Africa - INTER PRESS SERVICE

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 23 2019 (IPS)

With the rise of rightwing nationalism, primarily in the Western world, an increasingly large number of countries are not only abandoning multilateralism but also violating international treaties and conventions signed and ratified in a bygone era.

The most blatant is the violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention, which has been ratified by 145 State parties, and which also defines the term “refugee” while outlining the rights of the displaced, as well as the legal obligations of states to protect them.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the core principle of the Convention is non-refoulement, which asserts that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom. This is now considered a rule of customary international law.

https://www.unhcr.org/protection/basic/3b73b0d63/states-parties-1951-convention-its-1967-protocol.html

But several countries, including the US, Australia, France, Italy and Hungary, are flouting the Convention because they have either barred or severely restricted the inflow of refugees—and also penalized those who have assisted refugees (as in the US and Italy).

Categorized mostly as “political refugees”, they originate largely from conflict-ridden countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Myanmar and Venezuela, among others.

In an interview with IPS, Marco Funk, Policy Officer at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung’s (FES) European Union (EU) Office, told IPS the context of today’s refugee situation is quite different from what it was in the aftermath of World War II, when the 1951 Convention was signed.

The original Convention itself was actually limited in scope to Europeans – this geographical limitation was only lifted by an additional protocol in 1967, which some countries did not implement. Turkey is a notable example, he said.

“Many other countries around the world, especially wealthy ones, have made it increasingly difficult for refugees to seek international protection and thus either indirectly or in some cases directly violate the convention they have signed and ratified”, he pointed out.

Racism certainly is a factor, but so is the pervasive fear of negative effects on destination countries’ economies and their security, said Funk, who is responsible for the FES’s Brussels-based activities related to EU migration and home affairs.

He said the significant increase in legal migration to developed countries since the 1950s also plays a role.

Attempts to restrict migration can be seen not only in Europe, the US and Australia, he said, but also in East Asia and even some parts of the developing world.

“Wherever there is displacement, there is usually also a counter-strategy of containment by countries of destination”.

“The international community should respond by drawing attention to the rights outlined in the Refugee Convention and violations of them where they occur, but that is not enough”, said Funk, who previously worked as a Policy Analyst for the European Policy Centre, where he focused on EU migration and asylum policy.

He argued that more effort should be put into highlighting and addressing the root causes of displacement, and using other relevant international agreements to their fullest extent in order to mitigate the drivers of forced migration.

At the same time, legal channels of migration should also be expanded, he noted.

In two controversial cases recently, the Italian government placed under house arrest (but later freed) the captain of a ship carrying rescued migrants on the Mediterranean Sea.

Captain Carola Rackete defended her decision to challenge Italy’s closed-door policy on refugees and migrants.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters July1: “Sea rescue is a long standing humanitarian imperative. It’s also an obligation under international law”.

“No vessel or shipmaster should be at the risk of fine coming to the aid of boats in distress where loss of life be imminent. That’s a question… that’s an issue of principle,” he added.

In the US, Scott Warren, a volunteer for the non-profit humanitarian organization, ‘No More Deaths’, faced felony charges in a court in Arizona because he provided food and water for a pair of migrants who were found hungry and dehydrated in the desert — and fleeing from Central America.

In the initial hearing last June, the jury was dismissed because they could not agree on the charges.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR said on July 1 that more than 1.4 million refugees residing in over 60 refugee hosting countries will be in need of resettlement next year, according to data presented at an annual resettlement forum in Geneva.

The report, titled “Projected Global Resettlement Needs 2020”, said those most at risk and in need of resettlement include Syrian refugees (40 per cent); South Sudanese refugees (14 per cent of the total) and refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11 per cent of the total).

Asked for a UN perspective on the violations of the 1951 Convention, Dr Palitha Kohona, the former Chief of the UN Treaty Section, told IPS one has to remember the background to that convention.

In 1951, the refugees were war displaced Europeans, almost all Christian. Other Europeans poured out their milk of human kindness in abundance to these displaced.”

Today, he said, “the refugees in Europe are slightly tinted Muslims, and the fountain of charity has inexplicably dried up”.

“Where a country is a party to the Convention and a refugee meets its requirements, the country concerned is obliged to extend its umbrella of protection,” said Dr Kohona, a former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN.

“Failure to comply could result in the other state parties taking a dim view. However, such dim views do not hurt much and tend to be forgotten quickly,” he added.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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By Nomu, Oslin, and Liteboho*
NEW YORK, Jul 22 2019 (IPS)

We see many challenges that affect children around the world. Child marriage, corporal punishment, voting ages, air pollution, teachers going on strike…

It’s been great to speak and have world leaders at the UN listen when we talk about these issues. It’s been clear that leaders are open to hearing from children and learning what kids have to say.

But even then, it doesn’t always seem like leaders are ready to move from talking to action. It’s weird that there are all these urgent issues to tackle, but leaders aren’t acting right away.

When we talked with [Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children] Najat Maalla M’jid, she said she’s going to try and change this. She will push the United Nations to work to end violence against children. She also offered to listen to children’s ideas, recommendations, and solutions.

Governments must make changes to end violence and stop child marriage. And it’s really important for governments to listen to children’s voices and stop underestimating our abilities. Children can offer ideas too, and its children who are the next generation.

Last week, we learned that every country is connected together, and issues that affect one country often affect others as well. Even though countries have different languages, cultures, and ways of learning, many problems that affect children are the same.

Child marriage and sexual abuse affect children all over the world. Child marriage is a horrific form of violence. It violates girls’ rights and negatively affects their ability to access education and health.

In Lesotho and many other countries, girls are forced to marry due to poverty, property grabbing, sexual abuse, premarital pregnancies and neglect. The laws that protect children are not effectively implemented and enforced.

We also need to stop thinking that punishing kids by hitting them is an acceptable discipline method. Just like child marriage, we need to realise that psychological abuse and corporal punishment of students is a problem in many countries, and maybe by working all together it will be easier to stop it.

Often governments have put some good laws in place, but they don’t always work because people don’t know about them. Adults need to be told about the new laws, otherwise they’re going to keep breaking them and the violence is only going to continue.

Children and teachers, for instance, need to know that there are rules about how children can be treated in schools. Sometimes the laws don’t match up, and so old marriage laws need to be updated so they don’t have lower ages than child protection laws.

When children get involved, they can help. For example, many children are born and live their life without having a birth certificate. Many countries make it hard for them to access their basic rights or go to school without a birth certificate.

In one village in Indonesia, many children were rejected when they wanted to register at school because they did not have a birth certificate. Thankfully, the child parliament was able to work with the village government to get a birth certificate for all children.

They arranged a “mass birth certificate” campaign and finally, 100% of the children in the village have birth certificates.

Children can help create the necessary changes in communities, but we need to be informed in order to do so. Child parliaments and youth groups can help raise community awareness about child protection laws and give us a space to share about our experiences.

Before sessions, not many girls knew that child marriage is against the law. After our meetings, children are more aware and have a better understanding of violence.

Every child has a right to participate. We hope our examples show how the voices of children are important and can help. If the government wants the world free from violence, involve us.

The main target of ending violence against children is a child. Therefore, the voices of children should be heard. If violence against children is stopped, we will have a better life, and we need this now, not in the future.

*As a general rule, World Vision doesn’t share the last names of children under 18.

The post It Takes Listening to Children to End Violence appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jul 22 2019 (IPS)

If they pay for it, men tend to believe they have the right to do anything to a woman’s body. You pay for your own entertainment without a thought about who you are paying and what cause you are supporting. Money is used as an excuse for and a means to oil a machinery that generates lots of profit while keeping pimps and other perpetrators out of the reach of the law.

Jeffrey Epstein is a generous benefactor of world-renowned scientists and has intimate ties with powerful men like Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, as well as star lawyers like Alan Derschowitz. This multi-millionaire has recently been charged with sex trafficking, prompted by investigative reporting by Julie Brown. In November last year, she published in Miami Herald a three-part series exposing a vast sex trafficking operation – 80 victims were identified, some as young as 13 at the time of the alleged abuse. Furthermore, Brown revealed a government cover-up that in 2008 made it possible for Epstein to get away with an exceptionally light sentence. A “non-prosecution agreement” was secretly negotiated by prosecutor Alexander Acosta, who provided Epstein immunity from federal prosecution. After that Epstein apparently continued his sexual misconduct. Ironically, Acosta was by President Trump appointed as United States Secretary of Labor, among other tasks responsible for combatting sex-trafficking.1

How could a sexual predator of children year after year avoid being convicted for his crimes? Can wealth and influence be an answer? Soon the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will hopefully release 2,000 pages of documents connected with the Epstein case, revealing sexual abuse by “numerous prominent American politicians, powerful business executives, foreign presidents, a well-known prime minister, and other world leaders.”2 The current President, Donald Trump, now declares:

I wasn’t a big fan of Jeffrey Epstein. That I can tell you. I didn’t want anything to do with him. That was many, many years ago. It shows you one thing — that I have good taste.3

However, in 2002 Trump stated, in a rather revealing manner, that Epstein was a terrific guy, a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side.4

The case of Jeffery Epstein, as well as that of another child abuser, George Aref Nader, reveal an outrageously low bar when it comes to sexual child abuse by wealthy and well-connected offenders. Nader, a businessman, and liaison between U.S. politicians and the Arab States of the Persian Gulf has over the years repeatedly been charged with sexual exploitation of minors. During Trump´s presidential campaign Nader did at various occasions meet with the future president´s closest associates, allegedly siphoning financial support from the Middle East. On June 3, Nader was arrested by federal agents for ”bestiality and possession of child pornography.”

Such wealthy child abusers are just the tip of an iceberg. In most European cities you may find ”provocatively dressed” women lining the thoroughfares. Most of them have, after being lured from their homes in Eastern Europe or Nigeria, been forced into prostitution by pimps who lurk in the shadows, or over smartphones control their sex slaves. Even if there are many lucciole (“fireflies”, Italian slang for street prostitutes), their numbers cannot be so overwhelming that they might explain why police and authorities are so utterly incapable of saving these victims of organized crime.

One reason for the inertia may be that human trafficking is a lucrative business. In 2017, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that 3.8 million persons were globally trapped in forced sexual exploitation, twenty-one percent of them being children under the age of eighteen.5 Annnual profits from this sex trade were in 2015 approximately USD 100 billion.6

Profits per victim are highest in forced sexual exploitation, which can be explained by the demand for such services and the prices that clients are willing to pay, and by the low capital investments and low operating costs associated with this activity. With a global average profit of US$ 21,800 per year per victim, this sector is six times more profitable than all other forms of forced labour.7

Most migrant prostitutes live in a world of misery and violence unknown to most of us. One of countless examples is the fate of Maria, a Romanian girl who was working as a prostitute in Spain. After her “rescue” she told a journalist that you’re alive but you’re not really existing. Not one of the men who paid to sleep with me asked me if I was there out of choice, or whether I wanted to be doing this. They didn’t care either way. People always ask: “Why didn’t you just run away or go to the police?” but they don’t know what they’re talking about. You can’t just stop a random person on the street and ask for help, because someone you love could get killed. The police in Romania are often corrupt. You think, why should it be different here?”8

Maria had been brought from Romania to Spain by a boyfriend she thought was bringing her there on a holiday trip. He drove her over the border using their EU residency cards and within 24 hours she was on the streets. Maria was told she had to pay off a debt of €20,000 before she could go back home. The traffickers threatened to kill her mother or sister if she did not pay off her debt and while she was under their control they hit her with hundreds of tiny charges; payment for clothes, rent for the corner where she worked, for condoms and sanitary towels. If she did not bring back enough money, she was beaten. This is the sordid reality for hundreds of thousands ”sex workers” around the world and you might imagine the suffering of minors forced into a world like this.

