous and coastal communities, new research has revealed an environment teeming with numerous species of fish, squid, and crustaceans (many only recently discovered) that play an essential role in the wider global ocean system, including African and European fisheries.

Other research suggests that disturbing seabed sediments could disrupt our planet’s largest carbon sink and potentially release carbon into the atmosphere and compound the climate crisis when we can least afford it.

Both continents depend on a healthy marine environment for fisheries, tourism and food security. Yet, even as they struggle to manage unprecedented pressures from over-exploitation, rapidly warming waters, pollution and acidification, deep-sea mining looms as a potentially catastrophic threat with far-reaching impacts that do not recognize national borders.

Proponents of the mining, possibly even some in Davos, argue that it is necessary to satisfy growing demand for batteries used in the burgeoning electric vehicle market. But with research suggesting that deep-sea metals are not needed to fuel the green transition, including the astronomical costs and growing liabilities with the industry, companies have already begun moving away from the industry to invest in alternatives, including innovative battery chemistries and recycled materials.

It is unlikely that deep-sea mining would ever be profitable without large government subsidies that could be better spent on improved refining and processing capacity, renewable technologies and energy efficiency.

Given these enormous risks (and questionable benefits), an Africa-Europe led pause on deep-sea mining is simply a prudent application of the precautionary approach that has guided marine conservation and international environmental treaties for decades. It would also align with key principles set out in the UN High Seas Treaty, such as conservation, sustainable use and benefit sharing.

Moreover, it would lay the groundwork for even greater collaboration, including ocean research initiatives, marine genetic resources found in the deep ocean, ocean planning, applied local community and indigenous knowledge, and the establishment of dedicated research institutions that draw on the immense talent and experience available in both continents.

Political momentum against deep-sea mining is building. Today, 32 countries have announced their support for a moratorium, a precautionary pause, or an outright ban, joined also by scores of indigenous and civil society groups, major companies, financial institutions, science and policy experts from around the world. .

If we have learned one lesson from working on global challenges over the past few decades it is how enormously difficult it is to bring about change once powerful interests become entrenched. This year, deep-sea mining corporations are pressuring the ISA to approve full-scale commercial operations.

Without immediate action from world leaders at Davos, deep-sea mining and its destruction, could become entrenched for decades. Africa and Europe have a unique opportunity to demonstrate the value of international cooperation by stopping this harmful practice before it starts.

Pascal Lamy, Co-chair of the Africa-Europe Strategy Group on Ocean Governance, Vice-President of the Paris Peace Forum, Former Director-General of the World Trade Organisation, and Former European Commissioner on Trade Commissioner; and Ambassador Nancy Karigithu, Co-chair of the Africa-Europe Strategy Group on Ocean Governance, Kenya’s Ambassador and Special Envoy & Advisor to the President on Maritime and Blue Economy and former Principal Secretary for Shipping and Maritime Affairs for the Government of Kenya.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Credit: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 17 2025 (IPS)

The year 2024 has been one of the most devastating for journalists covering conflicts worldwide– with 361 behind bars, the second highest since the global record of 370 imprisoned back in 2023.

According to a new report released January 16, by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), China, Israel, and Myanmar were the leading jailers of reporters, followed by Belarus and Russia.

The main drivers of journalist imprisonment in 2024 were ongoing authoritarian repression, war, and political or economic instability. Many countries, including China, Israel, Tunisia, and Azerbaijan, set new records for imprisonment.

“These numbers should be a wake-up call for us all,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “A rise in attacks on journalists almost always precedes a rise in attacks on other freedoms – the freedom to give and receive information, the freedom to assemble and move freely, the freedom to protest.”

“These journalists are being arrested and punished for exposing political corruption, environmental degradation, financial wrongdoing – all issues that matter to our day-to-day lives.”

Asia remained the region with the highest number of journalists behind bars in 2024, accounting for more than 30% (111) of the global total.

In addition to the leading jailers – China, Myanmar, and Vietnam – journalists were also behind bars in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and the Philippines.

A total of 108 journalists were imprisoned in the Middle East and North Africa, almost half of those detained by Israel.

Last year, U.N. legal experts determined that Israel violated international law in its detention of three Palestinian journalists. CPJ has previously called on Israel to investigate the cases of these and others held in Israeli custody for lengthy periods without charge, hold accountable those responsible for these rights violations, and provide compensation to journalists who have been arbitrarily detained.

Dr Ramzy Baroud, an author, a syndicated columnist, editor of Palestine Chronicle & a Senior Research Fellow at Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), told IPS while the report by the CPJ highlights the alarming state of global press freedom, it doesn’t fully capture the scale of the situation.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian journalists is particularly egregious. Over 200 journalists have been killed, hundreds more injured, and many have been jailed and tortured. This makes Israel one of the leading violators of press freedom in the world, he pointed out.

“It’s important to recognize that the targeting of journalists is part of a broader pattern of repression against freedom of expression. These actions reflect a systemic denial of basic human and civil rights.”

What is especially disturbing in the case of Israel is the lack of accountability. Unlike other countries where press freedom is violated, Israel faces little scrutiny or consequence for the murders, detentions, and torture of journalists. Many Western political leaders continue to hold Israel up as a model of freedom and democracy, despite these serious violations, he argued.

Such reports must go beyond mere documentation and demand real accountability. Pressure must be placed on all relevant parties to hold those responsible for violating press freedom accountable, ensuring this issue isn’t confined to occasional press releases but leads to tangible action, declared Dr Baroud.

Dr James Jennings, President, Conscience International, told IPS dictators and tyrannical governments use disinformation as their stock in trade. They realize that controlling newspapers, television, and the Internet are vital to their survival.

“That makes it dangerous to be a journalist in such countries for simply telling the truth”.

He pointed out honest reporting can get you arrested in Russia, kicked out of Israel, and jailed in China, Egypt, Belarus, and many other countries. Telling the true story sometimes means that journalists are liable to be killed as has happened frequently in Gaza over the past 15 months.

“It’s a great time to be an autocrat. Savvy politicians realize that they can reach the hearts and minds of people directly through their hand-held communication devices. “Flooding the Zone” with lies is easy. Searching for and prying out the truth in a messy situation is much more difficult, but that’s exactly the job of reporters.

If, as is often said, journalism is the first draft of history, then every country will benefit by honoring and protecting journalists. Instead, today they may get lengthy punishments, said Dr Jennings.

According to CPJ, pervasive censorship in China, for years one of the world’s top jailers of journalists, makes it notoriously difficult to determine the exact number of journalists jailed there.

However, jailings are not limited to the mainland, traditionally considered highly repressive. Those jailed include British citizen and Hong Kong-based entrepreneur Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, who has been held in solitary confinement in Hong Kong since 2020 and is currently on trial on retaliatory charges of collusion with foreign forces.

Outside of Belarus (31) and Russia (30), Azerbaijan’s (13) continued crackdown on independent media made it one of the leading jailers of journalists in Europe and Central Asia in 2024. Turkey (11) is no longer among the top jailers of journalists but pressure on independent media remains high.

This is also the case in Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, where the number of jailings is lower than in other regions but where threats against journalism persist. Mexico, for example, has no journalists in jail but is one of the most dangerous places to be a journalist outside a war zone.

In Nigeria, with four journalists behind bars on December 1, dozens of journalists were attacked and detained as they sought to cover protests and civil unrest. Senegal, which held one journalist in prison on the 2024 census date, also arrested and assaulted journalists covering political protests.

Globally, CPJ found that more than 60% – 228 – of the imprisoned journalists faced broad anti-state charges, including often-vague charges of terrorism or extremism in countries including Myanmar, Russia, Belarus, Tajikistan, Ethiopia, Egypt, Venezuela, Turkey, India, and Bahrain. These accusations were commonly leveled against reporters from marginalized ethnic groups whose work focused on their communities.

Tackling journalist imprisonment is a key focus for CPJ, which provides journalists with financial support to cover the cost of legal fees, as well as resources to help journalists and newsrooms better prepare for or mitigate threats of legal harassment and action. The organization also makes concerted efforts to advocate for the release of journalists whose cases could revert or stem the tide of criminalization.

Andreas Bummel, executive director, Democracy Without Borders, told IPS: “Freedom of the press is the only way to ensure effective public scrutiny of the government. Political persecution of journalists is absolutely unacceptable and must receive greater international attention, including at the United Nations, where the governments concerned meet.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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By External Source
Jan 16 2025 (IPS-Partners)

 
Adenike Oladosu is a leading Nigerian ecofeminist, climate justice leader and researcher. She was appointed as an ECW Global Climate Champion on World Environment Day in June 2024. In December of last year, Adenike was honored by #BBC100Women, selected as one of the BBC’s 100 most influential and inspiring women from around the world. She was also a finalist for the Pritzker Emerging Environmental Genius Award.

Adenike earned a first-class degree in Agricultural Economics. She is one of Africa’s most vocal environmental activists. In 2019, she became a recipient of the Ambassador of Conscience by Amnesty International – Nigeria for her fight for climate justice and human rights. She is a writer both for her blog post and for the international newspaper. Adenike is a two-term Nigerian youth delegate to the United Nations Climate Change Conference since COP25 in Spain and subsequent COPs. She started her pan-African climate justice movement called “I Lead Climate Action Initiative”. Through her initiative, she has empowered more than 30,000 Indigenous women and girls in different communities and mobilized millions of people for climate action as the initiator of the Fridays For Future in Nigeria, and the first African to join the movement in 2018. Adenike has developed a curriculum on climate change and ecofeminism in Africa. She is also pioneering the interconnection between climate change and democracy.

Oladosu holds a residency fellowship at the Panel on Planetary Thinking at Justus Liebig University in Giessen, Germany on using Earth Observation to restore shrinking Planetary Spaces: A Case Study of Lake Chad. She was a past fellow at The New Institute in Hamburg, Germany on black feminism and polycrisis. Oladosu was awarded the International Climate Protection Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation on the protection of Lake Chad as a peace and conflict resolution pathway, achieving protection through mapping and data generation.

ECW: Congratulations on being honored as a #BBC100Women 2024: one of BBC’s 100 most influential and inspiring women from around the world! As ECW’s Global Climate Champion – and a leading advocate on climate, education and gender equality – what are three key messages you want to send to world leaders on the climate-education crisis?

Adenike Oladosu: Number one. Education is one of the most powerful weapons we have to solve the climate crisis.

Number two. Empowerment in education is key to unlocking the potential of innovation.

Number three. Education must be included in the climate finance decision-making process. It is a necessary tool to prevent even more crisis-impacted children from being pushed from the safety and protection of quality learning environments. It will also be key in addressing the growing displacement crisis and can be used as a mechanism to address loss and damage to critical infrastructure.

ECW: At this year’s COP29 in Baku, you joined the ECW delegation to connect the dots between climate action and education action. Why should education be embedded into climate finance decisions to accelerate the ambition of Nationally Determined Contributions, National Adaptation Plans, and other climate actions?

