Africa

Kenya replace Equatorial Guinea at the upcoming Women's Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana after a protest about player eligibility.

By WAM
ABU DHABI, Oct 18 2018 (WAM)

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and Group CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) met, today, with Viorica Dancila, Romania’s first female Prime Minister, at ADNOC, in Abu Dhabi.

During the meeting Dr. Al Jaber conveyed the greetings of the UAE leadership to the Romanian leadership and government, emphasising the UAE’s keenness to boost bilateral ties. He stressed the need for both parties to take advantage of the opportunities to enhance bilateral trade.

Accompanied by Dr. Al Jaber, Prime Minister Dancila attended a demonstration of ADNOC’s advanced Panorama Digital Command Centre, which is using artificial intelligence, AI, and big data to drive operational efficiencies and performance, by giving real time visibility to information from ADNOC’s full value chain.

Prime Minister Dancila also visited ADNOC’s Thammama sub surface collaboration centre, that is using smart analytics and is adopting AI platforms to solve subsurface challenges and to help unlock more challenging resources and optimise field development plans, as well as reduce drilling time and manage production capacity across ADNOC’s operations.

Later, Dr. Al Jaber hosted a lunch for Romanian Prime Minister, which was also attended by the UAE’s Ambassador to Romania, Ahmed Abdullah Saeed, and Romani’s Ambassador to the UAE, Adrian Macelaru. During the visit, Prime Minister Dancila also met with members of ADNOC’s Future Leaders Programme, which is designed to identify the company’s brightest and best Emirati employees and provide them with the knowledge, skills and experience they will need to ensure ADNOC continues to thrive in the future energy landscape.

Prime Minister Dancila became Romania’s first female Prime Minister on January 28th, 2018. Before entering politics she was an engineer for Petrom SA, the Romanian National Oil Company.

During her visit to ADNOC she expressed her admiration for how ADNOC is harnessing the enabling power of digitalisation and has adopted an innovative partnership approach to drive growth.

Diplomatic relations between the UAE and Romania were formally established in 1989. Romania opened its embassy in Abu Dhabi in 1991 and the UAE Embassy opened its doors in Bucharest in 2004. In April, the UAE-Romania Joint Committee held its first ministerial meeting in Bucharest. The meeting was chaired by Dr Al Jaber.

Bilateral non-oil trade between the UAE and Romania amounted to US$573.8 million in 2016. UAE cumulative investment in Romania from 2003-2017 amounted to US $103 million. Austria’s OMV, which owns 51 percent of PETROM, is part-owned by a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Investment Company. OMV has a 20 percent stake in ADNOC’s SARB and Umm Lulu offshore concession area.

 

WAM/MOHD AAMIR/Tariq alfaham

The post Romania’s Prime Minister visits ADNOC appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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An awareness-raising session for the Ivorian community, carried out in partnership with the Mauritanian NGO Stop Sida. Photo: Sibylle Desjardins/IOM

By International Organization for Migration
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania, Oct 17 2018 (IOM)

HIV/AIDS is still a taboo subject in many parts of the world. According to UNAIDS, 6.1 million people were living with HIV in West and Central Africa in 2017, and only 40 per cent had access to antiretroviral treatment.

In the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, a very conservative society, the topic is sometimes difficult to address; essential information circulates poorly, especially among rural populations. Generally lacking are national awareness campaigns — things like posters, radio or televised presentations — related to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention.

In Mauritania, thanks to external funds and government support, HIV testing and care are free for all; however, these services are difficult to access in several regions outside of the capital.

The Centre de Traitement Ambulatoire or Ambulatory Treatment Centre (CTA) of Nouakchott, founded in 2004 by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the French Red Cross and the World Bank, provides care for patients living with HIV, but the service remains difficult to access in a country with a surface area of 1,030,700 km2.

Talking with family members and friends about HIV/AIDS is not always easy. Many people do not sign up for voluntary testing because they fear being judged or they feel a sense of humiliation. In Mauritanian society, where divorces can be easily be obtained and individuals can have multiple partners, HIV/AIDS has a bad image and is associated with adultery or sexual deviancy; it is considered a disease of shame.

“The other person’s gaze prevents us from going to the test and talking about it. People are therefore afraid to take the test and then follow their treatment if necessary. Fear should not lead to a refusal to take the test — the virus that has invaded an organism is not afraid of it,” said virologist Zahra Fall Malick.

