Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 3 2024 (IPS)

When the high-level segment of the UN General Assembly took place last September, there were several key world leaders missing in action (MIAs)—including, most importantly, leaders of the four of the five permanent members of the Security Council, the most powerful political body at the United Nations.

Only US President Joe Biden was there –while Emmanuel Macron of France, Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Rishi Sunak of UK skipped the UN sessions- either for personal or political reasons.

As an article in Le Monde pointed out: “Such notable absences reflect the crisis affecting UN bodies, against a backdrop of an international stage that is crumbling.”

A former diplomat Gérard Araud, a one-time French ambassador to the United Nations, said, “Multilateralism is seriously compromised in an increasingly multipolar world.”

“The absence of Security Council leaders is yet another symptom, but not the only one, of a powerless UN, caused by the war in Ukraine and the rivalry between the United States and China.”

Will history repeat itself this year when the high-level segment of the 79th session of the General Assembly begins mid-September?

With the UN remaining powerless in the context of a continuing Russian carnage in Ukraine and with over 40,000 mostly civilian killings in Gaza, is the world beginning to lose confidence in the United Nations as the world’s pre-eminent peace maker?

Asked for his comments, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters last month: “We very much hope that every Member State will be represented at the highest possible level, especially given not only what’s going on in the world today, but the fact that we have the Summit of the Future, (scheduled for September 22-23) which is critical to how this organization will function in the decades ahead.”

And these are issues that often come up in the Secretary-General’s bilateral meetings, he pointed out.

Andreas Bummel, co-founder and Executive Director of Democracy Without Borders, told IPS the highest level of participation from Member States at the general debate of the United Nations each September sends a signal that the UN is valued as the world’s most important multilateral venue.

A presence this year at the Summit of the Future is crucial. “We hope that the summit will be an opportunity for world leaders to listen to ideas and proposals of civil society which has strongly engaged with the summit process.”

Among world leaders, he pointed out, are aggressors, autocrats, dictators and mass murderers. They are neither interested in strengthening the UN and even less in what civil society has to say. If they come, they should be confronted with their crimes, said Bummel.

Meanwhile, although Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) made it to the UN, some of the world’s authoritarian leaders, including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Syria’s Hafez al-Assad and his son Bashar al-Assad, and North Korea’s Kim il Sung and his grandson Kim Jong-un, never made it to the UN.

Dr Palitha Kohona, former Chief of the UN Treaty Section and one-time Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the Unted Nations told IPS: It is indeed a matter of serious concern that certain world leaders choose not to attend the Un General Assembly (UNGA).

It is understood that other matters may demand their attention at the same time, especially critical domestic issues. Some are facing elections or seeking to get reelected, he said.

“But at a time when the world, humanity itself– is confronted by a myriad of urgent challenges, many of them man-made or resulting from human actions, like the existential threat of climate change, the flood of over 160 million refugees, the indiscriminate slaughter that is happening in Gaza, the shaky progress with the SDGs, the worrying signs of an intensifying arms race, etc– the moral impact of the presence of world leaders, in particular the leaders of key powers, at the UNGA cannot be under estimated”.

The UNGA, he pointed out, is the only global forum that we have. Instead of contributing to the wishes of those who seek to denigrate this single world body that we have, and dilute its importance, which has many successes to justify its existence, we should exert ourselves to strengthen it.

This is certainly not the time to dismiss the value of the UN, declared Dr Kohona, who until recently was Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to China.

When global leaders meet at the UN, they will confront yet another year of complex crises and conflicts — as a deeply divided world watches, according to the UN Foundation.

“The UN is the only place on Earth where countries — whether big or small — have a say. The debates and conversations that will unfold during UNGA 79 will shape the solutions that can redefine our future”.

Progress hinges on leaders taking accountability and correcting course. But it also depends on people — especially young people — having a say in the decisions that will affect our future.

And the future depends on everyone’s participation — decision-makers and everyday citizens alike. It’s up to all of us to act now for people, for planet, and for our common future.

But one lingering question remains: how effective is the UN, where the 15-member Security Council, remains deadlocked reminiscent of the Cold War era?

When he addressed the UN Security Council via video-conferencing on April 2022, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine did not pull his punches when he told delegates the purposes of the UN Charter, especially Article I — to maintain international peace and security — are being blatantly violated by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

“What is the point of all other Articles (in the UN charter)? Are you ready to close the United Nations? Do you think that the time for international law is gone?” If not, “you need to act immediately,” he told delegates.

To support peace in Ukraine, he argued, the Security Council must either remove the Russian Federation from the UN, both as an aggressor and a source of war, so it cannot block decisions made about its own war, or the Council can “dissolve yourselves altogether” if there is nothing it can do other than engage in conversation.

“Ukraine needs peace. Europe needs peace. The world needs peace,” he insisted.

Meanwhile, when the United Nations decided to locate its 39-storeyed Secretariat in New York city, the United States, as host nation, signed a “headquarters agreement” in 1947 not only ensuring diplomatic immunity to foreign diplomats but also pledging to facilitate the day-to-day activities of member states without any hindrance, including the issuance of US visas to enter the country.

But there were several instances of open violation of this agreement by successive US administrations.

The United States, which is legally obliged to respect international diplomatic norms as host country to the United Nations, has been accused of imposing unfair travel restrictions on U.N. diplomats in the country. Back in August 2000, the Russian Federation, Iraq and Cuba protested the “discriminatory” treatment, which they say targets countries that displease the U.S.

Pleading national security concerns, Washington has long placed tight restrictions on diplomats from several “unfriendly” nations, including those deemed “terrorist states,” particularly Cuba, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Syria and Libya. U.N. diplomats from these countries have to obtain permission from the U.S. State Department to travel outside a 25-mile radius from New York City.

When former Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, accused of war crimes, was refused a US visa to attend the high-level segment of the General Assembly sessions in September 2013, Hassan Ali, a senior Sudanese diplomat, registered a strong protest with the UN’s Legal Committee.

“The democratically-elected president of Sudan had been deprived of the opportunity to participate in the General Assembly because the host country, the United States, had denied him a visa, in violation of the U.N.-U.S. Headquarters Agreement. It was a great and deliberate violation of the Headquarters Agreement,” he said.

The refusal of a visa for the Sudanese president was also a political landmine because al-Bashir had been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

But one question remained unanswered: Does the United States have a right to implicitly act on an ICC ruling when Washington is not a party to the Rome Statute that created the ICC?

When Yasser Arafat was denied a US visa to visit New York to address the United Nations back in 1988, the General Assembly defied the United States by temporarily moving the UN’s highest policy making body to Geneva– perhaps for the first time in UN history– providing a less-hostile political environment for the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

Arafat, who first addressed the UN in 1974, took a swipe at Washington when he prefaced his statement by saying “it never occurred to me that my second meeting with this honorable Assembly, since 1974, would take place in the hospitable city of Geneva”.

On his 1974 visit, he avoided the hundreds of pro and anti-Arafat demonstrators outside the UN building by arriving in a helicopter which landed on the North Lawn of the UN campus adjoining the East River.

When he addressed the General Assembly, there were confusing reports whether or not Arafat carried a gun in his holster—“in a house of peace” — which was apparently not visible to delegates.

One news story said Arafat was seen “wearing his gun belt and holster and reluctantly removing his pistol before mounting the rostrum.” “Today, I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter’s gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand,” he told the Assembly. But there were some delegates who denied Arafat carried a weapon.

Setting the record straight, Samir Sanbar, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and head of the Department of Public Information told IPS it was discreetly agreed that Arafat would keep the holster while the gun was to be handed over to Abdelaziz Bouteflika, later Foreign Minister and President of Algeria (1999-2019).

The speech, drafted in Arabic by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, stressed the spelling in formal Arabic of the “green branch” which the PLO Chairman still misspelled.

Incidentally, when anti-Arafat New York protesters on First Avenue shouted: “Arafat Go Home”, his supporters responded that was precisely what he wanted—a home for the Palestinians to go to.

But that dream has still not been realized—as thousands of Palestinians continue to be killed since last October by Israel, using largely American-supplied weapons.

This article contains excerpts from a book on the United Nations titled “No Comment –and Don’t Quote Me on That” authored by Thalif Deen, Senior Editor at the UN Bureau of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency, and available on Amazon. The link to Amazon via the author’s website follows: https://www.rodericgrigson.com/no-comment-by-thalif-deen/

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Credit: Dave Lintott / AFP via Getty Images

By Andrew Firmin
LONDON, Sep 2 2024 (IPS)

A New Zealand bill that would roll back Indigenous rights is unlikely to pass – but it’s emblematic of a growing climate of hostility from governing politicians. A recent survey shows that almost half of New Zealanders believe racial tensions have worsened under the right-wing government in power since December 2023.

The Treaty Principles Bill reinterprets the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. New Zealand’s founding text, this agreement between the British government and Indigenous Māori chiefs established British governorship over the islands in return for recognition of Māori ownership of land and other property.

The treaty was controversial from the start: its English and Māori versions differ in crucial clauses on sovereignty. Māori people lost much of their land, suffering the same marginalisation as Indigenous people in other places settled by Europeans. As a result, Māori people live with higher levels of poverty, unemployment and crime, and lower education and health standards, than the rest of the population.

From the 1950s, Māori people began to organise and demand their treaty rights. This led to the 1975 Treaty of Waitangi Act, which defined a set of principles derived from the treaty and established the Waitangi Tribunal to determine breaches of the principles and recommend remedies.

In recent years, right-wing politicians have criticised the tribunal, claiming it’s overstepping its mandate – most recently because it held a hearing that concluded the bill breaches treaty principles.

Change in direction

The bill resulted from a coalition agreement forged after the 2023 election. The centre-right National party came first and went into government with two parties to its right: the free-market and libertarian Act party and the nationalist and populist NZ First party. Act demanded the bill as a condition of joining the coalition.

The election was unusually toxic by New Zealand standards. Candidates were subjected to racial abuse and physical violence. A group of Māori leaders complained about unusually high levels of racism. Both Act and NZ First targeted Māori rights, promising to reverse Labour’s progressive policies, including experiments in ‘co-governance’: collaborative decision-making between government and Māori representatives. Act and NZ First characterised such arrangements as conferring racial privilege on Māori people, at odds with universal human rights.

NZ First leader Winston Peters – who’s long opposed what he characterises as special treatment for Māori people despite being Māori himself – pledged to remove Māori-language names from government buildings and withdraw New Zealand’s support for the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. He’s compared co-governance to apartheid and Nazi racial theory. He’s now New Zealand’s deputy prime minister.

New Zealand, though far from Europe and North America, has shown it isn’t immune from the same right-wing populist politics that seek to blame a visible minority for all a country’s problems. In the northern hemisphere the main targets are migrants and religious minorities; in New Zealand, it’s Indigenous people.

Bonfire of policies

If the bill did succeed, it would preclude any interpretation of the treaty as a partnership between the state and Māori people. It would impose a rigid understanding that all New Zealanders have the same rights and responsibilities, inhibiting measures to expand Māori rights. And without special attention, the economic, social and political exclusion of Māori people will only worsen.

The problems go beyond the bill. In February, the government abolished the Māori Health Authority, established in 2022 to tackle health inequalities. In July, a government directive ordered Pharmac, the agency that funds medicines, to stop taking treaty principles into account when making funding decisions. This is part of a broader attack on treaty principles, which the government has pledged to remove from most legislation.

Government departments have been ordered to prioritise their English-language names and communicate primarily in English, unless they’re specifically focused on Māori people. The government has pledged to review the school curriculum – revised last year to place more emphasis on Māori people – and university affirmative action programmes. It’s ceased work on He Puapua, its strategy to implement the UN Declaration.

The government has cut funding for most of its initiatives for Māori people. In all, over a dozen changes are planned, including in environmental management, health and housing.

What’s bad for Māori people is also bad for the climate. The intimate role the environment plays in Māori culture often puts them on the frontline of combating climate change. This year a Māori activist won a ruling allowing him to take seven companies to court over their greenhouse gas emissions, based in part on their impact on places of customary, cultural and spiritual significance to Māori people..

But the new government has cut funding for many projects aimed at meeting New Zealand’s Paris Agreement commitments. It plans to double mineral exports and introduce a law to fast-track large development projects, without having to navigate environmental safeguards. The draft law contains no provisions about treaty principles. Māori people will be disproportionately affected by any weakening of environmental standards.

Out in numbers

This is all shaping up to be a huge setback for Māori rights that can only fuel and normalise racism – but campaigners aren’t taking it quietly. The threat to rights has galvanised and united Māori campaigners.

Civil society groups are taking to the courts to try to halt the changes. And people are protesting in numbers. In December, when parliament met for the first time since the election, thousands gathered outside to condemn anti-Māori policies. At the swearing-in ceremony, Te Pāti Māori politicians broke with convention by dedicating their oaths to the Treaty of Waitangi and future generations.

That same month, 12 people were arrested following a protest in which they defaced an exhibition on the treaty at the national museum. Protesters accused the exhibition of lying about the treaty’s English version.

On 6 February, Waitangi Day, over a thousand people marched to the site where the treaty was agreed, calling for the bill to be rejected. At the official ceremony, people heckled Peters and Act leader Peter Seymour when they spoke.

Most recently, Māori people had a chance to show their discontent at a ceremony held in August to commemorate the coronation of the Māori King. Although normally all major party leaders attend, Seymour wasn’t invited, and a Māori leader told Prime Minister Christopher Luxon that the government had ‘turned its back on Māori’. The Māori King also called a rare national meeting in January, and the turnout – 10,000 people – further showed the extent of concern.