Adenike Oladosu: Education is important because we need to deal with the immediate impacts of the climate crisis Right Here, Right Now. In the most vulnerable countries, education can be used as a tool to prevent forced migration and internal displacement. Think about it this way: climate crises, such as droughts and floods, regularly lead to displacement. This results in more out-of-school children. The number of hours or days lost in school might not be replaceable.

These are all avoidable consequences of climate change, especially if there is financing to respond to those realities. Climate financing could serve as an aid to prevent current and future loss and damage. In terms of education, this includes the loss of valuable infrastructure like the tens of thousands of schools destroyed by the floods in Pakistan, lives lost because sufficient early warning systems are not in place, and the economic losses that prevent communities from building resilient economic systems. If those out-of-school children – or children that lack access to consistent quality education – are brought back to the classroom, we could see amazing impact on all Sustainable Development Goals and the goals outlined in the Paris Agreement. We can also use education as a system to pay back communities for the loss and damage generated by climate change.

Schools are valuable community hubs. Free education and healthy school meals could serve as an incentive to children. Quality education can also foster a learning environment that prepares tomorrow’s leaders with the green skills they need to strive and set the pace for innovation and technology.

Everyone has a solution to give. I urge every country to include education in their Nationally Determined Contributions and National Adaptation Plans. Education in itself is an adaptation strategy. No investment in education is a waste; it is both an adaptation and mitigation measure. Connecting education with climate finance can save lives, build resilience and foster peace. Children – especially those on the frontlines of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises – did not cause the climate crisis, and yet they bear the brunt of its impacts. It is our responsibility to do whatever it takes to keep them in the classroom. Education Cannot Wait and its donors and strategic partners are creating a value proposition to connect education with climate action. Education provides a key entry point to address loss and damage, anticipatory action, disaster risk reduction and resilience building, and is an essential element of our plans to address this devastating crisis.

ECW: In your homeland of Nigeria, the climate crisis is derailing development gains, triggering conflicts and displacing children. In all, 18 million girls and boys are out of school. How is climate change impacting education in Nigeria and the Lake Chad area, and how can education be leveraged as a tool to build climate resilience?

Adenike Oladosu: In Nigeria, 18 million girls and boys are out of school. This is a loss and damage issue directly related to the climate crisis. Throughout the country, and especially in the Lake Chad area, we are faced with the multiple effects of climate change; from slow to rapid events including droughts and floods. When these events occur, millions become victims.

For families who cannot afford a daily meal and earn less than $1 a day, education is not a priority. Their priority is survival. So, girls are pushed into marriage at a young age. They are also tasked with many of the household chores, such as walking long distances to get water. This eventually leads to dropping out of school due to the loss of livelihood and drought respectively. Meanwhile, boys are becoming vulnerable to recruitment into dangerous terrorist groups. They become the perpetrators of violence in their communities rather than the changemakers. If those millions of children out of school are educated, they could become innovators, technicians, educators, and other professionals to add value to their society and become pacesetters. With education, the dreams of the 18 million girls and boys who are out of school could become a reality. They could become agriculturalists, providing climate-smart innovations to tackle hunger and climate change, or public health experts to tackle environmental health issues – even become the president of a country, leading the way in making better decisions that could position citizens and cities towards sustainability. Furthermore, education could also open the space for solving pressing issues so that, one day, we can save Lake Chad from drying out.

Education could help in making the right choices and delivering on the promise of Universal Human Rights. This entails children and adolescents knowing their rights to clean water or preventing them from joining harmful groups. Education is a human right, along with the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to work and play an active part in society. Climate justice must also be considered a human right.

ECW: Climate change affects girls differently than boys; with girls more impacted, especially when it comes to their education. What steps would you take to empower girls in our global efforts to save our people and our planet from the catastrophic risks of climate change?

Adenike Oladosu: The most outstanding empowerment for girls is skills acquisition and education. I encourage other girls to have both because it will become useful at every stage of one’s life. It is a lifesaving tool in providing solutions to the world’s biggest problems.

My recent documentary with ZDF, tells the reality of a girl child whose life and future has been impacted by the climate crisis. Providing them with an enabling environment that could support their continuous learning can be both lifesaving and life-transforming. One example is the ability to get water within their reach rather than walking a long distance. This could save time and energy, which could be converted to reading their books. Another example is the educational approach of enlightening the traditional rulers on the best practices that could help value and support the rights of the girl child. Furthermore, education can support the livelihood (a climate-smart livelihood) of the parents so that the girl child is not used as a hawking tool around the streets and to prevent them from being exposed to sexual violence and other threats. We can also provide scholarships and other incentives in return for commitments from girls and their communities to attend school. Additionally, climate finance could help in preventing those crises and offers a quick and effective response, because at displacement camps, girls are vulnerable to human rights abuses and other grave violations.

ECW: We all know that ‘readers are leaders’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally, and why would you recommend them to others?

Adenike Oladosu: Becoming by Michelle Obama, Unbowed: A Memoir by Maathai Wangari, We Should all be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. These three books have one thing in common: they are deeply and closely related to the entanglement of the women’s vision of the world and how society perceives us. The struggles and the pain of how they evolve to be a great woman. It ties to my life story of where I came from and who I have become. Professionally, it gives me the courage to use my skills, platforms and activism to change the world. And reminds me that I can be what I want to be and break gender biases.

They are all educated women who have risen to affluence and become powerful. I have a story to tell and a solution I can offer to the world in different ways. From politician to activist to writer. They are all changemakers trying to transform the world. If they can do it, I can and so can we. Their story is our story.

 

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Transparency International revealed alarming findings in December 2024 about the siphoning of public funds in Africa. Credit: Shutterstock

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

It is no longer a secret that at major global summits there are more lobbyists than official delegates. There, they participate as ‘guests,’ and most of them work for big business corporations. Their goal? To deter the adoption of policies that conflict with their employers’ interests.

Their persuasion exercise quite often helps water down the urgency of taking decisive actions, the need to cut the private business staggering profits, the financial dues of the industrialised powers to the impoverished nations that bear the heaviest brunt of their policies, and so on.

To achieve such a purpose, lobbyists often quietly show different sorts of ‘gratitude.’

 

The Big Financial Gap in Climate Action

A clear evidence is what the global movement working in over 100 countries to end the injustice of corruption: Transparency International (TI) informs on the occasion of the International Anti-Corruption Day 2024: Time to tackle the murky world of climate negotiations:

“Every year billions of dollars are mobilised to finance initiatives that curb emissions, fund climate adaptation, and protect crucial conservation areas…

… But without strong anti-corruption measures in place, these essential resources are at risk of being diverted, and the current finance gap is at risk of never being closed.”

“We can already see evidence of this taking place.”

In the carbon credits market, it explains, where the inherent tension between reducing emissions and providing financial returns has led to land grabbing, bribery, projects being double-counted and the prices of carbon credits being keptsecret.

“Last year we saw that in total over 90 percent of carbon credits should not have been approved.”

Estimates of total global anonymous and potentially illicit wealth range from US$7 trillion to US$32 trillion (around 10% of total global wealth).

Such an amount is more than 100-fold the 300 billion US dollars promised by the world’s major climate carnage promoters in the concept of “reparation” to the most impacted poor countries.

Responding to the COP29 climate finance agreement in Baku’s climate summit in November 2024, in which rich countries agree to mobilise $300 billion a year to help Global South countries cope with warming temperatures and switch to renewable energy, Oxfam International’s Climate Change Policy Lead, Nafkote Dabi, said:

“The terrible verdict from the Baku climate talks shows that rich countries view the Global South as ultimately expendable, like pawns on a chessboard…

… The $300 billion so-called ‘deal’ that poorer countries have been bullied into accepting is unserious and dangerous —a soulless triumph for the rich, but a genuine disaster for our planet and communities who are being flooded, starved, and displaced today by climate breakdown. And as for promises of future funding? They’re just as hollow as the deal itself.

… The money on the table is not only a pittance in comparison to what’s really needed –it’s not even real “money”, by and large, added Nafkote Dabi.

“Rather, it’s a motley mix of loans and privatized investment –a global Ponzi scheme that the private equity vultures and public relations people will now exploit.

 

Africa’s Stolen Wealth

“Imagine billions of dollars siphoned from public funds – money meant to build schools, hospitals and infrastructure – vanishing into a web of offshore accounts, luxury real estate and shell companies…”

“This isn’t fiction; it’s the stark reality of how corruption drains resources from Africa and other regions, leaving people to bear the cost,” Transparency International unveiled in December 2024.

TI analysis is based on cases of corruption confirmed by court decisions, as well as credible allegations of corruption and hiding of wealth offshore.

The following are just some of the findings that Transparency International has just uncovered:

– There is a staggering network of companies, properties, bank accounts and luxury goods,

Notably, close to 80 percent of assets were held abroad, often far from where the corruption originally occurred:

– Companies: the ultimate anonymity tool: In 85 percent of cases, companies and trusts were used to obscure the ownership of assets. Often, complex cross-border corporate structures or multiple shell companies were used to distance corrupt individuals – and their dirty funds – from the asset in question.

– Real Estate: The laundering favourite: If companies are the preferred tool for anonymity, real estate ranks among the top choices for laundering stolen funds. In one-third of the cases we analysed, properties played a central role.

France, the United Kingdom (UK), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States (US) were the preferred locations for purchasing properties connected to suspicious activities.

– Bank Accounts: Hong Kong, Switzerland, the UK, the UAE and the US appear as key destinations for bank accounts used to pay bribes, move or store dirty funds.

– EU Golden Passport, Visa Schemes: Many countries run golden passport and visa programmes which offer fast-track citizenship or residency to foreign nationals in exchange for substantial investment in the country – often in real estate.

Member states of the European Union (EU) are particularly attractive, as citizenship or residence in one country grants access to the whole EU.

Golden passports and visas are highly desirable for those associated with corruption because they offer access to a safe haven for their stolen wealth.

A high percentage of the golden visas exchanged money proceed from the ‘mafias’ of trafficking in drugs and toxic substances, let alone the business of trafficking and smuggling migrants.

Transparency International listed the major destinations of the ‘dirty money’: British Virgin Islands, France, Hong Kong, Panama, Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and United States.

 

Ever Growing Inequality

TI, the international movement working to speed up global progress in tackling illicit financial flows and abusive practices that perpetuate economic inequalities and undermine sustainable development, warns that:

“Inequality is a key impediment to sustainable development and social justice. This is particularly true in the case of Africa, where the COVID-19 pandemic has further aggravated social and economic inequalities.

Despite two decades of high economic growth, resource-rich Africa is home to 10 of the world’s 20 most unequal countries.

“While extreme poverty is rising, three African billionaires have more wealth than the poorest 50 per cent of the population across the continent.”