His colleague Dr. Ndioubnane El Moctar, an obstetrician gynaecologist, compared it to tuberculosis or diabetes, a disease with a similarly poor image in Mauritania a few years ago: “Thirty years ago these diseases, through ignorance, were synonymous with shame. The turn for HIV/AIDS [stigma to disappear] will come, it takes time. The perception of a society is difficult to change. [People once] considered AIDS to be a disease linked to sex outside marriage or a curse, in a religious and traditional society it is a taboo, a social convention that must be changed.”

Myths, clichés and rumours hinder access to and dissemination of HIV/AIDS-related information, and facts are often challenged during sensitization efforts. Debates about the origin of the virus and its transmission are often an opportunity to provide information about pervasive prejudices.

An HIV/AIDS brochure published by IOM Mauritania; it is distributed to groups of migrants during awareness-raising sessions.

The EU-IOM Joint Initiative in Mauritania plans to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS among a group of 1000 people. The project, Strengthening Border Management, Facilitating the Protection and Reintegration of Migrants in Mauritania, aims to reach migrants, community leaders and beneficiaries of the Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration programme. Awareness-raising activities will be carried out to provide basic and essential knowledge for reducing the transmission of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS in the long-term.

In partnership with the Mauritanian NGO Stop Sida, IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is implementing these awareness-raising sessions and organizing talks with target groups. These sessions are interactive and participatory; participants are encouraged to raise questions and discuss prejudices. Exchanges are facilitated by the presence of the Mauritanian medical staff.

Virologist, Zahra Fall Malick explained: “There is a tendency here to believe that Muslim clerics are not very open. Traditionally, premarital sex is of course prohibited, but it is a reality. Religious leaders do not want to advertise condoms but support this approach to protect their communities. Sometimes this can be a shock, but it has to be done, it has to be talked about and people will be listening.”

During one session, an Ivorian participant wanted to know why migrants were considered vulnerable and more affected by the virus because for him “it [amounted to] stigmatization.” Access to health-related information and organisations is particularly important during a migrant’s journey; access to information, and care can sometimes become difficult to obtain, often due to lack of knowledge, cultural differences, language barriers and isolation. Precariousness can also expose people to non-consensual sex, or sexual encounters with a view to monetary transactions.

Participants often mention difficulties in addressing the topic of sexual health subject in a Muslim context, especially in classes with schoolchildren and students, as one teacher pointed out: “We cannot really answer children’s questions in classes using certain precise and explicit vocabulary words such as: penis, female condom… Here people talk about marriage but between what is said and what is done, there is a big difference. Teenagers ask basic questions and want information, the subject is really interesting for them.”

The teacher added, “Demonstrations are impossible, not only because of a lack of equipment but also because the society is very conservative. I had problems with the teaching staff after some courses on sex education. More anatomical models, more didactic terms, and above all speech without filters are needed to get the message across correctly.”

During these workshops, Communication for Development (C4D) is an important theme, as the goal is for some participants to become ambassadors and raise awareness in their communities. This communication principle aims to change behaviours. “Improving or changing one’s lifestyle in the health sector often implies improving one’s quality of life. Changing your customs, your habits sometimes even your traditions is a heavy challenge but it is a necessity,” said Abdel Ghader Ahmed, adviser to the Minister of Health in charge of communication.

Ahmed insists on the quality of the information to be transmitted, its accuracy and accessibility: “Know how to get information, have reliable information. Your own behaviour will influence your relatives and then your community. There is a rebound effect, from the individual, to the family to the community.”

The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Mauritania is less than 1 per cent. This percentage remains low compared to many West African countries, but it is essential to continue to inform the population, combat prejudice and make medical facilities accessible to all, especially in the regions, in order to plan for a future generation protected from HIV/AIDS.

This story was written by Sibylle Desjardins, who has been at IOM Mauritania since 2017 working on communications and content creation for the mission. She also runs awareness-raising campaigns under the EU-IOM Joint Initiative.

The post Breaking Taboos: Teaching Migrant Communities about HIV/AIDS Prevention in Mauritania appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Credit: Institute for Palestine Studies

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 2018 (IPS)

Nikky Haley, the vociferously anti-Palestine US Ambassador to the United Nations, warned member states last year she will “take down names” of those who vote against American interests in the world body—perhaps with the implicit threat of cutting US aid to countries that refuse to play ball with the diplomatically-reckless Trump administration.

But that vengeance-driven head count – and no ball playing — could be a tedious exercise for the US when 146 out of 193 member states vote to affirm Palestine as the new chairman of the 134-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing countries at the United Nations.