Wasted potential

At the same time, the Māori population is growing quickly – it recently passed the million mark – and is youthful. Compared to previous generations, people are more likely to embrace their Māori identity, culture and language. Māori people are showing their resilience, and activism has never been stronger. But this growing momentum has hit a political roadblock that threatens to throttle its potential – all for the sake of short-term political gain.

New Zealand’s positive international reputation is on the line – but it doesn’t have to be this way. The government should start acting like a responsible partner under the Treaty of Waitangi. It must abide by the treaty principles, as developed and elaborated over time, and stop scapegoating Māori people.

Andrew Firmin is CIVICUS Editor-in-Chief, co-director and writer for CIVICUS Lens and co-author of the State of Civil Society Report.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Kenya is yet to ratify the UN's International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Credit: IPS

By Robert Kibet
NAIROBI, Sep 2 2024 (IPS)

As the world marked International Day of the Disappeared, Kenya grapples with a shadowy and persistent crisis—enforced disappearances. This harrowing violation of human rights has left countless families in anguish, searching for their loved ones while battling a wall of government denial and indifference.

Enforced disappearance is addressed in international law, specifically the UN’s International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. However, Kenya has yet to ratify this crucial convention, leaving a legal void that exacerbates the problem.

According to Kevin Mwangi, a program officer with the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU), the Kenyan government lacks a definition within national legislation, meaning Kenyans and civil society rely on UN international guidelines to hold authorities accountable.

One haunting instance occurred in 2021 when Kenya’s Yala River, once a peaceful and secluded area, became a site of horror. Over a few weeks, 26 bodies were discovered within a 50-meter stretch. The bodies, many male, were found far from where they had originally gone missing, most of whom were facing criminal charges.

Human rights activists were initially involved in the investigations, but they were soon pushed out by the police. Boniface Ogutu, one of the activists working on the case, told the press, “We found bodies with their hands tied with ropes. Some were wrapped in polythene bags. Many of the bodies showed signs of severe trauma, including scars similar to acid burns, and most appeared to have been tortured before being dumped into the water.”

Ogutu further reported that villagers had observed a black Subaru, often associated with security forces, speeding to the riverbank with four occupants who would hurriedly dispose of the bodies before driving away.

In the early 2010s, the Kenyan government granted sweeping powers to security agencies to combat terrorism, leading to a surge in kidnappings, torture, and extrajudicial killings, even for petty crimes.

Hit squads began targeting suspects, and during election seasons, when rallies and protests were frequent, reports of disappearances and killings skyrocketed. In 2021 alone, rights groups documented at least 170 extrajudicial killings and numerous disappearances attributed to the police.

One of the victims found in the Yala River was Philemon Chepkwony, a resident of Kipkelion in Kenya’s Rift Valley. He had been charged with car theft and was out on bail awaiting trial when he disappeared in December 2021.

“We are witnessing a disturbing trend of young people like Philemon disappearing without a trace, only to be found dead in rivers,” lamented Hillary Kosgey, the legislator for Kipkelion West, at Chepkwony’s burial. “No one has the right to take away these lives. If they are jailed, they can reform.”

In Kenya’s coastal counties like Mombasa, where much of the country’s Muslim population resides, young men have been recruited by terrorist groups, prompting the police to carry out frequent raids and profiling of these communities.

The recent discovery of mutilated bodies wrapped in polythene bags at an open quarry in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, one of Kenya’s slum residences, sparked public anger amid weeks of anti-government protests over a since-scrapped finance bill.

After assuming power, President William Ruto repeatedly stated in public rallies, there would be no cases of enforced disappearance or extrajudicial killings.

Mwangi outlines the chilling components of enforced disappearance: “It begins with the deprivation of the right to liberty, often without the victim’s consent or knowledge. This act is carried out by government officials, who then conceal or deny any knowledge of the person’s whereabouts.”

“Enforced disappearance is not a transient issue; it can span years, even decades. It is a permanent state of limbo for the victims and their families until the person is found,” Mwangi adds, stressing the long-lasting impact of such crimes.

The 2023 Missing Voices report indicated a slight reduction in extrajudicial killings between 2022 and 2023, from 130 to 118, and a decrease in enforced disappearances from 22 to 10.

“Men continue to be the primary victims, accounting for 94% of extrajudicial killings, with a notable concentration among men aged 19-35,” the report states.

In Africa, enforced disappearances, particularly in politically volatile regions, often occur within the context of state repression. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a stark example, where a massacre led to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights holding the government accountable for acts of enforced disappearance.

“For enforced disappearance to occur, government officials must be involved, and the state must have full knowledge of the whereabouts of the missing individuals,” Mwangi clarifies.

In Kenya, the situation is dire. Mwangi recalls a case handled by IMLU where two individuals, after being released from court, were allegedly abducted by security officials. “To this day, the government denies knowing their whereabouts,” he laments, highlighting the pervasive culture of impunity.

The infamous River Yala incident serves as a grim reminder of the scale of the problem. Mwangi points to the systemic failure of the judiciary, where a revolving door of bail releases perpetuates the cycle of crime and violence.

“There is a growing narrative that the courts are not doing their work, leading police to take matters into their own hands,” he notes.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Kenya lacks specific legislation on enforced disappearance. The country has not ratified the international convention, leaving victims and their families without a clear path to justice.

“One life is one too many,” Mwangi says, referencing the 32 cases documented by the Missing Voices coalition. “We are currently developing guidelines to ensure that each African country has a policy on enforced disappearance. The numbers may be higher than reported, but only a few cases come to light.”

After Kenya’s 2007-2008 general elections, there were significant human rights violations, leading to the formation of the Ransley Taskforce to address police reforms. The task force made strong recommendations, including the need to separate these entities, as at the time, the police were the perpetrators, prosecutors, and investigators. This flawed system prevented justice from being realized and emphasized the need for mechanisms to ensure justice and accountability.

In 2017, Kenya enacted the Coroner Service Act, which provided a framework for forensic documentation at crime scenes. However, implementation has been problematic. For instance, in a 2018 case in Eldoret, a police officer handled a murder weapon with bare hands, compromising the evidence.

Currently, forensic evidence collection in Kenya is substandard, failing to meet the requirements necessary to hold up in court. Although the Coroner Law was assented to by the President in 2017, it has not been operationalized, largely due to a lack of political will.

“Kenya has a history of passing laws that are then shelved. When questioned, the government claims that the delay is due to funding issues, stating that funds need to be allocated to create the Coroner’s office,” Mwangi says.

Moreover, the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA) lacks its forensic lab and must rely on the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), which is part of the security forces. There is a pressing need for an independent forensic lab under IPOA to carry out forensic audits.

Despite these challenges, IPOA has succeeded in securing eight convictions in extrajudicial cases over the past 11 years. This entity was established to ensure accountability in such cases.

Roselyn Odede, chairperson of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, reported in 2023 that the commission received reports of 22 extrajudicial killings and nine cases of enforced disappearance between January 2022 and June 2023.

Peninah Koome, chairperson of Kenyan Champions for Justice, a community-based organization, recounted her harrowing experience. Her husband was arrested, brutally beaten by the officer in charge at Ruaraka police station, and later died at Kenyatta National Hospital.

“I had no money to pay for lawyers, but IPOA and International Justice Mission (IJM) stepped in. However, as a witness to my husband’s case, I became a target. They came after me the day after I testified. IPOA and IJM had to provide protection. After three years, we finally got justice.”

Houghton Irungu, the Executive Director at Amnesty International Kenya, expressed concern about the return of the same oppressive culture despite the Kenya Kwanza administration’s promise under Ruto to end enforced disappearances.

“They disbanded the Special Service Unit (SSU), revamped the National Police Service, changed the Director of Criminal Investigations, and restructured the Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU). We hoped this would lead to respect for the rule of law, but the old habits seem to be resurfacing,” said Irungu.

Irungu emphasizes the importance of timely identification of missing persons and the need for human rights organizations and witness protection agencies to act quickly to protect witnesses and their families.

“As a country, we still haven’t ratified the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. It’s been five years since Parliament passed the Coroner Service Act, yet we still lack independent coroner forensic capacity to prosecute these cases. We don’t even have a national database on missing persons,” laments Irungu.

As the international community commemorates the victims of enforced disappearances, the call for justice in Kenya grows louder. The government’s failure to address this issue not only violates human rights but also erodes public trust in state institutions. For the families of the missing, the search for truth and accountability.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

 

Related Articles

• Freedom of Press in Jeopardy With Journalists in Crossfire in Kenyan Protests
• From Trauma to Triumph: Kenyan Women’s Courageous Battle Against Female Genital Mutilation
• Youth-Led Protests Force Kenyan President’s Hand Over Tax Bill

Digital technology has become an indispensable part of life and learning tool for children. Credit: Unsplash/Giu Vicente

By Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana and Zhaslan Madiyev
BANGKOK, Thailand, Sep 2 2024 (IPS)

The development paradigm has shifted to ‘digital by default’ as a norm, reshaping societies and economies. As a hub for digitally driven innovations, Asia and the Pacific is well positioned to leverage the transformative potential of digital technologies to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

Emerging technologies are enabling smarter climate action, building more disaster-resilient cities and optimizing urban development. Artificial intelligence is helping improve the accuracy of early warning systems for disasters by providing the right information that reaches all the right people at the right time.

Digital finance is more inclusive – expanding access especially for marginalized groups – while digital government platforms likewise enable public services to reach all citizens more effectively and efficiently.

The Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2024, which will be launched this week, demonstrates how digital innovations have enabled more sophisticated climate mitigation and adaptation measures across infrastructure, governance, mobility, industry and trade, disaster risk reduction, and agricultural and biodiversity ecosystems.

Drawing from International Energy Agency data, the deployment of digital technologies and big data could save $80 billion per year or around 5 per cent of total world annual power generation costs, while digitalization can help the integration of renewables by enabling smart grids to better match energy demand.

However, the opportunities presented by digital innovations for sustainable development also face challenges and looming threats. The Asia-Pacific region is confronted with several barriers to the broad-scale adoption of digital solutions.

While 96 per cent of the population in Asia and the Pacific live in areas covered by mobile broadband networks, it is estimated that only one-third productively uses internet services and up to 40 per cent lacks basic digital skills.

Moreover, while four out of five people in urban areas use the Internet, in rural regions, this figure is only 52 per cent. Such gaps in meaningful access are due to digital divides that broadly follow age, income, education and geographic fault lines, with the gender divide underlying all these aspects.

With the use of artificial intelligence rapidly rising, the need and urgency to bridge the digital divides between and within countries remain critical to ensure the full enjoyment of the benefits of digital technologies for all, while minimizing their risks.

Deploying innovative breakthrough solutions in bridging the digital divide and leveraging digital transformation for sustainable development will require mobilizing investments at scale in new infrastructure and connectivity.

To this end, expanding affordable high-speed Internet coverage particularly among marginalized and underserved communities in rural areas, as well as offering digital skills training and lifelong learning, are critical for reducing digital disparities and connecting the unconnected.

By sharing knowledge, experiences and practices among countries, regional cooperation can create a conducive environment for innovation to flourish and steer us towards an inclusive digital future.

These holistic approaches require a high level of policy ambition. At the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Digital Inclusion and Transformation, which ESCAP is organizing in partnership with the Government of Kazakhstan in Astana this week, Ministers are expected to commit to a common vision, centred on innovative, collaborative digital solutions grounded in regional cooperation.

In this regard, the conference will consider the possibility of establishing a Digital Solutions Centre for Sustainable Development in Kazakhstan that aims to share practical digital solutions to advance the sustainable development agenda in the region.

Relatedly, the ESCAP Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway Initiative and its Action Plan 2022-2026 contributes to the collective push to extend meaningful connectivity to all, scale up digital technology applications and strengthen digital data, which form the foundations for an inclusive, sustainable digital future.

With Asia and the Pacific at the forefront of a global digital transformation, a sustainable future is within reach. Let us seize on the digital promise to accelerate sustainable development in our region.

https://www.youtube.com/unescap

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of ESCAP.

Zhaslan Madiyev is Minister of Digital Development, Innovations and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

US financial support of various UN organizations is critical not only for the fulfillment of their humanitarian causes but also to serve America’s best national interests. Such support bolsters its global leadership role and influence, enabling it to walk on high moral ground. Credit: United Nations, New York

By Alon Ben-Meir
NEW YORK, Sep 2 2024 (IPS)

During Donald Trump’s presidency, the United States withdrew from several international organizations. These include the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Trump’s actions were partly motivated by a broader strategy, presumably prioritizing “America First” policies. Trump often cited perceived prejudices or inefficiencies within these organizations.

If Trump were to be reelected, he should be persuaded not to take similar actions as that would diminish rather than serve America’s leadership role and its influence on these organizations and prevent it from leading by example and walking the high moral ground.

Although Trump, if reelected, will more than likely withdraw from many of these organizations, when and how he will act would depend on several factors.

Strategic Interests

Trump’s foreign policy has often been transactional. He was guided by what he thought best served America’s interests. If staying in these organizations is inconsistent with his perceived strategic interests, however misguided that might be, he will undoubtedly consider withdrawing again from these and other UN organizations.

Political Climate

The domestic and international political climate could influence his decisions. For example, if Trump enjoyed solid domestic support for disengaging from international organizations or if geopolitical tensions required a reevaluation of alliances, he might pursue similar actions.

Policy Continuity

Trump’s previous withdrawals were propelled by his critiques of many of these organizations, such as suspected mismanagement, prejudice against specific states, or inadequacies in dealing with global issues. Similar actions could be expected if his views on these “concerns” remain unchanged.

That said, given what Trump has been saying and advocating as he campaigns for reelection, he remains committed to his misguided notion of “America First” when, in fact, America’s best interest is served by staying in rather than withdrawing from these international organizations.