Jeffery Epstein is by New York prosecutors indicted on old and new sex trafficking charges, Acosta was forced to resign as Labor Secretary, while George Aref Nader is in a Virginian jail awaiting his trial. Are these signs that something is about to change? Hopefully, though it remains doubtful if there is any real commitment to end prostitution and sexual abuse of minors. For example, Italian law states that anyone who practices prostitution or invites to it, within a public place is punishable with imprisonment and a fine from 200 to 3,000 euros,9 though in a town like Rome the scantily dressed young women waiting for customers have not disappeared from the streets, on the contrary – their presence seems to have increased during the last years. In Spain, prostitution was decriminalized in 1995 and its domestic sex trade is currently valued at USD 26.5 billion a year, with hundreds of licensed brothels and an estimated workforce of 300,000.10

The inhibited exploitation of children and young women must be condemned and banned from society. There is no valid excuse for early marriages and sexual exploitation of minors. Wealthy and influential decision-makers covering up and even partaking in such abominable crimes against humanity must be exposed and shamed. But how?

As in all transactions, trafficking and sexual exploitation of children depend on demand and supply. When Sweden in 1999 introduced a ban of the purchase of sexual services, punishing offenders with fines, or imprisonment. The idea was that if there is no demand, there is no prostitution. Furthermore, a gender equality perspective was emphasized: buying access to another person’s body is about power, usually men’s power over women. A truism reflected by organized crime, where women and children end up as commodities to be bought and exploited. Defenders of prostitution may assert that it should be up to you if you want to prostitute yourself. However, such an argument evades the repugnant, sexual exploitation of defenseless children and ignore the glaring fact that prostitution and human trafficking are inevitably linked. Of people currently in prostitution in Sweden, three out of four are women and girls coming from poor countries.11 Prostitution cannot be reconciled with a demand for human rights. A Government believing in the equal value of all people cannot accept prostitution and even less so sexual exploitation of minors. For the vast majority, prostitution is a consequence of either poverty or violence.

It has been widely debated whether the Swedish Sex Purchase Act has been efficient. Many claim that it, together with the internet and harsh immigration laws, has made prostitution invisible by bringing it indoors and hidden within a criminal underworld, making life even worse for trafficked women and children. Nevertheless, it is a fact that Swedish attitudes towards prostitution have changed after 1999. When the Sex Purchase Act was introduced 32 percent of Swedes supported a ban against sex purchase, while in 2017 almost eighty percent supported it.12 This might be a result not only of the law but also due to an increased realization that gender equality and education may counteract prostitution and abuse of minors. However, the most effective remedy for sexual exploitation is probably general wellbeing, as well as equal and strictly applied rights for all.

1 Pilkington, Ed (2019) “Jeffery Epstein: how US media – with one exception – whitewashed the story.” The Guardian, 13 July.
2 Sherman, Gabriel (2019) “´It´s going to be staggering, the amount of names´; as Jeffrey Epsteing case grows more grotesque, Manhattan and DC brace for impact,” Vanity Fair, July17.
3 Nashrulla, Tasneem (2019) “A video shows Trump and Jeffrey Epstein laughing and discussing women´s looks at at a Mar-a-Lago partry,” BuzzFeed, July 17.
4 Ibid.
5 ILO (2017) Global Estimates of Modern Slavery. Geneva: ILO, p. 11.
6 USD 26.2 billion in “developed economies and EU”, 14.3 in Central/South-Eastern Europe and The Commonwealth of Independent States, 31.7 in Asia-Pacific, 10.4 in Latin America and the Caribbean, 8.9 in Africa, and 7.5 in Middle East . ILO (2015) Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour. Geneva: ILO, p.13.
7 Ibid. p. 15
8 Kelly, Annie and Ofelia de Pablo (2019) “Prostitution is seen as a leisure activity here”: tackling Spain´s sex traffickers”, The Guardian, 11 May.
9 https://www.giustizia.it/giustizia/it/mg_1_2_1.page;jsessionid=wbHX-cErzpQfvPNGff5uYL5J?facetNode_1=0_15&facetNode_2=0_15_13&contentId=SAN47368&previsiousPage=mg_1_2
10 Kelley (2019).
11 Italy and Spain have Europe´s highest percent of migrant prostitutes – more then 90 percent of their sex workers are migrants.
12 Holmström, Charlotta and May-Len Skilbrei (2017) ”The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Where Does it Stand?” Oslo Law Review, No. 2, Vol. 4.

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

The post Sexual Exploitation of Minors is a Crime Against Humanity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

“Part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich.”
“When you’re a star, they let you do it.
You can do anything.
Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
                                      Donald J. Trump, U.S. President

The post Sexual Exploitation of Minors is a Crime Against Humanity appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (right) meets with Li Andersson, Minister of Education of Finland. 18 July 2019. Credit: United Nations, New York

By Lakshi De Vass Gunawardena
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 22 2019 (IPS)

Finland has garnered attention for its top-notch education, and the newly appointed Minister of Education for Finland is planning to continue with the success of her country’s education system through various and innovative approaches.

“In education, Finland has the lead according to many international comparisons,” Li Andersson, the newly appointed Minister of Education for Finland, said at a briefing at the Finnish consulate in New York on July 19.

Most recently, she pointed out, the London-based Economist ranked Finland as number one in delivering future-oriented skills through education.

“Thereby, Finland is best equipped to adapt education system to deliver skills for problem-solving and collaboration, as well as foster creativity, civic-awareness and participation,” she added.

The briefing was hosted by the Consulate General of Finland, with a guest speaker from Columbia University.

Andersson said investment in education is key to all of the successes “we have seen in Finnish society, so it is key for social cohesion, it is key for equality, and it is key for building economic progress and for economic growth.”

“The Finnish education system is one of the top performing education systems in the world,” she declared

Finland has been ranked as one of the happiest and most successful countries in the world, and most recently was ranked as the number one country for higher education by The Economist.

In terms of what other countries, such as the United States should learn from Finland, Dr. Samuel E. Abrams, director of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University had this to say: “We should follow Finland in testing only small samples of students rather than testing all students”.

“Our approach forces teachers to teach to the test. As we test all students in reading and math in grades 3-8, we generate undue stress for students, teachers, and parents alike”.

Moreover, he pointed out, “in focusing on reading and math, we crowd out time for history, science, music, art, crafts, and physical education. And students need those subjects as well as plenty of play for a well-rounded education.”

“Second, we should follow Finland in preparing teachers with high-quality master’s programs in pedagogical theory and practice.

“Third, we should follow Finland in paying teachers well and giving them significant autonomy,” he added.

“Finally, we should follow Finland in funding our schools fairly. That means more money per student at schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods, not less. We base funding on property taxes, which means wealthy districts have significantly more money to spend per pupil than poor districts”.

“None of this is rocket science,” he said. “But that does not make it easy.”

Dr. Abrams concluded: “We must follow in Finland’s path in altering the way we think about children and their future. This requires, one, thinking about child development through the eyes of the child, which means a well-rounded curriculum; two, reconceiving our social contract to ensure a high-quality education for all children; and three, esteeming teachers as pillars of the community.”

With that said, the education system in Finland has much room for improvement. “We see growing disparities in the learning results.” Andersson said, in terms of learning results.

“There is a difference between boys and girls and also some growing regional differences, and also a stronger difference where the pupils home background will affect the learning results more than before.”

“Inequality hampers growth and otherwise,” she added.

To combat these worrisome findings, Andersson and the Finnish government have set three main priorities to be tackled in the coming years.

“The first of these priorities is raising the educational level of the whole population.” Andersson said.

“We are also seeing a tendency where we are seeing the growing level of education has actually stopped.” She went on to cite that the generation of the 1970’s, and in Finland it is the current generation that has the highest level of education.

“The second priority of the government is reducing inequality gaps in education referring to what I said about earlier about the worrisome trends, and the third priority is focusing on continuous education…. learning should be something that we do all the time, and we should have the possibility to engage in all the time, no matter whether if we are working or outside working life or studying.”

For raising the level of education, Andersson plans on ensuring that all students have a degree on the upper secondary level and plans on raising the amounts of adults on the third educational level (post-secondary education) to 50% by 2030.

In order to implement this, Andersson intends on devising a Road Map, and a document that will reach Parliament.

She also highlighted the importance of addressing the equality gaps and strengthening the whole Finnish education system, from early childhood education to primary school.

She also intends on raising the compulsory education age to 18 years old. “16% of the overt generations in Finland are without a degree on the secondary level.” She noted.

“We know that the employment rate of people with only primary education backgrounds is around 40% at the moment, and that has been going down all the time.”

She cited the changing labor market, and how that calls for a change in the education system.

In terms of closing education gaps, Andersson cited a significant focus on early childhood development, as that is key.

Such actions to help assist this goal is to reduce group sizes for children over 3 years old and ensuring that every child has the right to at least 40 hours a week to early childhood education and care “no matter if their parents are working or unemployed.”

Andersson is also piloting a two- year preschool to see how it will affect participation rates in early childhood care, as well as to observe the effects it will have on learning results in primary education.

Furthermore, Andersson plans on providing support for maternity and childhood clinics.
For continuing education and the future of work, Andersson is unsure, as the labor market is drastically changing but noted that “It is clear that the knowledge requirement will grow.”

“Education is the best tool we have, and we should think of it as an investment not an expenditure.” She concluded.

She added that students should “just focus on things you’re motivated about, not too get too stressed, I think it is a shame there is a lot of pressure on the students now, with their stress with finances etc.”

But she offered encouragement and stated that students should “not think too much about what government is saying about how fast you should study and finally, “use the possibilities you have at the university”

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By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2019 (IPS)

The United Nations, which has been tracking both the successes and failures of its highly-ambitious Agenda for Sustainable Development, has warned that “progress has been slow” in many of the 17 Goals after four years of implementation.

Described as “a global blueprint for dignity, peace and prosperity for people and the planet”, the 2030 Agenda has left several lingering questions unanswered following a High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) which concluded July 19.

Why are countries faltering on their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were adopted by world leaders in 2015? Is it due to a decline in development aid? A lack of political will? Or is the agenda far too ambitious in its lofty goals? And will a new global fund help deliver the development agenda by 2030?

Asked for a response, Oli Henman, Global Coordinator of Action for Sustainable Development, who participated in the HLPF, told IPS: “Based on our analysis of the delivery of the SDGs in many countries and our shadow reports from national coalitions alongside the Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) at the HLPF, there are several reasons for the delays”.

Firstly, many countries are delivering in a piecemeal way, with limited national plans, and many countries only focus on a few goals while ignoring the majority of the goals.

Secondly, there does not seem to be sufficient political will in a number of key countries which could be leading the way. Instead, in many Northern countries, inequality and xenophobia are on the rise, he added.

Finally, in terms of development aid, there are still very limited funds to support the transformation promised by the SDGs.

“We urgently call for a global fund to support the grassroots delivery of the 2030 Agenda”, said Henman, speaking on behalf of a new and rapidly growing decentralised network of over 2,000 civil society organisations (CSOs) and local activists in more than 160 countries.

In a report released just ahead of the ministerial meeting of the HLPF, the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) said “there is no escaping the fact that the global landscape for SDG implementation has generally deteriorated since 2015, hindering the efforts of governments and other partners. Moreover, the commitment to multilateral cooperation, so central to implementing our major global agreements, is now under pressure.”

A new joint declaration, “Stand Together Now for a Just, Peaceful and Sustainable World”, adopted by dozens of CSOs July 17, said: “We are standing alongside many others around the world in calling out a state of emergency. Humanity cannot afford to wait, people are demanding transformative change, and we are not willing to accept the current lack of action and ambition from many governments.” full text

The call to action comes from a wide range of CSOs, including those working on fighting inequality, humanitarian assistance, human rights and climate change, such as Action for Sustainable Development, ACT Alliance, ActionAid, Amnesty International, CAN, CIVICUS, CPDE, GCAP, Greenpeace, Oxfam and Restless Development.

Asked whether some of the goals, including the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, be ever reached by 2030, Henman said the Goals are under threat because in many countries government policies and priorities mean inequality is rising, conflict has increased, and the opportunity to speak out is under threat.

“The lack of a joined-up approach to tackling the underlying challenges of extreme poverty and inequality is further under threat from climate displacement and increasing concentration of land and wealth. People are being pushed off their land and losing the right to speak out,” he declared.