The 146 included some of the strongest Western allies of the US, plus four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: UK, France, China and Russia.

The only two countries that stood sheepishly by the US were Israel, its traditional client state, and Australia, a newcomer to the ranks of US supporters.

The 15 abstentions included some of the usual suspects: Austria, Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Honduras, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Monaco, Poland, Slovakia and Tuvalu.

The vote in the General Assembly on October 16 was, by all accounts, a humiliating defeat to the Trump administration which moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and cut $300 million from its contributions to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) aiding Palestinian refugees.

Both were decisions aimed at undermining Palestine at the United Nations. But the Palestinians pulled off a major victory despite the behind-the-scenes lobbying both by the US and Israel to thwart the Palestinians.

Palestine, which is a non-member state, was endorsed as the chairman of the Group of 77, beginning January next year, at a ministerial meeting late September. The General Assembly vote was a ratification of that decision.

Mouin Rabbani, Resident Senior Fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies at Washington DC, told IPS the election of Palestine as the new Chairman of the Group of 77, particularly given the overwhelmingly lopsided nature of the vote, can only be interpreted as a pre-meditated and deliberate slap in the face to the United States by the international community.

Last month the civilized world audibly laughed at Trump as he engaged in another boorish display of Americana at the General Assembly, he added.

“Today it demonstrated that its response to the determination of the United States to dismantle the international system and its institutions, eliminate the concept of accountability under international law, make US power the sole arbiter of international affairs, and use the Question of Palestine as the vehicle of choice for achieving these objectives, can also take more serious forms”.

Following the vote, Haley said the United States voted against the resolution granting the Palestinians privileges at the United Nations as chair of the “Group of 77” – a coalition of developing Member States at the UN.

“The United States does not recognize a Palestinian state, notes that‎ no such state has been admitted as a UN Member State, and does not believe that the Palestinians are eligible to be admitted as a UN Member State.”

The U.S. strongly opposes the Palestinian election as Chair of the G77, as well as the so-called enabling resolution in the UN General Assembly, added the outgoing envoy, who announced last week that she will resign her post by the end of the year.

“The Palestinians are not a UN Member State or any state at all. The United States will continually point that out in our remarks at UN events led by the Palestinians.

“Today’s UN mistake undermines the prospects for peace by encouraging the illusion held by some Palestinian leaders that they can advance their goals without direct peace negotiations. In fact, today’s vote does nothing to help the Palestinian people,” said Haley.

The Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said the General Assembly vote represents multilateralism at its best, with the wider membership supporting a resolution to enable the elected Chair of a group to perform its duties effectively.

He said it was an expression of respect for the decision of the Group of 77 and China to elect the State of Palestine as its chair for the year 2019 by consensus, following the endorsement by the Asia-Pacific group of the State of Palestine’s candidature, also by consensus.

“The State of Palestine will spare no effort to prove worthy of this trust in its capacity to represent and defend the interests of the Group of 77 and China, while also engaging constructively, and in an inclusive and transparent manner, with all partners, in order to advance cooperation and mutually beneficial agreements, for the common good of all humanity,” he added.

The General Assembly resolution not only ratified the ministerial decision but also provided Palestine with additional rights and privileges, including the right to make statements on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, including among representatives of major groups; the right to submit proposals and amendments and introduce them on behalf of the Group of 77 and China and the right to co-sponsor proposals and amendments.

Additionally, Palestine has been given the right to make explanations of vote on behalf of the States Members of the United Nations that are members of the Group of 77 and China; the right of reply regarding positions of the Group of 77 and China; and the right to raise procedural motions, including points of order and requests to put proposals to the vote, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Rabbani said the election of Palestine to lead the Group of 77 should be seen as a direct response to the US recognition of exclusive Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem in flagrant violation of numerous UNSC resolutions, the termination of US funding to UNRWA as part of a campaign to redefine Palestinian refugees out of existence, punitive measures taken against the Palestinian civilian population of the occupied territories to dissuade the Palestinians from pursuing claims against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and further measures to legitimize perpetual Israeli control over the Palestinian people, their territory, and resources.

“If this was a traditional election for the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 it is questionable whether Palestine would have been nominated, highly unlikely it would have won, and virtually out of the question it would have achieved the result it did. In other words, this was about issues much larger than the managerial qualifications of the successful candidate, and above all a political message directed at Washington,” Rabbani declared.