Nevertheless, should he still take similar action, it could create significant financial gaps at these organizations, given the US’s role as the largest contributor to the UN.

In 2022, the US contributed over $18 billion, accounting for about one-third of the UN’s overall funding. This substantial financial support is crucial for various UN operations, including peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, and health initiatives.

In the event of a US withdrawal, the UN should be prepared to take several measures to mitigate the adverse impact on these organizations.

Bolstering Alliances

The UN Secretary-General should seek to build stronger coalitions with other countries to step up to fill the financial void and assist in mitigating the impact of a US withdrawal, including nurturing relationships with emerging economies and regional powers. These powers include:

• China: As the second-largest contributor to the UN, China has already increased its financial commitments in recent years. In 2022, China contributed approximately 16 percent of the UN peacekeeping budget and 15 percent to the UN’s regular budget, making it a significant player.

• Japan, Germany, and the United Kingdom: These countries are among the top contributors to the UN budget, with Japan contributing about 8 percent, Germany contributing around 6 percent, and the United Kingdom contributing around 4 percent. While these nations might struggle to fill the gap left by the US entirely, they could increase their contributions to mitigate the adverse impact.

• The EU: Given its commitment to multilateralism and global cooperation, the EU could collectively increase its contributions to the UN, which would offer the block an opportunity to assert its leadership on the world stage.

• Emerging Powers like India and Brazil, which are growing economically, might also be encouraged to increase their contributions. This could allow these nations to gain more influence in international affairs.

While these countries and groups might increase their contributions, it is important to note that the financial gap left by the US would be challenging to fill completely. The UN will have to prioritize its programs and seek efficiencies to cope with reduced funding. Additionally, the loss of US support could lead to strategic shifts within the UN, affecting its operations and influence.

Broadening of Funding Resources

Organizations such as UNRWA should diversify their funding sources to reduce their dependence on any single country, especially the US, which is the largest contributor. This could involve increasing contributions from other member UN states, private donors, and charitable organizations specifically concerned about the plight of the Palestinians.

Such countries may include Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and other oil-rich Arab states.

Involving US policymakers

The UN should engage privately with many US policymakers to address its concerns and demonstrate the benefits of membership in these organizations, which could avert future withdrawals by the new Trump administration. This could entail stressing the importance and the strategic advantages of multilateral collaboration in addressing international challenges.

Reform Initiatives

Addressing criticisms that led to previous withdrawals, such as perceived biases or inefficiencies, could help prevent future disengagements. Moreover, transparent reforms and accountability measures might reassure skeptical member states of the organizations’ importance and effectiveness.

US financial support of many UN organizations must remain unabated. Those who can exert any influence on Trump should point out to him, should he be reelected, how critical US support is for the functioning of these organizations, as well as for the US’s self-interest, which is consistent with Trump’s notion of “America First.”

Given, however, what we know about Trump, the likelihood is that he will not change his ways and may well pursue the same shortsighted policies.

Thus, by preparing and adopting the above strategic measures, the UN and its agencies will be in a much stronger position to survive potential shifts in the US treatment of these organizations and its foreign policy in general under Trump and proceed with their important missions efficiently.

Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Secretary-General António Guterres (second from right) visits Tonga, where he attended the Pacific Islands Forum. Credit: UN Photo/Kiara Worth

By Catherine Wilson
SYDNEY & NUKU'ALOFA, Aug 30 2024 (IPS)

Three months ahead of the COP29 United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference, the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has called for an emergency response from the international community as new data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals a critical deterioration in the state of the climate.

Scientists have called for limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to prevent overheating of the atmosphere and a damaging rise in sea levels. But, due to inaction on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, there is an 80 percent chance that the 1.5 degree threshold will be breached within the next five years, reports the WMO. 

“This is a crazy situation: rising seas are a crisis entirely of humanity’s making. A crisis that will soon swell to an almost unimaginable scale with no lifeboat to take us back to safety,” the UN Secretary-General declared in Nuku’alofa, the capital of Tonga, a Polynesian nation of about 106,000 people located southeast of Fiji, on Monday. He has been on the ground in the Pacific Islands, witnessing firsthand how people’s lives are hanging in the balance as they suffer a relentless battering of climate extremes, such as cyclones, floods, rising seas and hotter temperatures.

“Today’s reports confirm that relative sea levels in the southwestern Pacific have risen even more than the global average, in some locations by more than double the global increase in the past 30 years,” Guterres said. “If we save the Pacific, we also save ourselves. The world must act and answer the SOS before it is too late.”

According to a newly released UN report, Surging Seas in a Warming World, the increase in the global mean sea level was 9.4 cm, but in the southwest Pacific it was more than 15 cm between 1993 and 2023. Expanding oceans, due to melting Arctic and Antarctic ice, are projected “to cause a large increase in the frequency and severity of episodic flooding in almost all locations in the Pacific Small Island Developing States in the coming decades.” Ninety percent of Pacific Islanders live within 5 kilometres of coastlines, leaving them highly exposed to encroaching seas. Climate change impacts pose a serious threat to human life, livelihoods and food security, and the implications for increasing poverty and loss and damage are ‘profound and far-reaching,’ the report claims.

For years, Pacific Island leaders have led the way in calling for world leaders and industrialized nations to take rigorous action to halt the increasing carbon dioxide emissions destroying earth’s atmosphere.  In Tonga, the Secretary-General joined many of them at the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ summit on the 26-27 August, including the summit’s host and Prime Minister of Tonga, Hon. Siaosi Sovaleni, Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister, James Marape, Samoa’s leader, Fiame Naomi Mata’afa and Tuvalu’s PM, Feleti Teo.  And he took the opportunity to amplify their voices and their climate leadership. ‘Greenhouse gases are causing ocean heating, acidification and rising seas. But the Pacific Islands are showing the way to protect our climate, our planet and our ocean,’ he said.

The UN chief took time to listen to the voices of local communities and youth, gaining valuable insights into how the people of Tonga are responding to climate extremes and disasters.

In January 2022, a tsunami, triggered by the eruption of an undersea volcano known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, descended on Tonga. It reached the main island of Tongatapu and others, affecting 80 percent of the country’s population, destroying livestock and agricultural land and causing damage of more than USD 125 million. Guterres met with people in the coastal villages of Kanokupolu and Ha’atafu, which were devastated when the tsunami swept through and surveyed the ruins of beach resorts and coastal infrastructure while witnessing the resilience and determination of those who have rebuilt their homes and lives.

Two years ago, the UN also launched ‘Early Warnings for All’, a project aimed at installing early warning systems in every country by 2027 in order to save lives and prevent damage.

“With the increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones and flooding [in the Pacific], simple weather forecasting is not enough for people to prepare for these natural disasters,” Arti Pratap, an expert on tropical cyclones who lectures in Geospatial Science at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, told IPS. She said it was important to “focus on building the capacity of communities to make use of the information provided by national meteorological services in the Pacific on an hourly, daily and monthly basis for decision-making.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres visits a house in Lalomanu that has been abandoned due to storm damage and flooding as a result of climate change during his trip to Samoa.
Credit: UN Photo/Kiara Worth

Many farmers, for instance, “tend to rely on readily available traditional knowledge on weather and climate and its interaction with the environment around them, which they are familiar with. However, traditional knowledge may not be sufficient in the background of global warming,” Pratap said.

The UN initiative involves the setting up of meteorological observation stations, ocean sensors and radars to better predict extreme weather and disaster events. According to the UN, providing 24 hours’ notice of an approaching disaster can reduce damage by 30 percent. As part of the project, Guterres launched a new weather radar at Tonga’s International Airport.

His week-long tour of the Pacific Islands, which also included time in Samoa, New Zealand and East Timor, was an opportune moment for Guterres to open conversations about the goals that will be on the table at COP29, to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, on 11-22 November.

The key priorities of this year’s climate summit will be, among others, limiting the global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius and achieving broad agreement on the scale and provision of climate finance. ‘The one thing that is very clear in my presence here is to be able to say loud and clear from the Pacific Islands to the big emitters that it is totally unacceptable, with devastating impacts of climate change, to go on increasing emissions,’ Guterres declared in Nuku’alofa on August 26, 2024.

And, for many Pacific Islanders, gaining better access to climate finance is vital. The development organization, Pacific Community, reports that the region will require at least USD 2 billion per year to implement climate resilience and adaptation projects and transition to renewable energy. This far exceeds what the Pacific is currently receiving in climate finance, which is about USD 220 million per annum.

“Despite the commendable pledges from the United Nations and world leaders, such as the Paris Agreement, the existing global finance mechanisms still hinder community-based and youth organizations from accessing critical support,” Mahoney Mori, Chairman of the Pacific Youth Council, told local media during a meeting between the UN Chief and Pacific youth leaders in Tonga’s capital.

‘As a first step, all developed countries must honor their commitment to double adaptation finance to at least USD 40 billion per year by 2025,’ the UN Secretary General said on World Environment Day on June 24.

Tonga’s Prime Minister, Hu’akavemeiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, summed up the views of many in the Pacific as world attention focused on his island nation with the visit of the UN Secretary-General: “We need a lot more action than just words,’ he said at the Pacific leaders meeting. Referring to a minor earthquake that shook the islands as leaders converged on Tonga, he added, “We put on a show with the rain and a bit of flooding and also shook you guys up a little bit by that earthquake, just to wake you up to the reality of what we have to face here in the Pacific.”

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Kanak Political Grievances Are Fed by Deep Inequality in New Caledonia
• Pioneering Digital Initiative Empowers Pacific Islands to Tackle Climate Disasters
• New Research Seeks Breakthrough in Understanding Global Warming and the Ocean

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed meets with Fatime Boukar Kossei, Minister of Social Action, National Solidarity and Humanitarian Affairs of the Republic of Chad to discuss the ongoing humanitarian crisis that has been aggravated by heavy rainfall. Credit: Loey Felipe/UN Photo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 2024 (IPS)

Since June of this year, Chad has been facing an extended period of heavy rainfall. Major flooding has triggered the onset of a significant humanitarian crisis, as all aspects of Chadian life, including health, food production, and community, have been negatively impacted. Additionally, response plans are severely compromised due to high levels of hostility taking place in neighboring nations.

Major floods have resulted in at least 145 deaths as well as an overall disruption of life. Severe flooding resulted in thousands of people losing their homes and all of their belongings. The UN briefing held on August 28, 2024, detailed the significant physical toll that flooding has had on Chad.

“All of Chad’s 23 provinces are now affected by floods following heavy rains that started earlier in the summer, in June. According to local authorities, 145 people have lost their lives. More than 960,000 people have been impacted, with some 70,000 homes destroyed,” says Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the United Nations Secretary-General.

Additionally, it has been reported that certain regions have been more adversely affected than others, with some areas only accessible by canoe. Flooding has also led to the collapse of critical infrastructure, including bridges, roads, and buildings.

It is important to note that Chad’s economy is critically dependent on agriculture. Approximately 80 percent of the workforce is employed through jobs in farming and raising livestock, with crops accounting for about a quarter of the nation’s GDP.

Recent flooding has decimated arable land and made conditions for growing crops nearly impossible. This has led to Chad’s preexisting issues in food insecurity and famine to greatly worsen.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) states, “The floods also severely impacted agriculture, with more than 250,000 hectares flooded and 30,000 heads of livestock washed away. With Chad’s malnutrition rates at a nine-year high, this will only aggravate an already dire food security situation.”

OCHA adds that prior to the floods that started this summer, Chadian authorities had declared a “national food security and nutrition emergency.” This indicates that a significant percentage of the population faces a risk of starvation and malnutrition.

“More than 964,000 people or 166,000 households, are affected by these floods as of August 25, 2024. There are 145 people dead, more than 251,000 hectares of fields submerged, more than 70,000 houses destroyed, and 29,000 heads of cattle swept away,” OCHA says.

Additionally, the World Food Programme (WFP) projects that approximately 3.4 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity for the lean season, which is happening right now. 2024 boasts the highest levels of food insecurity ever recorded for Chad, seeing a 240 percent increase since 2020.

In addition to widespread food insecurity, major flooding has raised concerns over the transmission of waterborne diseases.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) states, “Four provinces and seven districts have been affected by a hepatitis E epidemic, which has a particularly high mortality rate amongst pregnant women. As of 15 July, there have been a cumulative total of 3,296 cases. 10 deaths have been confirmed, of which five were pregnant women.”

Additionally, flooding has worsened access to clean drinking water, leading to an increase in the contraction of cholera and diarrhea. Furthermore, flooding is also linked to a decrease in hygiene, leading to increased cases of malaria, meningitis, and respiratory illnesses.

Heavy flooding has also caused a significant increase in displacement levels. Due to the floods destroying thousands of homes across the country, many families have been forced to take refuge in schools and displacement camps.

”An estimated 1,778,138 people have been forcibly displaced in Chad, with the country hosting 1,388,104 refugees,” states the UNFPA.

Floods in Chad have also greatly obstructed the delivery of humanitarian aid due to high water levels in towns and villages obstructing the use of aid trucks. Additionally, pre-existing instabilities in national security have been exacerbated as armed conflict to the east of Chad prevents humanitarian aid from accessing those in need.

The Sudanese Civil War has led to armed groups pushing millions of civilians out of Sudan. Sudanese authorities have impeded aid through the Adre border crossing, which is the most efficient path for aid trucks to take through to Chad.

Dujarric adds, “Response capacity is already severely strained in Chad by the ongoing crisis in the country’s east, where large numbers of Sudanese refugees have fled to escape conflict in neighboring Sudan.”.