Meanwhile, the network of CSO says that inequality is rising, with the 26 richest billionaires now owning as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet’s population.

“The climate emergency is worsening, with the United Nations saying we could have just 11 years left to limit a climate change catastrophe”.

A global crackdown on human rights means that only 43 UN member states are currently meeting their commitments to uphold the fundamental civic freedoms of expression, association and peaceful assembly.

At the same time, the majority of countries that have signed up to the SDGs, are not making the progress needed to avert a global break down.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

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By Caley Pigliucci
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2019 (IPS)

Since 2010, donor funding to fight HIV/AIDS in low-and middle-income countries has dropped significantly, according to a new report released here.

The study, Communities at the Centre, released July 16 by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), points out a $1.0 billion decline in funding from 2017-2018.

This most heavily affects low-income countries in East and South African countries (except South Africa), which rely on donor funding for 80% of HIV responses.

However, seven of 14 donor governments increased their funding between 2017 and 2018 (Australia, Canada, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden).

But funding by five countries declined (Denmark, Ireland, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S), and two were flat (the European Commission and Germany).

Jose Antonio Izazola, the UNAIDS Resource Tracking and Finances Director told IPS: “The flattening is a result of multiple factors like competition for scarce funds (migration in Europe, climate change, 17 SDGs, health systems, political preferences of donor governments, and economic situations in the donor countries.”

Jen Kates, Senior Vice President and Director of the Global Health & HIV Policy at KFF agreed with Izazola.

She told IPS, “The Global Financial crisis, rising refugee and humanitarian costs, especially for donors in Europe. Donor fatigue, and decreasing attention to HIV by the media and others” were among the reasons for the decline in funding.

According to a report from HIV.org, “AIDS-related deaths have been reduced by more than 51% since the peak in 2004. In 2017, 940,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses worldwide, compared to 1.4 million in 2010 and 1.9 million in 2004.”

But Kates worries that “because of many of the successes, [there is] a false sense that HIV is no longer a problem.”

HIV is still highly prevalent globally. According to UNAIDS, there were 36.9 million people world-wide living with HIV/AIDS, as of 2017..

53% of that global population living with HIV/AIDS (around 19.6 million people), were in eastern and southern Africa, countries that rely most heavily on donor aid.

The United States as Top Donor

The report looks both at bilateral funding (provided directly to or on behalf of countries), and multilateral funding (which includes contributions to the global fund and Unitaid) for HIV/AIDS.

“Donor funds can be channeled directly from the government of one country to the recipient country (like [The President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief] PEPFAR), or be provided to an organization which pools resources from many sources, eg UNAIDS, and all UN agencies, Global Fund, Unitaid, etc. exclusively for HIV or for various purposes,” Izazola explained.

According to the report, this funding mainly comes from the United States, which remains the top donor in the fight against HIV.

The U.S. disbursed $5.8 billion last year, “and also ranks first in disbursements relative to the size of each donor’s economy.”

The United Kingdom (US$605 million), France (US$302 million), the Netherlands (US$232 million) and Germany (US$162 million) are the next largest donors, trailing the U.S. by a significant margin.

Asked why we see continued, and largely unwavering, support from the United States, Izazola said: “There is strong political will by the US government, including Congress (bipartisan support) for a program [PEPFAR] which has support from multiple constituencies and shows results (lives saved, infections averted, etc).”

He added that he sees there is still “strong leadership: technically and diplomatically,” in the U.S. government to fight HIV/AIDS.

The KFF/UNAIDS report argues that if the current trends continue, “future funding from donor governments is likely to remain stable at best, and will hinge largely on future U.S. support.”

But support from the U.S. may not be as stable as it appears.

The report states that “In the case of the U.S., Congressional appropriations in 2019 were essentially flat, and the PEPFAR funding pipeline has diminished, which could lead to decreasing bilateral disbursements over time.”

“There is also uncertainty about the U.S. pledge to the Global Fund, although the Congress has indicated its intention to increase support,” the report added.

The Need for Continued Funding

Despite the successes thus far, Izazola thinks there is still more to be done, and the resources needed are funded by donor governments.

“The additional resources are needed not only to provide for the services needed, but to change the epidemic by reducing the number of new HIV infections below the AIDS-related deaths to reach epidemic control which would lead to controlling the financing of the HIV response in the medium term,” he said.

“There is also a need to finance ways to overcome the barriers to access to services known as social enablers and services to the populations labeled as ‘key populations,'” he added.

He sees the need to increase resources for testing, treatment and prevention. But this cannot be done by local governments alone.

Kates explained that “Even if [countries] were to increase their own spending, it would be hard for them to replace what donors provide.”

There has been an increase in focus on sustainability for funding, by starting to transition from donor aid to domestic aid.

In 2014, about 50% of the resources available within a country came domestically. Today, it is 57%.

While the transition between donor funding and government funding has been a steady one, it is not yet enough to meet the demands needed to fight HIV/AIDS.

“Donor funding will continue to be critical to addressing HIV in the near and mid-term but clearly is not filling what is a growing gap between what resources are available and needed,” she said.

She added that “The challenge is that if funding falls short now, costs rise in the future.”

The post US Leads Donor Funding to Fight HIV/AIDS Amidst Overall Decline appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In 2019, there are measles outbreaks in the US and Europe; Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda and several other infectious disease outbreaks in Nigeria, Vietnam and South Africa. Credit: Marc-André Boisvert/IPS

By Ifeanyi Nsofor
ABUJA, Jul 19 2019 (IPS)

The 2019 G20 Summit was held recently in Osaka, Japan. The Summit ended with the “G20 Osaka Leaders’ Declaration”, which identifies health as a prerequisite for sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and the leaders committed to various efforts to improve epidemic preparedness. 

These efforts are commendable, but the G20, comprised of 19 countries and the European Union with economies that represent more than 80 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), also must do more to lead by example in epidemic preparedness by ensuring they all have a ReadyScore.

This is managed by preventepidemics.org, the world’s first website to provide clear and concise country-level data on epidemic preparedness.  It measures a country’s ability to find, stop and prevent health threats. Then, they need to demonstrate they are ready to take steps to improve their score, as needed.

This is an important issue because within 36 hours, an infectious disease can travel from a remote village and can be carried to major cities worldwide, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If anything kills over 10 million people in the next few decades, it would mostly likely be a highly infectious virus rather than a war. The next disaster is not missiles, but microbes, said Bill Gates in his 2015 TED Talk.

As Gates was giving his 2015 TED Talk, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was coming to an end after causing the deaths of over 11,300 people, reducing the GDPs of Guinea, Liberia & Sierra Leone by $3 billion and devasting the health workforce in the three countries. Overall, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa cost global economy an estimated $53 billion.

As long as there are communities globally in which people are unable to access healthcare because of their inability to pay or due to other inequities, the risks of infectious diseases remain

Outbreaks are not a thing of the past, however. In 2019, there are measles outbreaks in the US and Europe; Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda and several other infectious disease outbreaks in Nigeria, Vietnam and South Africa.

To be assigned a ReadyScore, countries should undergo a Joint External Evaluation (JEE) which is a voluntary, collaborative, multisectoral process to assess country capacities to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to public health risks whether occurring naturally or due to deliberate or accidental events.

Right now, only 100 out of 195 countries (51 percent) have conducted the JEE. Until all 195 countries conduct the JEE, it would be difficult to assess global preparedness for prevention, detection and response to epidemics.

Based on records on preventepidemics.org, the following G20 countries have an unknown ReadyScore; Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Russia and Turkey. An unknown score implies that a country has not volunteered to have a JEE. On the other hand, the ReadyScore of Argentina, Canada, Germany and Mexico is pending.

This means that they have committed to have a JEE, but data are unavailable. Some G20 countries that do have a ReadyScore include United Kingdom (84 percent), USA (87 percent), South Africa (62 percent), Indonesia (64 percent) and Japan (92 percent).

The ReadyScore provides clear and concise country-level data on epidemic preparedness. It measures a country’s ability to find, stop and prevent health threats.

To be better prepared for epidemics, a country must have a ReadyScore of 80 percent and above, otherwise the international community cannot categorically say that all G20 countries can prevent, detect and rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks. So, what needs to happen next?

First, the G20 should work with the World Health Organisation and other partners to conduct JEE to make our world safer. JEE is a voluntary activity and no nation can be compelled to conduct one and very few G20 countries have their ReadyScore. The WHO on its own must strengthen advocacy to the G20 countries that have no ReadyScore. The advocacy should make these countries acknowledge that when it comes to epidemic preparedness, the world is as strong as its weakest.

Second, universal health coverage and global health security must both be addressed together. Billions of people do not have access to healthcare, and this poses serious risks for global health security. As long as there are communities globally in which people are unable to access healthcare because of their inability to pay or due to other inequities, the risks of infectious diseases remain.

A number of G20 countries already fund different health interventions in low- and middle-income countries. It is time for the G20 to push for integrated health programs instead of the current vertical system in recipient countries. Universal health coverage is heavily dependent on political will.

Therefore, the G20 should use its influence to advocate to countries without universal health coverage to gradually move to one. Development aid to such countries earmarked for health should be conditional – to be used to develop a publicly-funded universal health coverage health system which is accessible to all.

Third, G20 countries can invest in networks of reference and specialised laboratories as part of disaster prevention. Detection and control of infectious diseases is delayed if bio samples have to be taken to other countries located thousands of miles away in order to get definitive diagnoses.

For example, during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, to confirm Ebola in Nigeria, blood samples had to be taken to Senegal (more than 3 hours by flight). This obviously delayed the response efforts. Although the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has since increased its diagnostic capacity, national public health institutes such as NCDC still require financial and technical support to ensure global health security.

G20 countries should lead by example and get a ReadyScore by being open for joint external evaluations and meet all Osaka Leaders’ global health commitments. If other countries follow suit, then the world would move closer to being better prepared to handle epidemics.

Dr. Ifeanyi Nsofor is a medical doctor, the CEO of EpiAFRIC, Director of Policy and Advocacy for Nigeria Health Watch

The post Here’s How the World Can Be Better Prepared to Handle Epidemics appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 19 2019 (IPS)

When the United Nations General Assembly met in 2007 to vote on North Korea’s human rights record, only 10 of the 56 African countries voted with the U.S.-led western coalition.

The overwhelming majority followed China – either by voting against or abstaining from the resolution.

This has not always been the case. Just three decades prior, the consequential General Assembly vote to replace the Republic of China (Taiwan) with the People’s Republic of China – signaling international recognition of Communist Party rule – was met with resistance from the United States. Although the resolution was passed, African countries did not abide by any side.

In the interim three decades, China rose to be one of the world’s most formidable economic and military powers, surpassed the United States as Africa’s largest trading partner and financed more than 3,000 large, critical infrastructure projects.

More than 10,000 Chinese firms operate in Africa, claiming nearly 50 percent of Africa’s internationally contracted construction market.

China transitioned from the world’s supplier of cheap labor to a leading financier of the developing world, aiming to build bridges – both figuratively and literally – through economic cooperation. Its chief foreign policy project – the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – has connected 152 countries across continents and facilitated more than 1.3 trillion in trade.

Yet to the west, China’s ascent means an authoritarian challenge to the liberal international system.

In a foreign policy address last December, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton warned that China has been “deliberatively and aggressively” undermining U.S. interests.

“China uses bribes, opaque agreements, and the strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing’s wishes and demands,” Bolton said. “Such predatory actions are sub-components of broader Chinese strategic initiatives… with the ultimate goal of advancing Chinese global dominance.”

Although Washington is becoming increasingly alert on Africa, Beijing devised its own Africa strategy long before the twenty-first century.

Shortly after China’s founding in 1949, much of the developing world was still struggling with anti-colonialism and anti-imperialism. China’s then-premier Zhou Enlai saw this as an opportunity to position China – a country that triumphed in the same struggle – as a leader of the developing world.

“Africa’s always been important for China going back to the 1950s,” Dr. Stanley Rosen, professor of political science at the University of Southern California’s US-China Institute, told IPS.

“In the earlier period under Mao, it was because of the number of countries in Africa that had votes at the United Nations and the fact that China was promoting revolutionary movements, so it’s very political.”