 

Disproportionate impact on the Poor

For its part, the World Bank considers corruption a major challenge to the twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting shared prosperity for the poorest 40 percent of people in developing countries.

“Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to services, including health, education and justice.”

Furthermore, the World Bank explains that corruption in the procurement of drugs and medical equipment drives up costs and can lead to sub-standard or harmful products.

As the global community continues its struggle against climate change, addressing corruption remains critical to ensuring that resources reach those who need them most and that climate finance fulfills its promise of justice and equity.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

In anticipation of Donald Trump’s inauguration his gold-studded Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, is at the heart of political power games, where influential businessmen like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are positioning themselves as key players in his orbit. Apparently unfazed by legal controversies and scandals, Trump is preparing for his return in collusion with already powerful men, who in their pursuit of personal gain and political influence reflect a disturbing trend of billionaire oligarchy merging with politics. A worrying development that might have significant consequences for the future of free speech and women’s rights.

Mark Zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Meta Platforms (which controls Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp), has increasingly aligned himself with right-wing politics. In recent months, Meta has dismantled its fact-checking program, fuelling concerns about the rise of misinformation and hate speech on its platforms. Zuckerberg justifies these changes by emphasizing “free speech” and critiquing what he calls “excessive” censorship. However, this shift has raised alarms that the company is enabling the spread of fake news and extremism. Zuckerberg’s decision to move Meta’s content moderation to Texas, a state known for its conservative politics, and appoint Joel Kaplan, a prominent conservative political advisor, to oversee global affairs further suggests a tilt toward Trump’s sphere.

These actions are particularly troubling given Zuckerberg’s recent comments about gender equality during an interview with Joe Rogan, a podcaster known for promoting conspiracy theories and pseudoscience. Zuckerberg revealed his newfound admiration for a “positive view of masculinity,” emphasizing the need to balance support for women with the celebration of “aggressive energy.” Drawing on his martial arts experience, Zuckerberg described masculinity as a necessary and positive force in global culture. While such views might be dismissed if voiced by lesser-known figures, they are deeply concerning coming from one of the world’s most powerful tech magnates.

Equally troubling is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, whose controversial views often spill over into his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). Musk, with over 212 million followers, frequently makes headlines with his divisive opinions. In one instance, he reposted a tweet from 4chan, a notoriously unmoderated platform, which suggested that “women and low-T [testosterone] men” are incapable of free thought because they cannot defend themselves physically. The tweet stated that only “high-T alpha males and neurotypical people” are capable of making decisions, insinuating that men with higher testosterone levels are more fit for leadership. Musk’s comment to his re-tweet of such nonsense was that it was an “interesting observation,” thus signalling his tacit endorsement of pseudoscientific, misogynistic rhetoric. A discourse that plays into a growing conservative backlash against gender equality, is not only scientifically unfounded but deeply harmful.

Elon Musk

Musk’s comments echo a wider narrative within certain circles that sees testosterone levels as a determinant of a person’s political or intellectual capabilities, further perpetuating toxic masculinity. The misogyny expressed by both Zuckerberg and Musk is particularly dangerous when considering their vast influence over global discourse. Their platforms enable the spread of harmful ideas, and their actions risk undermining the progress made in advancing women’s rights.

The global context further complicates the picture. Worldwide important strides have been made toward gender equality, though there are places where women’s rights remain circumscribed and others where they have experienced a backlash. Gender-based violence remains a tool of war, used to terrorize and displace entire populations. The United Nations’ upcoming Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025 will focus on the progress and setbacks regarding the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a groundbreaking framework for advancing women’s rights. The commission will address the fact that no country has so far achieved full gender equality, and that threats to women’s rights are in some areas becoming ever more evident.

In this context, the views of Zuckerberg and Musk take on greater significance. Their platforms amplify regressive, misogynistic ideas that not only harm women but threaten to undo years of hard-won progress. Their influence could fuel a broader cultural shift toward the normalization of sexism, as their comments provide cover for a growing global movement against gender equality. Musk’s recent confessions about his drug use—he admitted to using ketamine, a powerful anaesthetic—further cast doubt on the rationality behind some of his statements. Columnist Arwa Mahdawi humorously suggested that Musk’s bizarre musings could be attributed to ketamine use or, more likely, his deeply ingrained misogyny – “perhaps he’s just high on misogyny: it’s one hell of a drug.”

The reckless and dangerous views espoused by Zuckerberg, Musk, and other members of Trump’s inner circle are far from benign. They threaten to worsen the already precarious position of women and girls globally, whose rights and safety continue to be under siege. We must confront the role these men play in spreading dangerous ideologies. Their influence is vast, and if left unchecked, it could further erode women’s rights worldwide, leading to a future in which gender equality is relegated to the past.

Ultimately, the rhetoric of Zuckerberg and Musk is not just a matter of personal opinion; it is a reflection of a broader societal problem. As these billionaires gain political power and control over public discourse, we must remain vigilant. The dangers they pose are not just theoretical; they are real and have real-world consequences for women’s lives. The world cannot afford to let their misogynistic views go unchecked. It is time to hold these men — and the systems that enable them — accountable before their reckless influence causes even more harm.

Main sources: Mahdawi, Arwa (2024) “Elon Musk is intrigued by the idea women can’t think freely because of ‘low T’,” The Guardian, 7 September; and Remnik, David (2025) “The Inauguration of Trump’s Oligarchy,” The New Yorker, 12 January.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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UNICEF assisting in winterization efforts in Deir Al Balah by distributing winter clothes to families in a displacement shelter. Credit: UNICEF/Mohammed Nateel

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

A ceasefire agreement between the states of Israel and Palestine was reached on 15 January, 2025 , effectively putting an end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip. This comes after nearly 15 months of conflict, which has caused immense damage to Palestinian infrastructure, development, and civilian life. The three-phase plan proposed for the ceasefire agreement consists of the return of Israeli hostages, Palestinian refugees returning home, and the reconstruction of Gaza. Additionally, the ceasefire is expected to essentially put an end to the Israel-Hamas War and significantly mitigate the humanitarian crisis occurring in the Gaza Strip.

In the days preceding the ceasefire agreement, U.S. officials have opined that the possibility of a ceasefire was more likely than ever before. According to U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Israel and Hamas have been close to securing a ceasefire agreement several times in the past but they had always fallen through. Sullivan stated that on January 13, talks between officials had the “general sense that this (ceasefire negotiations) is moving in the right direction.”

I think the pressure is building for Hamas to come to yes, and I think Israel also has achieved a huge amount of its military objectives in Gaza, and therefore, they are in a position to be able to say ‘yes’.The question is now, can we all collectively seize the moment and make this happen?” said Sullivan.

On January 14, the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, delivered a speech at the Atlantic Council headquarters that detailed imminent post-war plans for Gaza as the ceasefire approaches. Blinken stated that the war is “ready to be concluded” and that the ceasefire is ready to be implemented. He also addressed the criticism over the Biden administration’s response to the 15-month conflict, saying, “I wish I could stand here today and tell you with certainty that we got every decision right. I cannot.”

Although neither Israel nor Hamas have officially confirmed the news of a ceasefire as of yet, senior Hamas spokesperson Basem Neim informed reporters that Hamas has agreed to it. Other sources with direct knowledge of diplomatic talks between Israeli officials confirmed the news to reporters as well. On January 15, U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump confirmed that the ceasefire agreement had been reached on a social media post shared to the platform Truth Social

According to U.S. diplomatic sources, only a draft version of the deal has been approved by Hamas and Israel, with a revised version to be discussed and finalized in the coming days. The implementation of the ceasefire could begin this weekend.

As President Biden’s term comes to an end, President-elect Donald Trump is expected to oversee the implementation of the ceasefire agreement. The first phase of the ceasefire consists of the 33 Israeli hostages in Gaza being freed and returned to Israel within the first 42 days of the agreement being implemented. In return, Israel has agreed to release as many as 1,000 Palestinian refugees from Israeli prisons. Furthermore, Israel will begin withdrawing its troops from Gaza. Once the deal has been finalized by both parties, it is expected that thousands of displaced Palestinians will begin returning to northern Gaza, the most militaristically restricted region of the enclave, and humanitarian aid will begin to flow in regularly.

Additionally, Israel would begin withdrawing its troops from densely populated centers in Gaza while maintaining access to the buffer zone on the Gaza-Egypt border, also known as the Philadelphi Corridor.

The second phase of the ceasefire is believed to be the official marker of the end of the Israel-Hamas War. In this phase, Hamas is expected to release all remaining male Israeli civilians or soldiers while Israel returns an agreed upon number of prisoners.

Although the ceasefire is not guaranteed to be upheld following the completion of the first phase, Israel has indicated in ceasefire documentation that its officials are committed to negotiating the next two phases , which would entail a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian territory.

In the third phase of the ceasefire agreement, Hamas would return the remains of all deceased Israeli hostages while Israel returns those of the deceased Palestinian captives. Israel would then conclude the blockade of the Gaza Strip and will not rebuild military operations targeting Palestine.

Despite officials from the U.S., Israel, and Palestine expressing optimism for the ceasefire agreement, many have expressed concern over the uncertainty of the ceasefire being fully implemented. “I’ve just been advised that there’s been a ceasefire announced in Gaza. Before we all celebrate, though, obviously we’re all going to want to see how well that executes,” said U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch .

With this agreement, the humanitarian situation in Gaza is expected to improve. Airstrikes from the Israeli Defense Forces are expected to end and the cessation of the blockade in northern Gaza is expected to allow humanitarian aid organizations to access the people that are in dire need of assistance. Abdallah al-Baysouni, a Palestinian citizen residing in Gaza, informed reporters that he and his family are “very happy that this crisis — this sadness, bombing and death that happened to us — is finally over. And that we will return to our hometowns and return to our families in Beit Hanoun [in northern Gaza] … and return to our old lives and be happy and live like we used to.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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PFAS substances are man-made chemicals that contain carcinogens which affect humans through inhalation and exposure. Credit: Shutterstock.

By Stan Gottfredson
SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, US, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

The use of fertilizers has been introduced in society to enrich soil and supply high-grade harvests for centuries. As time went on, humans have managed to develop new ways to reform this operation, and as such, have formed a lessened health risk fertilizer called “biosolids”.

Biosolids are primarily used to provide nutrients in the agriculture field (i.e., farming and mining). Currently, there are nine states in the US permitted to authorize biosolids (Arizona, Idaho, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Wisconsin).

Being a physically and chemically treated product, it is marketed as an option for minimizing risk to human health. However, that might not be the case, as there is a relative problem that seems to seep through its promised benefits.

Maine is one of the first few states in the USA to pass a legislation banning wastewater and compost biosolids because of perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) also known as forever chemicals.

PFAS substances are man-made chemicals that contain carcinogens which affect humans through inhalation and exposure.