The vast majority of Group of 77 members have gotten in line to ask Nikki Haley, and by extension the “hidden genius”, Jared Von Metternich, to take down their names and note that they categorically reject US policy on Palestine and on the broader objectives the Trump administration is seeking to achieve, he said.

“The greater challenge is to translate these symbolic victories, important as they may be, into substantive achievements,” he declared.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post UN Vote on Palestine a Humiliating Defeat for US & its Envoy appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Angel Wanjiru has overcome bullies and health problems to pursue her dream of a career in music.

Natural fertility is actually the Nile's biggest legacy for Egyptians. A fisherman fishes for food on the Nile. Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS.

By Maged Srour
ROME, Oct 17 2018 (IPS)

Running through eleven countries for 6,853 kilometres, the Nile is a lifeline for nearly half a billion people. But the river itself has been a source of tension and even conflict for countries and territories that lie along it and there have been rumours of “possible war for the Nile” for years now. While to date there has been no outbreak of irreversible tension, experts say that because of increasing changes in the climate a shared agreement needs to be reached on the redistribution of water soon.

“Right now I do not think there is a concrete and imminent risk of conflict between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia, given the internal difficulties and the unstable nearby area [Libya] of the first, the recent secession suffered by the second and the peace agreement achieved by the third with Eritrea,” Maurizio Simoncelli, vice president of the International Research Institute Archivio Disarmo, a think tank based in Rome, told IPS.

“However, it is certain that if a shared agreement is not reached on the redistribution of water in a situation of increasing climatic changes, those areas remain at great risk,” he said.

No one master of the river Nile

All the cities that run along the river exist only because of these waters. For Egypt, this is particularly true: if the Nile wasn’t there, it would be just another part of the Sahara desert.

Egypt has tried to be master of the river for centuries, seeking to ensure exclusive control over its use. Nevertheless, today upstream countries are challenging this dominance, pushing for a greater share of the waters. Egypt and Sudan still regard two treaties from 1929 and 1959 as technically binding, while African upstream nations – after gaining independence – started to challenge these agreements, signed when they were under colonial rule.

The 1959 treaty allocates 75 percent of the river’s waters to Egypt, leaving the remainder to Sudan. Egypt has always justified this hegemonic position on the basis of geographic motivations and economic development, as it is an arid country that could not survive without the Nile’s waters, while upstream countries receive enough rainfall to develop pluvial agriculture without resorting to irrigation.

“From the Egyptian point of view, it is right [to hold this hegemonic position] because it is true, Cairo has no alternative water resources. Without the Nile, Egypt would die,” Matteo Colombo, associate research fellow in the MENA Programme at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) told IPS.

Egypt – according to Colombo – should therefore aim to open regional forums focusing on cooperation in a broad sense.

Cooperation among countries sharing this watercourse is key. For example, Ethiopia could need more water to produce more electricity, which could in turn diminish the amount of flow towards Cairo. Indeed, Ethiopia’s Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, which is currently under construction, will be the biggest dam on the African continent and could diminish the amount of water flowing to Egypt.

Water is not the only gift of this river for Egypt. Each year, rainfall in Ethiopia causes the Nile to flood its banks in Egypt. When the Nile flood recedes, the silt – a sediment rich in nutrients and minerals and carried by the river – remains behind, fertilising the soil and creating arable land. Natural fertility is actually the Nile’s biggest legacy for Egyptians.

“The problem for Egypt is that, from a geographical point of view, it does not hold the knife on the side of the handle,” warns Colombo.

“For this reason, Egypt cannot fail to reach an agreement with neighbouring countries. What Cairo could do is to create a sort of ‘regional forum’, a ‘platform’, where the various disputes with neighbouring countries are discussed and perhaps include other topics in the talks,” Colombo added. “If other themes were included, Egypt could have some more voices than Sudan and Ethiopia, while if the discussion remains relegated to the theme of water, the margin of action for Egypt would be limited.”

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), created in 1999 with the aim to “take care of and jointly use the shared Nile Basin water and related resources”, could be an example of regional multilateralism to resolve disputes but it remains relegated to discussions about water management.

Institutionally, the NBI is not a commission. It is “in transition”, awaiting an agreement on Nile water usage, so it has no legal standing beyond its headquarters agreement with Uganda, where the secretariat is settled.

Due to differences that have not yet been resolved, the NBI has focused on technical, relatively apolitical projects. This ends up weakening the organisation since Egypt sees technical and political tracks as inseparable. Therefore, Cairo suspended its participation in most NBI activities, effectively depleting the organisation’s political weight.