“Shortly after the reforms began in China in 1979, Africa became more important economically,” Dr. Rosen added.

In the 1990s, encouraged by then-President Jiang Zemin’s “Go Out Policy” – a government-backed program to incentivize private overseas investment – Sino-African trade grew by 700 percent. With the help of the low-interest loans from the Chinese Export-Import Bank, companies like Huawei spearheaded a new generation’s quest for markets abroad.

Dr. Rosen told IPS that China now seeks to build mutually beneficial relationships with resource-rich countries regardless of their domestic political situation.

In September last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged that China will provide an additional $60 billion in financial support to Africa for at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) through foreign direct investment (FDI) and infrastructure loans.

Perhaps more telling of China’s attraction, more African countries attended FOCAC than the similarly-timed UN General Assembly meeting in 2018.

Xi calls China’s foreign policy, “major country diplomacy with Chinese characteristics” – a doctrine that prioritizes peaceful cooperation than single-power domination.

However, regardless of Xi’s intentions, China’s investment has boosted domestic economic growth and gained political sway over willing African leaders who need technical aid and infrastructure development.

More importantly, China has shown that the western-dominant model of development characterized by neoliberal economic policies and democratic political principles is not the only way. By doing so, China is shifting the eye of world affairs eastward.

In June, 43 African countries drafted a statement to oppose the U.S. veto power on judicial appointments at the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization (WTO), the world’s highest trade court. Again, they sided with China.

China has urged the WTO to oppose U.S. veto power since early last year. Zhang Xiangchen, China’s WTO ambassador, said the international trade system is facing “grave challenges,” referring to President Trump’s trade policy.

“The most urgent and burning question that the WTO has to answer now is how to respond to unilateralism and protectionism,” Zhang said. “What is most dangerous and devastating is that the U.S. is systematically challenging fundamental guiding principles by blocking the selection process of the Appellate Body members.”

“If left untreated, [the policy] will fatally undermine the functioning of the WTO,” Zhang added.

China’s challenge to the U.S.-dominant world order doesn’t stop with the WTO. China has set up international institutions such as the New Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to further solidify its position as the developing world’s financier.

While some have argued that these institutions are potential rivals to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), some are more cautious to assume that China is attempting to change the international order because of China’s lack of clarity in its policy implementation process.

Dr. Yuen Yuen Ang, associate political science professor at the University of Michigan, told IPS that China’s intentions are “not verifiable.”

“While observers are free to speculate upon China’s intentions,” Dr. Ang said. “What we should and can know for sure is a persistent gap between policy formulation and implementation.”

Dr. Ang explained that the implementation of BRI has been “fragmented and uncoordinated,” causing confusion for international partners and participant companies and blurring Beijing’s strategic vision.

Despite its flaws, however, the BRI is showing the world the China way.

On the 95th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding, Xi announced to a hall of thousands that the Chinese people “are fully confident in offering a China solution to humanity’s search for better social systems.”

As China continues to form alliances in Africa and around the globe, the west may soon need to acknowledge Xi’s foresight.

The post How China’s Africa Alliance is Shifting World Order appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Research shows goats and sheep populations in Kenya have increased as the country’s temperatures have increased, in some places above 1.5˚C. Credit: Isaiah Esipisu/IPS

By Isaiah Esipisu
NAIROBI, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

Kenya’s getting hotter. Much hotter than the 1.5˚C increase that has been deemed acceptable by global leaders, and it is too hot for livestock, wildlife and plants to survive. Thousands of households, dependent on farming and livestock, are at risk too.

This is according to researchers who presented the Kenyan government with the findings of their study titled ‘Harnessing opportunities for climate resilient economic development in semi arid lands: Adaptation options in key sectors (with focus on livestock value chain)’.

According to their findings, the thermometer has been climbing steadily upwards across this East African nation’s entire 21 arid and semi-arid counties, with the temperature in a few counties already surpassing the 1.5°C above pre-industrialised levels that research that has predicted would be reached between 2030 and 2052.

The counties are:

• West Pokot and Elgeyo-Marakwet, which have both recorded an increase of 1.91° C;
• Turkana and Baringo, which both recorded a 1.8° C increase;
• Laikipia county which showed a 1.59° C increase and;
• Narok which had a 1.75° C.

All the increases were recorded over the last five decades.

During the 21st round of climate change negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris in 2015, all countries committed under the Paris Agreement to “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C.”

In 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a special report warning that without urgent changes to slow down the global warming, the world would face the risk of extreme heat, drought, floods and poverty at a temperature rise of 1.5°C.

The Kenyan study today noted that humans were already feeling the impact of these increased temperatures as over the last four decades the livestock in some counties have declined by almost a quarter of the overall livestock population because of the temperature increase over this time.

“In all the 21 counties, we observed a 25.2 percent decline in cattle population between 1977 and 2016, and this is directly linked to the increased heat,” Dr Mohammed Yahya Said, the lead investigator and a consulting scientist at Kenya Markets Trust, which conducted the research, tells IPS.

The research was commissioned by the Canadian-based International Development Research Centre and the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development through the Pathways to Resilience in Semi-arid Economies.

“This is a very disturbing statistic especially for a pastoral community whose main livelihoods are derived from livestock,” remarks Said.

It is statistic that Eunice Marima, a pastoralist from Kenya’s Narok County has lived through.

“This is something I have witnessed over the years,” Marima tells IPS. She vividly recalls how her father, who then lived in Kajiado County which borders Tanzania, and lies 21 kilometres south of Nairobi, lost a herd of 3,000 cattle in December 1962.

And she clearly remembers how many more people have lost thousands and thousands of animals in the subsequent years. Her cattle have not been spared either because in the 1984 and 1994 droughts she lost 210 and 88 animals respectively.

“I have learned my lesson, and now, I have 90 acres of land where I usually plant Boma Rodhes grass whenever it rains,” she tells IPS. She explains that she harvests the grass to make hay, which she uses to feed her animals during drought. “This is my new adaptation method, and as a result, following the 2017 drought, I did not lose any animal,” she says.

According to the new study, the most affected county was Turkana, which recorded a temperature increase of 1.8˚C over the last half century with a resultant sharp decline in its cattle population, which by almost 60 percent between 1977 and 2016.

“However, our study found something else these communities could hang on to,” Said explains.

The same study reveals that the changing climatic conditions have at the same time presented opportunities that could be explored to realise the government’s development agenda.

During the same period, all the Arid and Semi Arid Land (ASAL) counties recorded a 76.4 percent increase in goat and sheep populations, and 13.1 percent increase for camels.

“These are very important findings for the country especially now that we are working towards the realisation of the ‘Big Four’ development agenda,” said Mwangi Harry Gioche, the Director of Agriculture Research and Innovation at the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Fisheries and Irrigation, who received the findings on behalf of the Principal Secretary for Agricultural Research, Professor Hamadi Boga.

The ‘Big Four’ is a four-point agenda by President Uhuru Kenyatta, outlining what he will be focusing on in his last presidential term, which ends in 2022, to improve the living standards of Kenyans, grow the economy and leave a lasting legacy. The agenda items include food security, manufacturing (mainly focusing on job creation in this area), affordable universal health care and affordable housing.

According to Professor Nick Ogunge, who represented the University of Nairobi at the research dissemination event, the information is very crucial for the formulation of policies that are responsive to the prevailing climatic conditions.

Said explains that according to projections, temperatures are most likely to increase even further, which called for informed preparedness. He did not say how much higher the temperature would rise.

“Climate change is already happening and research shows there are possible ways of adaptation,” Dr. Olufunso Somorin from the Africa Development Bank said during presentation of the findings in Nairobi. “However, countries have been using such important data to develop policies and strategies which are never implemented.”

Somorin challenged the government of Kenya to use the new data positively for the wellbeing of communities in the ASAL counties.

The scientists observed that if the country took advantage of such information to invest in the livestock value chain in the correct ecological zones, then the country could easily become a net exporter of livestock and livestock products.

Kenya is on record as being the fifth-largest livestock producer in Africa, and most of the animals are found in the ASALs. However, the country loses millions of the animals during droughts, making it meat-deficit country. So far, most of the meat eaten in Kenya is imported from Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Eritrea.

“Nearly all pastoralists keep cattle as a hobby and as a symbol of wealth, and when drought comes, they lose so many animals,” says Marima.

“Time has come for us to face the reality.”

• Heatwaves are a ‘New Normal’, Says Red Cross
• Want to Inspire More People to Act on Climate Change? Broaden the Framing

The post Parts of Kenya are Already Above 1.5˚C appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Adelaide Maphangane stands beside an empty water hole in the district of Mabalane, Mozambique. Many people come to this area to dig for water and often leave empty handed. The holes they are digging to reach water are getting deeper by the day. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies says that heatwaves are one of the deadliest natural hazards facing humanity. Courtesy: Aurélie Marrier d'Unienville / International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

By James Reinl
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

It is barely the middle of the month, but the verdict is in: July has been hot.

In recent weeks, climate scientists have monitored a freak heatwave in the Canadian Arctic, droughts around Harare and Chennai and forest fires across southern France that have sent holidaymakers fleeing from their burning campgrounds.

Against this eerie backdrop, one of the world’s top relief agencies has warned that heatwaves are only becoming more frequent on our warming planet, and that we have to up our game to deal with their life-threatening consequences.

“Heatwaves are one of the deadliest natural hazards facing humanity, and the threat they pose will only become more serious and more widespread as the climate crisis continues,” said Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

“However, the good news is that heatwaves are also predictable and preventable. The actions that authorities can take to save lives and significantly reduce suffering are simple and affordable.”

On Tuesday, Jul. 16, the IFRC released a 96-page guidebook designed to help city mayors prepare for heatwaves, which explains that they have to prepare better, stay alert for coming hot spells and work harder to save lives.

Some five billion people live in regions where extreme heat can be predicted days or weeks in advance, says the report. This gives officials and conscientious CEOs enough time to reduce the harm from an impending hot spell.

Officials should let people know how bad a heatwave will be, prepare medical staff to respond, set up “cooling centres” for folks who do not have air conditioners, and hand out plenty of bottles of water, researchers said.

Researchers offered plenty of architectural ideas, calling for more trees and landscaping to shade buildings from sunlight, gardens on rooftops and coats of reflective paint that bounce away the sun’s warming rays.

Getting rid of cars and more people using public transit, walking and cycling would also “significantly reduce” emissions of heat, pollution and the greenhouse gases behind climate change, says the report.

In particular, officials should focus on the people who are most likely to experience dehydration, heatstroke and other health worries — the elderly, youngsters, pregnant women and folks who live alone.

“Heatwaves are silent killers because they take the lives of people who are already vulnerable,” said Rocca, an Italian career humanitarian. “It’s vital that everyone knows how to prepare for them and limit their impact.”

According to the report, 17 of the 18 hottest years in the record books have occurred since 2001. In this period, heatwaves have caused more harm than just sweaty commutes on cramped buses and subway cars.

Several major heatwaves have killed tens of thousands of people worldwide so far this century, including a 2015 hot spell in India that killed around 2,500 people, and the 2003 European heatwave that caused some 70,000 deaths.

The extreme temperatures seen across western Europe last month were in part a result of climate change, the report says, citing evidence that the hot spell was made at least five times more likely by global warming.

The IFRC released its report on the sidelines of a high-level political forum at United Nations headquarters in New York, which is focused on climate action and other parts of the world body’s so-called Sustainable Development Goals.

Earlier this month, the U.N.’s envoy on disaster risk reduction, Mami Mizutori, warned that small-scale climate-related disasters were happening “at the rate of one a week”, though most attract little attention.

Mizutori told The Guardian newspaper that “lower-impact events” causing death and displacement were happening more frequently than predicted and urged policymakers to “talk more about adaptation and resilience”.