Several farmers across the US were not initially informed about the existence of PFAS in the biosolids they use as fertilizers or feed. Acres of land are at risk of being inoperable, along with livestock and produce, if investigations reveal high levels of PFAS from these assets

According to the report, a case investigation back in 2016 revealed water contaminants in the drinking water supplies over the US, and a farm field for a water district located on the southern part of Maine was found to have high PFAS soil levels, including produce (i.e., milk), manure, and even grass.

This action has resulted in Connecticut also banning biosolid products, to use and sell, to reduce the spread of any concentrations of PFAS in the water locale of the said state.

In an interview to discuss the effect of PFAS on farms, it was disclosed that several farmers across the US were not initially informed about the existence of PFAS in the biosolids they use as fertilizers or feed. Acres of land are at risk of being inoperable, along with livestock and produce, if investigations reveal high levels of PFAS from these assets.

As such, it will come as no surprise if some farmers are forced into a condition near bankruptcy. With the Environmental Protection Agency expected to release PFAS guidelines, several states have started to examine this matter, as farmers are also lining up to file lawsuits for compensation against their losses.

A motion was presented in 2023 to help farmers affected with PFAS. S.747, or the Relief for Farmers Hit with PFAS Act, aims to produce a program that is focused on identifying PFAS-contaminated agricultural lands, containing and disposing contaminated farm produce or livestock, presenting financial health aid and income assistance to victims, monitoring health-related complications of exposed individuals to PFAS, researching about strategies and possible remedy in PFAS contamination.

To ensure its efficiency, a task force consisting of officers and employees of the Department of Agriculture will be organized to assess actions detected on contaminated farms and administer reports to the Secretary about the activities directing to PFAS contamination.

However, as hopeful of the kind of future this legislation offers, the fight against PFAS contamination is still relatively present. 8,865 sites in 50 states were described as being contaminated with PFAS in a recently published article. With several states beginning to acknowledge and support steps against the use of PFAS in products and producing standards to prevent further contamination in the environment, it is no surprise that victims are actively searching for a way to even out the damage this harmful chemical has inflicted in their lives.

Stan Gottfredson is the President and CEO of Atraxia Law, a firm located in San Diego, California focused on advising and aiding victims of toxic exposure.

 

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

With heightening geopolitical interest in building a new Global South architecture, Ghana’s administration is considering joining the ‘partner states category’ of BRICS+, an association of five major emerging economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

The National Democratic Party (NDC) and the elected President John Mahama, while crafting future pathways and renewing commitments over democracy and governance, designing a new economic recovery programme as top priority, could initiate discussions to put Ghana on higher stage by ascending into the BRICS+ platform.

Certainly, ascending unto BRICS+ platform would become a historical landmark for Ghana which has attained prestigious status in multilateral institutions and organizations such as the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS), the African Union (AU), the United Nations and also, from Jan. 2025, the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Unlike South Africa, which has acquired a full-fledged membership status in 2011, and Ethiopia, Nigeria and Uganda were taken into the ‘partner states’ category, Ghana has all the fundamental requirements to become part of BRICS+ alliance.

It is necessary to understand the basic definition and meaning of BRICS+ in the context of the geopolitical changing world. The BRICS alliance operates on the basis of non-interference. As an anti-Western association, it stays open to mutual cooperation from countries with ‘like-minded’ political philosophy.

BRICS members have the freedom to engage their bilateral relations any external country of their choice. In addition to that, BRICS+ strategic partnership has explicitly showed that it is not a confrontation association, but rather that of cooperation designed to address global challenges, and is based on respect for the right of each country to determine its own future.

South Africa and other African countries associated with BRICS+

South Africa is strongly committed to its engagement in the BRICS+. It has, so far, hosted two of its summits. In future, Egypt and Ethiopia would have the chance to host BRICS+ summit. Egypt and Ethiopia have excellent relations with members, and simultaneously transact business and trade with other non-BRICS+, external countries.

The New Development Bank (BRICS) was established in 2015, has financed more than 100 projects, with total loans reaching approximately $35 billion, and it is great that the branch of this bank operates from Johannesburg in South Africa. Understandably, South Africa can be an investment gateway to the rest of Africa. In 2021, Bangladesh, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Uruguay joined the NDB.

The BRICS bank works independently without any political strings, and has further pledged financial support for development initiatives in non-BRICS+ countries in the Global South. Its tasks include investing in the economy through concessional loans, alleviating poverty and working towards sustainable economic growth.

According to President of the BRICS New Development Bank, Dilma Rousseff, “The bank should play a major role in the development of a multipolar, polycentric world.”

Ethiopia and Egypt are the latest addition to BRICS+ association from January 2024. South Africa and Egypt being the economic power houses, while Ethiopia ranks 8th position in the continent. In terms of demography, Nigeria is the populous, with an estimated 220 million people while Uganda has a population of 46 million.

South Africa, Ethiopia and Egypt are full members, Algeria, Nigeria and Uganda were offered ‘partner states’ category, but have the chance to pursue multi-dimensional cooperation with external countries. BRICS+ has absolutely no restrictions with whom to strike bilateral relationship.

From the above premise, Ghana’s new administration, within the framework of BRICS+, could work out a strategic plan to establish full coordination with and request support from African members, including South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia. Worth noting that membership benefits cannot be underestimated in this era of shifting economic architecture and geopolitical situation.

Queuing for BRICS+ Membership

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger which historically share the cross-border region of West Africa, are in the queue to ascend into the BRICS+ association. The trio formed their own regional economic and defense pact, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in Sept. 2023, and aspiring for leveraging unto BRICS+, most likely to address their development and security questions.

Brazil, as BRICS 2025 chairmanship, has set its priority on expansion of BRICS+, the enlargement wave began by Russia. More than 30 countries are the line join, hoping for equitable participation in bloc’s unique activities uniting the Global South.

Perhaps, the most crucial moment for Ghana which shares border with Burkina Faso. Its military leader, Capt. Ibrahim Traoré was heartily applauded for attending the inauguration of the new President John Dramani Mahama on January 7th.

Burkina Faso, without International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, is transforming its agricultural sector to ensure food security, building educational and health facilities and sports complex which turns a new chapter in its political history.

In early January 2025, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) took over political power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP). Historically, the political transition has been quite smooth and admirable down the years. Ghana was ranked seventh in Africa out of 53 countries in the Ibrahim Index of African Governance.

The Ibrahim Index is a comprehensive measure of African governments, and methods of power transfer based on constitutional principles, rules and regulations.

Ghana produces high-quality cocoa. It has huge mineral deposits including gold, diamonds and bauxites. it has approx. 10 billion barrels of petroleum in reserves, the fifth-largest in Africa. President John Dramani Mahama, has reiterated to unlock the potentials, creating a resilient and inclusive economic model that would empower citizens and ultimately attracts foreign investments.

Ghana reduced the size of government, a required condition to secure funds from the IMF for development and resuscitating the economy. Ghana’s involvement in BRICS+ will steadily enhance the dynamics of its traditional governance in multipolar world.

Outlining Ghana’s potential benefits

Currently, Ghana has myriads of economic tasks to implement, aims at recovering from the previous gross mismanagement. It could take advantage of BRICS+ diverse partnership opportunities. Closing related to this, Ghana’s headquarter of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) further offers an appropriate collaboration in boosting further both intra-BRICS trade and intra-Africa trade.

With Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana, these put together paints an African geographical representation in BRICS+, and presents their collective African voice on the international stage.

After studying the report titled “Ghana Should Consider Joining the BRICS Organization” (Source: http://infobrics.org), the author Natogmah Issahaku, explained, in the first place, that Ghana’s relations with other external nations, particularly, those in the West, will not, and should not be affected by its BRICS membership.

According to the expert, Ghana needs infrastructural development and sustainable economic growth in order to raise the living standard of Ghanaians to middle-income status, which could be achieved through participation in BRICS+. In return, Ghana can offer BRICS+ members export of finished and semi-finished industrial and agricultural products as well as minerals in a win-win partnership framework.

As an Applied Economist at the University of Lincoln, United Kingdom, Natogmah Issahaku emphasized the importance of the BRICS New Development Bank (NDB), that could play roles by financing Ghana’s development agenda. BRICS development cooperation model is based on equality and fairness, Ghana can leverage its relations to optimize potential benefits.

Given the colossal scale of economic problems confronting the country, President Mahama should take strategic steps to lead Ghana into the BRICS+ without hesitation.

Notwithstanding world-wide criticisms, BRICS+ countries have advanced manufacturing and vast markets as well as technological advantages. As often argued, BRICS+ is another avenue to explore for long-term investment possibilities and work closely with its stakeholders.

These above-mentioned arguable factors are attractive for advancing Ghana in the Global South. Based on this, it is time to grab the emerging opportunity to drive increasingly high-quality cooperation, focus on hope rather than despair and step up broadly for a more constructive parameters in building beneficial relations into the future.

Kester Kenn Klomegah focuses on current geopolitical changes, foreign relations and economic development-related questions in Africa with external countries. Most of his well-resourced articles are reprinted in several reputable foreign media.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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UN Staff Honour Colleagues Fallen in Gaza. Credit: UN Photo

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 16 2025 (IPS)

As the United Nations plans to commemorate its 80th anniversary later this year, it is “reflecting on the steps taken to advance implementation of the Secretary-General’s Strategic Action Plan for addressing racism in the UN Secretariat.

The UN’s Anti-Racism Office, which was created in 2023, has hosted several online events that reached over 13,500 participants and generated 2,000 comments, and welcomed 2,700 visitors to its iSeek page (accessible only by staffers)—possibly a reflection of the rising complaints and concerns of UN staffers.

In a circular to staffers, the Office claims it has “collaborated closely with other UN entities and a growing global network of Anti-Racism Advocates, to foster a workplace that is safe, inclusive and equitable for all UN personnel, regardless of their race”

Together with the Office of Human Resources (OHR) and the Department of Operational Support (DOS), the Anti-Racism Office has been working on increasing fairness in recruitment processes through projects such as strengthening “blind hiring” practices and requiring diversity on hiring panels, which will be fully implemented in 2025.

Ian Richards, former President of the Coordination Committee of International Staff Unions and Associations (CCISUA), representing over 60,000 UN staffers, told IPS some of the practices being proposed, such as “blind hiring” and “mixed panels”, make sense. The unions have been requesting this for years. Although defining racial diversity in a legal manner may prove challenging.

At the same time, he pointed out, there are many competing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, (DEI) initiatives right now: Anti-racism, gender parity, disability inclusion, LGBTQIA, regional diversity, age diversity.

Each has their own office, coordinator, focal point network, action plan, policy, task force, ICSC agenda item, quota system or communication strategy. And each response to a legitimate grievance, said Richards, an economist specializing in digital business environments at the Geneva-based UNCTAD.