Populations living on the Nile and the impact

If regional agreements on the management of the Nile’s waters seem difficult, what is certain is that local populations’ living along the river have always been impacted by environmental changes.

The Nubian population are among these affected people. The Nubians, an ethnic group originating in southern Egypt and northern Sudan, have lived along the Nile for thousands of years. In 1899, during the construction of the Aswan Low Dam, they were forced to move and relocate to the west bank of the Nile in Aswan. During the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s, over 120,000 Nubians were forced to move for a second time.

Their new home proved far from satisfactory: not a single resettlement village was by the river. And to date, the socio-economic and political conditions of the Nubians have not appeared to have improved.

“I think we are passing through one of the worst moments for us Nubians. Every time we tried to claim some rights in the last few years, the government did not want to listen to us and many of our activists were recently arrested,” Mohamed Azmy, president of the General Nubian Union, a movement that actively promotes the right to return of the Nubian community to their ancestral land, told IPS.

Lorri Pottinger of International Rivers told Al Jazeera that Africa’s large dams have not reversed poverty, or dramatically increased electricity rates, or even improved water supply for people living near them.

“What they have done is help create a small industrial economy that tends to be  companies from Europe and elsewhere. And so these benefits are really, really concentrated in a very small elite,” she had said.

The demographic challenge

The reasons why Egypt faces water scarcity are numerous but the exponential increase in population certainly accelerates the critical situation.

The United Nations estimates that unless the current fertility rate of 3.47 changes by 2030, Egypt’s population is expected to grow from the current 97 million to 128 million. This demographic growth has grave implications as it comes at a time of unprecedented challenges in the climate which in turn has worrisome implications for loss of arable land, rising sea levels and depletion of scarce water resources.

Moreover, the demographic increase is having grave consequences on the entire economic system, as there is insufficient infrastructure and not enough jobs for the increasing young population.

Birth control policies could be and should be part of the solution to overcome these challenges. The government has recently launched a campaign named ‘Kefaya etnen’ (‘Two is enough’), through which it is trying to raise the awareness on controlling birth rates and having no more than two children per family. “I think this is a great initiative from the Egyptian government but it definitely needs to permeate the society, and this will not be easy,” said Colombo.

Egypt needs to curb its population and to turn its youth into an asset for its economy, otherwise the waters of the Nile could be insufficient.

Indeed, the importance of the Nile is felt in the blood of all Egyptians. “Walking along the Nile for me is what makes me relaxed and vent when I need it, in the chaos of the city,” Tarek, a resident of Cairo, tells IPS.

And many Egyptians hope that this gift will be with them forever, because it is not just about survival, but about the essence itself of being part of these lands.

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The post For the Survival of the Nile and its People appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 2018 (IPS)

When international parliamentarians-– both from the developed and developing world— meet in Canada next week, the primary focus would be to assess the implementation of a landmark Programme of Action (PoA) on population and development adopted at a ground breaking UN conference, led by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), held in Cairo back in 1994.

Population Growth through 2100. Credit: UN Photo

With one year to go before the 25th anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), more than 150 parliamentarians will meet at a three day forum in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, October 22-24, to rate the successes and clear roadblocks, if any, to a strategy laid out more than two decades ago.

The thrust of the PoA included a commitment to reduce maternal and infant mortality, promote reproductive health and family planning, halt the spread of HIV/AIDS among women and children, as well as strengthen women’s empowerment and gender equality.

Underlying some of these issues were problems related to ageing, urbanization, female genital mutilation (FGM), midwifery, migrants and refugees, child marriages, adolescent pregnancies, the role of youth and the rising world population, which now stands at over 7.6 billion.

Besides sharing experiences, parliamentarians will also focus on the road ahead with a call for an increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) — specifically funding for population and development which is being increasingly diverted to help finance refugee settlements.

Austria is one of the Western donors which has taken a lead role in helping developing nations reach some of the ICPD goals.

Asked about her country’s contributions, Petra Bayr, an Austrian member of parliament (MP) and chair of the Sub-Committee for Development Cooperation in the Austrian Parliament, told IPS: “As a multi-party group on Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR), we are pushing for more funds in that important political field for many years.”

“At the moment, we are successful. For the first time in recent years, we have some extra funding to combat FGM and to support access to SRHR services in the development cooperation budget,” she added.

She pointed out that there is one million Euros (about $1.2 million US dollars) available for fighting FGM and providing family planning services, and the UNFPA is being supported with 200,000 Euros (about $232,000) in core budgeting.