• Want to Inspire More People to Act on Climate Change? Broaden the Framing
• Rwanda Prepares the Foundations for Climate-Resilient Cities

The post Heatwaves are a ‘New Normal’, Says Red Cross appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Group photo at the 'World Youth Skills Day 2019' commemoration event at the UN Headquarters July 15

By Lakshi De Vass Gunawardena
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

When the United Nations commemorated World Youth Skills Day, there was one stark reality that emerged out of the event: the world’s youth account for over a third of the global population of more than 7.7 billion people, and they also account for over a third of those unemployed across the globe.

“Over the next decade, we will need to create at least 14 million jobs per year to keep pace with the growing population” María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the UN General Assembly told the panelists.

The panel discussion, which took place on July 15, was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN, along with the Permanent Mission of Portugal to the UN, the Office of the Secretary- General’s Envoy on Youth, the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

“Young people can and must lead,” said Ana María Menéndez, Representative of the UN Secretary General.

“They must be able to participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and create an enabling environment, where they are seen not as subjects, but as citizens with equal rights.” she added.

The theme of this year’s World Youth Skills Day was Learning to Learn, which emphasizes that learning should and must not end in the classroom.

The panelists also revealed that right now, 2 out of 3 children in primary school will be in jobs that do not currently exist. With this, it is evident widespread support systems for youths will continue to be fostered, especially within the education system.

The history of World Youth Skills Day goes back to 18 December 2014 when the UN General Assembly adopted by consensus, resolution, A/RES/69/145, titled ‘World Youth Skills Day’ spearheaded by Sri Lanka, declaring 15th July as the World Youth Skills Day.

Since then, this has been an annual event celebrated at the UN.

Students training in MIANI centre in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. They are acquiring skills to pursue a career in the tourism industry. Photo: CC BYNC-SA 3.0 IGO © UNESCO-UNEVOC/Sanduni Siripala

“Learning is learning to be curious.” Erol Kirespi, President of the Institute of Engineering told IPS.

“Learning to learn can mean a lot of things- I think that learning is about curiosity, and curiosity comes from a passion for something, or having a spark of an interest in something.” Amelia Addis, Champions Trust Regional Representative for Oceania and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and member of World Skills, told IPS.

However, as she noted, too often a young person develops a passion for something, only to get shamed for said passion by outside forces.

“And so often, they might have passion for something and are told not to follow their passion because it’s ‘not the right career. But learning to learn comes naturally when you are passionate about it, so we need to encourage young people to follow up and to have that curiosity to keep learning,” she added.

Ultimately, though it is up to the young people and those around them to help nurture and strengthen their skillsets so that they can have an effective and sustainable role in the workforce. But, as aforementioned, there is a stigma around unorthodox skills and passions.

“I think the biggest challenge with the sort of negative reception to skills is around perception of skills themselves. I think universally skills are thought of as entry level jobs, and those of us involved in the Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) community know that this isn’t true”.

“Vocational careers like any other career have opportunities for growth and development on both personal and professional levels. Parents and teachers have a responsibility to expose youth to different career and educational pathways and trust that youth will find their passion. Once they have found their passion they will be on the road to success.” Addis noted.

“My advice for youth who may feel disheartened by the prospect of pursuing skills careers is to trust themselves when they have found something that gives them that spark. If they are looking for more practical help to know what a profession might be like they can find someone who is equally passionate about the skill they are looking to pursue.”

“Traditionally the mentor and apprentice relationship has been the core of so many vocational backgrounds and this is still an integral way youth can gain knowledge about their passions. We must realize however that not every young person will have access to a one on one, in person mentor dynamic, she declared.

“This is where we can look to online communities of peers and professionals to be our mentors. I personally do this in my own work all the time, gaining inspiration from others who work not only in my field but those who have like-minded skills.”

All in all, learning to learn is the door to the success of our world, and the young generation is the key to unlocking that very door.

The post How Skills Can Change Lives of World’s Youth appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Daniel Yang
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

The United Nations launched its 2019 report on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), showing inadequate progress in the fourth year into the sustainable development agenda and highlighting the need for imminent global action.

Released on the first day of the SDG High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), the report evaluates progress made towards the 2030 target. Despite achievements in a number of areas, including poverty reduction and global health, the world needs “deeper, faster and more ambitious response” to meet the goal, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

“We are moving too slowly in our efforts to end human suffering and create opportunity for all,” Guterres said. “We must diligently ensure that policy choices leave no one behind, and that national efforts are supported by effective international cooperation.”

The report identifies climate change and inequality as two of the most urgent issues. Climate-induced disaster disproportionately affects low-income countries and worsen poverty, hunger and disease for the world’s poorest and most vulnerable.

Climate Change and the Environment

Although more financial resources have been directed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and developing risk-reduction strategies, the world is not on track to meet the target of curbing global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Mitigating the effects of climate change still requires “unprecedented changes” in all aspects of society, according to the report.

The 1.5°C target was set to reduce the possibility of extreme weather events such as droughts, heavy precipitation and tropical cyclones that can cause human suffering, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Guterres called climate change an “existential threat” in a speech on climate action delivered last September.

Liu Zhenmin, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs echoed Guterres’ message by calling climate change “the main obstacle to our shared prosperity” at the press conference where he introduced the report.

“If we do not cut record-high greenhouse gas emissions now,” Liu said. “the compound effects will be catastrophic and irreversible… render[ing] many parts of the world uninhabitable, put[ting] food production at risk, leading to widespread food shortages and hunger, and potentially displac[ing] up to 140 million people by 2050.”

However, even if the terms of the Paris Agreement are implemented, global temperature is likely to rise above 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to Dr. Virginia Burkett, Chief Scientist for Land Resources at United States Geological Survey (USGS) and Acting Chair of US Global Change Research Program.

“With significant reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature could possibly be limited to 2°C,” Dr. Burkett told IPS. “But this would require a rapid transition towards the decarbonization of the global economy and new technologies for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”

Although the UN’s climate research coordination effort has been effective, Dr. Burkett said lack of internationally coordinated policy solution is likely to affect the pace of progress.

Imminent policy response is also needed to preserve and improve the environment, including key resources such as water.

“Two billion people live in countries experiencing high water stress, and about 4 billion people experience severe water scarcity at least one month a year,” the report identified.

Inadequate water, sanitation and hygiene have been a “major contributors” to illness and health, causing diseases such as diarrhea. Efforts to improve life on land and below water “must accelerate” to meet the 2030 agenda, according to the report.

Wealth and Gender Inequality

The report painted a grim picture towards achieving greater wealth and gender equality.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), nearly half of the world’s workers – close to 1.6 billion people – make only $200 a month, and the bottom 10 percent would need to work 28 years to earn the same as the top 10 percent.

Economic disparity also affects gender equality, with men’s median hourly pay 12 percent higher than that of women.

This gap is even greater for managerial occupations due to “rigid social norms and cultural expectations about women’s role in society,” the report said.

Women worldwide also experience persistently high level of sexual violence and often find legal frameworks failing to protect their rights.

“Women and girls around the world continue to experience violence and cruel practices that strip them of their dignity and erode their well-being,” the report noted. “Women and girls perform a disproportionate share of unpaid domestic work [and] continue to face barriers with respect to their sexual and reproductive health and rights.”

Sexual violence is especially common in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia.

Poverty, Hunger and Global Health

Despite extended progress in the past decade, hunger is again on the rise largely due to adverse weather conditions and armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa, reflecting a “worrisome” trend.

Malnutrition, another effect of inadequate food supply, is still a prevalent condition affecting 49 million children under 5 years of age despite notably decrease since 2000.

“Intensified efforts are needed to implement and scale up interventions to improve access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all,” the report said.

The UN introduced the Multidimensional Poverty Index to indicate poverty not only in income but also poor housing, health and quality of work. By this standard, a startling 1.3 billion people – nearly one fifth of the world’s population – remain multidimensionally poor.

As a result, the world is not on track to end poverty by 2030.

“One out of five children live in extreme poverty, and the negative effects of poverty and deprivation in the early years have ramifications that can last a lifetime,” the report said.

However, substantial progress has been made in improving the health of millions across the world, developing cures to fight against previously deadly and infectious diseases and combating maternal and child mortality rates.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, where malaria and tuberculosis continue to plague human health and financial hardship deny access to immunization and routine interventions, global health is still a subject of urgent concern.

“Concerted efforts are required to achieve universal health coverage and sustainable financing for health, address the growing burden of non-communicable diseases including mental health, and tackle environmental factors contributing to ill health,” the report concluded.

The post UN Report Shows Mixed Results in Meeting SDGs appeared first on Inter Press Service.

“Carmen S.” holds her son, 3, at a shelter where they were staying in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, May 2019, after being returned to Mexico under the Trump administration’s “Migrant Protection Protocols.” Carmen told Human Rights Watch that she was thinking of trying to cross illegally but was afraid of losing her children. © 2019 Clara Long/Human Rights Watch

By Ariana Sawyer
SAN FRANCISCO, California, US, Jul 18 2019 (IPS)

On the 2,000-mile journey from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to the US-Mexico border, the 20-year-old asylum seeker and her 16-year-old brother took turns sleeping every time they managed to catch a ride or get on a bus. She told me they kept each other safe that way.

The asylum seeker – I’ll call her Gloria because she was afraid to have her real name published – said she fled Honduras with her little brother after a member of a gang there stalked and threatened to kill her for refusing to be his girlfriend.

When the siblings turned themselves in to US Border Patrol near El Paso, Texas, in mid-April, agents separated them.

“Where are you taking him?” she asked.

The US government is failing in its responsibilities toward asylum seekers by sending them to Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico, where meaningful oversight is impossible.

“He’s going to a better place than you,” she said an agent replied. But as we have found, Gloria’s brother, like other children in Border Patrol detention, certainly was not going to a good place.

Gloria said she spent six days in Customs and Border Protection custody without sunlight in an overcrowded cell with no shower or ready access to water. She was then placed in the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) or “Remain in Mexico” program and sent alone to Mexico. She is expected to wait there for the duration of her asylum case, which could take months or years. She will be allowed to travel to the US only to attend immigration court hearings.

When I interviewed her in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in May, she hadn’t heard from her brother in weeks. She seemed more worried about him than anything else, but her own situation was dire.

Like the other asylum seekers we interviewed about the cruel and chaotic MPP program, Gloria found it hard enough to survive, let alone pursue her asylum case.

The shelter where she spoke to me has a limit on the number of days she can stay. Shelter operators explained they don’t want to kick vulnerable people out, but they feel they must give priority to those US authorities have most recently sent to Mexico, since they’re the most disoriented.

A sign in front of a migrant shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, informs asylum seekers that they have no space, May 2019. This shelter is located in a particularly dangerous neighborhood, and asylum seekers there said they were afraid to leave, even to go to the store just blocks away. © 2019 Clara Long/Human Rights Watch

One shelter operator broke down and cried when we asked why one family was told that day would be their last.

Asylum seekers in need of shelter outnumber available beds in Ciudad Juarez 11 to 1, though one Mexican official told me that 20 to 30 percent of those waiting had already left with plans to try to cross the border between the ports of entry, probably in more remote, dangerous areas. Meanwhile, many of those in the program say they have family in the US to whom they could be released.

Compared to some of the most recent rounds of asylum seekers sent to Mexico whose preliminary immigration court hearings were scheduled for the summer of 2020, Gloria is somewhat better off. Her first hearing is in August.

As long as she was allowed to stay at the shelter, she said, she was avoiding going outdoors. Mexico is  experiencing record levels of murders – the highest number of intentional homicides since the country began keeping track in the late 90s – which have hit Ciudad Juarez and other Mexican border towns particularly hard, and migrant women there are especially vulnerable, US federal asylum officers have said.

“I know that in any moment something could happen to me,” Gloria said.

We initially decided to visit Ciudad Juarez after migrant rights advocates expressed the need to shine a light there, describing the city as a “black hole” to which asylum seekers were being sent – out of sight, out of mind.

And when one Congresswoman recently sent staff members to Ciudad Juarez to monitor the program, a  Customs and Border Patrol  official leaked some forms her office sent the government agency containing sensitive information about individual asylum seekers and accused her of trying to undermine the Border Patrol.