Currently, the UNFPA is supporting 73 healthcare facilities and is delivering supplies to help expecting mothers and families in the region. The WFP is also distributing food and nutritional supplements to families that have been most affected by hunger. In addition, the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is helping aid workers reach remote areas that were thought to be inaccessible due to flooding.

Furthermore, the UN has launched the 2024 Humanitarian Response Plan for Chad, which seeks USD 1.1 billion. However, it is only 35 percent funded as of the date of publication.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

The UN commemorated the International Day Against Nuclear Tests on August 29. It was established in 2009 by the UN General Assembly to recall the date of the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today’s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991. That one site alone saw 456 nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989. Credit: ICAN Darren Omitz

By Dennis Francis and Robert Floyd
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 30 2024 (IPS)

In 2009 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 29 August the International Day Against Nuclear Tests. This date recalled the official closing of the Semipalatinsk nuclear weapons testing site in today’s Kazakhstan on 29 August 1991; that one site alone having seen 456 nuclear test explosions between 1949 and 1989.

Between 1954 and 1984 there was on average at least one nuclear weapons test somewhere in the world every week, most with a blast far exceeding the bombing of Hiroshima; nuclear weapons exploding in the air, on and under the ground and in the sea.

Radioactivity from these test explosions spread across the planet deep into the environment. It can still be traced and measured today, in elephant tusks, in the coral of the Great Barrier Reef and in the deepest ocean trenches.

Meanwhile nuclear weapons stockpiles have grown exponentially. By the early 1980s there were some 60,000 nuclear weapons, most far more powerful than the bombs used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Public indignation grew. By the 1960s it was agreed in principle that ending explosive nuclear tests would be a vital brake on developing nuclear weapons and thereby promote nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament.

The preamble to the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 talked boldly of achieving ‘the discontinuance of all test explosions of nuclear weapons for all time’. But then it took almost thirty more years and hundreds more nuclear test explosions before the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) was agreed in 1996. This is one of the world’s landmark treaties. What a difference it has made.

Between 1945 and 1996 there were more than two thousand nuclear weapons tests. In the 28 years since 1996, there have been fewer than a dozen. In this century only six tests have been conducted, all by North Korea. The Treaty relies on a network of over 300 scientific monitoring facilities around the world that can quickly detect a nuclear test notably smaller than the Hiroshima explosion and pinpoint its location. No state anywhere on Earth can conduct a nuclear weapons test in secret.

The CTBT has near universal international support. 187 States have signed it and 178 have ratified it. With ten new ratifications since 2021, there is global momentum against renewed nuclear testing with enthusiasm among smaller states especially high. Despite these gains, current international uncertainty challenges the global norm against nuclear testing created by the CTBT.

What if we see renewed nuclear testing, or even the use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict? We would face a disastrous collapse in international trust and solidarity. A return to the days of unrestrained nuclear testing would leave no state safe, no community safe, no-one on Earth unaffected. There’s always plenty of talk about learning from mistakes. In this case let’s learn from successes.

The CTBT brings together the best of diplomacy with the very latest technology for an unambiguous common global good. It builds transparency and trust, just when transparency and trust look to be in dwindling supply. On the International Day against Nuclear Tests, the United Nations General Assembly high-level meeting will be convened.

On this occasion, we call on all states to be open to the bold but principled decisions needed to reach a final global consensus under the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. To end nuclear testing once and for all. Enough is enough.

Ambassador Dennis Francis is the President of the UN General Assembly, at its seventy-eighth session; Dr Robert Floyd is the Executive Secretary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) representative for Palestine, briefs the media on the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza. Credit: Naureen Hossain/IPS

By Naureen Hossain
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

The UN’s multi-agency polio vaccine campaign in Gaza is set to begin this weekend. It will do so under continued constraints on humanitarian operations and mobility, but with the assurance from Israel to pause fighting for the campaign to go ahead.

Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative for Palestine, briefed reporters virtually on Thursday, August 29, 2024, on the upcoming polio vaccine campaign. The campaign will consist of two rounds, with the first round beginning on September 1.

There will be a four-week interval between the first and second doses. Over 1.26 million doses of the polio vaccine have arrived in Gaza, with room for an additional 400,000 doses. The campaign, coordinated with WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA and the Palestine Ministry of Health, will aim to administer two drops of novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) to at least 640,000 children under the age of ten.

“It’s critical that we reach 90 percent vaccination coverage during each round,” said Peeperkorn. “That is needed. Actually, you need 90 percent to stop the outbreak, the transmission within Gaza and to prevent the international spread of polio.”

The first round of the campaign will be carried out in three zones over three-day phases: starting in central Gaza, then in southern Gaza, and northern Gaza. Under constant monitoring of the situation, an additional one or two days may be added to extend each period in the zones, according to Peeperkorn. Even with this period, there is still pressure to carry out the campaign as soon as possible to ensure the highest coverage possible.

Health centers have been set up for families to gather to with their children. Ove 2180 outreach workers and volunteers have been trained to administer the vaccine, and mobile teams have been set up to travel to groups that may not be able to visit the centers.

“We want to make sure we have three days of the best access possible, that families bring their children to those fixed sites,” said Peeperkorn. “We will go out and reach out through mobile teams.”

Since the announcement of this campaign in early August, WHO has requested a humanitarian pause for operations to be carried out safely. According to Peeperkorn, an agreement has been reached with the Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), wherein a humanitarian pause would come into effect for nine hours from 6am to 3pm.

Under the agreement, the campaign is to be carried out within the timeframe. Peeperkorn stated that the humanitarian pause would be honored and was given assurance by Israeli authorities that evacuation orders would not be issued during the campaign.

“I want to stress that without a humanitarian pause, the campaign delivery—which is already implemented under constraints in a complex environment—will not be possible,” said Peeperkorn.

When asked how confident he was of the campaign’s success, Peeperkorn replied: “I think this is a way forward. I won’t say this is the ideal way forward, but this is a workable way forward. Not doing anything would be really bad. We have to stop this transmission in Gaza… We are reasonable with this approach and everyone is playing accordingly.”

“Of course, all parties will have to stick to this. We have to make sure that every day we can do this campaign in this humanitarian pause.”

Gaza and the West Bank have high immunization coverage across the population. Peeperkorn noted that the immunization rate of over 95 percent in recent years was much higher than in some high-income countries.

Yet since current hostilities broke out in October 2023, immunization for polio dropped from 99 percent in 2022 to less than 90 percent in the first quarter of 2024.

Over the last ten months, blockades of humanitarian aid, electricity and water sanitation resources has seen a breakdown of the healthcare and sanitation systems in Gaza. The lack of clean water and sanitation in Gaza has already seen an increase in respiratory diseases and infections.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• UN Secretary General Warns of ‘Brutal’ Impacts of Climate Change for Pacific Islands
• UN: Extreme Heat a Global Issue With an Unequal Impact
• Overwhelmed Healthcare Systems in Gaza Struggle Through Evacuation Orders

The Climate Assembly in Bujaru, Brazil, debated between April and May this year on bioeconomy, family farming and cooperatives to influence the design and implementation of local policies on climate change. Credit: Delibera

By Emilio Godoy
MEXICO CITY, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

Danilo Barbosa had never taken part in political processes until his name was drawn in a lottery to join the climate assembly of the municipality of Bujaru, in the Amazon region of Brazil.

“It was a good experience, a very important channel. People participated, they wanted to talk about the important issues and to have visibility about their concerns. Since people make a living from agriculture, that’s why I wanted to address this issue,” Barbosa told IPS from the municipality of Blumenau, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, where he lives temporarily.

Barbosa, 29, was part of a group of 50 people, chosen at random, to take part in the Bujaru climate assembly and discuss the opportunities and challenges of the climate crisis in the area and how to influence the process of designing and implementing related public policies.

The cultivation of rice, beans, maize and cassava, as well as livestock farming in deforested areas, are the main economic activities in the area, in the northern state of Pará.“There is talk in these times of political disaffection, in a hyper-individualised world, but when you open the doors so that people can participate, give ideas, there is a great desire to be present. We will see the results later": Ignacio Gertie.

For this reason, “we want agriculture that does not affect the environment and looks after the jungle. We need to protect biodiversity. That’s why it’s important that they consider our vision for the municipality, we want to help it grow,” said Barbosa, an administrative and accounting assistant in the real estate sector.

The climate assembly, under the subject Sustainable Bioeconomy: Paths and Options to Generate Jobs, Income and Quality of Life in Bujaru, resulted from a process between August and October 2023 that invited Amazonian cities to participate. Sixteen municipalities from six of the nine Brazilian Amazonian states responded.

During five sessions between April and May this year, the assembly deliberated on how to strategically position themselves and access opportunities in favour of sustainable performance and the bioeconomy, on issues such as forest management, monocultures, deforestation and synergy between technological innovation and ancestral knowledge.

By the end of August, the group will submit to the municipality, of 24,300 inhabitants, their recommendations, which include the design of a municipal agricultural plan with goals and indicators, the promotion of cooperatives, ecotourism and rural tourism.

Climate assemblies are mechanisms of deliberative democracy, discussion and reflection, promoted so that the citizens of a locality assume a central role in decision-making on the impacts of climate change and specific measures to address them.

A climate assembly starts with the random election of its members from the people attending its meetings. The group discusses an agenda of local climate issues and drafts recommendations for municipal and regional authorities. Infographic: Ecovidrio

By promoting local action, they address community-specific issues, because they know the local problems well, and they urge governments to include their concerns.

As such, these meetings sprouted from 2019 in Great Britain, France and Spain, spreading throughout Europe with varied results.

In Latin America they are still new, although the region has a participatory tradition, such as community boards with different names, which decide on local issues, and neighbourhood meetings to design participatory budgets.

Bolivia and Honduras have legal frameworks for public participation, while Bolivia and Colombia have institutional channels for popular participatory involvement, according to data from the non-governmental International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), which promotes citizen participation initiatives.

In 2016, Uruguay was a pioneer with the Decí Agua initiative on citizen deliberation to provide input to draft the National Water Plan, instituted two years later.

In Chile, the Citizens’ Climate Assembly in the southern region of Los Lagos met between May and August 2023 to make recommendations to the regional government on environmental education, energy efficiency and water management, which were delivered the following November.

Similar processes in Brazil and Colombia have shown the importance of citizen participation in the political debate, but had no direct impact on the design of public policies to address the climate crisis.

The Citizens’ Climate Assembly in the Los Lagos region of southern Chile met in 2023 to present advice to the regional government on environmental education, energy efficiency and water management. Credit: Los Lagos Regional Government

Experiments

In addition to Bujaru, other Latin American cities are organising their own procedures with the same objective, part of a regional project that the international network of (Re)emergent assemblies is promoting in four Latin American cities.

In the northern Mexican state of Nuevo León, a Climate Assembly was elected on Thursday 22nd to deliberate and issue recommendations in four meetings, with the aim of improving the territory’s environmental policies and prioritising actions to adapt to the climate crisis in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, the capital.

Bosque Iglesias, a climate advocacy consultant with the non-governmental Instituto del Sur, told IPS that a group of people were invited and an open application form was set up.

“We wanted people to feel called to participate. We prioritised areas in five polygons with heat islands, where there are voices that suffer most from the crisis and tend to be relegated in the public debate. The call has been challenging, because in the first week they came little by little,” he said from Monterrey.

In the draw on Thursday 22, the 50 people in the assembly were chosen from 542 candidates from 11 municipalities in the metropolitan area. Starting in September 7 they will tackle 11 of the 140 lines of action of the state’s climate change programme, supported by the Ministry of the Environment of Nuevo León.

The agenda includes water treatment, monitoring of urban green spaces, mobility and construction of green infrastructure.

In the Argentinian city of Mar del Plata, “it was decided to focus on the climate issue… We have to think of multidimensional, multidisciplinary and participatory solutions, with the challenges that our governments have. Unlike Europe, we have less budget and other more urgent priorities”: Ignacio Gertie.

In 2022, Nuevo León, especially Monterrey – which had 1.14 million people, or more than five million with the suburban area – faced a severe water crisis. The municipal administration declared a climate emergency in 2021, being the first Mexican city to do so. In 2024, heat waves hit the metropolis.

From 13 to 22 August, a climate assembly in the city of Mar del Plata, in Argentina’s southeast Atlantic, discussed recommendations for a new climate action plan for the district of General Pueyrredón, of which it is the capital.

The group addressed training, awareness-raising and community-driven policy-making, solid and liquid waste management, reuse of materials and recycling, as well as disaster prevention and preparedness.

Ignacio Gertie, project leader at the non-governmental Democracia en Red, told IPS that there is a growing demand and need for institutional openness to citizen participation, which is reflected in experiences like the one in the Argentine tourist city.

“It was decided to focus on the climate issue… so we have to think about multidimensional, multidisciplinary and participatory solutions, with the challenges that our governments face. Unlike Europe, we are less resilient, with smaller budgets and other more urgent priorities,” he said from Mar del Plata.

The city, which in 2022 had over 682,000 people and belongs to the Argentine Network of Municipalities facing Climate Change, is drawing up its local action plan to face challenges such as the water situation and heat waves.

Another regional experience is the climate assembly of the Colombian city of Buenaventura, in the southwestern department of Valle del Cauca, with growing climate challenges. It started meeting to deliberate and issue suggestions on the collection and transformation of solid waste in the area.

Its port on the Pacific Ocean, the largest in Colombia and one of the top 10 in Latin America, faces water risks, loss of biodiversity, temperature increase and ocean acidification, as well as coastal erosion, for which the city has had a Territorial Climate Change Management Plan since 2016, currently in the process of being updated.