However, some of these conflict with each other, and HR officers and staff in general are finding it a bit hard to keep up.

“For any of this to be really effective, there needs to be some consolidation and prioritisation. Hopefully the SG can have a strategic think about this so we have the best outcome for all”, he declared.

A survey by the UN Staff Union in New York in 2021 was equally revealing.

According to the findings, 59% of the respondents said “they don’t feel the UN effectively addresses racial justice in the workplace, while every second respondent noted they don’t feel comfortable talking about racial discrimination at work”.

Meanwhile, the UN Secretariat in New York, faltered ingloriously, as it abruptly withdrew its own online survey on racism, in which it asked staffers to identify themselves either as “black, brown, white., mixed/multi-racial, and any other”.

But the most offensive of the categories listed in the survey was “yellow” – a longstanding Western racist description of Asians, including Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.

A non-apologetic message emailed to staffers read: “The United Nations Survey on Racism has been taken offline and will be revised and reissued, taking into account the legitimate concerns expressed by staff.”

Meanwhile the UN Special Adviser for Addressing Racism in the Workplace, Mojankunyane Gumbi of South Africa, has been “actively visiting different UN duty stations worldwide, holding town hall meetings with staff and leadership from various departments to discuss and address issues related to racism within the organization”.

The Special Adviser, who as appointed January 2023, has been providing “strategic advice to the Secretary-General on addressing racism and racial discrimination, as well as oversee the implementation of the long-term Strategic Action Plan adopted by the Organization in 2022 to address racism in the workplace.

Following the adoption of the Strategic Action Plan, every Secretariat entity was asked to develop and implement its own action plan, while an Implementation Steering Group under the leadership and stewardship of the Special Adviser will monitor and guide corporate-level actions to implement the Strategic Action Plan.

An Anti-Racism Team has been established to support the Special Adviser.

Dr Palitha Kohona, a former Chief of the UN Treaty Section, told IPS the Secretary-General’s Strategic Action Plan is a welcome initiative.

The UN has always prided itself of its inclusive approach to hiring but, in reality, many staff harbour, often publicly unexpressed but privately discussed, reservations that race and gender influence hiring and promotions, he said.

“Unfortunately, it is widely felt that political considerations influence recruitment and promotions. Some countries have made lobbying a fine art, said Dr Kohona a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN, and until recently Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China

Some of those who were responsible for staff management, he pointed out, tended to be influenced by considerations that were not necessarily consistent with the clearly stated principles of the United Nations, especially in sensitive areas, often conceding to external pressures.

“While equitable geographical distribution must be a guiding principle, staff recruitment, promotions and placements must be done transparently and with due emphasis on merit. Today, this is not too difficult a goal to achieve given the ready availability of talent from most countries of the world. In fact, the steady flow of talent from developing countries to the developed world is an acknowledged reality.”

The goals of the Organisation will be best served if recruitment, placements and promotions occur transparently and relevant information is disseminated as widely as possible through the media, in particular, the social media, he pointed out.

Vacancies, he said, should be advertised in the languages widely used/accessed by applicants around the world. The offices processing applications should also be constituted by geagraphically representative officers.

“The UN must also proactively address the concern that the recruitment of General Staff tends to be biased in favour of certain nationalities,” he declared.

Speaking strictly off-the-record, a senior UN staffer told IPS the official statement outlines the Anti-Racism Office’s efforts within the UN Secretariat, but it lacks a critical examination of the concrete impact of these initiatives.

While the creation of the office and its collaboration with other UN entities is a positive step, there is limited transparency regarding the actual outcomes of these actions. The implementation of “blind hiring” and diversity on hiring panels are mentioned as key initiatives, however, the statement does not provide any data, including status quo, or specific examples showing how these changes have improved or will improve fairness or representation within the Secretariat, he said.

“To effectively evaluate progress, it is essential to highlight measurable results and ongoing challenges in these areas together with the baseline data.

Additionally, while the Special Adviser’s visits and town halls with staff are commendable, the statement fails to address whether the concerns raised during these engagements by staff have led to substantive changes or policy adjustments”.

The numbers of participants and visitors to online events and iSeek are notable, but without demonstrating how these interactions have directly influenced policy changes, decision-making or led to tangible outcomes, the impact remains unclear, he noted.

“It would be more effective to provide specific examples of changes that have resulted from the efforts by the Anti-Racism Office such as improve hiring diversity, more inclusive workplace policies, or shifts in organizational culture, in particular, how the mandate of the Anti-Racism Office has impacted in addressing racism and racial discrimination within the UN”.

To truly advance its mission of fostering an inclusive and equitable workplace, he said, the Anti-Racism Office must go beyond activity metrics such as the number of participants to its virtual events, but focus on outcomes in order to achieve the goals and objectives set in the Secretary-General’s Strategic Action Plan, that was launched four years ago in 2021.

In a circular to UN staffers, Catherine Pollard Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance Chair of the Task Force on Addressing Racism and Promoting Dignity for All in the United Nations Secretariat, said “the Secretary-General has called upon us to condemn racism wherever we see it, without reservation, hesitation or qualification”.

“This includes looking into our own hearts and minds. The global outcry in 2020 caused us all to look inward and recognize that, in order to fight racism, we have to be proactively anti-racist.”

“As an organization, we were founded on the principles of the dignity and worth of the human person, proclaiming the right of everyone to enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms, without distinctions of race, colour or national origin. We have always recognized the prevalence of racism and racial discrimination in society and played a key role in supporting Member States in the development of legal instruments to address this scourge”.

“I want to urge all personnel, of every race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin, to come together in the spirit of human decency and collegiality to educate ourselves on how racism may operate in society and in the workplaces of the Organization. I encourage all of you to participate in the ongoing dialogue and awareness campaigns to gain insight into how racism manifests at the workplace and how we can prevent it and support those who experience such behaviour.”

Ultimately, progress in addressing racism and racial discrimination will require unwavering commitment from senior leaders and the full participation of United Nations personnel to ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to participate in the work of the Organization and is treated with respect and dignity. Let us stand in solidarity against racism, she declared.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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While Israel like every country has a right to defend itself, self-defense is not an excuse to commit genocide. Picture: WHO

By Joseph Chamie
PORTLAND, USA, Jan 15 2025 (IPS)

Despite the denials by the Israeli government and some of its supporters, Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza is evident.

After the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, Israel’s former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant referred to Palestinians as “human animals”. Israel’s former ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman, also described Palestinians as “horrible, inhuman animals”.

Deputy speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Nissim Vaturi, posted “ Now we all have one common goal – erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.” Also, Israeli President Isaac Herzog declared that “There are no innocent civilians in Gaza.”

In addition to cutting off food, water and fuel to Gaza, Israel retaliated to the attack with a devastating war in Gaza involving bombings, shootings and blockades. Those actions resulted in excessive numbers of deaths, injuries, suffering, displacement and destruction throughout Gaza.

As the Israel-Gaza war approaches 500 days of conflict, the imbalances in the deaths, injuries, displacement and destruction are striking. For example, based on the reported numbers of deaths, which are considered to be significant undercounts for the Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 96 percent of the Israel-Gaza war deaths as of 10 January 2025 have been to Palestinians with nearly 70 percent of those deaths being women and children (Figure 1).

 

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

 

While Israel like every country has a right to defend itself, self-defense is not an excuse to commit genocide. Self-defense must conform to international humanitarian law and Israel’s actions in Gaza fail the tests of humanitarian law.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and his former defense chief for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict. The ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe that those two Israeli officials were criminally responsible for acts including murder, persecution and starvation as a weapon of war against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

Also, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued orders on how Israel conducts the war in Gaza. Among other things, the ICJ orders stressed that Israel must conduct the war in a way that avoids the commission of genocide.

Based on the reported numbers of deaths, which are considered to be significant undercounts for the Palestinians in Gaza, approximately 96 percent of the Israel-Gaza war deaths as of 10 January 2025 have been to Palestinians with nearly 70 percent of those deaths being women and children

The United Nations Special Committee to investigate Israeli practices found Israel’s warfare methods in Gaza consistent with the characteristics of genocide, with mass civilian casualties, the use of starvation as a weapon of war and life-threatening conditions intentionally imposed on Palestinians in Gaza.

In an objective, methodological, and detailed analysis report, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) at the Boston University School of Law concluded that “Israel has committed genocidal acts, namely killing, seriously harming, and inflicting conditions of life calculated, and intended to, bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a US-based legal advocacy group, has also said that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In its legal analysis, the CCR reported on Israel’s violations of the Genocide Convention and also criticized the US administration for its complicity in those violations.

A former Israeli defense minister said that Israel’s government with the support of far-right politicians was aiming to occupy, annex and ethnically cleanse Gaza and build Israeli settlements there. He accused the Israeli government of committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

In addition, Amnesty International issued a report indicating that it had gathered sufficient evidence to conclude that Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The report specifically condemned Israel for using starvation as a method of war. Following the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attack, Israel cut off water, fuel and nearly all humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in Gaza.

Human Rights Watch also reported that Israeli authorities have intentionally deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. They concluded that the Israeli government is responsible for the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide.

Scholars and academicians in Israel, the United State as well as elsewhere have concluded that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.

Professor Amos Goldberg, chair of Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, published an article in Siha Mekomit accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza. He concluded that “what is happening in Gaza is a genocide because Gaza does not exist anymore.”

Similarly, Omer Bartov, professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, also concluded it is no longer possible to deny that Israel has been engaged in systematic war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal actions. The Israeli government’s ultimate goal from the very beginning, he noted, had been to make the entire Gaza Strip uninhabitable and to debilitate its population to such a degree that it would either die out or seek all possible options to flee the territory.

Governments inside and outside the region have also found Israel committing genocide in Gaza. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and Qatar’s emir sheikh accused Israel of committing a “collective genocide” in Gaza. Turkey’s president said that Israel’s policy of genocide, occupation, and invasion must come to an end.

In addition, more than a dozen countries, including Belgium, Ireland, Mexico and Spain, have joined or signaled their intention to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

In the United States, no less than a dozen federal government employees have resigned in protest over President Joe Biden’s Gaza policy. They accuse the Biden administration of complicity in Israel’s killing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, which contributed to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Some explained that they could not continue working for an administration that ignores the voices of its diverse staff by continuing to fund and enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. In addition, others have reported that Biden’s policy in Gaza has been a moral, practical and political failure with America being complicit in civilian deaths, including in the starvation of children.

In addition, some elected officials in the US Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders, have criticized the Israeli government, saying that Israel’s actions in Gaza are “ethnic cleansing”. Also, Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar and Jamal Bowman have accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people.

A ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war and the release of Israeli hostages may occur as mediators are reporting that a deal is closer than it’s ever been before. Despite that outcome being widely desired by the international community, the ceasefire and release of hostages will not alter Israel having committed genocide in Gaza. It remains for Israel to be held accountable for its actions and also ensure that Israel does not continue its genocide against Palestinians.