The US government is failing in its responsibilities toward asylum seekers by sending them to Ciudad Juarez and elsewhere in Mexico, where meaningful oversight is impossible. But those concerned about this mistreatment can do their part to end it. They can call on their members of Congress to end the funding for the program, oppose the separation of families, strengthen the asylum system, and pursue alternatives to detention.

Oscar Alberto Martinez Ramirez and his daughter, Valeria, reportedly died trying to swim across the Rio Grande because they were disheartened by the barriers to asylum put up by the Trump administration at ports of entry.

Lawmakers need to rein in an increasingly abusive border agency.

The post Desperation and Fear on the Mexican Border appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Ariana Sawyer is with the US program at Human Rights Watch

The post Desperation and Fear on the Mexican Border appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Local school children eat their meals at the Ban Bor Primary School in Xay District, Lao People's Democratic Republic. Credit: FAO/Manan Vatsyayana

By Lakshi De Vass Gunawardena
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 2019 (IPS)

Over 820 million people across the globe are currently undernourished, according to a new report released here.

After nearly a decade of progress, the number of people who suffer from hunger has slowly increased over the past three years, with about one in every nine people globally suffering from hunger today, said the new annual report titled State of Food Security and Nutrition 2019 released July 15.

“It is an abomination that more than 820 million people are undernourished and nearly two billion people do not have regular access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.” Gilbert Houngbo, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), told IPS.

Speaking during the launch of the new report, he said: “There is a direct connection between food insecurity and how food is grown and how food is distributed. Most food insecure people live in rural areas; many of them are farmers themselves. Farmers who are not earning enough to buy what they cannot grow,” he declared.

In an effort to combat and investigate the global food crisis, the joint report was released by five UN agencies: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IFAD, the UN Children’s agency UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WPF), and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The report is part of an ongoing process towards the Sustainable Development Goal to achieve Zero Hunger, which strives to end hunger, promote food security, and end all forms of malnutrition by 2030. This year’s report keyed in on the roles of economic slowdowns and downturns in food security and nutrition.

According to the report, hunger is increasing in many countries where economic growth is lagging, particularly in middle-income countries and those that rely heavily on international primary commodity trade.

The annual UN report also found that income inequality is rising in many of the countries where hunger is on the rise, making it even more difficult for the poor, vulnerable or marginalized to cope with economic slowdowns and downturns.

Asked about potential solutions, and what role IFAD will play going forward, Houngbo said: “These farmers need to be better integrated into markets, and throughout the different value chains”.

Then, they can improve their own food security through higher incomes and contribute even more to the food security and economic growth of their own nations.

He said there is a need to focus on those who are suffering the most – especially women and indigenous peoples. In every region of the world, women are more likely to be food insecure than men. “This is the work of the investment of IFAD.”

Thus, the solution to the problem starts at the root— farmers and those who are in most immediate need.

“We need a radical transformation of our food systems” Amina Mohammed, Deputy- Secretary General to the United Nations said at Monday’s launch.

She went on to highlight the cruciality of working towards a “sustainable, nutritious, inclusive and efficient” plan that also would “protect the planet, protect nutrition, and ensure diversified food.”

Since hunger wears many different faces, the Report aptly called for tailored action that would address the specific constraints within each country.

“Our actions to tackle these troubling trends will have to be bolder, not only in scale but also in terms of multisectoral collaboration,” the report said.

The scale is certainly bolder, as David Beasley, Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WPF) pointed out that an average of $115 billion would be required on a yearly basis to truly reach that desired zero hunger.

But with 1.3 billion people across the globe currently suffering from malnourishment, (as the Report evidenced), the study firmly upholds that innovative and efficacious approaches must be taken.

However, the world food crisis is not just an issue of food scarcity, but also reveals the significance of a human relationship with food.

“We are all born with the ability to eat intuitively, but as we become scheduled in our eating patterns and begin to diet, we lose this skill.”, Chevese Turner, Chief Policy and Strategy Officer at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) told IPS.

“Eating intuitively is the practice of listening to hunger/fullness cues and responding accordingly,” he added.

“It is a skill that requires plenty of practice and like anything, it is not perfect.”

In terms of what exactly is sparking this food- fearing craze, Turner said: “Our current fear of food is rising as a result of the barrage of complex health information that is distilled into “sound bites” via the media, the fear of higher weight bodies (fatphobia), and the increasing reliance on strict external rules many now utilize in their approach to eating. Together, this creates a “diet culture” in which people develop negative relationships with food and for some, an actual fear of food.”

This is evidenced in the report which also focused on the statistics of obesity worldwide. The report cited an estimated 672 million adults who are obese, and 338 million children are overweight across the globe.

The post The Road to Zero Hunger appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Geneva Centre
GENEVA, Jul 17 2019 (IPS-Partners)

A new publication entitled “Improving access to justice for workers: The case of the UAE” has been published by the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue. The publication is an outcome of a panel discussion held on 20 March 2018 at Palais des Nations in Geneva addressing the same subject. The debate was jointly organized by the Geneva Centre, the European Public Law Organization (EPLO) and the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations Office in Geneva (UNOG).

The aim of the publication is to review the progress achieved in the UAE to enhance access to justice for workers and to identify areas of possible improvement. The review was intended to assess the most innovative features of labour reforms and their possible replication in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. UAE was chosen as a case study for this review in view of the fact that the country has the highest proportion of international migrants in the world and that the country has recently implemented numerous innovative measures to enhance access to justice for migrant workers.

The first part of the publication summarizes the panel proceedings of the statements provided by labour migration specialists. During the debate, it was highlighted that migrant workers bring a substantial contribution to the host economy, as the UAE is dependent on access to labour to maintain economic growth and development, since domestic labour supply is insufficient to meet national demand. The speakers also offered constructive recommendations to the UAE regarding the adoption of policies and measures aimed at ameliorating access to justice for foreign workers.

The second part of the publication includes an intellectual think piece on the process of reform, which has been initiated in the UAE with respect to foreign labour. In this connection, it was argued that the UAE has made remarkable efforts to improve the overall labour conditions of foreign labour and to enhance legal avenues to settle labour-related disputes. For instance, the UAE government has established a mobile court system, the first of its kind worldwide, to address lawsuits related to labour laws and to provide legal services. In 2017, the UAE created a One-Day Court System to settle labour disputes for litigation claims amounting to up to USD 5,500. These initiatives are telling examples of recent action taken by UAE authorities to enhance access to justice for workers.

The Geneva Centre aims to carry out a similar evaluation process of internal labour legislation to enhance access to justice for foreign workers in other countries of the GCC experiencing large-scale migration.

Interested Permanent Missions accredited to UN in Geneva and other stakeholders are invited to pick-up copies of this brochure, which is at their disposal at the premises of the Geneva Centre, located at:

Rue de Vermont 37-39
CP 186
1211 Geneva

The post The Geneva Centre issues publication on enhancing access to justice for workers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Ella Mazani a smallholder maize farmer from Shurugwi, central Zimbabwe, uses her mobile phone to buy inputs, sell produce and understand the climatic conditions for the next cropping season. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Busani Bafana
BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe, Jul 17 2019 (IPS)

Ella Mazani is a mobile phone farmer.

“My mobile phone is part of my farming. It supports my farming and my family’s welfare through the services I get via the phone,” the smallholder maize farmer from Shurugwi in central Zimbabwe quips. 

Mazani grows maize and finger millet and keeps livestock. As a farmer she often waits for the next visit by an agriculture extensionist to her village so she can access advice on farming and what the next cropping season would be like. Extension officers are intermediaries between research and farmers, often providing them with advice on new farming methods and providing update on climatic changes etc.

That has changed. Mazani now buys inputs, sells her produce and maintains a funeral policy for her family, all with a tap on her mobile phone.

She subscribes to the EcoFarmer, a mobile platform developed by Econet Wireless, the largest telecommunication services company in Zimbabwe. The EcoFarmer mobile platform provides innovative micro insurance for farmers to insure their inputs and crops against drought or excessive rain. They access these services via sms and voice-based messages on their mobile phones.

Econet Wireless have partnered with the Zimbabwe Farmers Union (ZFU) – which represents more than one million smallholder farmers – to offer the ZFU EcoFarmer Combo, a bundled information and financial service.

Members pay one dollar for a membership subscription. Through it they receive crop or livestock tips based on their farming area as well as weather-based indexed crop and funeral insurance.

“I used to struggle with marketing of my crop but through EcoFarmer Combo, I receive money after selling my produce through my phone,” Mazani tells IPS.

“As a farmer I always want to receive money in cash so I can count it. I thought selling through the mobile phone would cheat me of my money but now I consider this gadget a helper. I dial *144 and get current information on the weather which allows me to plan my farming. I know when to apply fertiliser and when it will rain. I even get notifications of diseases like the fall army worm and [information on] how to treat it.”

Falling yields and rising technologies

As agriculture yields fall, digital services are providing smart solutions that are increasing smallholder farmers’ productivity, profits and resilience to climate change—a threat to agriculture.

“Climate change has necessitated changes in how farmers cultivate their land to be able to provide food and secure incomes in a sustainable manner; and climate smart agriculture has proven solutions which have to be scaled out to farmers,” Mariam Kadzamira, a climate change officer with Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), tells IPS on the side-lines of a recent meeting held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The meeting reviewed a CTA regional project where farmers from Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe are receiving weather information via mobile phones.

The project, which aims to reach 200,000 smallholder farmers by end of 2019, is promoting the use of drought-tolerant seeds and weather-based index insurance to farmers as part of the climate smart agriculture interventions that are accessed by farmers through digital platforms.

Zimbabwean smallholder farmer, Phillip Tshuma relies on weather information via his mobile phone to aid his cropping activities. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

Digitalisation doing it for farmers

A new study titled The Digitalisation of African Agriculture Report 2018-2019, published in June, found that an untapped market worth more than two billion dollars for digital services could support farmers improve their productivity and  income.

The study tracked and analysed digital solutions such as farmer advisory services, which provided weather or planting information via SMS or smartphone applications, and financial services, including loans and insurance for farmers.

Nearly 400 different digital agriculture solutions with 33 million registered farmers across sub-Saharan Africa were identified in the study by Dalberg Advisors and the CTA. However, the current digitalisation for agriculture (D4Ag) market is a tip of the iceberg with just a six percent penetration, the report authors say.

In 2018, the digitalisation for agriculture market recorded an estimated turnover of 143 million dollars out of a total potential market worth over 2.6 billion dollars, the study said.

The study found an annual growth of more than 40 percent for the number of registered farmers and digital solutions, suggesting the D4Ag market in Africa is likely to reach the majority of the region’s farmers by 2030.

 “Digitalisation can be a game-changer in modernising and transforming Africa’s agriculture, attracting young people to farming and allowing farmers to optimise production while also making them more resilient to climate change,” said Michael Hailu, director of CTA, as he urged private sector investment in increasing the adoption of this model to help farmers increase yields.

By using digital solutions, farmers saw improvements in yields ranging from 23 to 73 percent, and increases of up to 37 percent in incomes, the report found.

Models that bundled more than one solution, combining digital market linkages, digital finance, and digital advisory services were associated with yet further improved yields of up to 168 percent.

 Michael Tsan, partner at Dalberg Advisors and co-leader of the firm’s global Digital and Data Practice, said digitalisation for agriculture has the potential to sustainably and inclusively support agricultural transformation for 250 million smallholder farmers and pastoralists in Africa.

“Sound digital infrastructure that provides basic connectivity and affordable internet is a prerequisite for smallholder farmers to fully harness the opportunities of digitalisation in agriculture,” Debisi Araba, a member of the Malabo Montpellier Panel and Regional Director for Africa at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), tells IPS via e-mail. “To bridge the digital divide, rural communities need to be better connected to electricity reliable telecommunications and internet connections households, schools and workplaces.

The Malabo Montpellier Panel is a group of 17 African and international experts in agriculture, ecology, nutrition and food security. The panel guides policy choices by African governments towards food security and improved nutrition on the African continent.

“Africa now has the opportunity to leapfrog and leverage the potential benefits of digital innovation in the food system, while using targeted regulation to avoid the risks that digitalisation can pose,” Araba says.