Monterrey, in Mexico, suffers from water problems, air pollution and high temperatures. Half a hundred people, selected at random on 23 August, will deliberate on measures to tackle the effects of the climate crisis in the city and its surroundings. Credit: Autonomous University of Nuevo León

Pioneers

The first wave of European climate assemblies provides evidence that citizens are willing and able to arrive at climate recommendations that are decisive for the population.

In France, authorities have implemented approximately 50 % of the recommendations or an alternative measure that partially implements the proposal, according to the study ‘Deliberative Democracy and Climate Change’, which Idea-International and the governmental French Development Agency released in June.

In Bujaru, Barbosa, who will return to his municipality in September, is ready to monitor the implementation.

“We will verify if they take into account the recommendations in the plans. It won’t be immediate. We talked about the importance of implementing measures in the area” for the benefit of the population, he said.

Mexico’s Iglesias and Argentina’s Gertie are confident that the citizens’ process will continue to contribute to climate action.

“The challenge is institutional follow-up. It is a major task of the assembly to stay coordinated in order to demand it. Having a group of actors to follow up is key. We hope to weave a joint advocacy agenda and become strong in the collective, and be a relevant subject in the face of the crisis,” Iglesias predicted.

For Gertie, the road ahead is to organise more processes. “There is talk in these times of political disaffection, in a hyper-individualised world, but when you open the doors so that people can participate, give ideas, there is a great desire to be present. We will see the results later,” he stressed.

Dr. Salim Ramadan treats a child patient at a health clinic operated by the UNRWA at the Jabaliya Refugee Camp, located north of the Gaza Strip. Credit: Evan Schneider/UN Photo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to grow more dire, so does the spread of illness among Palestinian children. Already facing widespread malnutrition, starvation, dehydration, and unhygienic living conditions, hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza face the risk of contracting a multitude of diseases.

Repeated orders of evacuation in the Gaza strip as well as the continual obstruction of humanitarian aid exacerbates the spread of disease in millions of Palestinian children, who already face compromised health as a result of poor sanitation, malnutrition, and a lack of access to healthcare.

The briefing held on August 23rd, 2024 detailed alarming new cases of polio among children in Gaza as well as the current actions being taken by the United Nations in an effort to mitigate the spread.

“Turning to the polio situation in Gaza — as you will have seen, WHO (the World Food Programme) confirmed yesterday that a 10-month-old baby in Deir al Balah has polio. It’s the first case in 25 years”, stated Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric.

Additional cases have been detected in wastewater samples from Gaza refugee camps.

Polio, once thought to be eradicated in the modern world, has been re-emerging in areas with low-immunization rates. It is highly infectious and mainly targets young children, usually under 6 years old. Symptoms include disfigurement, paralysis, and death.

Dujarric added that UN organizations such as WHO, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) are currently preparing two rounds of polio vaccines to be distributed in the coming weeks.

It is important to note that the spread of polio is facilitated by the highly unsanitary living conditions in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians children are currently facing severe shortages in water which leads to an increase in the spread of waterborne diseases as well as compromised hygiene.

UNICEF states, “The Gaza Strip has long suffered severe water problems, and the situation is now beyond dire. As a result of over-pumping and seawater seepage, less than five per cent of the water drawn from the aquifer is estimated to be fit for human consumption”.

It is estimated that at the time of publication, approximately 98 percent of Gaza’s entire water supply is unfit for human consumption. The use of contaminated water in Gaza has led to a significant uptick in waterborne diseases, respiratory infections, and skin conditions.

The ramifications of these harsh living conditions are not only limited to polio as health issues such as dysentery, diarrhea, pneumonia, jaundice, lice, and scabies have become widespread.

Dr. Hanan Balkhy, the WHO director for the eastern Mediterranean region, told media that the Gaza Strip, “where garbage and sewage fill the streets”, causes respiratory complications, diarrheal illnesses, and acute jaundice to run rampant.
Furthermore, Hepatitis A continues to be a major issue as approximately 40,000 people have been infected since the war began in late 2023. Additionally, health officials fear that Gaza will soon face outbreaks in cholera and leishmaniasis, both of which can be fatal.

The ongoing hunger crisis in Gaza significantly increases the likelihood of mortality from contracting these diseases. WHO states “a healthy body can more easily fight off these diseases, a wasted and weakened body will struggle. Hunger weakens the body’s defenses and opens the door to disease”.

Furthermore, WHO adds that malnutrition and starvation, when coupled with the symptoms of infectious diseases, can have severe life-long consequences such as stunted growth and impaired cognitive development.

Additionally, high levels of displacement have led to severe overcrowding in refugee camps in the Gaza strip. This creates the perfect breeding ground for the transfer of infectious disease.

WHO states, “Over 1.9 million people have been displaced from their homes, of whom over 1.4 million are staying in overcrowded shelters. These conditions are ripe for a continued rise in infectious diseases. In Gaza today, on average, there is only one shower for every 4500 people and one toilet for every 220. Clean water remains scarce and there are rising levels of outdoor defecation. These conditions make the spread of infectious diseases inevitable”.

Currently, the UN is prioritizing efforts to build new latrines and water lines, repair the waste management system, and recalibrate desalination plants. However, constant bombardment and military conflict impedes these critical processes.

Dujarric states that UN agencies have corresponded with both Israel and Palestine for a humanitarian pause in warfare to allow for healthcare workers to access struggling children in Gaza.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres states that for the health crisis in Gaza to be effectively mitigated, it is crucial to maintain a constant flow of vaccines and equipment to Gaza. Additionally, adequate fuel, increased donations, and stable communications are essential.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

By CIVICUS
Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

 
CIVICUS discusses recent leadership changes in Vietnam with David Tran, coordinator of the Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy, a civil society platform that promotes democracy in Vietnam and the region through international cooperation and the strengthening of local civil society.

On 3 August, President Tô Lâm was confirmed as General Secretary of the Communist Party, Vietnam’s top position, following the death of long-serving General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng. Lâm, who has been president since May, is known for leading an aggressive anti-corruption campaign that has seen many officials jailed and others forced to resign. He will continue as president while assuming the duties of general secretary, potentially enabling him to consolidate power ahead of the 2026 party congress, which will choose Vietnam’s top leaders for the next five years. Civil society fears the regime could become even more autocratic and repressive if Lâm retains both positions.

David Tran

What’s Vietnam’s political system like, and what’s the likely impact of the recent leadership change?

Vietnam is an authoritarian one-party state led by the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP). There are four key positions of authority: the president, who is the ceremonial head of state, the prime minister, who heads the government, the chair of the National Assembly, the unicameral legislature, and the most powerful, the general secretary of the VCP.

Although the president is elected by the National Assembly, this body is overwhelmingly made up of VCP members, who usually approve all incumbents unopposed. On 3 August, following the death of the last VCP general secretary, Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Tô Lâm was confirmed as the new VCP leader.

This appointment is particularly significant because it puts a lot of power in the hands of one person. His dual role gives Tô Lâm considerable influence over the state and party, as well as greater control over the public security apparatus. While he appears set to continue the policies of his predecessor, there are several cracks beneath the surface. His power is likely to be challenged by several VCP members who’ve been forced into retirement by his ‘anticorruption’ campaign, effectively an initiative to eliminate competing factions. We can expect this infighting to continue and intensify.

What does Tô Lâm’s rise mean from a human rights perspective?

Tô Lâm has had a long career, including stints as minister of public security and a member of the politburo. The key role he played in the previous general secretary’s ‘anticorruption’ campaign saw him elected president in May, after his investigations into several high-profile politicians and businesspeople led to the resignation of his predecessor and other top officials.

The accumulation of power in the hands of the architect of a purge is unlikely to lead to improvements in civic space or human rights. Tô Lâm has been closely associated with the worsening human rights situation, as the Formosa and the Trinh Xuan Thanh cases clearly illustrate.

In April 2016, the Formosa company caused an environmental disaster when it discharged heavily polluted waste off Vietnam’s central coast. This caused widespread damage in at least four provinces and sparked protests. Instead of prosecuting Formosa, Tô Lâm, then minister of public security and in charge of the environmental police, suppressed peaceful protests and had 220 people sentenced to a total of 133 years in prison, not including probation after release. He said he was protecting Formosa from what he called ‘hostile forces’ – essentially anyone who criticised the company.

The second case involves Trinh Xuan Thanh, a former vice chair of Hau Giang Province, who fled to Germany in 2016 after being accused of ‘deliberately violating state regulations, causing serious consequences’. He was abducted on German soil by the Vietnamese secret service, which is under the Ministry of Public Security, and returned to Vietnam. Tô Lâm was directly involved in this operation, which Germany condemned as a ‘scandalous violation’ of its sovereignty and a ‘gross breach of international law’.

Given Tô Lâm’s track record, we expect human rights conditions to worsen under his leadership as Vietnam descends into a police state where human rights and the rule of law are ignored. The already limited space for civil society in Vietnam has shrunk under his watch, and we expect this trend to continue.

What are the challenges facing civil society in Vietnam?

Tô Lâm’s rise to power has been marked by his consistent efforts to stifle dissent. Under his leadership, the authorities, particularly the Ministry of Public Security, have increasingly tightened their grip on civil society organisations (CSOs). They have implemented new decrees that overregulate the registration and management of foreign CSOs and applied stricter rules to domestic organisations.

They have also weaponised tax laws and the criminal code to target civil society leaders, charging them with offences such as tax evasion and ‘abuse of democratic freedoms’. This has led to the imprisonment of prominent activists, including environmental and labour rights advocates.

Independent CSOs are subject to strict surveillance, with some being dismantled or forced to reorganise to conform to the authorities. This was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which the authorities used as a pretext to impose further restrictions on civil society under the guise of public health measures.

Despite this repressive environment, some social service CSOs and philanthropic groups continue to operate and strive to make a positive impact. But their independence is severely restricted as they and their activists are constantly targeted.

What international support does Vietnam’s civil society need?

Human rights organisations and international bodies have raised concerns about the shrinking space for civil society in Vietnam. They have called for respect for freedoms of assembly, association and expression and urged the authorities to ease restrictions. While these statements are important, they must be accompanied by trade sanctions and other enforcement mechanisms. Words alone are not enough.

Unfortunately, human rights in Vietnam are also falling victim to geopolitics. As tensions with China escalate, the USA is increasingly seeing Vietnam as a counterweight to China. In this context, human rights and civic space are often sidelined, if not ignored altogether. We believe that a democratic Vietnam would be the best partner and ally in promoting a peaceful, open and stable Indo-Pacific region.

Even if Tô Lâm has a long way to go before he reaches a position comparable to Xi Jinping’s in China, consolidation of power is a general trend we’re seeing among the region’s communist states. Oddly enough, given how these two leaders came to power, it could be a sign that pressure for human rights and civic space, both domestically and internationally, is working. If the authorities feel compelled to respond by consolidating power and positioning figures like Tô Lâm to counter these movements, there is still hope we are on the right track.

Civic space in Vietnam is rated ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor.

Get in touch with the Alliance for Vietnam’s Democracy through its webpage or Facebook page.

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

Credit: Adobe Stock

By Ann-Sophie Böhle
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

The consequences of climate change are disproportionately impacting fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCS). Climate shocks can exacerbate security risks in FCS, conflict and instability compromise a region’s ability to adapt to climate change, leaving its population ever more vulnerable to future climate shocks.

This creates a risk of mutually reinforcing crises spiraling out of control.

By the same token, climate adaptation—measures to increase resilience to climate change—can reduce conflict risks and possibly contribute to lasting peace. This is why international meetings, such as last year’s COP28 climate summit (November 30-December 12 2023) and the (February 27-29 ) World Bank Fragility Forum, have emphasized the need for increased climate action in FCS and for approaches that address climate adaptation and peace simultaneously.

However, climate adaptation in FCS is made particularly challenging by, among other factors, the volatility of the context, security risks to people associated with the work and high costs. Various approaches have been suggested to address some of these issues and to make adaptation projects in FCS more effective—not only in terms of building climate resilience but also in addressing conflict risk.

A review of policy and strategic documents published by five donors that are actively supporting climate adaptation in FCS—the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the World Bank, and the Dutch and Danish foreign ministries—suggests that such approaches are starting to take root at the policy level. This blog focuses on how five such approaches were reflected in the documents.

Integrated climate–security assessments

It has been argued that integrated assessments covering both climate and conflict dimensions are crucial to designing climate adaptation measures that do not increase conflict risk and ideally help create conditions for lasting peace.

While each of the five donors acknowledges the links between climate change and security at the policy level, only some conduct integrated assessments. For example, a few of the World Bank’s climate change country risk profiles delve into the intersection with security concerns.

Among others the profiles for Ethiopia and Yemen highlight the risk of projected climatic change and extreme weather events worsening tensions around natural resources, food insecurity and migration.

Yet even in these country profiles, the analysis of climate–security links seems somewhat ad hoc; none of the five donors appears to use a systematic method for assessing these links and how adaptation can influence them.

Peace-positive ambitions and activities

A ‘peace-positive’ approach to climate adaptation entails, for example, defining peace-related objectives and indicators of success for an adaptation project. The approach could also include, for example, activities aimed at fostering dialogue, ensuring the equitable distribution of resources and building state capacity to alleviate local tensions.

Denmark’s programme for the fragile border areas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger combines climate adaptation with facilitating community dialogue and mediation over resource access. In a 2018 report, the GEF’s Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel (STAP) urged the GEF to take opportunities ‘to contribute actively to conflict prevention, not only by mitigating the vulnerabilities affecting particular stakeholder groups but also by strengthening institutions of environmental cooperation and equitable resource governance’.

However, it is unclear whether this advice has been followed. Otherwise, there was little sign of peace-positive activities on the part of any of the five donors. Similarly, there were no examples of climate adaptation projects having specific indicators for impacts on peace.