“I anticipate more cooperation between the Austrian Development Cooperation and UNFPAwhich remains to be explored,” said Bayr, who is also chair of the Austrian All Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development.

She also pointed out that the Austrian strategy on International Financial Institutions (IFI) tackles the empowerment of women and their better involvement in economic activities.

“We know that economic independence leads to increased self-determination, also in private lives, including the decision about the number and the spacing of children,” she declared.

Excerpts from the interview:

IPS: What are your expectations of the upcoming International Parliamentarians’ Conference in Ottawa? Should there be, in your opinion, any economic commitments from Western nations to meet the funding needs of some of the developing countries who have fallen behind in the implementation of the PoA?

BAYR: My expectations are focused on cooperation, exchange of strategies on how to combat the global back clash in the field of SRHR and how we can fortify our communication to strengthen women’s rights which are human rights.

Also, how to meet economic commitments governments of the global north have already signed or pledged but still not fulfilled; they should definitely be an important part of our discussions in Ottawa.

IPS: The US, which was a significant contributor to UNFPA providing about $69 million in FY 2016, has cut off all funding to the UN agency. Should European nations step in and fill this funding gap?

BAYR: I’m very grateful that the Dutch minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation, Liliane Ploumen, initiated the global fund “She Decides” to curb the shortfall of about USD 600 million over the four years of Trump´s presidency and guarantee millions of women access to SRHR services.

Besides, this supports the fundamental rights of girls and women to decide freely and for themselves about their sexual lives, including whether, when, with whom and how many children they want to have. UNFPA shares the same goals, and of course, the agency´s loss should be refilled, also with funds from European countries.

The financial contribution of Austria will definitely not be enough to fill the gap but we are working hard as multi party group to push our government for more core funding for UNFPA.

IPS: As one of the key parliamentarian networks, what role does the European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development (EPF) play in helping implement the PoA, including reproductive health, reducing maternal and infant mortality and gender empowerment?

BAYR: It’s we as legislators who decide about the laws underlying the programs that support SRHR and it is for us to ensure there is sufficient funding for these programs. As EPF has a clear focus on the rights of women and girls not only in Europe but through our development cooperation also in the global South, we have a key role to play so that women and girls can enjoy their human rights, have access to evidence based sexuality education and modern means of contraceptives, as well as medically attended pregnancies and deliveries and the economic independence to decide and self determine. EPF supports us in order to exchange good practise, take part in international discussions on SRHR and join forces to make SRHR a reality for all.

IPS: Is the widespread refugee problem in Europe hindering Europe’s ODA commitments? Is there a diversion of European funds from development financing to refugee funding?

BAYR: In general, we have witnessed a shift from fundings for development cooperation to refugee funding in Europe. I’m happy that we managed not to have this terrible involvement in Austria.

Despite the fact that our ODA is very poor, only 0.3% of the gross national expenditure (GNE) and that — already for decades — Austria extensively counts all fundings for refugee spendings in Austria into our ODA, even if this is in line with the criteria of OECD. We have to increase our ODA and dedicate it to the needs of those who are mostly in need.

If we want to achieve the spirit of the Agenda 2030 and leave no one behind, we should follow the good examples of some Nordic countries, the UK and others who show that it is possible to meet one’s international commitments by fostering the political will to do so.

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The post Parliamentarians to Assess Population & Development Funding 24 Years After Historic Conference appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Anis Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and SYDNEY, Oct 17 2018 (IPS)

A new United Nations report warns that the potential benefits to developing countries of digital technologies are likely to be lost to a small number of successful first movers who have established digital monopolies.

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

According to the Trade and Development Report 2018 (TDR 2018), subtitled ‘Power, Platforms and the Free Trade Delusion’, while developing countries need to invest more in digital infrastructure, they must also address the ownership and control of data and their use.

Developing countries will need to protect, and extend, available policy space to successfully integrate into the global digital economy. Stronger competition and regulatory frameworks will also require multilateral cooperation.

Digital concentration
Libertarian ‘light-touch’ regulatory frameworks have allowed powerful corporations to largely evade strict regulatory supervision and oversight, expand exclusively into lucrative related areas and limit policymakers’ influence. Digital monopolies have thus profitably ‘mined’ and processed data.

Of the top 25 big technology firms in terms of market capitalization, 14 are US based, with three in the European Union, three in China, four in other Asian countries and one in Africa.