A report launched by the Malabo Montpellier Panel at its annual forum in Rwanda last June highlights promising digital tools and technologies emerging in the agricultural value chain across Africa. The report, Byte by Byte: Policy Innovation for Transforming Africa’s Food System with Digital Technologies analysed the experiences of Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal who are at the forefront of applying digital technologies through policy and institutional innovation.

“Africa’s digital transformation is already underway, and the continent now has the opportunity to leverage the potential benefits of digitalisation and new technologies for agriculture, as well as to avoid the pitfalls that digitalisation can pose,” says Araba.

Governments and the private sector should consider emerging technologies to leapfrog more traditional infrastructure approaches; he says urging that the use of handsets and mobile internet should be affordable and accessible for all agriculture value chain actors.

High prices have a significant impact on the uptake and use of internet and mobile services among smallholder farmers. Although the price for mobile internet in Africa has dropped by 30 percent since 2015, the continent still has some of the highest prices for internet use globally, Araba laments.

Despite immense opportunities offered by digitisation, there are challenges that need to be resolved to maximise its impact in the future. For example, there is low update of digital services among women despite accounting for more than 40 percent of the agricultural labour force.

In 2017, women in sub-Saharan Africa were on average 14 percent less likely to own a mobile phone than men and 25 percent less likely to have internet access, according to the World Bank.

“The mobile phone platform has helped me improve my farming because of the timely information I receive and the ease I have to do financial matters which took a while before. Now I buy and sell without leaving home,” Mazani says.

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The post Growing African Agriculture One Byte at a Time appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 2019 (IPS)

The Trump administration, in its continued hostility towards the United Nations– and as part of its policy aimed at undermining multilateral institutions and international commitments– has withheld its annual contributions to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) – for the third consecutive year.

The three- year annual cuts, which began in 2017, amounts to an estimated total of $210 million.

The defunding of UNFPA follows recent US decisions to slash its contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) by $300 million and cut the UN’s biennium peacekeeping budget by $500 million—primarily for political and ideological reasons.

The Trump administration, which vociferously opposes abortion nation-wide, has made unproven charges against UNFPA — although the UN agency has repeatedly declared “it does not perform, promote or fund abortion, and accords the highest priority to universal access to voluntary family planning, which helps prevent abortions from occurring.”

But that plea has apparently fallen on deaf years—perhaps by design.

“This unfortunate (US) decision will impede UNFPA’s crucial work to protect the health and lives of hundreds of millions of women and girls around the globe, including in humanitarian settings. Therefore, UNFPA hopes that the United States will reconsider its position,” the UN agency said in a statement released July 15.

Asked if the withdrawal of US funding would impact UNFPA’s mandate on reproductive health, Jeffrey Bates, Media Specialist at UNFPA, told IPS the US defunding did not impact the UNFPA mandate on reproductive health.

“However, if funding from the United States was still available, we could extend life-saving maternal and reproductive health care to millions more women each year, including in humanitarian settings.”

Additionally, he noted, the US withdrawal of support has meant the loss of a major technical and policy supporter.

The US Government, he pointed out, played a major role in the creation and launch of UNFPA’s operations in 1969, and has been an active member of UNFPA’s Executive Board for more than 45 years.

The funding cut comes at a time when the UN agency is celebrating its 50th anniversary since it began operations in 1969 while it is also scheduled to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in the Egyptian capital of Cairo in 1994.

The upcoming follow-up conference (ICPD25), which will take place in Nairobi November 12-14, is being co-sponsored by the governments of Kenya and Denmark, with UNFPA playing a lead role.

Nairobi Summit co-host Denmark “will continue to show support for ICPD in any way possible,” said Minister of Development Cooperation Ulla Tørnæs at a side event during the 52nd Session of the Commission on Population and Development last April. Credit: UNFPA/Usenabasi Esiet

In 2016, the total US contribution to UNFPA for “core” and “non-core” combined was $69 million. With this, the US was the 3rd largest bilateral donor to UNFPA overall.

Of that amount, the US designated about $31 million as “core” resources, and the remainder $38 million as “non-core” resources earmarked for specific programmes.

Assuming this funding would have remained stable, UNFPA has estimated about $210 million being held back over the past three years

Brian Dixon, Senior Vice President for Media and Government Relations at the
Population Connection Action Fund, told IPS UNFPA is working to expand access to reproductive health care and contraceptives, provide emergency obstetric care, end forced early marriage, prevent and treat obstetric fistula and promote maternal health.

He pointed out that Its work is crucial to expanding opportunity and ensuring autonomy for millions of people – especially girls and women – around the world.

“It is disgraceful, though not surprising, that the Trump administration is once again misusing a law created to protect human rights to deny them by blocking support for UNFPA’s important work. We will continue to fight to restore the support that Trump and his cronies have blocked,” said Dixon.

Eric Schwartz, President of Refugee International, said that for the third year in a row, the Trump administration is withholding funding to the UN Population Fund, which provides life-saving assistance—including emergency assistance—to women and children worldwide.

“This decision will affect some of the world’s most vulnerable people, including survivors of sexual violence who have fled from conflict or have been displaced by natural disasters,” he warned.

“Yet again, we see that the United States continues to abdicate its leadership on the global stage and demonstrate that women’s health and safety is not a priority,” Schwartz declared.

In 2018, the 5 largest bi-lateral donors to UNFPA were: the UK ($153.2 m), Canada ($128.6 m), Norway ($127.5 m), Sweden ($105.7 m) and the Netherlands ($93 m)

Asked if any regular donors have stepped up to compensate for the US loss, Bates said since the US defunding in 2017, UNFPA and partners have worked hard to replace the amounts that would have been expected from the US each year.

“We have been successful, as several donors stepped up to fill UNFPA’s 2017 gap for core resources after the US defunding, including Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain and Sweden with total additional funds of approximately $28 million”.

He said Movements such as “She Decides” have played a key role in bringing civil society, governments and other stakeholders together in support of sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Some donors, including Canada, The European Commission (DG ECHO), Nordic countries, Korea and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided humanitarian contributions in 2017 and 2018 to allow UNFPA to continue its lifesaving work in the field, said Bates.

For example, thanks to DG ECHO, Canada, and Denmark, Bates said, “we were able (in 2017) to continue running reproductive health services in Zaatari Camp, Jordan, to guarantee safe delivery for Syrian refugees.”

“The US was the main donor of this clinic and the reduction of support significantly threatened our capacity to deliver quality and essential care,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, in an interview with IPS last October, Marie-Claude Bibeau, the Canadian Minister of International Development, said Canada will continue to be a strong and vocal advocate for the achievement of the goals set by the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), including universal sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

“I am proud to say that, since the launch of our Feminist International Assistance Policy, in June 2017, 93% of our humanitarian assistance includes a SRHR or Women’s empowerment component.”

Meanwhile, the UNFPA also refuted longstanding US charges and misconceptions that it was supportive of abortion in China.

In its statement Monday, UNFPA said it opposes coercive practices, such as forced sterilization and coerced abortions, and has spoken out against instances of such human rights abuses. UNFPA does not promote changes to the legal status of abortion.

“UNFPA regrets the United States was unable to visit its Country Office in the People’s Republic of China prior to this decision. In 2015, UNFPA’s current China Country Programme was approved by UNFPA’s Executive Board, of which the United States is a member. The United States has never indicated what, if anything, has changed in UNFPA’s work in China to suddenly trigger a negative determination under the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.”

The UNFPA Office in China supports policy development, focusing on four (4) outcomes: Sexual and Reproductive Health, Adolescents and Youth, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, and Population Dynamics. The UNFPA Office in China does not provide or fund any services, UNFPA said.

“UNFPA remains keen to maintain an open dialogue with the U.S. Government. UNFPA reiterates its invitation to the United States to visit its Office in China. UNFPA has had the pleasure of welcoming delegations under various U.S. administrations, and none have found UNFPA to be in violation of the Kemp-Kasten Amendment.”

This unfortunate decision, the agency said, will impede UNFPA’s crucial work to protect the health and lives of hundreds of millions of women and girls around the globe, including in humanitarian settings. Therefore, UNFPA hopes that the United States will reconsider its position.

Since its founding in 50 years ago, UNFPA strives to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled, the statement added.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post US Defunds UNFPA for Third Consecutive Year– on Misconceived Assumptions appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Downpours flood the streets of Dhaka, Bangladesh. Credit: Farid Ahmed/IPS

By Esther Ngumbi
ILLINOIS, United States, Jul 16 2019 (IPS)

“It has never happened before,” is a sentence that is becoming excessively common in the news  due to a changing climate where new extremes are becoming normal.

In  Kansas and across the Mid-west, farmers and citizens are battling with record-breaking flooding events. France and  Alaska, recently saw record-breaking warm temperatures. In Mexico, a never before witnessed event happened when a freak hailstorm trapped vehicles in up to three feet of ice.

Meanwhile, as all these firsts happen, countries across the world are divided on the issue of climate change. On one hand, we have those that acknowledge it is time to act with urgency. On the other hand, we have those still in denial. Emerging still, is a school of thought, which thinks that this generation has lost its fight on climate change and that it will only take an entire new generation.

I do acknowledge climate change is real and that humanity needs to act with a sense of urgency. However, to bring sustainable long-term change, we need everyone to act. How then can we be more convincing? What is the way forward?

I do acknowledge climate change is real and that humanity needs to act with a sense of urgency. However, to bring sustainable long-term change, we need everyone to act. How then can we be more convincing? What is the way forward?

There is no single answer as to the way forward, but instead, many approaches must be taken.

First, since the new normal of climate change has no boundaries, we need to frame the issue of climate change broadly to reach as many groups as possible, including Christians, farmers, youth, conservatives, liberals, rich and poor.

It means tailoring messages to specific groups using metaphors and examples that trigger new thinking about the personal relevance of climate change. For Christians, for example, we can frame the need to take climate change as a moral duty. For the youth, it can be framed as a human rights issue. Young people have a right to inherit a livable planet.

Second, it is important to show people how climate change will directly affect them. A recent survey revealed that half of Americans think climate change will not affect them personally in their lifetime hence; they choose not to worry about it.

However, there is evidence that people that have been impacted by climate change related disasters are more likely to worry about it.  A recent study reported that experiencing a severe weather event increased concern about climate change.

Third, we must encourage activists, including young activists such as Greta Thunberg. Convinced that climate change will have huge impacts on their generation, many young people of today are acting with a sense of urgency.

Importantly, rising activists should be included in all climate related high-level meetings and places of decision-making and their ideas be implemented. Doing so will prove to them that we care about their voice and that in the race to mitigate climate change, their ideas and activism is valued.

Moreover, we need to ensure that all voices are nurtured —black, white, gay and lesbians. A current scan of the activists who are highlighted continues to be mostly white and straight. This must change. Reiterating the fact that climate change impacts have no boundaries, we must encourage and highlight activists from all the backgrounds and from all the continents including the African continent. Doing so will reinforce the message that everyone –black, white, poor, rich can stand up for climate change.

Fourth and powerful yet, is the need to encourage climate change believers to run for political offices. We have seen how Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has consistently stood up for meaningful climate change mitigation policies to be implemented. We need a million more Ocasio-Cortez’s in positions of power. Moreover, we need diversity in the politician voices.

Fifth, importantly, science must continue to take on a center role with scientists innovating new strategies to mitigate climate change. For instance, the focus must be channeled onto the major contributors of greenhouse gas emissions including power generation, transport, growing food, manufacturing and buildings and creating methods that are not as bad for the environment.

Clearly, we will continue to experience new, harsher realities partly brought about by the changing climate. We all must strive to continue reaching out to everyday citizens with the message that everyone — regardless of their stance on climate change — can proactively do something. Time is of essence.

Esther Ngumbi is Distinguished Post Doctoral Researcher, Entomology Department at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Illinois, World Policy Institute Senior Fellow, Aspen Institute New Voices Food Security Fellow, Clinton Global University Initiative Agriculture Commitments Mentor and Ambassador

The post Want to Inspire More People to Act on Climate Change? Broaden the Framing appeared first on Inter Press Service.

World Vision believes that it takes each and every one of us to end violence against children.