It is important to acknowledge that peace-positive efforts may exceed the mandates and capacities of many climate adaptation actors.

Collaboration and coordination with other actors

The 2016 World Humanitarian Summit underlined the fact that collaboration and coordination between humanitarian, development and peacebuilding (HDP) actors is necessary to better address issues linked to climate change and conflict, such as population displacement.

For example, climate adaptation actors new to an area can benefit from the knowledge, experience and local connections of humanitarian and peacebuilding actors already operating there.

Calls for such cooperation and collaboration have become commonplace among international actors in the HDP fields. Yet it is rarely seen in practice: HDP and climate adaptation projects still occur in isolation. Challenges to collaboration and cooperation include the varying engagement timelines and methodologies of different actors.

There are positive signs, however. For example, the African Development Bank’s Strategy for Addressing Fragility and Building Resilience in Africa (2022–2026) emphasizes the value of collaboration ‘across many actors’, playing to each one’s comparative advantages in the ‘multidimensional challenge’ of tackling fragility.

Some of the AfDB’s recent country strategies indicate that it has taken steps to map the other development partners operating in the country, suggesting a will to put this principle into practice.

Participatory and inclusive approaches

Another widely accepted principle is that projects are more likely to succeed with the participation of key stakeholders and the inclusion of different groups affected by the project—because, among other things, this makes the project more likely to respond to local needs and realities, which in turn builds a stronger sense of local ownership.

In FCS, it is even more important to understand how different groups may benefit or lose out from a project and how interventions may create or deepen local tensions. Inclusive, participatory approaches are therefore essential to ensure conflict sensitivity and peace-positive outcomes.

The Netherlands’ Global Climate Strategy advocates for a people-centred approach, setting equity and inclusion as guiding principles. ‘Locally led adaption’ and ‘meaningful participation’ are prioritized in order to better understand local needs and benefit from the knowledge and experiences of local people, especially vulnerable groups.

Similarly, the AfDB’s policies promote intensified engagement with civil society. An example of this in practice is seen in a project on sustainable water management in the Eastern Nile region, which integrated community-based feedback and validation processes that provided insight into local perceptions of the project.

Flexibility and adaptability

Various past climate adaptation projects have had to be abandoned or relocated when conflict has broken out. This has been blamed in part on inflexibility in the projects’ designs: being only suitable for a fixed set of pre-conflict circumstances.

As volatility is a characteristic of FCS, flexible approaches that allow timelines, budgets and activities to be adapted in response to changing contexts allow projects to be more effective and to stay relevant.

The Netherlands mentions ‘modular’ programme design as one of the ‘special methods’ it uses for development cooperation in fragile areas. This allows different parts of a programme to be modified in response to changes in the situation on the ground without jeopardizing the entire programme.

The World Bank reports that while its current guidance offers a ‘range of operational flexibilities’, project teams have not always used them. It acknowledges that ‘efforts are needed to ensure that teams are aware and feel empowered to draw on flexibilities as needed so that practice aligns with policy’.

Looking ahead

Major donors appear to be aware of key ways to facilitate effective, peace-positive climate adaptation in FCS, based on their policies and strategies. This is promising, but there is limited evidence of how, or whether, this awareness is being translated into practice. There is an urgent need to share insights and experiences on how this can be done effectively.

The findings build on a document analysis conducted by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) for the Global Center on Adaptation’s Water and Urban programme.

Ann-Sophie Böhle is a Research Assistant in the SIPRI Climate Change and Risk Programme.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) presiding over a meeting of the UN Security Council. Credit: United Nations

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 29 2024 (IPS)

The Communist Manifesto of a bygone era, authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, begins with an implicit warning: “A specter is haunting Europe—the specter of Communism.”

And today another specter is haunting– this time at the United Nations — the specter of a second Trump presidency.

When Trump first took office back in January 2017, he either de-funded, withdrew from, or denigrated several UN agencies and affiliated institutions, including the World Health Organization, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Human Rights Council, among others.

In the unlikely event of a second Trump presidency, should the UN be preparing for another political nightmare?

According to a report on Cable News Network (CNN) last October, Trump was quoted as saying that if elected again to the White House, he would reinstate and expand a travel ban on people from predominantly Muslim countries, suspend refugee resettlements and aggressively deport those whom he characterized as having “jihadist sympathies.”

He cited the Hamas attacks on Israel as the reason for his hard-line immigration policies. Trump also said he would ban travel from Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya “or anywhere else that threatens our security.”

When Trump first walked onto the podium at the General Assembly hall, he looked at the hundreds of foreign delegates from 192 countries, and reportedly asked: “How the hell did you guys get into this country?”, according to a joke in circulation in the UN’s watering hole, the delegate’s lounge.

There was also a widespread rumor of a new slogan promoting tourism during Trump’s presidency: “Visit us on a one-way ticket – and we will deport you free”.

Meanwhile, at a 2017 White House meeting, Trump apparently said all Haitians “have AIDS’; that Nigerians should “go back to their huts in Africa’; and questioned why US should welcome people from “shithole countries” in Africa, according a report in the New York Times.

And he also displayed his ignorance by asking whether UK was a nuclear power – and whether Nepal (which he pronounced as Nipple) and Bhutan (pronounced Button) were part of India?

Asked about a possible second Trump presidency, Kul Gautam, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the UN children’s agency UNICEF told IPS: “Yes, there will be considerable potential danger and a great deal of unpredictability to the UN system in the unlikely event of a 2nd Trump Presidency”.

However, he pointed out, the extent of the danger will depend on what happens in the US Congress. If Trump wins and the US House of Representatives and the Senate are also captured by the Republicans, the UN could face a mortal risk.

And also, recall that earlier this year the House Republicans zeroed out funding for the UN regular budget and more than a dozen UN entities, including UNICEF and WHO.

So, the worst-case scenario for the UN would be Trump in the White House and Republican majority in both chambers of the US Congress.

But if one or both Houses of Congress are held by the Democratic Party, Trump alone cannot cause irreparable harm to the UN. Still, US defunding of certain UN agencies will cause great harm to those UN entities and the important services they provide, said Gautam, author of “My Journey from the Hills of Nepal to the Halls of the United Nations”. (www.kulgautam.org).

Stephen Zunes, Professor of Politics and Director of International Studies at the University of San Francisco, who has written extensively on the politics of the United Nations, told IPS: “Yes, this would indeed be disastrous and UN funding for these agencies and affiliated institutions would indeed be cut”.

It should be noted, however, that Biden has already eliminated U.S. funding for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) and has threatened to eliminate funding to any organization that has Palestine as a full member. Though Harris has generally been less hostile to international legal norms than Biden, I have seen no indication that Harris would reverse these policies, said Zunes.

“Given Trump’s disrespect for domestic laws and institutions, it’s not surprising he would have a similar contempt for international laws and institutions,” he declared.

Samir Sanbar, a former UN Assistant Secretary-General and head of the former Department of Public Information (DPI), told IPS besides welcoming senior UN officials at Trump Tower, across from U.N. Headquarters, the former US President also enjoyed being seated at the main table at the luncheon for heads of state at the opening of the General assembly session.

Under a Trump presidency, he said, there is however a serious risk of blocking payments for certain U.N. Agencies and Funds, particularly UNRWA, which offers assistance to Palestinian refugees and advocates their right of return. Also, WHO and possibly UNICEF would face cuts particularly for their assistance in Gaza.

“And I read somewhere that Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner would prefer to clear Gaza from its two million human beings in order to turn it into a tourist resort,” said Sanbar.

Commenting on the on-again, off-again US threat to cut funds to the UN, Gautam said a blessing in disguise of drastic US defunding of the UN would be for the organization to seriously explore a more robust alternative long-term funding mechanism of the UN and reduce its heavy dependence on US funding.

To avoid the perpetual threat and blackmail of the US and occasionally some other member states defunding the UN, “I am all for resurrecting, reconsidering and reformulating a very creative proposal presented by former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme way back in 1985.

Palme proposed that no country should be asked or allowed to contribute more than 10 percent to the UN’s budget.”

That would have meant a significant reduction in the US share of the UN budget from 25 % to 10 %; and a modest increase in contribution by most other countries.

“I am FOR the Palme proposal to reduce the UN’s over-dependence on a handful of large donors, and correspondingly decrease the undue influence of those countries in the appointment of high-level UN jobs, and other decision-making processes”.

“Today, many UN activities benefit from voluntary contribution of governments, as well as the private sector, and philanthropic foundations. I believe we must seriously explore more such innovative possibilities, including income from the Global Commons and the Tobin Tax, to liberate the UN from the perpetual threats of arbitrary cuts and defunding by major donors.”

And it is worth recalling that in the larger scheme of international finance, in a world economy of $103 trillion and global military budgets of $2.4 trillion per year, the UN’s regular annual budget is less than $4 billion, and the totality of the UN system’s budget for humanitarian assistance, development cooperation, peace-keeping operations, technical assistance and other essential normative functions, amounts to less than $50 billion per year.

“This is a modest amount to respond to the huge challenges that the UN is asked and expected to help tackle. To put it in perspective, the total UN system-wide spending annually is far less than one month’s US spending on defense, and less than the US military aid to Israel or Ukraine alone.”

With similar investment, bilateral aid and national budgets of much bigger proportions could hardly achieve results comparable to what the UN and international financial institutions achieve, declared Gautam.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

President of the General Assembly, Dennis Francis, meets with internally displaced Sudanese civilians at a displacement camp in Juba. During his visit, he met with the President of the Republic of South Sudan to discuss a peace agreement and plans for humanitarian assistance. Credit: Nektarios Markogiannis/UN Photo

By Oritro Karim
UNITED NATIONS, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

The ongoing humanitarian crisis taking place in Sudan, which is a result of the civil war which began last year, continues to escalate as hunger and displacement plague the population, according to spokesperson for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Stéphane Dujarric, during an August 21st press briefing.

The civil war broke out in April 2023 when the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began a fierce armed conflict in the capital city of Khartoum. According to reports by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), over 18,800 civilians have been killed and over 33,000 have been injured in the crossfire.

Additionally, Edem Wosornu, Director of Operations and Advocacy at OCHA, stated in a press briefing on August 6th that extended siege and conflict between the two parties has resulted in many women and girls being raped.

Food insecurity is currently the most pressing issue facing Sudan. Stephen Omollo, Assistant Executive Director for Workplace and Management of the World Food Programme (WFP), highlighted that “there is famine in Zamzam camp near El Fasher in North Darfur and that other areas in Darfur and elsewhere are at high risk, with more than half of the country’s population facing crisis levels of hunger”.

The WFP and the International Organization for Migration is currently in the process of providing food to areas most affected by famine, such as West Darfur, where 13,000 people are facing the risk of starvation. Wosornu added that the 26 million people facing acute hunger in Sudan is three times the population of New York City.

A spokesperson for the United Kingdom’s UN Representative added that approximately 100 Sudanese people will die of starvation every day until the conflict is settled.

Additionally, as a result of heavy armed conflict in the capital city Khartoum and the Darfur region, many communities have been pushed into displacement. The Sudan conflict is considered to be the world’s largest displacement crisis, with as many as 10.7 million people being displaced to other areas of Sudan and more fleeing to neighbouring nations, according to OCHA.

“Since the start of the current round of hostilities in Sudan, more than 780,000 men, women and children have crossed the border and headed to Renk town”, Dujarric stated.

Furthermore, over 5 million children have been internally displaced and 19 million children lack access to education as a result of 90 percent of schools being shut down. This makes Sudan one of the worst education crises in the world.

For the effective use of humanitarian aid, it is imperative that the conflict stops as soon as possible. Constant sieges and battles prevent the humanitarian community in Sudan as well as the United Nations from providing life-saving assistance.

Aid trucks have been severely obstructed in Sudan. Sudanese authorities have impeded the use of the Adre crossing, which is the most effective route in delivering assistance. In addition, many humanitarian workers have been attacked, kidnapped, and harassed.

Wosornu states “the conflict must stop to allow for the rapid delivery of humanitarian assistance across the country. The warring parties must uphold their obligations under international humanitarian law. Also needed are rapid, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access across Sudan through all possible routes and more resources, including flexible funding”. She adds that if these conditions were met, the current situation in Sudan would be far less dire.

Dujarric added that “peacekeepers established a temporary base in the area (of Renk, Sudan) and are helping to ensure the safe delivery of aid, providing protection to deter violence between diverse communities forced to live together in congested conditions and share dwindling resources”.

Currently, Sudanese authorities deny that there is a severe hunger crisis and that there is no obstruction of humanitarian aid. A delegate for Sudan stated that conditions in a Zamzam displacement camp do not meet the criteria for a declaration of famine. Additionally, they stated that there are no deaths from starvation. They reiterated that aid is not being impeded by the Sudanese government, rather, fault lies with the Rapid Support Forces.

The UN and the WFP is currently negotiating with Sudanese authorities on an increase of aid trucks as well as increased use of the Adre Passage, which makes key distribution points much more easily accessible. It is essential for aid to be supplied on a constant basis as there are 12 areas that face significant levels of famine.

Additionally, the UN predicts that approximately 2.7 billion dollars will be needed for the Sudan Humanitarian Appeal. As of the publication date, this plan has only been 32 percent funded, with a total of 874 dollars being raised for this effort. It is crucial for donors to financially contribute as Sudan is currently on the brink of collapse, having the world’s biggest crises in displacement, hunger, education, and violence.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

A fishworker sells a limited variety of fish. Due to climate change, the size of the catch and the variety of the fish caught have significantly decreased over time. Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

By Aishwarya Bajpai
NEW DELHI, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Climate change forces millions of India’s fishworkers to venture beyond the country’s exclusive economic zone into the perilous high seas.