In 2015, the top three big US technology firms had average market capitalization of more than $400 billion, compared to $200 billion in China, $123 billion in other Asian countries, $69 billion in Europe and $66 billion in Africa.
Apple recently became the first company in the world to be valued at more than $1 trillion, matching the combined economic output of Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

Anis Chowdhury

Such concentration and market dominance have ensured lucrative rents for the big players in the sector. For example, Amazon’s profits-to-sales ratio increased from 10 per cent in 2005 to 23 per cent in 2015, while Alibaba’s increased from 10 per cent in 2011 to 32 per cent in 2015!

These trends are largely due to the extraction, processing and sale of data. Digital platforms use their control over data to organize and mediate transactions along value chains. Network effects allow these platforms to expand these ecosystems utilizing feedback-driven processes.

The resulting market power, with stronger ‘property rights’ on the control and use of data, has enabled rentier and other uncompetitive practices. Thus, one cannot but be circumspect about the hype over ‘big data’ and ‘data revolution’. They rarely promote inclusive development, especially when left to ‘market’ or ‘self-regulation’.

Digital democracy?
TDR 2018 recommends active policies to check anti-competitive rent capture by digital platforms, and misuse of data. Antitrust and competition policies, historically concerned with market structure and behaviour, increasingly emphasize maximizing consumer welfare, using price-based measures.

In our increasingly digitized world, consumers receive services in exchange for surrendering their data, at zero nominal prices, i.e., for free. The control and use of such data enables the lucrative rentier activities associated with their use and abuse.

Policy options include stricter regulation of restrictive business practices and breaking up large firms responsible for market concentration. The digital world’s monopolistic tendencies should be regulated, and firms’ abilities to exploit their dominance restricted, e.g., the recent measures taken by the European Union against Google.

Developmental digitization?
For developing countries, the regulatory challenges to realize developmental gains from digitization are greater. Some countries are already using localization measures to develop domestic digital capacities and digital infrastructure.

But in most cases, data are owned by those who gather and store them, mainly digital super platforms, which then have full, exclusive and unlimited rights over the resource.

National data policies should be designed to address four major issues: who can own data, how data can be collected, who can use such data, and on what terms. They should also address the question of data sovereignty, e.g., which data can leave the country, and consequently are not governed by domestic law. South-South and regional cooperation can help small developing countries build their digital skills, capacities and capabilities.

Developing countries need to protect and expand available policy space to implement development strategies that should include digital policies with regard to data localization, data flow management, technology transfers and custom duties on electronic transmissions.

The international community is just beginning to discuss rules and regulations to improve them, before agreement is reached at the World Trade Organization and other multilateral bodies.

A premature commitment to rules with long-term impacts on fast-changing matters should be avoided, especially where powerful business interests remain influential and often dictate the very terms for discourse.

The post Developing Countries Losing Out To Digital Giants appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By Chang Yong Rhee
WASHINGTON DC, Oct 17 2018 (IPS)

Southeast Asia has made extraordinary strides in recent decades.

Growth in per capita incomes has been among the fastest in the world, and last year the region was the fourth largest contributor to global growth after China, India, and the United States. Living standards have improved dramatically. Poverty rates are down sharply.

Chang Yong Rhee. Credit: IMF

What accounts for this record of success?

Openness to overseas trade and investment is a big part of the answer. Malaysia and Thailand have established themselves as global manufacturing powerhouses, churning out cars, consumer electronics, and computer chips.

Indonesia and the Philippines are among the world’s fastest-growing large, domestic-demand-led emerging markets. Singapore is a major financial and commercial hub.

Frontier economies such as Cambodia, Lao P.D.R, Myanmar, and Vietnam are exiting from decades of central planning after joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and integrating with regional supply chains, particularly in China.

Sound economic management has also played a vital role. To be sure, the Asian crisis of 1997 was a setback, but Southeast Asia bounced back quickly and emerged stronger. Banks were restructured and financial regulation strengthened. Local currency bond markets were deepened to reduce dependence on volatile capital flows.

Rising prices and credit growth were brought under control as some countries moved toward adopting inflation targets and so-called macroprudential policies, which are designed to monitor and prevent risks to the financial system.

As a result, the region weathered the global financial crisis, but it will need to further strengthen its economies to handle short-term challenges, such as rising interest rates in the United States and other advanced economies, growing trade tensions, and slowing growth in China. It all adds up to greater uncertainty and more market turbulence for increasingly interdependent economies that have accumulated more debt.