By Tamara Tutnjevic Gorman
NEW YORK, Jul 16 2019 (IPS)

Despite what you might have heard, things are getting better, every year. We are making amazing progress on fighting diseases, reducing the preventable deaths of children, and investing huge amounts to advance medicine and knowledge and to create better living conditions.

However, this progress is too slow for some of the world’s most vulnerable children; those who have yet to experience the progress of the past 20 years. It’s hard to believe, but governments still allow violence against children to continue.

Approximately 1.7 billion children still experience some form of violence every year. To understand the reasons why, World Vision has investigated the commitments by 20 governments to address violence against children and has found that, while there has been tremendous progress in prohibiting violence, there are still too many gaps in legislation.

Cracks in laws, data, coordination, accountability and funding are becoming big gaps that ruin children’s lives and futures.

As a global community, we made exciting promises to end violence against all children 30 years ago when we adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. In those 30 years, we’ve developed laws and policies, come to better understanding about the complexity of violence and its forms, discovered and agreed to evidence-based solutions, and created a movement that has shone a spotlight on the issue.

We renewed our commitment to ending violence against children by committing to the Sustainable Development Goals four years ago. Yet, the inconsistent stats we have and self-reported data show that violence against children is not reducing at the pace necessary to meet the important target of ending all forms of violence against children.

This means today’s children, and their children, will live with violence’s life-long consequences – pushing them to life at the margins of society: severe health problems, difficulties acquiring an education and a decent job, and relationship issues. The lack of decisive action to end violence against children is simply not good enough.

Where legal bans exist, they do not yet cover all forms of violence. Ambitious declarations about National Plans of Action are not followed by the resources necessary to implement them. Fragmented initiatives are not enough to support victims, or more importantly, to ensure prevention.

There is some reporting on progress, but far too little new data to report on. And out of all the children experiencing violence, far too few have been consulted on the policies that affect their lives.

World Vision believes that it takes each and every one of us to end violence against children. A critical step in the right direction is for governments to make all forms of violence illegal and to put in place a comprehensive set of national laws and policies that provide for strong prevention and response measures.

The lack of commitment to zero tolerance is perhaps the most worrying. Government policies often turn a blind eye to socially or traditionally acceptable corporal punishment in schools, beating at home, child marriage and more.

Millions of children are unnecessarily drawn into a cycle of violence because of the failure to prevent it. When a child survives such violence and doesn’t get justice or appropriate support, the message they receive from authorities is that violence is permitted, or even condoned by those in power. This sends a powerful message that as society we have agreed to accept certain levels of violence.

Moreover, when families or communities experience crisis due to conflicts or natural disasters, the boundaries of what violence is considered acceptable tend to stretch. This makes it difficult to stop. Before we know it, violence can become a way of life. As a global community, we all must do more to plug the gaps that persist.

As governments at the High-Level Political Forum (July 16-19) present on progress so far and work on plans for the future, it is important that they address the seven cracks that have been identified in current efforts to end violence against children. This means they must commit to:

1. Prohibiting all forms of violence against children in all settings.
2. Investing in prevention programs and reporting mechanisms.
3. Being a global champion for the prevention of violence against children.
4. Increasing funding and transparency in budgets allocated to interventions to end violence against children.
5. Prioritising and investing in regular data collection.
6. Mandating, resourcing and planning for child consultations in policy development, reviews, monitoring and reporting.
7. Increasing government delivery of community education and awareness campaigns.

The 193 UN Member States have incredibly diverse energy, expertise and resources. We are calling for each and every one of them to join us and become champions for ending violence against children. It takes political leadership, and the time to drive action is now

To read the full report Small Cracks, Big Gaps: How governments allow violence against children to persist click here.

The post How Governments Still Allow Violence Against Children appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Tamara Tutnjevic Gorman is Policy Manager - Ending Violence against Children, World Vision

The post How Governments Still Allow Violence Against Children appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jan Lundius
STOCKHOLM / ROME, Jul 16 2019 (IPS)

On 8 July, Bosco Ntaganda was by the International Criminal Court (ICC) found guilty of crimes against humanity. The 41-year-old rebel leader, nicknamed The Terminator, had ordered his fighters to “target and kill civilians”, kidnap children to be brought up as soldiers and girls to become sex slaves, while personally partaking in the crimes. The Court had gathered evidence from 2,000 survivors from the rampage that Ntaganda and his army ran through the north-eastern Congolese region of Ituri, where beginning in 1999, 60,000 people have been murdered by warring rebel armies. Eighty witnesses testified directly during the court proceedings, thirteen were “experts” and the rest victims.

The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental tribunal with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals accused of committing crimes of genocide (the intentional destruction of a group of people), crimes against humanity (mainly violations of the UN Charter),1 war crimes (mainly violations of the Geneva Conventions), and crimes of aggression (when a person plans, initiates or executes an act of aggression using state military force violating the UN Charter). The IIC has in great detail specified these crimes and has since its establishment in 2003 indicted 44 individuals, some of them influential, national leaders – former presidents like Sudan´s Omar al-Bashir and Ivory Coast´s Laurent Gbagbo and Uhuru Kenyatta, who recently was re-elected as Kenya´s president. The International Criminal Court is controversial, particularly since it is at a nexus where politics/ideologies merge with individual guilt.

Jurisprudence has since the ruthless European wars of the sixteenth century discussed the existence of a natural law dictating how humans have to behave towards one another. The general agreement was that if no natural law could be proven it was up to each Government to judge criminals in accordance with local legislation. For several hundred years, the pre-eminent political institution was the national State and it was free to apply state-sanctioned violence and punishment. However, in a world where the entire humanity is threatened by international crime, terrorism, and climate change, laws exclusively limited to nations can no longer be valid.

That state-supported atrocities do not recognize national borders became evident during World War II, when moral and geographical boundaries were ignored and even despised. After the War, it was almost universally agreed that some kind of global/natural law had to be applied to safeguard all humans from horrors caused by vicious regimes. In 1948, a non-binding Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly urging all nations to promote a number of human, civil, economic and social rights, while asserting that the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family are the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.2

The Declaration was adopted almost unanimously. The only dissidents were Stalinist Soviet Union, Apartheid-governed South Africa, and Saudi Arabia, nations well aware of the fact that any declaration of equal human rights was contrary to their politics. Criminal refusals to acknowledge an “inalienable” duty to respect human rights became apparent during the Nuremberg Trials and those staged by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, during which victorious powers judged abominable crimes committed by individuals serving the vanquished governments.

The defendants could be divided into three groups; those who were afraid, those who followed orders, and those who actually believed in the twisted ideologies of the regimes they had served. Defense attorneys declared that servants of the victorious powers – USA, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union – had committed acts just as bad, or even worse, than those perpetrated by minions of the Nazi regime and the Japanese Empire. Judges ruled that such arguments could not whitewash any personal guilt. However, one problem remained – can a few individuals be punished for crimes committed, or approved, by thousands of “law-abiding” citizens? It was argued that if the damaged nations of Germany and Japan had to be healed and re-built, the victors had to avoid causing distress and anger by convicting too many of the ”willing executioners”. Murderers and rapists were thus welcomed back into society and continued to serve as administrators, policemen, medical doctors, and teachers.

One example among many – so-called Einsatzgruppen were responsible for mass killings of the “intelligentsia” in German-occupied territories, as well as political commissars, partisans, and above all Romani people and Jews. Together with Romanian, Ukrainian, and Lithuanian auxiliaries 3,000 German and Austrian soldiers did between 1941 and 1945 execute more than 2 million people. The scale of the killings was almost unbelievable – the massacre at Babi Yar lasted for two days during which 33,770 Jews were killed, the massacre in Rumbula also lasted two days and resulted in 25,000 victims. After the close of World War II, 24 senior leaders of the Einsatzgruppen were charged with crimes against humanity. Fourteen death sentences and two life sentences were handed out, while four additional Einsatzgruppen leaders were later tried and executed by other nations.3 More than 800,000 members of the Nazi Schutzstaffel (SS), an ”elite” that had sworn an oath of ”complete obedience to the Führer” survived the war. Many thousands of them were prosecuted for crimes against humanity, but only124 were convicted.4 This meant that thousands of cold-blooded murderers went unpunished and could resume a quiet life.5

The International Criminal Court is supported by 134 nations, though so far only 107 have ratified the statutes. Seven countries do for various reasons not approve of an international criminal court – China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, the United States, and Yemen. Israel’s opposition stems from the fact that “the action of transferring population into occupied territory” is included in ICC´s list of war crimes. The U.S. fears that if its citizens participate in crimes against humanity in foreign countries they run the risk of being convicted by a court that does not accept the excuse that they served U.S. interests. The Trump Administration is openly opposing the Court, imposing visa bans on ICC staff in response to concerns that an investigation of U.S. nationals may be opened in connection with war crimes committed in Afghanistan. In October 2016, after claiming the Court was biased against African states, Burundi, South Africa, and the Gambia announced their withdrawal. However, following Gambia´s last elections that ended the rule of Yahya Jammeh, this nation rescinded its withdrawal notification, while the High Court of South Africa ruled that a withdrawal would be unconstitutional.6

Like war criminals judged in Nuremberg and Tokyo, Bosco Ntaganda pleaded not guilty, declaring:

1. 1. I was informed of these crimes, but I plead not guilty. I have been described as “The Terminator”, an infamous killer, but that is not me. I am a soldier … I am not a criminal.

7

During the trial, survivors described several massacres. For example, one carried out close to a Hema village. Hema was a specially targeted ethnic group. Ntaganda and his soldiers brought 49 captured villagers to a banana plantation where they were slaughtered with
sticks and batons, as well as knives and machetes. Men, women, children, and babies were found in the field. Some bodies were found naked, some had hands tied up, some had their heads crushed. Several bodies were disemboweled or otherwise mutilated.

Rwandan-born Bosco Ntaganda has a long and bloody career. As a teenager he participated in the slaughter of Rwandan Tutsis, only to end up in the ranks and files of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF) headed by the Tutsi Paul Kagame, current president of Rwanda. Some years later we find Ntaganda fighting for the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), serving as deputy chief of the general staff of Thomas Lubanga, who in 2012 became the first person convicted by the ICC and sentenced to 14 years in prison.8

Bosco Ntaganda is just one example of ”murderers among us” who has been and are protected by world leaders and other decision-makers who all over the world make use of their services and thus become accomplices in their crimes. It is high time for them and the rest of us to assume responsibility for crimes against humanity. It is not only perpetrators who are guilty of atrocities, but supporters and onlookers are also accomplices. In the words of Primo Levi, a great author and survivor from Auschwitz´s hell:

1. 1. We must remember that these faithful followers, among them the diligent executors of inhuman orders, were not born torturers, were not (with few exceptions) monsters. They were ordinary men. Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.

9

1 https://www.un.org/en/sections/un-charter/chapter-i/index.html
2 https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
3 Browning, Christopher R. (1998) Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. London; New York: Penguin, and Hilberg, Raul (1985) The Destruction of the European Jews. New York: Holmes & Meier.
4 Shoychet. Matthew (2018) The Accountant of Auschwitz. A Canadian documentary film distributed by Netflix.
5 As in the title of a German movie from 1946 – The Murderers Among Us.
6 https://www.fidh.org/en/issues/international-justice/international-criminal-court-icc/gambia-and-south-africa-to-remain-in-the-international-criminal-as-a-soldier,-not-a-criminal.html 03-bosco-ntaganda-at-the-icc,-i-wcourt
7 https://www.justiceinfo.net/en/tribunals/icc/19
8 DR Congo´s Bosco Ntaganda convicted of war crimes by ICC. https://www.bbc.co.uk
9 Levi, Primo (1965) The Reawakening: The Companion Volume to Survival in Auschwitz. New York: Touchstone. p. 228.

Jan Lundius holds a PhD. on History of Religion from Lund University and has served as a development expert, researcher and advisor at SIDA, UNESCO, FAO and other international organisations.

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Excerpt:

Wars, conflict – it´s all business.
One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero.
Numbers sanctify, my good fellow!
                                Charles Chaplin Monsieur Verdoux

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