In their search for a better catch, approximately 4 million of India’s 28 million fishworkers often face increased risks of capture by neighboring countries.

“Earlier, fish used to come close to the shore, but now we have to go farther out to find them. Our fishing season lasts about a month, and it takes several days just to reach our fishing spot. This time keeps increasing with each season, and lately, the number of days we spend at sea has doubled,” Jivan R. Jungi, a fishworker leader from Gujarat, India, told IPS.

It has not only made the lives of fishworkers challenging, but it also affects their families, accounting for about 16 million people, according to official data.

India, a South Asian country with a 7,500-kilometer coastline, relies on aquatic products such as fish and shrimp for its national income.

People involved in the fish and related industries. Source: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

According to a recent report by the Indian Express, India exported about 17,81,602 metric tons (MT) of seafood, generating a substantial revenue of ₹60,523.89 crore (USD 7.38 billion) in FY 2023–24.

“The government does not take care of us at all, despite the high profit margins in the fishing industry. They fail to provide even the basic benefits that the government can do, like fire safety,” Jungi told IPS. “Our boats are made of wood and run on diesel, which increases the risk of fire. We’ve been requesting safety measures or compensation for years, but nothing has been done, even as we face the growing challenges of climate change.”

Their plight is exacerbated by the Indian government’s policies, including a recent provision in the National Fisheries Policy 2020, which promotes “deep-sea fishing and fishing in areas beyond the national jurisdiction to tap under-exploited resources.” This policy aims to generate more revenue for the nation but does so at the expense of the fishworkers.

Temperature Rises Compare With Hiroshima Bomb

A report by Down to Earth, quoting a study by Science Direct, indicates that the Indian Ocean could experience a temperature rise of 1.7–3.8 degrees Celsius between 2020 and 2100.

To illustrate the severity, Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, is quoted as saying: “The projected increase in heat content is comparable to adding the energy of one Hiroshima atomic bomb explosion every second, continuously, for an entire decade.”

Fishworkers along the entire Indian coastline face mounting challenges, leading to conflicts with neighboring countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Saudi Arabia.

According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs, between 2020 and 2022, more than 2,600 Indian fishworkers were imprisoned in ten countries across the Indian Ocean for maritime border incursions. The highest number of arrests occurred in Pakistan (1,060), followed by Saudi Arabia (564) and Sri Lanka (501).

People involved in the fish and related industries. Source: Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying Graphic: Aishwarya Bajpai/IPS

At Sea, In Danger

The issue of maritime boundaries and fishing rights goes deeper, often causing conflicts among fishworkers from different countries. When fishworkers cross into another country’s waters and catch fish, the local fishworkers claim ownership of the catch, leading to disputes.

This tension among fishworkers can have severe consequences. Moreover, after the arrest, instead of being treated as civilian prisoners, they sometimes face dire conditions, including the risk of death in foreign prisons.

As reported by the Ministry of External Affairs, nine Indian fishermen died in Pakistani jails over the past five years. In 2022, an Indian fisherman named Maria Jesind reportedly had been killed in an Indonesian prison.

This situation is too familiar to fishworkers, particularly those from India and Pakistan, who have long been caught in the political crossfire between their governments.

Historically, the lack of a clear demarcation line has forced fishworkers deeper into the sea without adequate security. As a result, both countries have been arresting fishworkers from each other’s territories for years now.

Last year, 499 fishworkers were released by Pakistan on July 3, 2023, after numerous attempts at their release by civil society organizations. These fishworkers, charged with violating the Passport Act for trespassing on water borders, are imprisoned after court trials, usually receiving sentences of a few months. The official sentence is typically six months, but the release of these fishworkers is rarely prompt, with many spending more than five years.

“But several have died. Balo Jetah Lal died in a Pakistani prison in May 2023; Bichan Kumar alias Vipan Kumar (died April 4, 2023); Soma Deva (died May 8, 2023); and Zulfiqar from Kerala (died May 6, 2023) in Karachi prison,” Jungi says, adding, “Vinod Laxman Kol died on March 17 in Karachi and his mortal remains were brought to his village in Maharashtra on May 1, 2024.”

While the arrests and deaths affect the families of the fishworkers, they also have a broader impact on the community, challenging their way of life and livelihood.

Fishworkers now demand that they not be arrested or shot at, but rather pushed back if they cross maritime boundaries.

After their release, the fishworkers struggle to make ends meet because the arresting government rarely returns their boats, resulting in a lifelong debt of around Rs. 50–60 lakhs (USD 5–6 million) per boat. As a result, the workers now demand that their boats be returned and that the government ensure that the families of arrested fishworkers receive support through policies and schemes, including educational opportunities for their children, to prevent them from falling into extreme poverty.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• UN Secretary General Warns of ‘Brutal’ Impacts of Climate Change for Pacific Islands
• The Ocean People: Navigating Cyclones, Floods, and Climate Injustice in India
• Explainer: What You Need to Know About Climate Change and Blue Carbon

Excerpt:

Warming seas from climate change means that Indian fisherworkers often travel illegally into international territorial waters in search of a good catch and find themselves jailed and their boats confiscated, driving their families into poverty.

Students and youth groups in Bangladesh stand guard outside temples and churches to protect those from vandalism during unrest after the Awami League government ouster. Credit: Rafiqul Islam/IPS

By Rafiqul Islam
DHAKA, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Immediately after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5, 2024, following weeks of deadly demonstrations staged by students, people carried out attacks on the houses and temples of the Hindu community in Dacope of Khulna, about 225 kilometres from Dhaka. They particularly attacked and vandalized the houses of minorities believed to be involved in the politics of the ousted Awami League government.

At least 11 Hindu houses in Dacope were attacked and vandalized, with attackers claiming these were acts of political revenge.

But, in Dacope, local Muslim and Hindu students and the community soon joined together to guard the houses and temples of the minorities so that they would no longer be victimized due to the political changeover.

Beginning in mid-June 2024, peaceful student protests in Bangladesh turned violent, resulting in hundreds of people killed, including at least 32 children, and thousands injured. The protests were the result of the reinstatement of a quota system for the distribution of civil service positions.

The government resigned in response to the protests, and a civilian interim government took its place.

In other areas too, attacks were carried out on the offices of the Awami League (AL) and residences and establishments of the AL leaders and temples, churches and houses of minority communities across Bangladesh during unrest.

Nur Nabin Robin, a resident of Chattogram City, said many people from minority communities, including Hindus, Buddhist and ethnic people, live in the port city in harmony.

But when the Sheikh Hasina government fell on August 5, people of the minority communities began to feel insecure in Chattogram since attacks on minorities were reportedly being carried out in different parts of the country, he said.

“So, we patrolled in the city for two to three nights in groups and guarded the temples and houses of the minorities so that none could attack them. We also asked them to call us via mobile phone if they can sense any clue of attack on them,” Robin told IPS.

Their concerns were exacerbated because most police stations across the country ceased operating after the fall of the previous government.

General students and even madrasa students came forward to protect the houses and places of worship as the leaders of the Anti-Discrimination Student Movement asked supporters to guard temples and churches, responding to concerns voiced over reports of attacks on minority groups.

Jasim Uddin, a resident of Kuliarchar in Kishoreganj, told IPS that after the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s government, mobs torched and vandalized houses of many AL leaders in his locality, but members of the Hindu community remained safe during the political turmoil as local people voluntarily safeguarded their temples and properties.

While national monuments and government buildings in the capital, Dhaka, were looted, there were no reports of attacks on temples or churches there during the recent political turmoil.

In Dhaka, Muslim students were found guarding the Dhakeshwari National Temple, a Hindu place of worship. A Muslim was spotted offering prayers in front of Dhakeswari temple so nobody would attack the temple.

Professor Muhammad Yunus, Chief Adviser to the interim government of Bangladesh, visited Dhakeshwari National Temple on August 13, 2024, to express his solidarity with the Hindu community. During his visit, he called upon the minorities to keep patience and remain united.

Yunus condemned the attacks on minority communities in the country as “heinous.”

Religious harmony is the long tradition of Banglalees, while people from different religions—Islam, Hindu, Buddhist, Christian—have been living together from generation to generation.

“Over 90 percent people in Bangladesh do not believe in communalism. Attacks were carried out on minorities due to political reason or gaining personal interest. Those who carried out looting and vandalism were not involved in the student movement,” adviser to interim government Syeda Rizwana Hasan told a function recently in Dhaka.

She said madrasa students had safeguarded temples in many places of Bangladesh, which showed an example of the country’s religious harmony.

Barrister Sara Hossain, the honorary executive director of the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST), said once miscreants carry out any attack on minorities, all should protect them.

CONCERN REMAINS

Following the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, there was chaos across the country, with law enforcement officials retreating in many places for fear of retaliation.

According to a report of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) of the United Nations released on August 16, 2024, attacks were conducted against minorities, including Hindus, especially in the days immediately after the change of government.

The OHCHR report recognized the role of the student organizations and other ordinary people who were forming groups to protect the minorities.

It details some of the attacks against minorities, including Hindus, especially in the days immediately after the change of government. On August 5 and 6, Hindu houses and properties were reportedly attacked, vandalized and looted in 27 districts. A number of places of worship were also damaged, including an ISKCON temple in Meherpur, Khulna division, which was vandalized and set on fire.

On August 5 and 6, Hindu houses and properties were reportedly attacked, vandalized and looted in 27 districts, while many temples were also damaged, including an ISKCON temple in Meherpur, Khulna division, which was vandalized and set on fire.

The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council (BHBCUC) claimed that around 200-300 Hindu homes and businesses were vandalized since August 5 last while 15-20 Hindu temples were damaged.

IPS UN Bureau Report

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

UN agencies are working together to integrate traditional knowledge with modern technology, optimizing water use for agriculture. Credit: FAO Iraq

By Ghulam Isaczai
BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Climate change and water scarcity pose significant threats to Iraq’s stability, prosperity, and the well-being of its people. The environmental challenges facing the nation are complex and interconnected, requiring a comprehensive and coordinated response.

In Iraq, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), under my leadership, has been at the forefront of addressing these critical issues, working tirelessly to build a more sustainable and resilient future for all Iraqis.

Through the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO), we aim to leverage the diverse expertise and resources of different UN agencies, fostering a coordinated and integrated approach to development challenges.

Through this collaborative model, we can maximize our impact and deliver holistic solutions to tackle the interconnected web of factors that contribute to climate change and water scarcity.

This includes not only mitigating the immediate effects of these environmental threats but also addressing their underlying causes, such as unsustainable water management practices and overreliance on fossil fuels.

United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq Ghulam Isaczai visiting a water project site. Credit: UN in Iraq

The UN in Iraq has made a lasting impact in Iraq through a number of key initiatives. These include:

1) Forging climate resilience

Iraq is highly vulnerable to climate change impacts, including rising temperatures, droughts, and desertification severely impacting agricultural productivity and social stability. To address this, the UNCT, in cooperation with the Iraqi Government, organized Iraq’s first Climate Conference in Basra in 2023. This event resulted in the “Basra Declaration” with key government commitments and initiatives like an afforestation campaign, aimed at enhancing Iraq’s climate resilience.

These efforts led to increased national and international awareness and cooperation on climate issues, establishing a framework for future environmental and policy planning, including the National Adaptation Plan (NAP) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC).

The Basra Declaration aims at strengthening Iraq’s institutional, technical, and financial capacities to tackle climate change by mainstreaming medium- to long-term adaptation strategies into national and local planning.

2) Advancing water security

Iraq suffers from a critical water crisis due to reduced rainfall and over-utilization of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. These challenges are exacerbated by inefficient water management and agricultural practices.

Last year, Iraq was the first country in the Middle East to join the UN Water Convention, underscoring the country’s commitment to boosting regional cooperation and ensuring equitable water use, essential for the stability and prosperity of the region.

In alignment with these national objectives, the RCO is leading a ‘Water Task Force’ that brings together UN agencies in Iraq to enhance water governance, boost agricultural resilience, and improve sustainable water usage.

For instance, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) are working together to integrate traditional knowledge with modern technology, optimizing water use for agriculture—an essential step for bolstering Iraq’s food security.

Meanwhile in the Sinjar district, a United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) initiative, funded by the Italian government is transforming local water access, in-line with the need to ensuring safe water for all Iraqis. Similarly, in Ninewa Governorate, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) installed water desalination systems in seven villages, significantly improving living conditions.

3) Preserving the Mesopotamian Marshes

The Mesopotamian Marshes, a unique ecosystem and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are threatened by climate change, pollution, and unsustainable water management practices, leading to severe ecological and human impacts.

The RCO coordinated efforts across UN agencies to conserve the marshes by developing environmental strategies, supporting afforestation projects and facilitating community-based adaptation plans to improve the livelihoods of local communities.

For example, the World Food Programme (WFP) is undertaking afforestation projects in both southern Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, aligning with the government objective of planting five million trees by 2029. These efforts are directly contributing to the national climate change strategy through the Local Adaptation Plan, focusing on areas most impacted by climate change.

Furthermore, the UN has led legislative advancements in natural resource management, including the adoption of the Environmental Strategy and the National Sustainable Land Management Strategy and Action Plan, which are crucial for agriculture and marshland conservation.

These initiatives have helped restore ecological balance, supported local livelihoods, and bolstered the marshlands’ resilience to environmental pressures, thereby securing their status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

4) Developing renewable energy policies

Iraq’s heavy reliance on fossil fuels not only constrains its economic stability but also contributes to substantial greenhouse gas emissions. The country has significant potential for renewable energy development but faces challenges in attracting investment and developing necessary infrastructure.