 

Joseph Chamie is a consulting demographer, a former director of the United Nations Population Division and author of numerous publications on population issues, including his recent book, “Population Levels, Trends, and Differentials”.

 

The 2025 Annual Meeting of The World Economic Forum will take place at Davos-Klosters from January 20-24. The meeting brings together government, business and civil society leaders to set the year's agenda for how leaders can make the world a better place for all. It's relevance as a global gathering sits within and beyond the official programme. The importance of dialogue — often happening in private conversations — reveals an ever important mission to convene leaders when 'threats to world stability are multiplying'.

By Deodat Maharaj
GEBZE, Türkiye, Jan 15 2025 (IPS)

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” Charles Dickens is more relevant today than ever.

The wealthy and powerful are meeting again this year in glamorous Davos, at an invitation-only event. They arrive in chartered aircraft and private jets to speak about our warming climate, among other global concerns.

The super-rich, politicians and celebrities gather for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting later this month at a time when global inequity is at its highest. Last year saw a phenomenal growth of wealth in major economies with valuations of at least eight companies exceeding the trillion-dollar mark.

On the other hand, those at the margins are barely scraping a living and preoccupied with where their next meal is coming from. Globally, 733 million people are facing hunger, and 2.33 billion are food insecure. The situation is most dire in the 44 Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

Based on the data, it is getting worse for people living in the poorest and most vulnerable countries. According to Oxfam, the wealthiest 1% own almost half of the world’s wealth, while the poorest own just 0.75%. In addition to inequality, geopolitical tensions and external threats, including climate change are rising. At the same time, the global economic outlook remains subdued.

The 2025 theme for Davos, ‘Collaboration for the Intelligent Age,’ is particularly timely for wealthy countries as they reap rich dividends due to rapid technological advancements. Equally, the theme holds profound significance for people living in LDCs, where new and relevant technologies can permanently alter their development trajectory.

However, only 36% of their citizens have access to the internet, and digital infrastructure is weak. So, if we care about a more equal world, a necessary first step is to focus on the reality of those living on less than $1.90 a day.

In terms of solutions, the Davos gathering should look at concrete and practical ways to help these countries with financing and technical expertise to reduce this alarming gap where poor people are not just left behind but are completely left out.

The summit agenda outlines five priorities and their rationale – all pertinent for LDCs if the will, financing, and collaboration can be mustered.

Reimagining growth: The World Economic Forum notes that the digital economy has the potential to account for up to 70% of the new value generated globally in the next ten years.

This potential and attendant economic benefits will reside overwhelmingly in the wealthiest countries. Nonetheless, the digital economy provides an outstanding opportunity for the poorest countries to leapfrog in their development gains.

With support through technology transfer, financing, and capacity building in the LDCs, their development trajectory can change, creating new jobs and opportunities for their people.

Industries in the intelligent age: This thematic focus is invariably on the world’s largest businesses and economies. However, there is much that big business can do to help grow a global economy where everyone benefits. Sharing best practices and investing in LDCs are prime examples of ways to promote a more equitable transition into the tech future.

Business has an important role to play in enhancing the presence of these countries in global supply chains. They can also support small and medium enterprises by boosting their productive capacity at the domestic level. However, this has not happened thus far, and the time to change the focus is now.

Investing in people: Globally, education systems are struggling to adapt to fast-changing technologies, with just 54% of countries having digital skill standards. However, in the world’s poorest nations, 260 million people of primary and secondary school age did not attend school in 2020.

As long as LDCs spend more on servicing their external debt than on education, this appalling inequality will not change. Using low-cost, high-impact technologies to build human capital in LDCs is fundamental. There is much the wealthiest countries can do in this critical area.

Safeguarding the planet: Large pockets of the world’s poorest are starving due to climate-induced disasters and food insecurity. Climate financing action is vital for LDCs, which contribute less than 4% of global emissions but bear some of the most severe impacts of climate change.

Existing technologies, as well as new and emerging technologies that can help predict climate change and manage disasters, should be transferred to those who need it most. And of course, the developed world must meet its commitments on financing for climate action.

Rebuilding trust: There is much talk about global collaboration and multilateralism – at a time of rising global inequality and increasing isolationism. Davos could do well to foster greater inclusivity and, in doing so, build this much-needed trust and hope.

Those with great wealth and influence also have a great responsibility. Unless the World Economic Forum’s annual summit focuses on the more than one billion people living in the world’s poorest countries, it will remain an echo chamber for the privileged.

A global future rooted in equity, shared prosperity, and collective resilience is not only possible but essential for us all. Davos 2025 must seize the opportunity to redefine itself as a true forum for global progress.

Deodat Maharaj is Managing Director of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and can be reached at: deodat.maharaj@un.org

IPS UN Bureau

 

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Plugging illicit financial flows are among solutions mooted by experts to bring the poverty rate of Africa down. Credit: Ignatius Banda/IPS

By Ignatius Banda
BULAWAYO, Jan 15 2025 (IPS)

Africa loses billions of dollars annually through illicit financial flows, resulting in the continent failing to improve the lives of millions of people despite vast mineral wealth, according to experts.

Agencies say more needs to be done to turn the continent’s natural resources into prosperity at a time governments are struggling to address challenging economic conditions that have spawned high poverty levels.

According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), poverty levels increased in 2022, with 281 million people affected by hunger, up by 11 million the previous year.

The grim data was a cause for concern among experts during the recent African Economic Conference in Gaborone, Botswana, who lamented that despite the continent’s undisputed mineral deposits, such high levels of poverty have persisted.

By tapping into existing natural resources, experts believe this will result in better debt management as countries remain saddled with unserviceable loans.

This is also coming against the background of growing calls for debt forgiveness, as critics say loans from international lenders will burden the continent’s future generations.

“We cannot eat diamonds or bauxite,” said Said Adejumobi, Director of Strategic Planning at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

“Other regions with fewer resources have transformed their economies by adding value to what they produce. Why not us?” Adejumobi added in an address during the Gaborone conference.

The ECA estimates that Africa loses USD 90 billion annually through illicit financial flows, and the plunder has crippled services such as the health sector and infrastructure development.

This loss is also being felt in the continent’s efforts to address lingering debt and unserviceable loans, with ECA noting that the external debt of more than half of African countries will soon exceed USD 1 trillion.

“Sometimes we borrow just to repay previous loans, which is unsustainable,” said Sonia Essobmadje, Chief of the Innovative Finance and Capital Markets Section at the Economic Commission for Africa.

“There’s a need for economic diversification, fiscal discipline, stronger public debt management strategies, and, above all, the establishment of domestic capital markets,” said Essobmadje.

Researchers have long raised concerns about the loss of potential mining revenue to international criminal syndicates where African countries have failed to plug holes that have seen billions of dollars being lost.

However, experts note that for Africa to succeed, robust policymaking will be crucial to ensure adherence to continental protocols that seek to both protect and reclaim lost wealth.

“Policy is not first aid,” said Raymond Gilpin, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Africa’s Chief Economist.

“It’s about building structures for the future,” Gilpin said, highlighting the lack of adequate long-term planning to protect the continent’s wealth.

It is, however, not all gloom and doom, as experts have pointed to Africa’s young population as offering hope for potential growth despite the lingering challenges.

“We are optimistic because Africa has unique assets: a young, dynamic workforce, vast renewable energy potential, and urbanization,” said Caroline Kende-Robb, Director of Strategy and Operational Policies at the African Development Bank (AfDB).

“It’s not all about crises—it’s about opportunity,” she added.

As part of broader efforts to plug the continent’s wealth loss, regional technocrats must innovate for governments to adopt implementable evidence-based solutions.

“As leading institutions on the continent, the AfDB, ECA, and UNDP must step up, not just in articulating smart ideas, but in fundamentally rethinking how we operate. The Africa of today is dynamic and evolving—our strategies must evolve with it. This is about action, not aspiration,” said Gilpin, the UNDP economist.

For Africa to move past its many challenges, solutions must emerge from within the continent itself, believes Zuzana Schwidrowski, Director of the Macroeconomics, Finance, and Governance Division at the Economic Commission for Africa.

“Africa is not asking for handouts,” Schwidrowski said.

“Every challenge brings with it an opportunity. Amidst global fragmentation and trade wars, Africa has the chance to carve out new niches and seize emerging opportunities. We must work together to capitalize on them.”

Going beyond safeguarding Africa’s abundant wealth, more still needs to be explored to spread the continent’s revenue base, some experts contend.

“We have the tools to create change, but tools alone are not enough,” said Anthony Simpasa, Director of the Macroeconomic Policy, Forecasting, and Research Department at the AfDB.

“We need practical, evidence-based solutions to transform economies, diversify growth drivers, and build shock absorbers for future crises. Political commitment and policy coherence are critical to creating an environment that fosters growth and resilience,” Simpasa told the conference.

The African Economic Conference, held under the theme Securing Africa’s Economic Future Amidst Rising Uncertainty,” was yet another platform where policymakers and experts gathered to map Africa’s future, and was met with guarded optimism among some delegates.

“Make sure that this conference does not degenerate into merely a generous exchange of flattery,” said Botswana’s president, Duma Boko. “We must act to lift our people from poverty and raise our continent to take its rightful place as a leader in the world, and not just an emerging frontier.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Remittances offer something philanthropy cannot: autonomy. Families receiving remittances decide how best to allocate those funds, based on their most pressing needs. Credit: Shutterstock

By Tafadzwa Munyaka
HARARE, Jan 14 2025 (IPS)

Across Africa, economic transformation and development are being fuelled by two significant streams of funding: remittances and philanthropy. Both play vital roles, but as the situations evolve in many African countries, one truth becomes increasingly clear – remittances are emerging as a more sustainable, dignifying force compared to traditional philanthropy.

While philanthropy, often driven by well-meaning donors, tends to create short-term interventions, remittances empower households with the freedom to define their own future.

While philanthropic efforts can provide essential support, a more collaborative approach that prioritizes community engagement and empowerment is crucial in strengthening resilience and enabling communities to chart their own paths toward sustainable development

Remittances are interwoven into the identity of Africans as they support their families and communities, often on the premise and thinking that if one of us makes it, they pull everyone up with them.

With this knowledge, it begs the question, is it not time to reimagine our approach to African development and embrace the profound potential of remittances? A stark distinction of remittances and philanthropy is that the latter is often a result of and comes from excess while the former is derived form a culture and expectation of selflessness.

 

The Scale of Impact

According to the World Bank, remittances to sub-Saharan Africa exceeded $50 billion in 2023, in a year they were considered to have slowed down, dwarfing the funds allocated by philanthropic organizations and official development aid.

Countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Morrocco, Ghana, and Kenya top the charts, with families using these funds to pay for education, healthcare, and small businesses.