In the longer term, though, more fundamental forces will test ASEAN leaders and populations. While Southeast Asia has significantly narrowed the gap separating it from the world’s richest nations, further progress is not preordained. The region cannot afford to rest easy; rising to the next level will call for a mutually reinforcing set of bold reforms.

Shifting demographics loom large among the coming challenges. In recent decades, the number of workers grew faster than the number of dependents, providing an impetus to economic growth. That demographic dividend is now starting to wane.

The working-age population continues to grow in Indonesia and the Philippines, but it is projected to shrink rapidly in other countries, including Thailand and Vietnam. Simply put, Southeast Asia risks growing old before it grows rich.

In response, Southeast Asian nations will have to beef up their pension systems and social safety nets to care for the growing ranks of older citizens. Bringing more people into the labor force, especially women, will help keep the growth engine humming.

With notable exceptions, such as in Vietnam, female labor participation rates remain low across Southeast Asia. Providing child care and flexible working arrangements can encourage more women to work.

Waning productivity growth is another obstacle. More advanced ASEAN economies are starting to lose some of their competitive advantage as wages rise. At the same time, automation and robotics are reducing demand for relatively unskilled labor; increasingly, manufacturing will require fewer, better-educated workers.

To move beyond middle- income status, the region will no longer be able to depend on the existing growth model of labor-intensive manufacturing for export.

Advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, while creating opportunities, present additional challenges. Workers will need education and training to prepare for the jobs of the digital age. Governments should also improve the business environment by investing more in research and development and upgrading roads, ports, and broadband infrastructure.

Of course, all this requires money. Taxes as a proportion of GDP, at 13 percent, are below the global average of over 15 percent. That will have to change if the region is to finance essential investments, unlock productivity growth, and prepare for an aging population.

But raising more money won’t be enough: strong policies and institutions will be needed to make sure that precious taxpayer money is spent wisely.

As trade patterns and technology reshape the competitive landscape, Southeast Asia will have to rely more on domestic demand and less on sales of goods outside the region. To that end, further integration will be needed.

ASEAN has significantly reduced tariff barriers to trade in manufactured goods; it should further reduce trade costs and open its markets more fully to trade in services and the movement of labor.

The goal of completing an ASEAN trade in services agreement by 2025 will be a big step. If living standards are to rise further, the region cannot rely indefinitely on low-wage, low-skill service jobs in corner shops and restaurants; it will have to train more scientists and programmers, as well as professionals such as home health aides to care for the elderly. Investing more in its people and opening markets to expertise and technologies from abroad would advance that goal.

Of course, we must always remember that the goal of rapid growth is to improve living standards for the many, not the few. To be sustainable and command broad social support, economic policies must ensure inclusive growth. Governments should strengthen social safety nets, encourage competition, and challenge entrenched interests.

The region has made huge strides since the founding of ASEAN more than half a century ago, but significant challenges remain. Thankfully, with the right policies, Southeast Asia can rely on the creativity, resilience, and dynamism of its people to meet those challenges. The IMF has been an important partner in the region’s development, and it stands ready to continue serving its Southeast Asian members in the future.

The post What Accounts For Southeast Asia’s Phenomenal Success? appeared first on Inter Press Service.

By WAM
ROME, Oct 17 2018 (WAM)

Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security, said that the UAE has taken major steps to guarantee its future food security as a national priority, through adopting a series of relevant policies.

She made this statement while heading the country’s delegation in the 45th Committee on World Food Security, CFS, which began today at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO, of the United Nations, UN, in Rome, and will run until 19th October, with the attendance of Saqr Nasser Al Raisi, UAE Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative to the Three Agencies of the UN.

During her speech at the CFS, Almheiri explained the key steps taken by the UAE to guarantee its production of high quality and sustainable food products while noting that the UAE has established a national committee responsible for achieving its sustainable development goals and developing sustainable agriculture policies, to encourage the sustainable production of high quality food products through utilising the latest agricultural technologies, as well as for developing national standards for food markets and products and implementing the government’s accelerators programme, to face relevant challenges and overcome the obstacles preventing the achievement of a developed urban agricultural sector.

She also affirmed that these policies, along with many related programmes, aim to encourage a cultural movement that appreciates food and establish a better understanding of future food needs.

Leading international experts and representatives of civil society organisations and the private sector are participating in the CFS, which has made it a key platform for limiting hunger around the world and ending it by 2030.

 

WAM/Hassan Bashir

The post UAE has taken major steps to guarantee future food security: Mariam Almheiri appeared first on Inter Press Service.

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