To address this gap, the UN facilitated the revision and adoption of Iraq’s Renewable Energy Law, a pivotal move towards boosting renewable energy investment and development. The revised Renewable Energy Law has created a more favourable environment for renewable energy investment.

Similarly, an initiative by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting Iraq’s shift away from oil-dependence, through the NAP – which outlines efforts to reduce emissions and prepare for the effects of climate change. The UN is also assisting Iraq develop its NDCs for 2025, which is the country’s commitment to reduce emissions and adapt to climate change as part of the Paris Agreement.

These efforts have opened avenues for increased investment in renewable energy, promoting sustainable economic growth and reducing the country’s carbon footprint.

A sustainable and resilient future for Iraq

The collective work of the UN in Iraq has set the country on a promising trajectory towards climate sustainability and resilience. Our upcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for 2025-2029 will outline our efforts to help Iraq mitigate and adapt to climate change, manage water resources sustainably, and protect its unique environmental and cultural heritage.

As we look to the future, the UN in Iraq remains committed to supporting the government and people of Iraq in their pursuit of a sustainable and resilient future.

Ghulam Isaczai is United Nations Resident Coordinator in Iraq. To learn more about the work of the UN in Iraq visit iraq.un.org.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');  

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Siti Maisarah Zainurin
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug 28 2024 (IPS)

Oxfam expects the world’s first trillionaire within a decade and poverty to end in 229 years! The wealth of the world’s five richest men has more than doubled from 2020, as 4.8 billion people became poorer.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

The 2024 Oxfam report entitled Inequality Inc. warned, “We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division” as billions cope with the “pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom”.

“This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else”, noted Oxfam International’s Amitabh Behar.

Driving inequality
Summarising the report, Tanupriya Singh noted gaps between rich and poor, and between wealthy nations and developing countries had grown again for the first time in the 21st century as the super-rich became much richer.

The Global North has 69% of all wealth worldwide and 74% of billionaire riches. Oxfam notes contemporary wealth concentration began with colonialism and empire.

Since then, “neo-colonial relationships with the Global South persist, perpetuating economic imbalances and rigging the economic rules in favour of rich nations”.

The report notes, “economies across the Global South are locked into exporting primary commodities, from copper to coffee, for use by monopolistic industries in the Global North, perpetuating a colonial-style ‘extractivist’ model”.

Siti Maisarah Zainurin

Inequalities within rich nations have grown, with marginalised communities worse off, giving rise to rival ethno-populisms and vicious identity politics.

Seventy per cent of the world’s largest corporations have a billionaire as principal shareholder or chief executive. These firms are worth over $10 trillion, which exceeds the total output of Latin America and Africa.

The incomes of the rich have grown much faster than for most others. Hence, the top 1% of shareholders own 43% of financial assets worldwide – half in Asia, 48% in the Middle East, and 47% in Europe.

Between mid-2022 and mid-2023, 148 of the world’s largest corporations made $1.8 trillion in profits. Meanwhile, 82% of 96 large corporations’ profits went to shareholders via stock buybacks and dividends.

Only 0.4% of the world’s largest companies have agreed to pay minimum wages to those contributing to their profits. Unsurprisingly, the poorer half of the world earned only 8.5% of world income in 2022.

The wages of almost 800 million workers have not kept up with inflation. In 2022 and 2023, they lost $1.5 trillion, equivalent to an average of 25 days of lost wages per employee.

In addition to income inequality, the 2024 Oxfam Report noted workers face mounting challenges due to stressful workplace conditions.

The gap between the incomes of the ultra-rich and workers is so huge that a female health or social worker would need 1,200 years to earn what a Fortune 100 company CEO makes annually!

Besides lower wages for women, unpaid care work subsidises the world economy by at least $10.8 trillion yearly, thrice what Oxfam terms ‘tech industry’.

Monopoly power
Oxfam notes that monopoly power has worsened world inequality. Thus, a few corporations influence and even control national economies, governments, laws, and policies in their own interest.

An International Monetary Fund (IMF) study found monopoly power responsible for 76% of the fall in the labour share of US manufacturing income.

Behar noted, “Monopolies harm innovation and crush workers and smaller businesses. The world hasn’t forgotten how pharma monopolies deprived millions of people of COVID-19 vaccines, creating a racist vaccine apartheid while minting a new club of billionaires”.

Between 1995 and 2015, 60 pharmaceutical companies merged into ten Big Pharma giants. Although innovation is typically subsidised with public funds, pharmaceutical monopolies price-gouge with impunity.

Oxfam notes the Ambani fortune in India comes from monopolies in many sectors enabled by the Modi regime. Ambani’s son’s recent extravagant wedding celebrations flaunted extreme wealth concentration worldwide.

The 2021 Oxfam report estimated that “an unskilled worker would need 10,000 years to earn what Ambani made in an hour during the pandemic and three years to earn what he made in a second”.

Unsurprisingly, the 2023 Oxfam Report noted, “India’s richest 1% own around 40% of the country’s wealth, while over 200 million people continue to live in poverty”.

Fiscal subordination
Corporations have increased their value through a “sustained and highly effective war on taxation … depriving the public of critical resources”.

As many corporations increased their profits, the average corporate tax rate dropped from 23% to 17% between 1975 and 2019. Meanwhile, around a trillion dollars went into tax havens in 2022 alone.

Of course, falling corporate tax rates are also due to “the broader neoliberal agenda promoted by corporations and their wealthy owners, often alongside Global North countries and international institutions such as the World Bank”.

Meanwhile, pressures for fiscal austerity have grown as government tax revenue has declined relatively for decades. High government indebtedness with corporate tax evasion and avoidance have exacerbated austerity policies.

Underfunded public services have adversely affected consumers and employees, especially health and social protection. Higher interest rates have worsened debt crises in developing nations.

With governments fiscally constrained from sustaining public services, privatisation advocates have become more influential, gaining greater control of public resources by various means.

Private corporations profit from discounted public asset sales, public-private partnerships and government contracts to deliver public policies and programmes.

“Major development agencies and institutions… have found common ground with investors by embracing approaches that ‘de-risk’ such arrangements by shifting financial risk from the private to the public sector”, the report states.

Access to essential public services should be universal. Insisting on private profit-making considerations deprives marginalised communities of access, worsening inequalities.

Siti Maisarah Zainurin will join a Malaysian government research institute after completing work at Khazanah Research Institute.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• Paltry International Support for Spending Needs Sets South Further Back
• IMF, World Bank Must Urgently Help Finance Developing Countries
• COVID-19 Compounding Inequalities
• The Best Law Capital Can Buy
• Meritocracy Legitimizes, Deepens Inequality
• Financialization Increases Inequality
• Inequality and Its Many Discontents
• Neoliberal Reforms Strengthening Monopoly Power and Abuses
• Globalization, Inequality, Convergence, Divergence
• Tackling Inequality Talk Is Easy

By Anis Chowdhury, Khalilur Rahman and Ziauddin Hyder
SYDNEY, NEW YORK, WASHINGTON DC, Aug 27 2024 (IPS)

Bangladesh bleeds as over US$3 billion drains from Bangladesh annually through offshore accounts. According to a recent report, close to US$150 was siphoned off the country during 15 years of kleptocratic Hasina regime’s mis-rule. Nearly US$50 billion went out of the country in the first six years (2009-2015) of the Hasina regime.

Anis Chowdhury

Urgent action is needed not only to stop this fatal bleeding, but also to recover the country’s stolen wealth.

Corruptions and illicit transfer of funds
Bangladesh has been a fertile ground for corruption and usurpation of public money. A 2011 UNDP report ranked Bangladesh at the top along with Angola among least developed countries (LDCs) for “illicit financial flows”.

Corruption and illicit transfer of funds reached an unprecedented level during the fallen Sheikh Hasina’s autocratic regime as the regime’s survival became increasingly reliant on letting its cronies and kleptocrats rob banks. A staggering US$8.4 billion was misappropriated from banks alone through irregularities, misuse of powers, and money laundering.

Another major source of corruption by kleptocrats has been grossly inflated aid- and foreign debt-funded mega projects. Tax evasion by politically connected elites has been a major source of revenue loss, estimated at US$703 million a year.

A 2017 Global Financial Integrity Report found illicit financial flows from Bangladesh the highest among LDCs. On average as much as US$8.3 billion per year has been laundered from Bangladesh through trade mis-invoicing alone – by inflating import price and under-pricing exports – between 2009 and 2018.

Khalilur Rahman

Besides using “hundi”, criminals also use their children studying abroad as “money mules” to transfer illegally acquired wealth. Various schemes, such as “golden visa”, “second home”, of destination countries like Canada, Portugal, Australia, Malaysia, Dubai – also provide easy means to launder illegally gained wealth.

It is reported that 252 Bangladeshi bureaucrats, police and other officials bought houses in the United States by laundering the country’s money. Bangladeshis top the list of foreign buyers of real estates in Dubai. Canada’s “Begumpara” has become the “forbidden paradise” of wealthy Bangladeshis. One ex-minister of the previous regime alone owns 350 properties, worth approximately over US$264 million, in the UK.

The offshore financial wealth of Bangladeshis is estimated at 0.7% of the nation’s GDP. Illicit fund transfer from Bangladesh is estimated at 2.2% of the country’s total revenue in fiscal year 2019-20, and deprives Bangladesh of over US$700 million worth of revenue income.

Kleptocracy: Rule by thieves
Under Sheikh Hasina, state institutions served regime elites or kleptocrats to exploit citizens. This undermined democratic norms and weakened economy’s foundation. Kleptocrats often stash their ill-gotten gains outside the country.

Ziauddin Hyder

Had the ill-gotten money remained and invested in the country, the economy would have at least benefitted even though at the cost of rising disparities and misgovernance. However, with such a large illicit outflow of funds, the country has the worst of both – an increasingly precarious economy, unable to create productive and decent jobs for a growing youth population, and inequality of income and wealth rapidly growing to an obnoxious level – while all state institutions are captured by regime’s partisans.

Recovering stolen wealth for sustainable development
Corruption and illicit transfer of funds are a major drag on development. Therefore, asset recovery is included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) under Goal 16.4 and in the commitments under the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development.

The recovery of stolen assets is a fundamental principle of the UN Convention against Corruption. Chapter V of the convention provides a framework for the return of stolen assets, requiring states parties to take measures to restrain, seize, confiscate, and return the proceeds of corruption.

However, there is no single international authority responsible for recovering laundered money. Several mechanisms and institutions work together to address this issue. There are a number of international laws and conventions that can be used to claim laundered money. These agreements provide a framework for cooperation between countries in combating money laundering, terrorist financing, and other financial crimes.

Bangladesh can seek assistance of the United Nations, the World Bank and Interpol. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Bank have a joint Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) to support international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds. Since its establishment in 2007, StAR has assisted over 35 countries in drafting legal frameworks, setting up the institutional structure, and building the skills necessary to trace and return stolen assets.

Interpol assists countries to recover and return assets obtained corruptly. Interpol works closely with a number of national, regional and international bodies such as the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre, which brings together specialist law enforcement officers from multiple agencies around the world to tackle allegations of grand corruption and help bring corrupt elites to justice.

Political will is critical
The recovery and return of criminal assets is a complex process. It can take many different shapes, depending on the type of corruption offense, how the recovery effort is initiated and by whom. It also depends on whether a criminal conviction exists in the state of origin, whether criminal or civil process is used – or both; as well as which legal mechanisms to restrain assets are available in the destination state. Whether the state harmed by corruption has requested a return of their stolen assets is fundamentally important.

However, the most critical factor is political will. Collusive abuse of power is the most important reasons why nothing happens to the perpetrators of high-level corruption and illicit transfer of funds.

Bangladesh itself has the Money Laundering Prevention Act, which criminalises laundering and authorises the confiscation of laundered assets. Bangladesh has also signed mutual legal assistance treaties (MLATs) with other countries.

Sadly, the country does not effectively use any of the tools to recover laundered money, whether during Hasina’s autocratic rule or prior to it. Bangladesh is yet to sign MLATs with popular money laundering destinations – Australia, Canada, Cyprus and Switzerland.

Time to act now
The leading national dailies have recently carried editorials highlighting the urgent need to recovering the country’s smuggled money. Politicians are also raising the issue with important countries, such as Switzerland. The President of the Bangladesh Economic Association has urged for the formation of a separate commission to stop corruption, money laundering and recovery of undisclosed money.

There is also momentum in some destination countries. For example, Sheikh Hasina’s niece, Tulip Siddiq, a British Bangladeshi Labour Party lawmaker and a minister, is being investigated by the UK parliament’s standards for a London property.

Bangladeshi diaspora community has been active in exposing money laundering and real estate investments by corrupt Bangladeshi politicians and elites in various countries; and is campaigning to confiscate their assets.

Thus, there is a momentum; and the interim government must act now. This is the best opportunity for the country to recover its billions of dollars of stolen asset. The head of the interim Government, Professor Yunus, must use his international standing and good will to request the United Nations, the Interpol and destination countries to assist Bangladesh in this regard.

The interim Government should also initiate MLATS with missing popular destination countries and become a party to the OECD’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and “Common Reporting Standard”. This will allow Bangladesh to obtain the bank account and other financial information of Bangladeshis living in the signatory countries.

Anis Chowdhury, Emeritus Professor, Western Sydney University (Australia) & former Director of UN-ESCAP’s Macroeconomic Policy & Development Division.

Khalilur Rahman, former Secretary of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Technology Bank for LDCs; former head of UNCTAD’s Trade Analysis Branch and its New York Office.

Ziauddin Hyder, Former Director Research BRAC and Adjunct Professor, University of the Philippines at Los Banos