Unlike many charitable initiatives, remittances go directly to the intended recipients – often without the burden of administrative costs or external agendas.

It must be noted that although remittances can be powerful, they often stem from obligation rather than abundance, which can lead to exploitation when the giver is always expected to give, despite the strong bonds that exist.

This dynamic can create a cycle where recipients may feel pressured to rely on these funds, potentially stifling local entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency.

Furthermore, while remittances provide immediate financial relief, they do not always address the underlying socio-economic issues that cause migration in the first place. Ultimately, balancing the benefits of remittances with the need for sustainable development strategies cannot be overstated.

Philanthropic interventions, no matter how generous, often hinge on specific projects determined by donors, who decide which issues take precedence be it education or health.

This top-down approach, while beneficial in the short term, frequently overlooks the unique needs of individual communities, leading to a dependency on cycles of aid rather than embedding empowerment.

When local populations are not engaged in the decision-making process, interventions may miss the mark, failing to resonate with cultural contexts or actual needs.

As a result, communities can become reliant on external resources, which stifles local initiative and innovation, ultimately perpetuating cycles of poverty. Moreover, the focus on immediate results often overshadows the systemic issues that hinder long-term development, creating a dynamic where local leaders feel compelled to align with donor priorities instead of advocating for their community’s true needs.

Therefore, while philanthropic efforts can provide essential support, a more collaborative approach that prioritizes community engagement and empowerment is crucial in strengthening resilience and enabling communities to chart their own paths toward sustainable development.

 

Empowerment Through Choice

Remittances offer something philanthropy cannot: autonomy. Families receiving remittances decide how best to allocate those funds, based on their most pressing needs.

This flexibility builds and strengthens agency while preserving and promoting dignity, allowing recipients to meet challenges in real time, without waiting for outside interventions.

A woman in rural Zimbabwe, for example, may receive monthly remittances from a relative working in the UK. With these funds, she might choose to send her daughter to school while investing in a poultry business to generate additional income. She is no longer just a passive beneficiary of aid; she is now an active agent in her community’s economy.

This contrasts sharply with philanthropic programs, which may prioritize education or health but overlook opportunities for long-term economic empowerment.

However, we should not overlook that many in the diaspora sacrifice their own financial growth to help their families back home. The impact is real, but the invisible cost to the diaspora is often overlooked.

 

A Sustainable Alternative

Philanthropy’s Achilles’ heel is often its short-term nature. Donor fatigue, shifting political interests, and economic downturns can abruptly end well-intentioned programs, leaving communities without the support they have come to rely on.

Research highlights how philanthropic underfunding and unrealistic expectations can lead to the failure of nonprofit organizations to sustain their initiatives over the long term, arguably, precisely because of these short-lived commitments.

To contrast this, remittances are a more resilient source of income. Diaspora communities tend to continue supporting their families even in tough times, ensuring a stable flow of funds.

Moreover, remittances are often reinvested locally, creating ripple effects that stimulate small businesses and local markets. This bottom-up economic activity nurtures homegrown solutions to poverty.

In the long term it is expected to contribute to reducing reliance on external aid more so as remittances ensure a stable flow of funds that are often unaffected by political or economic changes in recipient countries.

A 2023 World Bank report highlights that remittances grew by 5% in sub-Saharan Africa, even during global economic slowdowns, underscoring the resilience of these flows.

 

A New Development Model

To be clear, philanthropy still has an essential role to play, particularly in areas where immediate humanitarian assistance is required, such as in disaster relief or during health crises.

However, as Africa’s economic aspirations grow, there is an urgent need to rethink how development is financed and implemented.

Rather than relying solely on donor-driven models, governments, NGOs, and international institutions should focus on creating enabling environments that leverage remittances.

This means and includes reducing transaction fees, actively supporting diaspora engagement, and building financial infrastructure that allows families to maximize these funds.

If philanthropy is to shake off many of its negative connotations to remain relevant, it must evolve beyond charity. Strategic partnerships with diaspora communities can amplify the impact of both streams of funding, aligning donor goals with grassroots solutions already being tried and tested through remittances.

To sum it up, “philanthropy comes from excess, allowing for strategic, long-term change – building schools, hospitals, and infrastructure that break cycles of poverty.”

 

Parting shot

Africa’s future lies in empowerment, not dependence. Remittances, with their direct, flexible, and sustainable nature, represent a dignifying form of support available.

As Africans increasingly take charge of their own destinies, it is essential to complement philanthropic efforts with policies that amplify the impact of remittances. The lesson is clear: development is most successful when it flows from the hands of those it is meant to serve.

Credit: Berit Kessler/shutterstock.com

By Ramesh Thakur
Jan 14 2025 (IPS)

 
A regime built on terror, ruled by fear and sustained by foreign proxy forces crumbled in less than a fortnight. In the end, the foundations of the House of Assad (1970–2024) rested on the shifting sands of time. In the good ol’ days, despots could retire with their plundered loot into comfortable lifestyles in Europe’s pleasure haunts. No longer. The reverse damascene expulsion has seen the Assads scurry to safety to Moscow.

The beginning of the end of the Assad dynasty can be traced back to Hamas’s brutal attacks of 7 October 2023. Its objectives were to kill, rape, torture kidnap and subject to public humiliation on the streets of Gaza as many Israelis as possible.

Its political calculations sought to undermine Israelis’ confidence in their government’s ability to protect them; provoke retaliatory strikes on the densely populated Gaza strip that would kill large numbers of civilians held as involuntary human shields, and inflame the Arab street, enrage Muslims around the world and flood the streets of Western cities with massive crowds shouting pro-Palestinian/Hamas slogans; disrupt the process of normalisation of relations with Arab states; dismantle the Abraham Accords; and isolate Israel internationally.

It’s fair to say that Hamas has won the propaganda war. Israel has never before come under such sustained international censure in the UN Security Council, General Assembly, Human Rights Council, World Court and International Criminal Court. It’s also been heavily criticised in many previously supportive Western capitals, streets and campuses including Australia.

There are still some 100 hostages captive in Gaza. Israeli soldiers are still being killed and wounded. Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis retain residual capacity to launch rockets and drones into Israel.

Yet, Israel has achieved impressive military successes in fighting throughout Gaza followed by Lebanon. Hamas and Hezbollah have been decimated as fighting forces, with their military commanders and leaders decapitated with targeted assassinations and improvised explosive devices placed in pagers and walkie talkies. Iran has been humiliated, lost its aura of invincibility and seen the destruction of its entire strategy of trying to bleed Israel to death through a thousand cuts inflicted by proxies.

The military outcome thus is a complete reset of the local balance of power to Israel’s advantage. The reason for this is strategic miscalculations by Hamas. It launched the attacks of 10/7 unilaterally, hoping to draw fraternal groups into the war. Only Hezbollah half did so by firing rockets but without committing ground troops.

The second strategic miscalculation by Hamas was to underestimate Israel’s will and determination. This is Israel’s longest war. Israel stayed steadfast on destroying Hamas as a capable military force and governing power in Gaza; relegated the rescue of hostages to a highly desirable but subordinate goal; destroyed Hezbollah and ejected it from southern Lebanon; and checkmated Iran as the over-the-horizon military threat to Israel via its two powerful proxies in Gaza and Lebanon.

A further consequence was to remove the props holding up the Assad regime in Damascus and leave it exposed and vulnerable to overthrow by the well-armed and strongly motivated jihadist rebels. PM Benjamin Netanyahu is right to claim that Israel’s ‘blows inflicted on Iran and Hezbollah’ helped to topple Assad.

The new strategic balance sees the Israeli centre emerging much stronger amidst the ruins of the anti-Israel axis of resistance. The underlying reason for this is precisely the scale, surprise factor and depraved brutality of October 7. This broke beyond repair the endless loop of Hamas and Israeli policies of attack, retaliate, rinse and repeat when desired. Only a new balance of power could restore deterrence-based truce resting on certain Israeli retaliation and Israeli dominance at every level of escalation.

International calls for immediate and unconditional ceasefire and urgings not to go into Rafah proved counterproductive, I believe, for two reasons. For one, given the monstrous scale of 10/7, to Israelis they separated true from fair-weather friends. For another, Western youth and countries, under the impact of changing electoral demographics with mass influxes of radicalised Middle Eastern Muslims, were deserting Israel and softening on fighting antisemitism in their own populations. This drove home the realisation that time was against Israel. Hamas and Hezbollah had to be removed as security threats now or never.

However, post-Assad Syria is highly combustible. Syria is not a nation-state but a tattered patchwork quilt of different sects with a blood-soaked history of feuding. The rebels are diverse in tribe, race and religion and backed by different foreign actors with their own agendas. The chances are that après victory will come the deluge of warring factions and Syria descends once more into killing fields.

The dominant rebel group is Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), whose roots go back to al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Its leader is Abu Mohammed al-Jolani who has had a US $10 million FBI bounty on his head since 2017 as a terrorist. The HTS’s base is the 75 percent Sunni population, with the remaining one-fourth split between Shiites, Kurds, Christians, Druze, Ismailis, Armenians and Alawites.

Israelis cannot assume that Syrians are immune to the Jew hatred that animates many Muslims in the region. Guided by its own precautionary principle, Israel has pre-emptively destroyed much of Syria’s weaponry, chemical weapons infrastructure and arms-production facilities and taken control of the demilitarised buffer zone in the Golan Heights.

The experiences of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya after their humanitarian liberations into freedom and democracy in the 2001–11 decade should give Panglossian optimists on a ‘new Syria’ a reality check.

Ramesh Thakur, a former UN assistant secretary-general, is emeritus professor at the Australian National University and Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He is a former Senior Research Fellow at the Toda Peace Institute and editor of The nuclear ban treaty: a transformational reframing of the global nuclear order.

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished from the original with their permission.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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A displaced community in a shelter in Delmas, a commune in Haiti’s capital city, Port-Au-Prince. Credit: UNICEF/Herold Joseph

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Jan 14 2025 (IPS)

2024 was a transitional period in Haiti’s history, marked by rampant political instability, brutal gang violence, and widespread civilian displacement. Since the eruption of hostilities in March 2024, the Caribbean nation has been in a state of emergency. In response, the United Nations (UN) Security Council approved The Multinational Security Support (MSS) Mission in Haiti to assist the Haitian government in deposing gang activity and restoring order. However, the support mission has been largely ineffective as gangs continue to seize more areas in Haiti.

On January 7 2025, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) issued a report that detailed the deteriorating conditions currently plaguing the Haitian people. According to the report, at least 5,601 people were killed last year in Haiti as a direct result of gang violence, marking an increase of over 1,000 civilian casualties since 2023. Approximately 2,212 people were injured and 1,494 kidnapped as well.

The report also documented at least 315 instances of lynchings subjected to gang members and people allegedly associated with gang activity. According to OHCHR, some of these lynchings were carried out by Haitian police officers. Additionally, there were approximately 281 cases of summary executions involving specialized police units recorded in 2024.

“These figures alone cannot capture the absolute horrors being perpetrated in Haiti but they show the unremitting violence to which people are being subjected. It has long been clear that impunity for human rights violations and abuses, as well as corruption, remain prevalent in Haiti, constituting some of the main drivers of the multi-dimensional crisis the country faces, along with entrenched economic and social inequalities,” said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.

December 2024 marked an escalation in hostilities for Haiti. On January 3, 2025, William O’Neill, OHCHR’s Designated Expert on Haiti detailed the most recent attacks on healthcare personnel in Haiti. On December 17, 2024, gang members attacked the Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-Au-Prince. “Criminal gangs have murdered and kidnapped physicians, nurses and healthcare workers, including humanitarian workers,” said O’Neill, adding that the gangs had “burned, ransacked and destroyed many hospitals and clinics, forcing many to close or suspend their operations”.

On December 24, 2024, gangs attacked the Université d’Etat d’Haiti Hospital (HUEH), resulting in 4 civilian casualties. These attacks have underscored the sheer level of insecurity facing Haiti’s healthcare sector. According to O’Neill, only 37 percent of hospitals in Haiti remain fully functional. Additionally, gangs continue to issue threats of attack on healthcare facilities, making life-saving medical efforts much more difficult.

“The Haitian people – including hundreds of thousands of children living in very precarious conditions – are once again paying the high price of this violence with their right to health severely hindered,” said O’Neill. Healthcare is urgently required at this time due to the sheer influx of injured persons as a result of gang violence as well as the spread of infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and cholera.

Over 2024, gang violence has led to a surge of internal displacements. According to a press release from the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, nearly 703,000 civilians have been uprooted from their homes in 2024, which is nearly double the amount of displacements recorded in the previous year. Additionally, insecurity has led to an omnipresent hunger crisis, with approximately 5.4 million Haitians facing acute food insecurity, which is nearly half of the nation’s population.

Heightened insecurity has also greatly impeded response efforts from the international community since the wake of this crisis. The UN-backed MSS mission has largely floundered as a result of exacerbated gang violence. In June 2024, Kenya had deployed 400 police officers to assist the Haitian government in deposing gang activity. However, they found themselves outnumbered and overwhelmed by the gang members.

Himmler Rébu, a retired Haitian army colonel and former presidential candidate, informed reporters on the general ineffectiveness of the Kenyan contingent mission’s response, saying, “I heard there were Kenyans in the country, but where are they? Why are they in Haiti if we don’t see any difference? Since the mission’s arrival, gangs have taken several villages and at least seven key towns that had been spared.”

Türk has reiterated the need to scale up MSS responses going forward. “The Multinational Security Support mission in Haiti needs the logistical and financial support it requires to successfully implement its mandate,” he said, adding that there must be a stricter arms embargo to prevent gang members from acquiring firearms and ammunition. Additionally, Türk stated the need for stronger oversight measures from the Haitian National Police (HNP) to track human rights violations and hold perpetrators accountable.

On January 3, 2025, a contingent of 150 Guatemalan soldiers arrived in Haiti as a part of the MSS mission in hopes of restoring security. Normil Rameau, the Director-General of HNP, informed reporters that the most effective way of mitigating gang violence is through a “marriage” between the police and Haitian civilians.

It is also crucial for the MSS mission to receive proper funding to adequately respond to this crisis. The UN Trust Fund for the MSS mission has pledged approximately 96.8 million dollars. However, Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, warns that much more is needed, adding that further delays or gaps in operation would present “a catastrophic risk of the collapse of national security institutions.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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Israeli drones targeted a clearly marked World Central Kitchen aid killing seven aid convoy in the Gaza Strip killing seven aid workers. Credit: Tasnim News Agency

By Ed Holt
BRATISLAVA, Jan 14 2025 (IPS)

Humanitarian aid operations in some places may become impossible in the future, experts have warned, as a new report shows a dramatic rise in the use of armed drones in conflict zones.

The report Hovering Threats The Challenges of Armed Drones in Humanitarian Contexts by Insecurity Insight, released on January 14, shows that recorded incidents directly affecting aid and health care programmes in conflict zones rose almost four-fold in the last year and that the share of drone-delivered explosives among all incidents where explosive weapons impacted aid or health care doubled.

It also warns that given that it is considerably cheaper to deliver explosive munitions with drones compared to piloted aircraft and that drone use carries minimal risk to operators, coupled with the increasing availability of components on both military and commercial markets, the frequency of drone use in conflict and with it the number of incidents where aid operations are affected is likely to rise in the coming years—both in scale and in the number of affected countries and territories.

“There could be some time where aid organizations will not be able to work in some conflict zones [because of the risks associated with drones],” Christina Wille, Director of Insecurity Insight, told IPS.

The report highlights how the use of drones in conflict zones has expanded exponentially in the last two decades, and especially in the last few years. This is increasingly impacting aid and healthcare in those areas, killing and injuring health and aid workers and destroying aid infrastructure, including warehouses, IDP or refugee camps, and health facilities and ambulances.

Insecurity Insight’s research shows that armed actors’ use of drones has been a factor in conflict dynamics since 2001, but the first recorded instances of drone-delivered explosives impacting health care services were not until 2016. Until 2022, the number of recorded incidents directly affecting aid and health care programmes remained below ten per year.

By 2023, however, 84 incidents of drone use directly impacting aid operations or health services were recorded, and this figure surged to 308 incidents in 2024. Additionally, the geographic spread of drone-related incidents directly affecting aid or health services expanded from five countries or territories in 2022 to twelve in 2024. The share of drone-delivered explosives among all incidents where explosive weapons impacted aid or health care in conflict zones increased from 6 percent in 2023 to 12 percent in 2024.

The report also says that during this period, for the first time, explosive weapons were the most commonly recorded form of violence directly affecting aid or health operations.

The organization says that between 2016 and 2024, at least 21 aid workers and 73 health workers, six of whom worked for health NGOs, were reportedly killed in drone attacks.

Aid operations or health care services in conflict zones were directly impacted by drone-delivered explosive weapons in at least 426 documented incidents.

The majority of incidents of drone-delivered explosives that affected aid operations or health care in conflict-affected areas documented by Insecurity Insight involved Russian and Israeli forces, and the impact of drone use on aid organizations operating in conflict zones in Ukraine and Gaza has been stark.

In Gaza, since the beginning of Israeli forces’ offensive against Hamas following the group’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, aid organizations in the region say healthcare and humanitarian operations have been devastated by Israeli strikes, some of which have involved the use of drones.

In Ukraine, the situation is similar.

Pavlo Smyrnov, Deputy Executive Director of the Ukrainian healthcare NGO Alliance for Public Health (APH), which has been running aid and healthcare programmes in Ukraine, including in front-line areas, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, said the risks to aid workers from drones were now so great that some areas had become off-limits to them.

“Because of drones, it is difficult to work in some places and impossible to work in others. In some places there are just so many drones we can’t work, and in other areas we can still work, but that work is much more limited,” he told IPS.

However, the report points out that the use of drones is rising in other conflicts around the world. In 2023, the use of drone-delivered explosives affecting aid or health operations was reported for the first time in Burkina Faso, Lebanon and Sudan. In 2024, incidents involving drone-delivered explosives that impacted aid or health care were reported from more countries and territories, including for the first time in Chechnya, Colombia, Mali, Niger and Russia.

Experts say this proliferation of drone use is not just dangerous in itself—proliferation of any weapon increases risk—but because their specific nature means their use threatens to create bloodier conflicts where previously accepted humanitarian laws and rules of war will be more frequently broken.

“What is particularly worrying is how these weapons change the way combat is carried out. When you have people directly confronting each other, who knows what will drive people to make decisions [on weapons use] in these circumstances? But these drones are being used remotely, often by people a long way away, in rooms. It’s almost like playing a video game,” said Wille.

“What we can expect drone operators to do may be very different from what happens in a situation where someone feels their own life under threat because they are in a combat situation with a direct adversary. To some extent, the use of drones has led to prescribed norms being more frequently ignored by conflict parties and also because using drones to deliver explosives is so much cheaper. If you have to spend half a million dollars to hit a target, you will self-restrain because of the cost, but if it costs much less, it is easier to just say, ‘OK, we’ll hit a target now because we feel like it’. The drones have removed a lot of the cost barriers [that led to conflict parties using some restraint in their attacks],” she added.

Experts have also linked these rising attacks with a lack of meaningful global action over deadly military strikes on health and humanitarian operations in war zones, particularly those seen in Ukraine and Gaza.

“In the past, many conflict parties may have felt constrained in what they could do because they would fear some serious reprimand, even from allied states, but that seems to have disappeared now. Other regimes see states getting away [with attacking humanitarian groups] and are emboldened to do the same themselves,” said Wille.

She said this was making it much harder for aid agencies to know where they can safely operate.

“They cannot rely on parties to conflicts to regulate their actions to ensure they stay within prescribed norms,” she said.

Another problem related to drone attacks is that civilian populations in areas of conflict have begun to associate all drones with nefarious or lethal operations against them.

“One of the key challenges with the multiplication of drones in conflict and humanitarian contexts is their psychological and ‘chilling’ effect: a lot of people/civilians in those contexts associate drones with possible attacks or surveillance. The more drones there are, the more worried and ‘paranoid’ people become,” Pierrick Devidal, Senior Policy Advisor at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told IPS.

“Because it is virtually impossible for people to distinguish drones used for civilian/humanitarian and military purposes, this lack of distinction compounds the problem and deepens an atmosphere of fear and anxiety. These perceptions and psychological issues are likely to create problems for humanitarian organizations wanting to use drones for humanitarian/operational purposes, as those uses may be (mis)perceived as related to military/security objectives,” Devidal added.

The Insight Insecurity report has a list of recommendations for measures aid agencies can take to mitigate the risks posed by the use of armed drones, including not just practical operative measures to ensure safety if drones are in an area but also the use of humanitarian diplomacy and deconfliction to avoid being targeted.

However, experts say with parties in conflicts appearing to be uninterested, or unable, to observe deconfliction agreements and the costs of implementing safety measures increasingly prohibitive—for example, in some places here you cannot operate anywhere in a vehicle without having a drone jamming device on your car—this is a requirement set by the police. These are expensive though,” said Smyrnov—many groups will struggle to keep operations going in areas where drones are frequently used.

“If the risks [of operating in a conflict zone] increase so too do the costs for the aid agencies,” said Wille.

“Security risks from the use of drones, e.g., mistargeting, drones failing and falling, etc., represent an additional security risk—a source of risks that did not exist before—in conflict and humanitarian settings to which civilians and humanitarian organizations will have to adjust and adapt. This will require more resources, time and energy that will not be spent in delivering aid. In short, it is not good news,” added Devidal.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

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